When it comes to art and creativity you have to go with the flow. Sometimes you may have the perfect vision of what you want to create when your artwork has already decided it's going to be something totally different then what you envisioned. As artists we can't set rigid expectations for our creativity otherwise we'll destroy it.
Take this piece for example. I was so inspired by Shawn Petite's eggshell blog post that I just had to create my own. If you've never seen Shawn's work you have to visit her website, she is amazing and truly inspiring!
I started with my eggshells, crushed them all up and spread them all over my canvas with gel medium. Make sure you remove all of the membrane, it will help your paints stick better.
The texture this creates is just to die for. Once everything dried I applied another coat of gel medium then let dry again. The gel medium will be completely clear once it's 100% dry...don't rush it. Now comes the gesso and we're back to drying. I know there's a lot of down time for drying but don't let that discourage you.
Yay! Finally comes the colors...with fall in the air and my deep love for this gorgeous season I knew I wanted to mimic the glorious colors I see exploding all around me. To accomplish this I started with some copper and orange in thick blanketing sweeps to fill in all those wonderful cracks and crevices.
This is where I started not liking things. My colors just weren't doing it for me. So, I added some greens in light sweeps over the others to accent the rich textures. Still not in love and with my vision just not working out I walked away from the entire piece. My artwork and I needed a serious break before things got ugly.
A few days later I returned free from self-imposed visions and added a few more color layers. I eventually got it to my liking and realized I already had the perfect finishing touch! One I'd never even given a thought too but my canvas knew what it needed and luckily gave me a nudge in the right direction.
Years ago I came across the coolest decomposing leaves. I've kept them all this time, safely tucked away on my fridge and miracle of miracles their time had arrived.
My canvas my not have turned out according to plan but faith and acceptance lead to something even more perfect; creative destiny. So when your struggling, don't give up or chalk it up to failure. Take a breather or a walk, work on another project or anything else you need to catch up on. But always come back, you never know what will be waiting for you!
Happy Crafting,
Misty
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