“Rest not! Life is sweeping by; go dare before you die.
Something mighty and sublime, leave behind to conquer time.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Happy New Year all. I’ve been trying to write this post for 2 days, but life has been sweeping by. Sadly, I’ve not accomplished anything mighty or sublime, but I was able to rescue a failed watercolor study. This is the ‘before’ picture:
(When your own mother tells you that you should start over, you know it is time to give up on a piece.)
Instead, I thought that it might be fun to turn it into some Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). So, I cut it into a 16 rectangles and set to work on tangling each one separately. I know people who just tangle right over a watercolor wash as if it wasn’t there, but I prefer to let the colors and texture of the paint act as a string.
The result, well, they weren’t much better than the original.
So then I wondered, what would it look like if I put them all back together? It was a good idea. It would have been a better idea if I had numbered the back of the cards before I shuffled them. It took almost half an hour to piece together this puzzle. And made a note about which way should be up. But I like the result. Hope you do, too.
In any case, it was a fun exercise and something I will definitely consider next time I have a painting that doesn’t excite me.
Wishing you lots of creative experiments this year.
Wow, Cris, this is amazing. I often take watercolors that I don’t want framed and cut them into greetings card “faces”. I never thought about tangling over them. What an idea!
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Thanks, Faye. Glad you like it. Let me know if you end up trying it. I’d love to see what you do with it.
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what a really fabulous concept and way to save and reuse a project Cris-LOVE it!!! Happy PPF and 2014!
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Chris this water color is amazing. I am so glad you shared it with us. Have a very nice weekend
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Nothing is ever a wasted effort. Thank you for just proving that to me. Blessed Be. ❤
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I like that idea. I think that even if you don’t like the outcome, the effort is worth the time if you learn from it. If nothing else, you can tear up a painting and use it to make homemade paper. I’ve done that before 🙂
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Wow! How gorgeous and intricate! So beautiful!
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Amazingly beautiful tangles! I love the backgrounds you use:)
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So cool! I really loved the rectangles with your pen work over the old watercolor! You whipped up a little magic with your rescue 🙂
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I think the tangles turned out beautifully both on their own and all together. Your following the water color lines made the tangles hang together 🙂
Happy PPF
Ilona
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