Artfest-Day 2

On Artfest, Day two, I took Jesse Reno's Free to Create painting class. I knew very little about Jesse's work, but when I saw it, I just knew I had to take his class. Needless to say, he did not disappoint. Watching any artist work in person is something I love and get so much out of. Jesse generously broke down his working style in such a way that yielded incredible results from the entire class. Everyone made such unique paintings that went through a variety of stages. I could have taken all three days with him and been happy. Painting is something that I have never fully cultivated in my own art, but which is very comfortable for me. This day was the most relaxing, the most effortless, save for the fact that I am never in the habit of drawing or painting purely from my imagination. I am always loaded down with existing imagery. This is the case in my mixed media journal pages and was definitely the case in my graphic design work. I will never completely abandon collage, but it was so liberating to just make my own images, to create from inside myself. I have been wanting to delve into painting again for quite a while, and this was such an inspiration. I thought to myself, what if my journals were this rich and full of paint and honesty and my own symbols?

Phase one. Finger painting, brushwork, some doodles and scribbles.

Next stage. Some oddball characters start to take form. Introduced more drawing and some monoprinting in black. The piece gets turned a few times in the process.

Almost done. The monopronting changes things, and I start to further obliterate what's not working for me. The result is a much larger, and more interesting, focal image. It's not done yet, but getting very close. The very top piece was such a surprise to me. It was my scrap/test piece that I experimented on. Once again unfinished, but somehow looser, freer, and interests me very much.