Landscape Art Journal Page

Off Day in The Garden Oasis-Life Lesson

I started working this journal page on August 10^th-I believe- and I really didn’t have a set plan on where I wanted it to take me. I knew I wanted to paint abstract flowers in a field. It was a rocky start so I put the pages aside for a bit to get back to center. We all have days like that.

Not every art project starts out the way it was envisioned or they lead us in other directions. This gave me more determination to keep pushing on and learn from this experience. I was not giving up! When I came back to the pages and started painting, I knew there was a story here.

I envisioned a family living on this land at times battling nature’s unpredictability and what their daily lives must be like living on a farm. The struggles, sadness, working the land, traditions they pass down through the generations and joys they face.

I decided not to put windows on the lower part of the house nor the back fields or detail to the gazebo. I wanted some quirky feel to it. To open the mind to a story of one’s own imagination. The sky and back fields represent a dust storm settling and draws your attention to the front fields of abstract flowers. This piece has inspired a much larger abstract I want to paint on canvas.

This is the most paint I’ve ever put on book pages before. The paper held up great! I wish you could see these pages in person. I couldn’t quote seem to capture the vibrant colors with my phone camera. All in all, I’m pleased with the pages and this project  turned out to be an eye-opening experience in painting abstract flowers. I’m used to just drawing life-like ones then painting or coloring them. A new art journey begins…

Stephanie Hopkins