This piece was created for a Clinical Art Therapy unit examining the strengths and weaknesses of various media when working with different populations in art therapy. We were directed to create a self-image, post the image to our discussion board, and explain why we chose the particular media we worked with.
Media used for this piece: graphite pencil, watercolor, acrylic, stick pastel, pastel pencil, liquid ink with quill pen. I tried to keep this piece "loose" and cheerful. We are in depths of a horrible winter, and things are grim; right now the mode is survive rather than thrive. I wanted to create a piece that touched the joy somewhere inside of me, hidden away from all this cold and illness.
I enjoy starting pieces on paper by taping them down, it's become a ritual for me that puts me in my "art space" mentally, even though I am still at home physically. In this instance, I worked on soaked water color paper, so the taping part also prevented buckling as the paper dried. I started with a loose sketch, the worked wet-on-wet watercolor trying to keep things loose and relaxed. When the watercolor dried, I glazed over the image with acrylics, then added some loose stick pastel for additional texture. I tried to keep the fine detail work with the pastel pencil and ink to a minimum.
