The End Of A Journey

This was what I started with on week 1.

This is the finished painting.  It is painted on Bristol Vellum paper and measures 34 X 60. I really am loving it.

I love how these prayer flags came out.  Sometimes such a simple view or a part of a painting can be such a delight.  In DEEP we were encouraged to take photos like these.  I have done this before and really like the idea. I think this will be something I do more often from now on.

This little vine I painted is another little spot that makes me smile.

The journey with this painting over this long period taught me a few things. Often I did not like the painting, did not know what was coming next. I was able to able to let go of any preconceived notions of what it had to be and let it become what it was supposed to be. That involved a lot of letting go.  I had never painted a dog before or sheep.  It taught me that I could do those things and it wasn't that big a of a deal.  Now I realize I can paint anything I want. I feel less limitation than before I started. I learned to follow my intuition with the painting. Painting can be a metaphor for life. All the things I learned with this painting can be transferred to everyday life. Letting go, listening to my intuition, feeling less limitation in life are all good things.  I am so grateful that I went on this journey.

 I've a little confession to make. I hide my art. I have some on the walls but its all in the basement, in my studio or office.  People who come over never see anything I have painted unless they go downstairs. I have decided it is time to change that. I have taken this painting and tacked up on a wall upstairs.  Its the first thing someone will see when they walk in my front door. Now that is a statement. The first of many.  I think taking BIG and DEEP is about painting but its about bravery too.

Painting In The Morning

I should be working on something else but the studio grabbed me.  I started playing with soft pastels on an old book page.  I haven't worked with them on faces very often but they are a fun medium.  She is kind of sour looking but maybe she is having a hard time finding the magic. Then I had this background made on tissue paper already glued down in my journal.  They seemed to want to be together, add a few words and here were are, completed.  This page went together easily.

I also worked on the painting again.  It seems to be about my life so I added  myself. I liked keeping the background as my dress. There is still so much I need to work on but I like the way it is evolving.

I forgot to post this yesterday but now I can add another pic of the painting.

 

I added the tree and played with the sky some more. I have worked on this three times this week. Whew, still more to do though.I have been doing my painting in the early morning. 7-9 am and I am finding it very strange because I am a not a morning person. I am finding this time to be very creative, who would of thought that, certainly not me. Have you ever tried to mix it up, create at a time when you normally wouldn't. You might be surprised at the results.

Fearless Painting Journey

I was not going to post this painting till it was truly done but that was mainly because of fear, that fear gremlin keeps raising his head. First though I want to talk a little about Fearless Painting. After taking BIG I became part of a tribe of fearless painters.   Fearless Painting is intuitive painting, if you are called to paint an elephant you paint one. The goal is not about the final project but the process you go through as you paint.  Oh there is so much more but that is the basic tenant. Sometime Fearless Paintings can be ugly. Which is where the fear gremlin comes in. Do I share the process, the ugly parts as well as the pretty ones. In my desire to be more authentic person I fell that I need to.  The critic tells me what if someone comes to my site expecting to see art and sees this ugly painting.  They won't come back, they  won't be inspired. Pah what a load of rubbish, right. Yes I think that at times and at other times the gremlin wins when I think oh I cant show that because it isn't pretty.

I don't know about you but I know I love it when other artists show their work, all of it.  The frustrating pieces and the glorious ones.  I like hearing their stories of their lives, even the not so pretty parts. So what makes me think that no one would want to hear mine. Those who don't want to will just leave and that is ok because not everyones story will appeal to everyone. That doesn't mean we shouldn't tell it. So part of being authentic is putting yourself out there, sharing your story even one little bit at a time.

Now on to Deep and the reboot of this class. I mentioned before that the class was stopped last year and we are doing a do over.  Actually the class this time is completely different.  We are painting on the same painting for 6 weeks. The painting will be evolving over that time. So I am  going to share the first 3 weeks.

This is after the first week. I started with two pieces of paper. I painted a lot of this with my left hand. I think the left side either looks like a garden or a french market stall. I am not sure what was going on in the right side. There are bits of a house, some stones and not much else.

In week 2, I worked on the right half of the painting. I added flowers, the barn and raven. I still didn't like it, felt like it was 2 paintings.

On to week 3, I added another piece of paper. Finished the bird, put in a background and added Flynn. Never having painted a dog before I found it a challenge. I was not that happy with the way he turned out. So I decided to see him as a representation of Flynn, rather than looking just like him.

Later in the week I added grass and worked on Flynn some more. The green grass under the raven wanted to become poppies. They need some more work but I kind of like them. I think the painting is evolving to be about my life, dog, birds, garden. It will be interesting to see where the next three weeks take me. I hope you will enjoy going on the journey with me.

At first I made his eyes way too big, they are a little better here. I now see him as a work in progress. I will probably fiddle with him until the painting is done.

Pulling out sections of the painting is always fun. I like this little sweet spot.
















This little row of abstract poppies make me smile. Its like they are "saying look at me".

Ramblings

Thought I would feel great and back to normal today but alas, still feel yucky. Here is what I have been working on. Lady Violet's Dinner gauntlets.  They are inspired by something Maggie Smith wore in Downton Abbey season 1.  They are still unfinished as we get only a small clue each week.  I think we will be working on a lace cuff next week. They have been fun to make so far.

