Mermaid Circus fun and painted backgrounds

 

Mermaid Fun

I have joined the Mermaid Circus with Jane Davenport and Teesha Moore.
We are making a shaped journal and using collage in the creation of our Mermaid.
At first I found it very challenging to work within an already outlined area.
I was also not comfortable with using collage in my art work at first.  I have only ever used collage in creating backgrounds, but not in the subject itself.  But I persisted with the creation of this project with an open mind.  Whilst creating my mermaid I started to enjoy the process more and more.  In the end I was very pleased with the effect of the collage pieces to create the scales for the mermaid.  I really like the effect it has.  I will definitely incorporate collage into any of my future art creations again.  It also taught me that it is great to try new things and challenge yourself to create in ways that you do not feel comfortable with.  If you keep an open mind and just go with the process one step at a time and just enjoy the process rather then expecting a result, the whole experience can be quite rewarding in the end.

Painting Fun

I have also been busy playing with paint on canvas and watercolour paper.  Just playing around with paints and dylusions spray inks creating backgrounds.  The idea was to just play and have fun like an 8 year old.  Experimenting with different types of colours and combinations and seeing what happens.  I am very new to painting.  But I love all the paint colours available.  It is very nice and relaxing to just play for the enjoyment of painting itself, rather then doing it for creating a result.  Afterwards I scanned the backgrounds into my computer and used the images in Picasa to create a collage:

Before I started the painting session, I created the following intention for myself:

Having an intention before you set out to create,  is a great way to remind yourself during that session, what it is you set out to achieve.  Some days you might just like to play and be curious like a child.  Other days you might like to learn a specific technique.  It is great to mix things up a bit and have different intentions on different days.  As each will bring your forward to your next step in creating art and exploring the possibilities that are available to us.