A Hard Lesson Learned

I was given the challenge to  create a project that was monochromatic.   It has taken me almost six weeks to complete this challenge that I viewed as a simple no brainer when I started it.  When I received the challenge  I decided to amp it up a notch and make my monochromatic project  in green rather than the more common black and white.   Boy did my change app up the difficulty.

I have worked this monochromatic project  to the point of it being so wrong that the only way to solve my problem and get a good reset point was the application of a coat of white gesso on the whole thing.   There are three coats of gesso under this final project.

If you are not familiar with the monochromatic concept it is based on black and white.   Most often you may see monochromatic works as white, black and shades of gray.    If you choose to use a color you can add white, tint, and/or  black, shade, to it.   That is it.

When I started this project I pulled out all my greens and then black and white paint.   It created a big disjointed mess.  This was  because I ended up with all sort of  green hues – yellow greens, blue greens and everything else you can imagine.   Though it was all green it wasn’t monochromatic because the different greens were not singularly altered by the white or black paint, but also by yellow and blue.   No matter how much white or black I added it wasn’t monochromatic and wasn’t working as such.

In the end I picked my truest green, a bottle of white and a bottle of black paint.   No others.   I worked with my single green color with various amounts of black and white mixed in.   I worked through it layer after layer.   I incorporated texture into my project using embossing pastes, stencil work, die cuts and more into my work .   No matter what I added it became green, and I used the paint to highlight those all those other elements  as well.    It finally all came together.   I had created a green monochromatic work of art.   It finally worked as it should.

A monochromatic study in green.

This project though long and sometimes frustrating, it has reminded me of some of the basic art class principles.  It has reminded me of how valuable it is to revisit primary principles of art and composition.   It has reminded me of what I know and have forgotten.  I am glad I stuck with it and am stronger because of it.    It has reminded me of the nuances of art.

As  hard as it all was karma was on my side.   When I finally finished it happened to work into the topic of the week at the weekly Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, Great Outdoors.   My daisies are found outdoors so I will use this venue to show off my project.

UPDATE:   I was recognized by the SSS Monday Challenge for this project.