Rachel Carson

 

I hope you are finding joyful moments in the final weeks of the month and connecting with ideas for this prompt. Below is some inspiration from our community, enjoy!

“For mother Earth I first painted a circle with modeling paste or some kind of thickening compound (the label has fallen off the container) but it's smooth and thick. After that dried I filled it in a bit with the same paste and let that dry and then squeezed acrylic paints in greens and blues directly on that and smooshed them around with a paper towel to make my Earth! I painted the background around it with a tube of paint that I grabbed out of my box - I actually thought it was black when I grabbed it but it was Prussian Blue and although I kind of thought I would darken it afterwards with some black over top I ended up leaving it because I like that color!

 

And then I glued some plastic stars all over the sky like I'm a 13 year old in day camp art class! Haha 🙄🤪🤣” - Claudia Lol, I actually love the stars and I know the 13 yr old in me appreciates them too! I love the use of the modeling paste + thickening compound for that texture!

I decided to try watercolor leaf prints by painting a watercolor background then laying leaves down into the paint while still wet and peeling once it's completely dry. I found it was really helpful to find something to weigh down the leaves as they curve and some don't stick as well. You can also add more watercolors around the leaves after they are laid down to help them stand out. I definitely want to try this again as I think I can get better imprints! But I think I am going to add some stitching to this page to finish it off! 

As a thank you to the folks who joined the snail mail swap, I sent out reverse coloring postcards to each participant. Here are some of the results. I love seeing how each one evolved--it feels like a window into each each individual's mind and seeing the world through their eyes!  From T-B, L-R: Claudia, EB, Vanesa S.

The community photo album has also been updated with both prompts from the month!

Have a wonderful rest of your April (this marks 4 months of cultivating our sketchbook practice--take that in and think about all that you have done!) and I'm looking forward to another month of creating!

Talk to you soon,