By the third day of ArtFest, some of us were beginning to lose steam. Personally, I don't think I have ever created so much art in such a short space of time. I loved every minute of it, and it's a bit bittersweet that this year was ArtFest's last.
So, by the time I attended Mary Beth Shaw's class "Extra-terrestrial Texture" I was running on autopilot a bit. I love her work, and am continually impressed with her sense of composition and use of color. I don't generally do abstracts, but have been playing around with composition and with texture for a few years. I was really looking forward to this class. I went into to it with the idea to pick up as much information on creating texture as possible.
Ultimately, I felt like I came away with some useful techniques. I was completely blown away with the creativity and stamina of my classmates. My focus was on trying out as many techniques as possible, and, as a result, I feel like my three collages are a bit busy and unfocused. I think the lack of sleep and the creative energy drain didn't help either. I almost didn't post these because I feel like they are not my best work.
After reflection, though, I came to the decision that the process and the mistakes themselves are informative. The realization that not everything we make will turn out perfect is a hard lesson to learn. I want my work to be amazing the first time, but art is like anything else. You need practice and, no matter how talented/skilled you may be, you will have off days.The ArtFest experience was amazing and the sense of community was one that I hope to find outside of ArtFest. Thank you to the new friends and to the instructors who helped make such wonderful memories.
