Make Art That Sells - Week 2

Hi all! Phew! I made it through another week of the Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells course. Wow! What a week! Week 2 was all about the Home Decor market. It was great, and a challenging week for me on many levels. The subject matter was a hard to get into at first - a type of floral. And I tried to push myself and try out some new techniques and mediums. At first I started by trying to work in pastels - a medium I love, but have very little experience working in. My goal was to loosen up a little. I tend to work pretty "tight" or "clean" + true to life. But after several hours of having fun but making really bad art, I was starting to feel stressed over the time lost. After all, I only have nap hours and evenings to get work done. Not much if you're counting hours until the assignment deadline. So I tried to think of other avenues of "loosening up" while working in mixed media and paper collage. Looking around my studio space, my eyes fell on my new favorite art tool/toy - my Gelli Arts Gel Plate. **Warning: I'm going to gush a little here...** I LOVE this thing. I could spend hours (and have!) playing with it making AWESOME prints with layers upon layers of designs. It's just so much fun. If you don't have one, I encourage you to get your hands on one and try it out! (No I have no affiliation with Gelli Arts). Or if you want to see what I'm talking about, just watch some YouTube videos on the things people do with Gelli plates. Seriously. Cool. Tool. But I digress... So like I was saying, I decided to try to loosen up by pulling some prints with the Gelli plate. After making some art that I was excited about again, I decided that I would use these prints in my assignment this week. It would give my work some depth and make me let go of the control factor a little. So I did and I am happy with the results. I also added some doodling over top of my designs to add a little more whimsy. Here are a couple of the elements I used in the final product: So after an initial struggle, I would say I ended up really having some fun exploring a *slightly* new direction and style. Baby steps. ;-) In hind sight, I always know that I'm pushing myself in a good way and learning things when I feel that joy/fear creep up inside. It's an uncomfortable place to be in while I'm in it and very rarely can I actually be conscious enough to recognize the value while I'm in the middle of it. But almost always, I grow the most after having gone through those experiences. This class is definitely feeling that way for me. I am pushing myself, being challenged, and surrounded by some amazing talent for inspiration and guidance. It's been amazing so far. Learning and stretching in new ways that I didn't expect. Feels good. More next week! In the meantime, I'd love to hear your feedback on the pieces or your experiences with joy/fear. Please share!