I ordered myself one of these necklaces with my word of the year on it. It will be a great reminder for the whole year. They are from Liz Lamoreaux, I think she does a beautiful job.

I have been prepping some canvas with gesso but haven't felt good enough to paint yet. Hopefully soon. I have been attempting to do this post with my iPad which has been challenging to say the least. How is your day going?

2013 Incredible Year Workbook

I just got my copy of these and they are fantastic as usual. Most of you only need the Life version but for myself I could use the business one so I bought both of them.   I have used the Life workbook for 2 years and I love it.  The questions that Leonie asks help you let go of 2012 and start planning what you want to have happen in 2013.  I think they are the best thing on the market. I only share things that I use myself. If you are interested in getting on click here or on the link in my sidebar.

Only art I have done this week is for DEEP so here they are, more oil pastel drawings.

This is just squares of color I was trying to use all the groups of color in different combinations.

This is four sheets of paper taped together.  I wanted to make a tree that turned into a woman.  The crazy hair was fun to do.

Turning To Art

Its been quite a week. First I had to put Lucky to sleep and then Flynn has had 2 seizures today. The first at 2 am was pretty bad but the second around noon was short. He seems to be recovering but it is still pretty scary. It been hard to focus on writing so i have turned to art. Here is what I have been doing this week.

In DEEP the course I am taking from Connie Hozvicka; we are playing with oil pastels. This was created on charcoal paper and has layered colors and scraping with a stylus. The entire background became her hair.  This was fun to do.

I have been missing my kitty so last night I drew this little kitty to represent her. You know I really felt a whole lot better after doing this piece. It was like I put all my feelings into all the scribbling.  I used Portfolio oil pastels for these first two pieces

These next two are in my Canson mixed media journal. They both had scrapings from my palette as a starting point.  I added gelatos oil pastels for all the color in the background.  I also used some liquid acrylic. This is so vibrant in person. It annoys me that I can't take a good picture of this to share her.

This second one is created with the same materials.  Early on is started to look like an Abalone shell so tried to go with that. It is more vibrant in person.  Both of these pieces were very organic in their creation.

This last one was fun. Ink has seeped through from another page. So I started adding Portfoilio oil pastels. I had these 2 orange circles so I kept adding color and then I thought that looks like a mother and a baby, so I drew simple faces and kept going.  I am loving working with oil pastels this way.

A Mermaid Arrives

This is the mermaid I painted for DEEP it is very tall, it actually goes from the ceiling to the floor in my studio.  I think the dimensions are about 24 x 90 but that is just a guess. The painting was a lot of fun.

NaNoWriMo started and we are off and running.  I won't be posting as much as a result.  I'd love it if you could support me by donating a small amount the the wonderful organization that puts this even on.  Check on my sidebar to donate or click on this link.

Putting It All Into Words or Paint

I have had a hard time blogging about Total Alignment. On one hand its that I need to weed through the hundreds of pictures from my trip. Make those decisions what to show, what to talk about. On the other hand how do you put this experience into words at all.

For now I think I will show you some of the paintings I created. You can also look at the pics that Connie at DirtyFootprints Studio posted. Here is the link to see a little bit of what Total Alignment was like.

This first one is about a character that I will be writing about in  November, she shape shifts into a raven. I wrote words on the piece to encourage me.

In this piece I attempted to go looser or freer in my approach. I had no preconceived ideas, just kept layering on the paint I loved making this.

At Connie's suggestion I tried to look at a painting in view of my dyeing experience. So I started with warm colors in a stripe pattern. This was vertical at first and I thought it looked like all the scenery of Sedona so I turned it around. I used oil pastel to draw in some of the rocks.

I had a lot of color on my palette so I continued with the same color scheme. I see this as one of Sedona's many vortexes.




















This one is still a WIP. I plan to put it back on my painting wall and work in some imagery on their dresses.

This one is my favorite, I so love layering colors and using fun tools to change the way paint looks.  Every time I look at this I see something different.

I played with photographing it.

Over and over and it was easy to find all those sweet spots.

When you take micro shots of a piece amazing things can happen. This one is from the second painting.

I know this guy is watching out for me.

This was my last piece and its a memory painting. When we took one of our walks there was this tree that many of us sat it. It was a special place and I loved creating a painting around it. It is more vibrant in person.

Don't you just love this little me?

This week I started DEEP, Connie's second course in the Fearless Painting Process. Here is my painting table all set up with paint and tools.  I plan on using up all this miscellaneous paint I have. Some was given to me and some I bought for one purpose or another and just never used. I am hoping to empty some of these jars during the next month.

This is my first piece, it is 35 X 46, the biggest I have ever painted. We were to think about Joy as we painted, as a  result I see a lot imagery of things I like. I see the cup as the cup of life, it holds all those wonderful things in my life.  I am not sure where the elephant comes in. I do like elephants and have been drawn to Ganesh lately so that must be it.  In intuitive fearless painting you never  know what will appear in a painting. I am loving working this way.