Creative process- Hope Grows

 Here is my dirty little secret. There is a point in almost every creative project that I undertake where I hate my work, passionately. This is where I reached that point with this art journal page. I hate how the daffodils dulled, and the background muddied, and the elements feel disconnected. At this point, I want to rip the page out and throw it away.

 I decide to see it through, because I was loving the idea of the daffodils, and didn't think I could remove them without destroying them. I decide to try and clean up the piece with some stronger color, so I add spray ink. At this point I like it better, and love the look the pink gives it.





Then the ink dries. and it gets really pale, runs off the desso, and looks pale. I darken the lines on the daffodills, and on the bird, which is getting washed out.









I add some dark blue to try and add depth to the backround. The paper element soaks it up and looks almost black, while the top of the piece is still grey and muddy. Gross.

 At this point I am really upset. I decide that I can't un muddy the piece, so I have to add unpainted/uninked paper to try and build up the color. Right here, this is where I decide I have lost my mind. Yes, it looks like I shoved a piece of paper on a mess, but notice how the backround "pops" a little more once there is this pale paper?

At this point, I work the background a little harder, and repaint the daffodils to brighen the color. I use a blue to dover the lighter paper and add the striped paper to add interest. I add the hearts to balance the page, and incorporate the saying. I added the black scrap to give a fluid feeing, and start adding white doodling to lighten the feel of the page. This is the point where it really starts looking trainwrecky. 

I added the light ink on the black, and build up the white sections more. At this point, the piece is at a point where I feel it is "complete". 

Hope you liked this peek into my process. The hardest part is not giving up on the work at the point it is feeling frustrating.

~Venetia