Show Us Your Media Challenge 3! All about inspiration...

It is a privilege to see your art when you participate in this challenge. It is meaningful and powerful. Thank you. Let's keep it up. Our next challenge runs from August 17 to Sept 20, 2017. Here you go....

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. ~Jack London
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. ~Pablo Picasso

Create a piece of art about what inspires you. Do you purposely seek inspiration, or do you let it come to you organically? What do you do when you’re not feeling inspired?

 

As I thought about this challenge, I realized there's no one source of inspiration for me. I get inspiration from color, from nature, from other people's art, from design, from patterns....everything is fair game and might set me off on a creative path. The key is living so that you notice what is around you.

My family and I just got back from a trip to Tokyo, Japan. We had a fabulous time, and wow, I came home feeling incredibly inspired. One of the many beautiful sights we saw was this huge field of water lilies in Ueno park. We gasped when we saw them. The flowers were enormous, about 8" across, or bigger. The lilies covered an incredible amount of area. Stunning!

  

This pic with my son shows you the size of just one petal from the flower...it's almost the size of my son's hand.

 

These lilies were on my mind when I started this challenge. Painting flowers has been popular in mixed media for awhile, and I always wanted to try it, but never felt moved to do it. After seeing the flowers in Japan, I knew I had to paint them! I did two pages in my journal. The first page, on the watercolor paper in the Dina Wakley Media journal, is directly inspired by the lilies. The second page, on a burlap page in the journal, was just an experiment to see what would happen if I painted flowers on it. I enjoyed playing so much that I even made two larger flower paintings, inspired by my journal pages.

Products used:

Dina Wakley Media Journal

Dina Wakley Media Acrylic Paint in Lemon, Cheddar, White, Fuchsia, Night, Sky, Blush, Turquoise, Lime, Evergreen, Black

Dina Wakley Media paint brushes

Scribble Sticks

Black Fudeball pen

Dina Wakley Media White Gesso on the watercolor page

Stabilo All pencil

White paint pen

 

Here is the first journal page, done on the watercolor paper in my journal:

 

 

 Here's the burlap page. I found it pretty easy to paint on the burlap, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Don't gesso it, unless you use clear gesso. Why cover up that great color?
• The burlap is absorbent so it will require more paint.
• The burlap's texture sort of inhibits fine details...keep in abstract and loose and it will be easier.
• Paint does go through the weave to the back, so put a piece of deli or wax paper behind to protect the page underneath. Or, be a rebel and let it go through and have an instant background for that page. Ha. The back of the burlap painting doesn't look awesome, so I think I'll just put some collage over it and then it will look great.

After I made these journal pages, I was inspired to make some larger abstract floral paintings. I did these on 300 lb watercolor paper, gesso'd first. The size is about 11"x15" (I take one large 300 lbs sheet, and tear it into quarters, and that is the size that it ends up). Can you see how I took what I created in my journal and used it as a springboard for the paintings?

Alright, show me what inspires YOU. I can't wait to see.

Challenge Rules Recap
I want to put the “me” back in mixed media. All art is personal, whether it be a card or an art journal page or a painting. Join me as we begin a series of monthly challenges and prompts that will fuel your creative spirit and help you delve into the ME of MEdia.

• We will announce monthly challenges on the Ranger blog on the third Thursday of each month.
• Use at least one Dina Wakley Media product in your project. If your product is not obvious (like paint), please list the colors you used.
• You can make anything you like—a card, an art journal page, a tag, a canvas, anything!
• Interpret each challenge any way you like. You can be literal or you can use it as a springboard and see where it takes you. Let the challenge inspire you and stretch you.
• Try to journal on your piece. Write your thoughts about each prompt. You can write a little or you can write a lot, but do your best to incorporate your thoughts and feelings into the piece.
• When you complete a challenge, please share it on your blog and social media (Instagram/Facebook) with the tags #showusyourMEdia and #rangerink.
• We will do two random drawings each month for a prize. We will search the hashtag #showusyourMEdia on Instagram for one winner, and then on Facebook for the second winner. To be clear, you must use the hashtag #showusyourMEdia on either Instagram or Facebook in order to show up in the search and to be eligible to win. You have until the third Wednesday of each month to complete the previous month’s challenge.
• We will announce the previous month’s winner AND the new challenge on the third Thursday of each month.

Note this challenge does not take the place of the monthly challenges we have in the Dina Wakley Media Tribe Facebook group. If you're not a member of the tribe, please join us! Artists in the group post lots of cool art and inspiration.

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Comments

[Caroline Duncan]

Your pages and paintings are gorgeous!! I love creating abstract florals and often paint the wild flowers I see around our property. :)

[Cassandra DeGrace]

Those water lilies are spectacular! Your challenge creations are awe inspiring! Thanks for being such a wonderful inspiration and helping me grow as an artist.

[Pattie Hillenberg]

Wow....the water lillies are awesome....I just love the art you have done.... colours are amazing....☺

[Kathy Cawthon]

Beautiful :)

[Helen]

beautiful paintings, love them.

[Sue W.]

We saw Iris that were ginormous in a bog on our first trip to Japan. Families would go to this bog area and picnic. There was a man who pulled a leaf off of one of the plants and using it as an "instrument" cupped it between his fingers and blew through them and "played" Amazing Grace. I have never heard the song sound as sweet. Still brings tears to my eyes remembering it. Your painted flowers are amazing!

[Catherine Carter]

Your flower paintings are just looking so fabulous Dina and just love the style you have done them in-they have such life to them-great new challenge too!
x catherine

[CJ]

What if every visitor ripped off a petal? There would be none for other visitors to enjoy. When enjoying nature and public spaces, leave only footprints and take only what you brought in.

[Dina]

We didnt rip it off. It was laying on a leaf near the rail. But thanks for thinking the worst of us. 

[CJ]

Good to know. I responded and apologized by email.