A Return to My Whimsical Roots
The picture above is a magical card that my sister Rachel gave me for my birthday. I love it so much that I have it pinned to the bulletin board above my desk. There is just something about the scene that captivates me. During a recent meeting of the Alchemy Circle Sisters I found myself describing my love for this scene in animated detail. I love the light. I love the colors. I love that it's a fanciful scene, yet it retains some realism with the trees in the background. I talked about how this scene depicts where I would like my own art to go.
In the days that followed, I kept returning to the encouraging words from the group. They all said I should do all I can to make the art I really want to make, even if I need to copy other artists for awhile. They pointed out that many artists begin their training by painting famous works of art to understand how the paintings are constructed.
I looked ahead to the curriculum I've put together for The Devotion Mentorship Circle. I knew that next week I had planned to work on a negative painting class that involved whimsical and magical subjects. But something told me to take a look at a second class I had bookmarked instead. While watching the lessons in that class, the instructor mentioned painting white clouds on a starry night sky using white ink. She said she wouldn't be going over this concept because it was covered in another class she'd taught. Curious, I looked at that class and BAM, the whole week turned on a dime.
The class is called Magical Watercolor World and it was exactly what I was looking for. Suddenly I was working on short lessons, learning to create the moon on a dark background and create day and night skies in watercolor. Then came clouds, trees, and leaves, all in a whimsical style that I love. I haven't had this much fun with watercolor in a really long time. I realized that I've retained quite a bit of knowledge from my early watercolor lessons. When I ran into difficulties, I knew that I'd used too much water or hadn't gotten the paint thick enough. But what was amazing is that I was able to create a night sky that I loved. And those puffy white clouds in white ink? I went a little nuts and practiced the technique over and over. These are the subjects I've wanted to paint since I began my art journey over 10 years ago, and I finally have the skills to make some of these magical scenes.
I can see this class being a stepping stone towards the whimsical art I really want to make and it's very exciting. But what I really take from this is that when I love the subject matter I'm working with, I don't mind doing the exercises over and over again to refine my techniques. Needless to say, I've scheduled more time to work on this course this week. You can see some of my experiments thus far in my sketchbook below.
This is also another reminder to myself that the right resources come along when I listen to my heart and follow the magic where it leads. I hope you'll do the same no matter what you're working on this week.