Blazing the Trail

I am a teaching artist and often students will ask, “Can I do this?” Sometimes the answer is, yes, but the answer is rarely no. More often it is an admission that I have not tried that. Sometimes it is, “It did not work for me, but it might work for you.” Who knows what is possible? I tell students all the time that no one ever invented something new by waiting for someone else to tell them how to do it.

Art does not always offer definitive answers. This isn't chemistry, nothing is going to explode. Given that freedom – try it!

Applying this spirit to my own work:

Years ago, I had the idea to create fragmented or fractured works. I had seen this done with mass produced pieces, but never with watercolor. This was also when I thought the only thing to do with watercolor was to frame it. If you are new to my blog, take a look at my original post - “Why I hated the medium I Love”, posted on 1/25/22 and subsequent posts to learn about my process.

Here is my very first effort for this project. Circa 2015!
I don't mind how it looks. You can see early hints of the Imagined Woods Series. However, I used Ikea frames and my own ingenuity to put them together; consequently, it quickly fell apart!  Lol.

Fear not, more sophisticated (and sturdier) versions were on the horizon, I just didn't know it yet.

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