The Summer of Color, Week 1

Since I am now retired, I have time to become active in an online activity or two. I am a long time fan of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, making her Art Journal Every Day a natural choice. 

Challenges with weekly themes don't appeal to me because as soon as someone gives me a theme, a topic, or a quote, my mind usually goes blank. But I love color, the brighter the better, for my clothes, my surroundings, and my art. So I am glad that I found The Summer of Color 2015 organized by Kristin Van Valkenburgh.

This year the participants will be given a generic color palette of 2 of one color plus 1 of another. We each get to choose the specific colors. This week it is 1 blue + 1 blue + 1 green. I might choose olive green and someone else could choose emerald green. What a participant creates with the colors is up to her/him. It doesn't even have to be a journal page.

I thought this would be easy, but I was stuck. I was looking back through my art journal for ideas when I saw a page I did with Distress Paints. Also on my table I saw a mostly empty jar of light molding paste which I needed to use up before it dried out completely. Bingo!

I used a piece of 12 in. X 9 in., 140lb. Strathmore 400 series Mixed Media Paper, Golden Light Molding Paste, the "Mesmerized" stencil from Color Box, the Distress Paints, and a lot of water. This is the result:

 I used the new Mermaid Lagoon, a gorgeous blue, Mowed Lawn, and a greenish blue I made by mixing the two. The lighter areas were created by the water leaving behind a wash of color on the paper.

 This is a messy technique, but so much fun. You never know exactly what the outcome will be.