Wanderlust 2023 - Weeks One to Eight

This is my third year taking part in the year long art journaling course that is Wanderlust. This year's  course continues the focus on different media, starting with pastels.  There is always an introduction to the media and then an exploratory page.  We thought about a word (in my case, two words) for the year and then played with soft pastels, pastel crayons, watersoluble crayons, and oil pastels.

Week two was my absolute favourite and I really loved creating this abstract landscape, using soft pastels, white gesso and clear gesso. I hadn't really used pastels much, partly because they are a bit on the messy side and also because they have to be fixed.   However, as this technique used gesso to fix the pastel as I went along, I began to really enjoy the way the pastel worked and the effects that could be created.  

We then used baby oil with soft pastel to create a paint.  Soft pastel is a stick of pigment with very little binder, so adding a binder changed the pigment to 'paint'.  Using pastels like this gave a thick, bold line.  We also used pastel to paint in flowers which gave a delicate effect and dripped gesso over the pastel/oil mix, which resisted the gesso and again gave a different effect.

Using watersoluble crayons to create flowers was the following week's page. We cut out a window and then on the other side... 

...we created a night sky in acrylics with lots of splatters.

Colouring photographs was the next lesson, then setting the pastel with a mix of glue and water.  The photos did have that hand coloured look, although using a sponge to add the pastel meant I couldn't be that detailed.  These are all photos of my Granny's family.  The words I added were from The Secret Garden and seemed really appropriate for the different family members.

I enjoyed the process for this page, layering up over pastels and adding gesso.  

Abstract flowers over a pastel layered background was the focus for the final lesson using pastels.  My abstract flowers didn't look how I wanted them so I added collage over the top, which I was happier with.  Working with pastels has been a really good learning experience and I will use the techniques again.  I am sure I will revisit the abstract landscape from week two. 

Week eight was the start of a series called Artful Musings, where an artist discussed their inspiration. This artist talked about how they look to nature and so I created a page which said Winter into Spring to me and added in a quote about courage.  Snowdrops always have resilience so that created the focus.

On to the next seven weeks - all about pencils.