This week I'm inspired by Jenny Doh's Peace, Love, & Art blog post where I got reconnected to the joy of working on faces. When I started my art business many moons ago, I started with faces of women as goddesses. It is still something I enjoy creating but in the last year I stopped creating faces. I just lost interest in the subject and moved on to other things. This week I am inspired to return to faces in my weekly journal pages. Here is my basic starting point then I add color and texture to move it to the next level. Let's see what happens!
It's the end of the week and boy did I struggled with these faces. Early in the week, I had a vision of finding delight and inspiration in each image. I looked forward to creating a new expression for each face. I was even going to swing out creatively and try some abstract touches like Jenny Doh's faces.
The honeymoon was over on July 2 when I worked on July 2 and the frame work for July 5th. Nothing seemed to work.
I didn't like the paint I was using,
I didn't have the right brushes for the size of each image.
I couldn't find a juicy enough pen to write over the acrylic.
The faces looked warped or mean.
I was cranky and ready to scrap the whole thing. My thoughts went to ... " I could cover the whole thing with gesso and starting over."..but I didn't.
Then I remembered ... I've been here before.
I forgot how the creative process looks when we try something new.
I forgot how we might judge ourselves too harshly when we are trying a new process
I forgot how comparing yourself to others or having specific expectations can block our own creative expression.
I forgot...I remembered and then I let go
It's just paint and ink on paper.
It's just for me (and you ;))
By week's end, I was getting into the groove and surrendering to my creative style. I even started to like some of the faces. July 4th and 6th are my favorites.
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