Needless to say, my art teacher used my piece as an example of what not to do. She went on and on about how we may not think art is important and that creativity was a necessity in life.
Being a silly rebellious teenager, the only thing I took away from that lesson was that I was hopeless in art and never really tried again.
Craft was a different matter, I followed a proscribed method and pattern and my creativity was expressed in the materials I choose. But to let go and try to use my brain to create something originally "mine", with a specific signature look was something I didn't attempt until I took up stamping and collages.
Again I felt I had failed. I could never tell when one collage was finished, how much more to add and how much more to embellish. More importantly, I never took away the need to discipline my creativity with preciseness. Which is why my work always had the smudges or that crooked line or the messy stamping.
A lesson I should have learnt at 13.
Lately I have been taking comfort in the freeform crochet and knitting, which is a lot more forgiving than the fine art of drawing. And with the great discovery tool that is Pinterest, I discovered Zentagle®.
I will talk more about this doodling art form method in forthcoming posts but just thought to show a few photos of the process...
Start with some Strings
Fill up some Bands - decide which ones you want to be on top and do that one first
Do some Swirls
Add some Fills
Finish with some shading
I am still practicing on normal A4 printing paper and some markers before I progress to proper 3 inch tiles ( tiny!). I am still struggling with preciseness but hey, I have all those years to catch up on, so I am not going to be too hard on myself.
