@sirensidyll wrote, "What motivates you to push the comfortable boundaries you're accustomed to and treading in the choppy waters of the unknown artistically?"

It got me thinking what DOES get me trying new things artistically?

My initial answer was a new color of a favorite material, and that's true nothing makes me happier than a fresh new color of watercolor or acrylic. I test it out and mix it with old standbys seeing what fresh new colors I can get, sometimes I mix up whole jars of the color to make perfect flat washes.

Other times it's a sketchbook in a size I haven't used in awhile. Like my old standby 3.5×5.5 inches(9x14cm) that I get every spring**. Or a new tool like those Pentel Pocket Brush Pens or the E+M  lead clutch. Sometimes it's a blog post written by a friend or fresh discovery.

I realized I needed to dig a little deeper on this question, because the overwhelming first thing I do with all new materials? Search flickr's commons and find a friendly face and draw it. It's a great way to get to know a new material, find something you're comfortable with and draw it, it will tell you what that material can do.

The meat of the question was about stretching myself artistically and what triggers that stretch.

A relatively new phenomenon for me is drawing in coffee shops. I know that you all think I cut my teeth drawing in public, the truth is all through college I hated it, despised it. I enjoyed being with my classmates in class and talking to them but actively hated drawing in class. I always felt self concious about my skills, or lack of them. I thought that my friends my judge me based on my erasing lines and then redrawing them. I was not a sit out and about on campus drawing type of student, unless I knew that the spot was relatively secluded and I wouldn't be bothered- hence my many many drawings of the Stillwater River, drawn from the dock in the evenings during October, March and May*.

You might be wondering what was the catalyst for this change. It was to prove to myself I could do it. Force myself to see that no one really cared, and if they did they would look on in curiousity not judgement.

The truth is, that is exactly what I've found. No one judges me. Most people don't care and even fewer still look over my shoulder to see what I'm doing. Mostly children ask questions, "What 'cha doing? Are you an artist? I'm an artist too!"

Mostly the thing that stretches me artisticly is myself. I have something to prove to myself, and only myself. I can do it.

You can do it too.

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Last night as I lay in my bed wishing I could fall asleep I realized these little automatic drawings not only reflect my mood but improve it. I can come home after a long day, sit down with my pen, journal, and watercolors and feel much better by journaling it out via automatic drawing. Looking back I've turned to the automatic drawings at difficult times in my life. These drawings pepper my journals and sometimes fill sketchbooks with their flowing lines.

At one point  I had a lot of rules for the automatic drawings. At one point they were only done in Sharpie and in one long continuous line like colors could not touch sides; those were just a few. Eventually I felt that the rules restricted my ability to explore the subconscious and conscious themes that came up in these drawings, so I dumped the rules.

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I posted a few more posts at photowalking. I'll be posting more on here over the next few weeks. I've got an art adventured planned for this weekend and some good stuff next week.

Last week I mentioned distressing and grunging a journal color wiht my grunge glaze,  so this week I’m going to tell you about my mix for what I call “Grunge Glaze.” It’s a special blend of colors to give me a perfectly abused and dirty look to any page. Here’s the  recipe:

• 1 part Carbon Black
• 1 part Burnt Sienna (Red Oxide would work too)
• 1 dash Burnt Umber (this can be skipped or another color added to warm or cool the mix)
• 2 parts gloss gel medium (add more if you want more transparency.) Use glaze medium if you want a fluid grunge glaze. I like my glazes thick so that I can have brush strokes show up as thicker layers of color.
• 1 dash retarder (skip if you want it to dry fast, add more if you want it to dry more slowly.)
• Put all of this in a jar with a lid and mix well. Adjust as needed.

I spread this on with a rag and rub it in and off as I want a heavier or lighter coat. It dries pretty quickly so I can layer it easily. A spritz of water before fully dried allows you to lift more off than with a dry rag.

Go forth and make glaze mixes and call them fun things.

I know I've harped on this time and time again (as far back as my participation in 21 Secrets) but you don't need to buy those premixed glazes. You can mix your own. This is just one example of a glaze you can mix with gel medium or glaze medium. Share recipes in the comments!