Supplies Used: Derwent Graphtint, acrylic markers, Speedball fine-point pen, ink, and white, black, silver and gold fine point liner pens. (Ordered by mistake, thought I'd dislike the Graphtint, but enjoyed them much.)

Leaves and Ink

The words come back to haunt me with frequency: "She doesn't follow directions." Minimalism is both inspirational and daunting to me and my brain wiring. So, from left to right:

1. Leaves and Red Ink -- What was that Denise said about how some inks would bleed if they got wet? First try using inks in art. Bleeding happened. 
2. My next leaves were not at all leafy even though I've taken classes here on greenery and how to paint leaves. I started to see them as potential faces once I started mark-making. And don't portraits need frames? Thus: "Framed Leaves." I know it's not minimalist, but I sorta like this one.
3. Getting definite leaves here. A treefull of them.... They became "Family Tree" since the watercolor leaves were not great, but I was getting the hang of adding ink. 

Small Cards

1. Top: "Hive Mind" because I ended up seeing bugs in the green area and couldn't resist. Tried my best to use more minimal marking.
2. Lower left: "A is for Abstract" -- probably most minimal of the batch, and I quite liked the ideas of adding some  "a" letters and "A" words. (Words are actually my primary media.)
3. "Paternity: The Hatchery Runs Smoothly" started with the bird I added. I saw a house, nests, eggs, a mama birds, a tree branch... a whole story. Maybe it can be a minimalist hatchery?

Thanks for looking. I did two larger paintings also but got carried away with those yummy Graphtint colors and am still pondering how to achieve minimal impact with backgrounds of maximum paint.

Denise, I loved this class. I learned it's hard to be a minimalist even on a small piece of paper with a few leaves. If I get minimal with the larger pieces, I will be back, and meanwhile will keep thinking about where to go with them. (They would actually be stellar for collage backgrounds.)

Is there a minimalist fix-it shop where I can go to get repaired? I'll keep trying. Promise!

Meanwhile the Next Day: Giving Minimalism Another Try

These may not be actual minimalism, but I could hear Denise in my head saying, "just have fun." I did. Really. Loved the watercolor crayong, how they marked, how they looked wet. Used pencil too!  And scribbled! It's a start. Here they are, larger than the mini ones yesterday.