A Softer World Volumes 1 & 3
A Softer World is an art journaling class taught by Effy Wild - see https://learn.effywild.com/ for details.
We're three volumes in so far; lessons are released monthly but some of us aren't calling them "month one" etc because there is no deadline and no expectation about how long you spend on them.
The lessons aren't step-by-step. We're each supposed to make it our own and modify as we see fit. So these aren't the same as Effy's paintings and you won't learn to make hers or mine exactly if you join.
Volume 1 is a stack of favorite books, a candle or two, and a cup of something warm. I added a round window mandala to mine because I've been in Circular Mandala Mode lately. In fact, this is the first circular mandala painting of the phase and the only complete one so far.
The books I chose are Visual Magick by Jan Fries, Seidways by Jan Fries, Big Nagic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Sigil Witchery by Laura Tempest Zakroff, and Rebel Witch by Kelly-Ann Maddox.
Not even three months later, I'm feeling differently (and oddly) about Big Magic because I heard about some fairly horrible stuff in Elizabeth Gilbert's latest book. I think the advice in Big Magic is mostly good...but I don't know if I want to keep recommending it or counting it among my favorites. I'll still say it's been one of my influences, though, and it doesn't ruin the painting for me to think about how things have changed since I painted it.
On the technical side, the faded effect in the window was done with a mixture of 16 parts clear gesso to 1 part white gesso. 10/10 results, would use again.
Volume 3 is acrylic ink blown with a straw, which proved harder to control than I expected. I ended up using black gesso to paint over some of the ink, following the rippling lines of color. Effy put text on one side of her version; I didn't have a convenient spot or words for that, and instead I felt it needed a moon.
I didn't really think about what the acrylic flows might represent visually, but thinking about it later, it kind of feels like I'm standing in a forest tilting my head as far back as it'll go, looking up at trees that are distorted in shape because of the perspective. So, we'll go with that.
The tiny dots were done with the same acrylic inks and a dip pen, which was new and fun. The moon was done with acrylic marker so I could get a clean, deliberate shape.
I haven't started Volume 2; it just didn't grab me initially. But I find myself looking back at it and feeling tempted.
