The Artist Way - week 11 - A sense of Autonomy

Week 11 is all about discovering a sense of autonomy. Julia talks about how we insist on a straight and narrow path but the artist way is a spiral path. I really resonated with that. We seem to travel the path and then begin again over and over. If we lose that beginners mind we lose out on so many things.

Having just started doing Nanowrimo again I particularly found this quote to be helpful "You are lost the instant you know what the result will be" - Juan Gris. Such a hopeful thought when writing a novel when you haven't a clue whats going to happen next. I think that will be a quote for my writing desk. Of course the quote really applies to painting and journaling too. If you knew what the end result would always be, would you take the time to create. I think its that journey we take that is so important.


















I think a great example of taking that journey is this painting in my gut art journal. When I started out I knew there a face hidden in there but I had no clue on where it would take me. I had a journey of discovering how to do more ethnic faces and skin color. First she was in a blue dress but I initially wanted yellows and reds to dominate. This is done mostly in Golden fluid acrylics.

I had my blue dress which I didn't like so I put gesso over it and thought I'd paint the dress yellow. My first thought, was would the fluid yellow that I had cover it? Many fluid acrylics are transparent. Then I thought of using heavy bodies acrylics instead and it worked perfectly. In not knowing how this would end I really learned a lot of things that I wouldn't have otherwise. All art is a journey of some sorts. I am really glad I took this one. Now I will incorporate both kinds of acrylics in my paintings.