Art Share: Trauma Class Reactions

In class yesterday I first drew the image on the left, and then separately the image on the white square on the right. I was simultaneously experiencing feelings about the art materials as well as about my style and of course the subject matter. At first I wanted thick white or black paper and couldn't find it. So I had thickish orange paper, and the very thin white paper. Neither gave the colors the bold impact I wanted them to. I was primarily using the watercolors, and then added oil pastels. I went with the orange paper, but found myself frustrated with the abstract images, and judging myself with Furth's idea that abstract images can be about avoidance or not being ready to express something directly. As someone who likes to draw abstract images in general, this interpretation annoys me and seems very simplistic, but somehow it got into my head and I was feeling annoyed at myself as I was making this image. I think at some point Drena was talking about a client's work as very regressed, and I found myself fearing that mine was as well. I'm not sure why this mattered so much in the moment. I can't link it so directly to the topic but I'm sure it's related. I felt a little better when I thought to use the white, because I liked the contrast it created.
Then my friendly neighbor offered me the thick white little square! I was very excited to paint bold colors on it with the watercolors, and happy to draw contained and clear images.