Discovering new mediums and techniques

 This past weekend, I had friends over for creative fun.  I really enjoy getting together with creative minds, or people who are open to playing with art materials.  I am finding a new love for paper collage, or mixed media.  I am also discovering a fondness for gouache paint.  It is really expanding my boundaries as an artist.  I love pen and ink and colored pencil.  I have, also, developed a love for watercolor pencils over the past few months.  I have never been a fan of watercolor.  It is one of the few mediums that I don't have the patience for.  But the watercolor pencils allow me to have a little more control and I feel like I don't have to wait as long for it to dry.  I could be using them completely wrong, but then again, as an artist we use materials in ways that work best for us.

a textured piece created with white glue and acrylic

Yesterday and today, I have been thinking about my story for February and my PB dummy challenge.  I have the story in my head and I can see it like a movie, but that seems to change once I begin writing.  I have yet discovered a writing technique or ritual that is successful for my writing, other than procrastination.  I have always written my best papers when under pressure.  The problem is that I don't have any real deadlines for my personal writing and if I give myself a deadline, I know there are no real consequences for not finishing on time.  But I did come up with a few drawings to illustrate parts of my story that I have been thinking about.  Maybe this is my writing technique?

I might try taking index cards and roughly illustrating my story onto them.  This might help me with the writing a bit.  I know storyboarding helps a lot of writers, but I find that I begin jumping scenes or I can clearly visualize a part of the story I haven't come to yet.  It becomes quite confusing. 

But, as always, I continue to push forward; learning from the process of what works and what doesn't; and finding joy in the world I have created for myself.