21 Secrets - Tracie Hanson

Creating backgrounds and pulling out shapes, defining what feels right and allowing the painting to tell its story has over the past year been a method I find quite freeing, and have really come to enjoy starting some of my paintings this way. My journal paintings depicts a group of women who are supportive of each other within a community sharing time with the younger generation...Tracie Hanson encourages us in her Journal Quest workshop to experiment further with colours and backgrounds that compliment each other and let the painting flow, pulling out the shapes, this takes practice and perseverance but it is a delight to see the finished pieces and what they have to say. 
I used charcoal pencil to draw the shapes I could see, then started muting the background colours as I wanted to bring emphasis to the figures. The story develops and unfolds the more you look.  This was another lovely workshop where you can take or leave some of the techniques.  I encourage you to check out her website, she has some amazing paintings that she has produced.  Blessings..