Monet’s World of Energy
The famous impressionistic painter Claude Monet inspired me to creates this art journaling mini-course. Strokes of Energy has just been released as a part of Imagine Monthly.
Calmness vs. Energy
When I examined Monet’s painting style, I spent a lot of time with calming blues and greens.
But the more I painted, the more I brought energy into the painting. Even if you feel calm when watching Monet’s paintings, his painting style is much more than just lightly caressing the canvas. Directional strokes and plenty of colors are essential in Monet’s impressionistic style. The most fun part of using the active energy is creating all the juicy details with short strokes of paint.
Monet’s Fresh Air to Your Art Journal
A big part of art journaling is about making sketches, experiments and building the collection of pages. But every art journal needs also pages that you want to watch again and again. They are like a breath of fresh air among all not so finished pages.
4 Published Mini-Courses, 2 More to Come
Alphonse Mucha, William Morris, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Claude Monet have been my inspiration for this spring. When you sign up for Imagine Monthly, you will get all these 4 mini-courses right after the purchase and 2 more in the coming months.
Also, you will get to be a part of a great community! Every week, when I look at the unique versions my students have made from the exercises, I am in awe. I feel extremely lucky to be part of the group and wish all those masters could still be alive and participate the conversation!
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Step into Hundertwasser’s Ecstasy!
An Austrian architect and artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser inspired me to create this art journaling mini-course. Painter’s Ecstasy has just been released as a part of Imagine Monthly.
Getting into Hundertwasser’s Head
Creating the mini-course took a lot of time. I didn’t want to just paint something in Hundertwasser’s style. I wanted to find the elements in his style that support intuitive painting. I wanted to discover the essentials that allow anyone to produce their own work, not just copies. I also wanted to point out the most important nuances that make his paintings so appealing.
Even if Hundertwasser’s paintings (go check my Pinterest board: “Hundertwasser Hunger”) are so clearly shaped and striking, getting into his head wasn’t easy! I made a lot of sketches and experimented with various art supplies. These art journaling pages are some of the sketches:
Structures from Buildings and Maps
Hundertwasser’s education in architecture affected the way he painted. He used structures from buildings and maps to express himself. His paintings tell stories about how humans relate to their environment. It made me think how my desire to paint glassware and ceramics is due to my studies in industrial design. However, I truly enjoyed the techniques discovered from Hundertwasser’s paintings! I am definitely going to continue using those! It’s mostly just watercolor, isn’t it amazing?!
3 Months, 3 Artists
Each of the mini-course has now presented an artist. I must admit that I have been a bit selfish here, picking out artists that truly inspire myself. Luckily I have been blogging for a long time. It hasn’t probably been any surprise that January’s artist was Alphonse Mucha and February’s William Morris. But my love for Hundertwasser’s paintings might have been a bit hidden. Now when I have found out how he created his paintings, it won’t be a secret anymore!
Have Some Hundertwasser in Your Art Journal!
You can still hop on Imagine Monthly and get all the 3 mini-courses right after the purchase. There are three more mini-courses to come and the community is just wonderful to be in! It is so delightful to see everybody’s unique versions of the techniques shown in the class. Purchase here!
Create Doodled Luxury!
Happy New Year everyone! With the new year, a new class has started. Imagine Monthly is a series of 6 mini-courses, released one by one from January to June. Imagine Monthly is a bit different than my other online workshops. It has a slower pace and you can sign up even if the class is already running. January’s mini-course “Doodled Luxury” has just been released. You will get it right away after signing up!
Why This Course?
I wanted to start the series of 6 mini-courses by showing the potential of free hand drawing. For many, drawing is about being able to copy something realistic but there’s so much more that you can do with flowing lines. I think drawing should be redefined and enabled for everyone. It’s my mission to enable you to enjoy drawing and have a great time with your growing imagination! (Want to ponder more about the ability to draw? Read this blog post: “Can You Draw?”)
Creating with Luxury in Mind
When developing “Doodled Luxury”, I spent a lot of time thinking about the concept of luxury. I think it’s not just something to buy, it’s more about creating something unapologetic and self-sufficient. Something which makes you feel rich in a way that has very little to do with money.
While experimenting with the techniques used in “Doodled Luxury”, I created an art journal spread that summarizes the ideas that I had in my head: bringing a clear focal point, getting inspired by the many layers of luxurious clothes, letting quantity increase the quality.
The spread above is just a background study for the course, but I wanted to show it as an example of how your art journal can contain “idea boxes” which in turn can lead to more advanced ideas like this one:
This Alphonse Mucha inspired collage has influences from Marie Antoinette’s period. Can there be anything more luxurious than art nouveau combined with rococo, expressed by hand-drawn elements? Doodling truly can produce luxury when there’s more than enough of it!
Experience the power of simple handdrawing and other easy techniques
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Force Yourself to Experiment!
One day at the local library, I browsed the latest issue of International Artist magazine. I must confess that I had to force myself to do that as the magazine showcases a lot of traditional and realistic art, landscapes, and portraits. Especially in the recent ten years, I have been more interested in examining what is seen inside my head, reflected from outside world, than to illustrate the exact images of the outside world. But now and then I like to force myself to examine things that I don’t feel drawn. It makes me more open and allows me to pick ideas that are hidden behind processes that I am unlikely to obey.
So I gave myself a task: pick any photo and draw one element from it! After drawing and coloring the element I was allowed to fill the rest of the art journal page freely. So if I followed the boring routine, I was able to treat myself in the end.
Choosing the Photo
My husband has an aquarium, and I love it. Just recently he bought five new discus fish. I happened to take a photo once they were released to the tank. I thought that this image would be just perfect for the purpose. The more I art journal, the more I think of it as a diary. It’s mainly a diary of my inner world, but this fish is so beautiful that I could happily let it swim to my imaginary world as well.
Realistic Drawing – Sketching the Fish
I don’t usually use a pencil as I like every stroke to be visible. However, this time, I followed the artists from International Artist magazine: they all seem to use pencil or charcoal for sketching. I drew a simple sketch of the fish taking care of proportions more than the details.
Coloring the Fish
I followed the photo in color choices as well. I just made each of the color more vibrant. While coloring, I also added more details to the fish.
After the fish had been finished, I gave myself the freedom to doodle my heart out.
Finishing
Coloring the fish with colored pencils did not feel particularly inspirational. But when I began adding colors to the mess I had made around the fish, all the fun began! I was able to do anything – yes anything! I thought about water flowing and bubbling freely, and everything started to look more loose and alive, even the fish.
Lessons Learned
After finishing the page, I asked myself, could I create more pages this way: combine realistic drawing with more imaginary elements. Yes, I could. But I think that it would be more fun to create it all freely: drawing the central element first with extra care and then adding surrounding elements. Or pick elements from various photos and construct a scene that way or … All in all, I got few new ideas, and this was a good experiment!
However, I know now why I love drawing that is liberated from all the expectations. It is much more fun and exciting! I also believe that it is good for us to both see and process what we think and feel. It is so liberating to let it all come out on the paper.
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