But today I have something of my own to share. Yesterday I went along to my first ever scrapbooking class. Can I make a small confession? Classes have never been high on my list of priorities. I think I can trace that back to my Year 7 Art teacher (who, as brilliant as she was personally, nearly turned me off art for life). Art classes for the year consisted of a sketchpad, a pencil and a ruler, with her dictating instructions like, "Rule a 4cm horizontal line, beginning 2cm from the left margin and 12cm up from the lower edge." At the end of the year we all had identical A3 pictures, and a mutual loathing for art classes. Happily, a new teacher was employed by Year 9 who was AMAZING. The power of a teacher, hey?!
But it left me with a lasting aversion to classes, at least those in which everyone ends up with the same piece. But this weekend was a chance to have a day creating along with Mel and Kylie from Kaisercraft, so was guaranteed to be fun. Plus the instructor was a mixed media artist, Anna Dabrowska from Poland, so I figured she'd probably allow a bit of leeway, creatively speaking.
It was fantastic! VERY different to my usual style - in fact, it couldn't have been more different - but her approach or attitude was really similar. She advocated no planning, letting it all evolve naturally / organically, and just enjoying the creative process. That's how I work most comfortably too, even though I prefer a quite graphic, minimalist style.
Here's the end result:
I had a ball! And I really loved that everyone's pages, while obviously in the same style, looked completely different.
Since I really don't use a lot of different techniques in my work (I've always been more drawn to design elements than technical ones), it was great to experiment a little. And it was really helpful to learn how to put a heavily embellished page together successfully.
Will I continue in this style? The odd piece here and there, perhaps. But not all the time - I couldn't afford it for one thing! (At a very conservative estimate, there's got to be well over $60 worth of product on that page - yikes!) For me I think it's a bit like a lavish dinner out - wonderful to have occasionally, but too much for every day. As a general rule I'm always happiest with simplicity - in every area of life, actually!
But isn't that just the best thing about scrapbooking? It really does allow for and accommodate every taste and leaning, from the sparest minimalism to the most sumptuous steampunk. And so it should - it's all about your own personal memories, after all, whatever they may be.
Have you turned your hand to anything new lately? What direction is your creativity taking at the moment?
Have a wonderful week :)
PS: If you're interested, you can see here how I last scrapped this photo - perfect example of contrasting styles!
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