Kill All Your Little Darlings (for Artists)

For this week's Diva Challenge #289 we looked to nature and the falling Autumn leaves. The maple tree in my front yard dropped this green one a few days ago and then overnight the rest on the tree turned a brilliant gold.

I decided to use CZT Lynn Mead's technique for "zentwining" around my leaf shape. For a little while I got really attached to how it looked at this initial stage and I was wary of doing more to the tile and potentially messing it up.

But there are no mistakes in Zentangle, right? Or rather, only opportunities to honor what shows up and to "fail forward."

work in progress: zentwining patterned ribbons

"To be afraid of failure is to be afraid to learn. Failure is a wonderful way to experience life, because life is a learning experience. When I fail I should rejoice, because I am closer to finding what works! Yay failing!" -- Seb Barnett

This hesitation reminded me of a conversation I had recently with artist and educator Kirsten Wilhelm when I attended a two-day studio workshop at Northwest Encaustics in Seattle. I was struggling with where to go next on one of my paintings when Kirsten advised me to "kill my little darlings" which is a reference to some age-old writing advice that advocates ruthless editing for the good over the overall work.

Kirsten's approach to teaching de-emphasized the importance of a final result and prioritized experimentation, pushing boundaries, and going too far in order to really know what "far enough" looks like. When she heard people start to worry over a piece, as I was, she repeated this light-hearted mantra: "If you're not failing, then you're doing something wrong!"

Here's what happened when I kept developing this autumn leaf-inspired tile. I think, at the very least, this stage keeps the eye more interested than the original.

Autumn Leaf with Zentwine for Diva #289
on 6" x 6" bristol paper

Letting go of my attachment to the original drawing is a practice in itself that bears repeating. Artist Jane Davies kills her little darlings as part of creating the depth and dimension that is so integral to her signature style.

"I like to build layers on the canvas or paper to build in a sort of history and the sense that there is something under the surface. Which there is. There's -- I swear there's masterpieces under there but I've just covered them all up. Yeah, I paint over a lot of stuff. I get attached to the parts that I really spent a lot of time on and worked and worked and worked. But okay, I'm attached to it and I paint over it. Now we've got a new beginning." -- Jane Davies

I've got one last group challenge piece for week to share with you. Here's where I started my tile for It's A String Thing adventure #167:

work in progress: Ponio, Winflo for IAST #167

Again, I was ready to leave it at this stage. There's a certain elegance in simplicity, like an uncluttered room. But there wasn't much interaction between the tangles. In the spirit of failing forward I pushed it a little further.

Almost certainly the Winflo and Ponio designs could still have more interaction, but for now this is where I leave it.

Ponio and Winflo for IAST 167
on traditional Zentangle tile

By the way, encaustic a painting technique that uses pigments mixed with hot wax and manipulated with fire. Here's a peak at one of my creations from the workshop. Follow me on Instagram to see more!

Had an amazing weekend of art-making at Northwest Encaustics studio. Here's one of my finished pieces. Wood, wax, and fiber, manipulated with heat, brushes, and carving tools. #encaustic #artofinstagram #mixedmedia #contemporaryart #encausticart

A video posted by Julie Bazuzi (@julie.bazuzi) on Oct 17, 2016 at 3:38pm PDT

Artist Spotlight: Seb Barnett

It's been a while since my last post. One thing or another took my focus this past few weeks.

Today I learned some terrible news that a beautiful soul lost the battle with depression and took their own life. Seb Barnett was an incredible artist who inspired me and encouraged me. I wish I'd known you better when I had the chance. The world is less bright without you in it.

Blodeuwedd by Seb Barnett

I remember that Seb often railed against the idea of artistic "talent" as something you either had or you didn't. Instead Seb championed the notion that accomplished artists were the ones who put years and years of work into honing their craft.

So here I am, back at it with blogging my progress, still at the beginning of my journey, trying to follow your lead and put the work in.

Diva Challenge #287

I started with a watercolor background, created the design using Staedtler fineliner pens, and then I deepened the color shading with Neocolor II watersoluble crayons and Prismacolor colored pencils. I learned a valuable lesson about the way that finely sharpened colored pencils can sometimes scratch through the softer, more fibrous watercolor paper I was using for this piece. You might notice that one of the abstract orb shapes looks a bit more like a pearl than the others. That one got a bit of Liquid Pearls paint to cover the damaged paper.

Windsor & Newton watercolor in
Transparent Yellow and Quinacridone Magenta

Work in progress, after inking the design I
added shading with watersoluble crayon and colored pencil

Diva Challenge #287 on watercolor tile
Dreamcatcher, Nebel, Yincut, and Sandswirl

Daniel Lamothe's Dreamcatcher pattern is quite stunning all on it's own. Here I let it take center stage with a mandala-like circular symmetry. I used a Uniball Signo white ink pen and a white chalk pastel pencil on coal black Strathmore sketch paper. I was inspired to try my hand at the convergent shading technique shared by Lynn Mead.

Diva Challenge #287 on black tile

This post is for you, Seb. You are missed.