Second Floor Challenge #4: Circles

Are you ready to take the second floor this time? If you have no clue what I am talking about- read all about it here :) The Second Floor Challenge

So today is our fourth Second Floor Challenge: Circles

Click here to see what Julie did

Whatever that means to you or however it inspires you.  The prompt is simply meant to get you started.  The level of challenge you aim for is entirely internal and up to you.

Circles…I love circles…Circles are a big part of my creating ….I use them often…hand drawn, cut out of paper, made with markers. Circles are just such an amazing form to tie elements on a layout or project together. And so I decided I would this time just start with circles, instead of adding them later to my work and see where those circles would lead me to.

I started out on some water-color paper, drawing circles and adding some Derwent Inktense Blocks to it. Then I grabbed my Derwent ArtBars and added some more colors to the circles- simply just playing.

I liked the outcome but what to do with it?

So I decided to take those circles to the 2nd Floor. I chose a paper- a Pink Paislee Mistable Paper – which I would usually transform, as this is what they are made for. Those papers are giving you permission to play with water based paint media on top to change the color of the background to your liking and reveal through a resist some nice patterns on the paper. But I decided to let the background be as it is….and added the circles.

I added some marker circles and then I decided to actually go also a different design route. I wanted to place the photo in a for me unusual way – so I placed it in the right corner and I also wanted the circles to be part of the focal point even thought I kind of clustered them. So I formed my visual triangle, that leads the eye including the circles as a part forming the triangle.

(photo credit: helene larsson)

I really love this – although it is a bit different from what I usually do

What I learned from this challenge:

  1. Circles are a great starting point to warm up and then do something new with them.
  2. I like hand cut circles more than perfect cirlces…I think it just fits better with my style
  3. It is fine to leave a paper that is made for changing the color as it is
  4. Breaking habits on where to place stuff is fun – it lead me to something I really like
  5. I like how the Derwent ArtBars and Derwent Inktense Blocks work together
  6. playing with watercolor paper and including that into my projects is a new passion of mine- there is just something about this paper that makes me think “you deserve to be used more often because you are beautiful!”
  7. This challenge also lead me to thinking how much I love what I do – how happy it makes me to teach and see students be inspired and that inspires me….the circle closes…..

If you’d like to show off your response to this Second Floor challenge, leave a link!



have a wonderful day

hugs

Nat

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