The Secret Garden
It is a timeless theme that continues to inspire. Here’s a look at the mixed media processes we explored in my fall adult class at The Bemis School of Art. Creating in an art journal made with 140 lb. watercolor paper, provides the perfect substrate for creating imagery inspired by this classic children’s book. I never tire of this fascinating story of friendship and the impact of resurrecting a garden to bring physical and emotional healing. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it, or at the very least check out the Hallmark video of the story.
My cover depicts the lady of the story who created the garden. In silhouette, she represents the informal character whose name is never mentioned, but her garden vision impacts the entire story, therefore I wanted to have her be center stage. For our first two- page spread we worked in a grid format. Creating garden imagery with collage, dried flowers and assorted ephemera the first part of our journey begins to unfold. Working in a grid provides small spaces for making art and some students chose to stay within the space or venture out and overlap. Always up to the creative to see where a page prompt leads, and I am merely a guide. Here’s a look at my demo and some of the pages created.
A vintage seed packet, an embossed bee, tissue paper butterfly, a silhouette with written words, dried flowers, a bit of leftover art with words attached, a painted zinnia, a small drawing of a Polish pottery pitcher, and a sunshine drawing..some of my favorite things depicted in the grid.
Student work using dried flowers, collage, and ephemera…a lot of loveliness!
Below, a student was inspired by depicting items from her very own garden.
For the graffiti garden pages, we cut up black and white copies of imagery into loose garden shapes and adhered them to a painted page. Then added our own colorful elements with acrylic paint and paint pens.
Look at all the wonderful mark making used in the above student page!
Abstract demo painting, I did for this class in my art journal inspired by artist Debora Stewart.
Student feedback was interesting regarding the abstract process, generally speaking most students thought it was harder than it looks. That seems to be a common perception when working in the abstract. For one it can be hard to determine success when painting an abstract. My take away… if you are happy with what you created, then it is a success.
Pictured above are student paintings, first time ever painting in the abstract and what an achievement. Very successful! Personally, I enjoy painting loosely with an expressive technique vs. abstract. Quite honestly, I would not have been able to envision this type of painting without the help of Debora’s work.
For the above painting we used bleeding art tissue, which is activated with water for the first layer, and the results are unpredictable. After the tissue dries and is removed beautiful puddles of color appear. Next step was stamping with Quinacridone Magenta paint using the bottom of a lettuce head, yes that’s right! (magenta was the Pantone color of the year) The lettuce makes blossom shapes which are perfect for this two-page spread. With black sharpie markers and white gel pens, floral images were created by paying special attention to the negative space. Take a look at the process and some of the colorful pages students created.
Cyanotype Prints
Thankfully it was a bright sunny day when we created our prints. Students collected dried leaves, blossoms, and twigs. The pieces were placed on cyanotype paper, laid out in the sun for a short amount of time, rinsed, dried, and attached to a painted page. Here’s a look at the process.
For the art journal covers we used stencils to create a leaf pattern and also creativity was unleashed for students to design as they pleased.
I love this stencil!! Everyone came up with different color combinations.
Words…yes words…let’s add words for another element of mark making and expression.
Beautiful and clever…diagonal cut papers with a painted flower on them and words on the border… scientific names for flowers in a student’s personal garden written on the cover.
As an instructor, when I see this type of imagination happen in a class, I am thrilled! It brings me incredible joy to be part of a student’s creative journey and I am inspired by their art.
It was such a wonderful class experience working alongside these creative women. As you can see by this post many mixed media techniques were used to create art inspired by The Secret Garden. It was a beautiful journey using garden images for painting, printing, writing, drawing and experimenting with mixed media techniques. The bottom line when embarking on such a journey is learning to trust your creative intuition and letting your muse lead the way. Success in every way…these ladies rocked it!
I hope this post encourages you to take an art class with me at The Bemis School of Art. It is an adventure, good for your soul and FUN.
