In my initial post about quilted collage, I mentioned a failure (well, there were many more than one as I test drove the process of 'quilting' with Gelli prints). I mentioned then I should add some red cows to it.
The initial collage of the local Skimmerhorn mountains, annotated in jest, looked like this;
Now I'm wondering what you do with your art 'fails'. I'm so experimental that I have a ton of them, and I'm always looking for more ways reinvent pieces. What's your favourite technique? Share them in the comments below and I'll do a draw on September 30 - you might win a fail of mine.
Hi Win. I always have failures or leftover pieces and can't stand to throw them away. Sometimes I use them as backgrounds for other things, die cut them and use them as embellishments, rip them up and use them as part of a new Masterboard (which is probably my favourite) but I must say I like what you've done here! Many thanks to for the lovely comment you left me over at The Craft Barn, much appreciated. Angela xXx
ReplyDeleteThose are great ideas, Angela, and I'll bet you have very few that are discarded. That's MY kind of art happy! xo
DeleteAlways trying something new - good job Win! As a watercolourist I find I can often 'fix' my failures enough that they past muster. Or I will save them for another day just for the idea.
ReplyDeleteThat seems to be to be the best thing about watercolour, Val, and I'm a tad envious about your ability to fix things. In acrylic, one just needs to paint over, though, so it's all good! :D
DeleteHi Win! It was so lovely to see a comment from you! Love how you rearranged your landscape and added the red cow! I like to cut up my fails too - once I made mosaic squares out of a sheet - another time I cut it up for ATC backgrounds. Nothing goes to waste! Have fun!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the idea of a mosaic of 'failed' paintings, so that's likely to be my next trick. Many thanks! I've also done the ATC thing, and had a great deal of fun with that too. Thanks for stopping by to comment - it's lovely to see you moved into your new home!
DeleteYou amaze me with your experimentation. You do things I never even think of doing.
DeleteThanks for opening my eyes to ways beyond the traditional!
You're most welcome, my friend...however wild and crazy they may be! :D xoox
DeleteHi Win! Loving your red cow! I'm participating in a giraffe challenge right now....and I'm leaning heavily towards a blue giraffe. My "failures" add texture and depth to future pieces; a bit of collage, some gesso, a few liberal swipes of modelling paste and I have a new to me canvas to start on again. It's all just layers of life adding to the eventual creation. But now you've got me thinking about slicing up my canvases.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Suzee - I just had to giggle when she finally materialized on the page...waaaaaaay silly. I'd LOVE to see that blue giraffe - please do email a link when you have it completed. And I'll want to see your sliced canvasses too! ;-)
DeleteLooks like a fun process... must have a go !
ReplyDeleteCorrie x
Do let me know when you do, Corrie - I'd love to see the results! xo
DeleteHA! I love this! The rearranging process for failed paintings is very cool and I'll have to give that a whirl one day. And wow - the red cow takes it all to the next level. I can see why people were missing him! I sometimes toss my fails or tear them up. But mostly I just paint over them and save a canvas.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the comments on this post...so many ways to play with fails! Yup, I've got the painting over thing going on, too - sometimes it's 20 layers deep! :D
DeleteGreat post!!! I love your red cow. Looks pretty happy in her new home. You asked what we do with out mistakes. Well, I have a 6 x 6 canvas that has had 4 projects on it and they all failed, now I am working on the 5th project on this poor canvas. I have the background the way I want it, but I don't know what to do to go further. I'll mull over for it while. Who knows, it may eventually have the 6th layer on it. hahaha
ReplyDeleteGiven that I'm not a big fan of cows (a long story involving my mother, a cow patty and a too-big field), I'm pleased with how she looks here...it was great fun! I love it that you're using your projects over and over again...see me comment above about 20 layers deep. :D
DeleteWell I was going to let you borrow my purple cow but I can see that red was a much better option...well done my wild and crazy art friend, you saved another one.
ReplyDeleteA big plus for digital art "NO FAILS" you just keep messing with it until it's making you happy in some way, or you press the delete button and start over, or I can keep the parts I like and add them to a new picture. On the downside if your computer crashes you wander around bored for three weeks until it's fixed...lol
Have fun with your rescuing, although the pictures you think of as fails some of us would probably consider a worthy effort.
I'll take your purple cow and raise you a purple horse (http://windinnart.blogspot.ca/2012/01/horsefeathers.html), Deann...great minds think alike! I think your digital world is one I'd definitely appreciate for the lack of physical fails - well apart from your recent computer one that is. I find it hard to imagine going for three weeks without one! xo
DeleteI checked out your purple horse, it was so cute and as they said in Oz "Now that's a horse of a different color" My kind of horse I think animals should be any color even rainbow. I would make the world much more interesting.
DeleteI'm with you on that, Deann - every colour of the rainbow and them some, as far as I'm concerned!
DeleteLOVE this RED cow Win! Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura - just the perfect amount of silliness, right?!
DeleteDefinitely needed a red cow! When I fail, I turn the page, or gesso over the entire thing and start again, or cut it into smaller pieces for collage. Recycle or move on. Failure is subjective in art and there'll be more of it the more you play.
ReplyDeleteI'm not loving most of my journal pages at the moment, but then I'm processing some stuff, so it's bound to come out. Turning the page, letting it go, and starting again is liberating.
I love that phrase 'turn the page', both literally and physically. It's a great suggestion, and I'm in agreement that there will be more need the more we experiment, and also more growth!
DeleteHow cool that technique is!! And how different each placement was, I was going with number three but two looks pretty awesome!
ReplyDeletehugs my friend! Jackie xx
Number three was my second choice, but I think any one of them would have worked it's so quirky! They all made me laugh regardless. :D xo
DeleteWhat a cool technique you used here. I am not so very inventive.
ReplyDeleteI let my not loved papers and backgrounds and all the failures sit in a box of scrap papers and the ugliest pages can do a good job when I use the negative painting technique on them.
Or sometimes a scrap of an ugly piece can be used in a collage later -- so there are no fails in an artists life - there are just happy uuupses - and our muse can bring the failures to amazing BEAUTY in the end!!!
Happy weekend my friend!
oxoo Susi
Absolutely, Susi - beauty in the end, one way or the other!! I love your idea of negative painting...excellent!! xo
DeleteWhoaaaa doggies.... heheheheh - you just delight me so so so much Win. HYSTERICALLY SPLENDID!!! Xj.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Joi - I DO love to laugh at myself! :D xo
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