Friday, April 27, 2018

Rest Week

We were given a week off from CVP to rest, catch up, explore, whatever we wanted without any new lessons.  It was a much-needed break from having something new come at you almost every day, as much as I love that abundance.  It was a good week for me to sit and absorb some of the lessons we had been covering, revisit a few things, and mainly think about my direction.

I played with more layers on my larger panels, without giving much thought yet to the principles I need to incorporate.



I continued working on the smaller ones.


Mainly I took some time to think about my own voice and what is important to me.  As much as we are encouraged to work in our own style, it's a little hard to know how to do that from Nick's demos.  His work is so shape heavy, and that forms the basis of his lessons.  It's easier to see his principles at work when you are working with clear shapes, so I've tried to do that in my panels, even though they often don't feel like me.

This week I went through all my Pinterest boards, and my old work, and made notes about those things that resonate most strongly with me.

I do like a fair amount of structure in my work, and it's easier to see the principles of differences and value shifts at work in a more structured piece.


My big challenge now is how to keep that raw energy I love while also working with some underlying structure.  I love the random marks and brushstrokes, but it's easy to muddle up the piece with them.  I think this next piece starts to incorporate both randomness and structure.



So many things to ponder along the way!  And today we add the whole new element of texture to the mix.  I imagine many of my earlier pieces will be due for a total makeover.

2 comments:

Suzanne Reynolds said...

The dedication to your course and practice is really paying off! Love what you're doing; looks awesome. Waiting patiently for your gallery show. :-)

Robin Olsen said...

Thanks so much Suzanne! It’s been really helpful to make a big 3 month commitment to this program and focus in on one thing. No time or energy left for every shiny object that passes by. ☺️