DIY: My Project for the MoDeRn ArT Challenge Workshop

When I hold a two-week workshop in conjunction with my Skillshare Abstract Art class, I complete a painting along with my students.  I do this because there is always something new to learn.  One of my favorite things about teaching these workshops is the free flow exchange of ideas.  All of the participants learn from each other and take that knowledge back to their individual projects.

Here is my latest painting, completed alongside my students in the workshop that ends tonight at midnight.

I started this project earlier this month, and here is my progress at that time.

I chose the themes of:

DISTRESSED

GEOMETRY

First, I painted the white square canvas with IRIDESCENT WHITE in Liquitex heavy body acrylic paint (because every girl loves sparkles).

Then, I painted an outer circle in (my new favorite color) LIGHT BLUE PERMANENT, again in Liquitex heavy body acrylic paint.  I used loose strokes around a central circle (similar to an individual Kandinsky square/circle from our class reference painting).

Next, I painted a darker blue circle in the middle, using BRILLIANT BLUE, again in Liquitex heavy body paints.

Note that this blue is still a mid-range blue.  I did not use a cobalt or deeper blue.  The reason is simple:  my personalization part will be loud and distracting.  I plan to use red and orange to create a grate-like pattern as the top layer.  (This will be the DISTRESSED GEOMETRY part.)  It won't be anything fancy, just a utilitarian grate-like pattern something like what's below:

I have been listening to the same song a lot lately, in order to stay in the same mood when working on this painting:  Nils Lofgren's BLACK BOOKS.  Previously, I told the workshop participants that I am trying to re-create the "electric rain" sound that the guitarist makes toward the last 1/3 of the song.  Somehow a blue and orange color scheme worked mentally to accomplish this.  We'll soon see if I am satisifed with the result.

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Update on April 9:

Here is my finished painting below, pictured with some supplies.  You can see my burlap and my grate stencils below.

I red, orange, and some light orange Uni-Posca paint markers to complete the top layer of designs.  I'm naming this painting Electric Tears, after the Buckethead album of the same name.

After completing this painting, I have an observation:

I would like to paint this again, but use a lighter background.  I feel my blue background (in the middle) is still too mid-range and could have been lighter.

The lesson here is that you never know until you try.  Remember that when you are nearing the final stages of your painting, you can easily be paralyzed with fear.  It's easy to worry, "What if I do something wrong?"

You can overcome that fear by telling yourself to ask yourself this instead, "What if I DON'T do something RIGHT?" 

You will never learn if you don't push your creative horizons.  Often, this is just a matter of doing the work.  As Piet Mondrian said so often that it became his motto, "Always forward."

I hope that today, you push your creative horizons just a little bit farther.

XOXO,

Nicole