I think you might like painting "out of the color", as in the veil painting tech. My "popcycle" painting started that way.. (so much for communicating angst there, I am gonna have to add plenty more dark washes and folds in the cape).  You might still consider Karina's workshop, for a new tech.

Don't count on pretty art if you are processing a funk.  Kara says she just goes "quiet" then, stops painting. Probably keeps her work cheerful.  Not me.  Seems I need a little funk to paint, like a grain of sand in an oyster.  I have a lot of "ugly" art, owing to an aspect of my personality  prone to dwelling in the dark.  Those little sculptures are examples of the prettier of the ugly stuff.  The rich and meaningful work, to me, tends to have some aspect of ugly in it, and it is hard to transform it into pretty art w/o creating saccharine sweet work. 

It will be interesting to see what you come up with.  Travel always gives some perspective, perhaps your hotel dreams and roadside tedium will hold some keys.  I often have an experience upon waking in a strange place, where I can't remember where I am, and that feeling stays with me for a while.  It happened a lot on our cruise, and prevented me from even sketching, as I felt so displaced and distracted by the spectacle of the new.  But it was good for refocusing me now.

I will have to google Carbonetti.

Lately I have felt like my art is too "pretty" 

Are you sure YOU feel this way, or has what others said started to bring doubt into your head?