Hi everyone! This week I did something out of my comfort zone. I attended a workshop run by our local council at one of the nearby libraries. While I knew from the outset what the project was going to be, I was still apprehensive as I hadn’t really done anything freeform for a while, and I don’t know much about working with watercolours. Still, I signed up and went into it with an open mind. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!
Playing With Watercolour (Without a Plan)
Our amazing teacher, Kerry from Kreations By Kerry, started the workshop by explaining a little about the project, then moved on to teaching us about watercolours, how they work, and the different ways we could use them. Instead of trying to “make something”, we were encouraged to play and experiment. She encouraged us to see what happened when colours blended and to observe how adding water changed the result. She also encouraged us to loosen up and let go of our control. What a great reminder that was for me! As she walked around the tables, she encouraged us to switch up what we were doing. For example, if you had been creating quite controlled work, she wanted you to stop and play with blobs and mixing colours, and vice versa.
From Blobs to Blooms
After experimenting, we then created more blobs of colour. While some had no structure, others were more recognisable as leaf or flower shapes. Once these pieces dried, we used paint markers to draw on the shapes, turning them into flowers and leaves. I chose to use a black paint marker and loved how the dark lines brought such form and personality to the images. Plus, I had chosen to use bright spring colours, and the black just made them POP!
The next step was to cut out the flowers and leaves and arrange and layer them to form a floral “crown” on top of a simple line-drawn head, gluing as we went.
Here’s the art piece…
This piece is so different from my usual crafting, and I love it! This workshop was only two hours, so there was no time to fret, worry, rearrange, or redo — I just had to DO! I lost track of time and just had the best time. I got out of my head and just played. I stopped worrying that all my leaves were the same or that I didn’t know how to draw flowers. I just did it! Is it the best piece of art you’ve ever seen? No. But it was such a fantastic experience, and I cannot wait to do another workshop like this!
Have you ever tried a creative workshop that felt outside your comfort zone? I’d love to hear about it.
Hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks so much for stopping by!
