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| Standing Tall 5"x7" |
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I am experimenting away and officially driving myself nuts trying to get this right. I am trying so hard to get down edge mastery, while at the same time still trying to find my style. This little guy is becoming a direct result of my frustration.
Over and over again it seems I take one step forward and two steps back with each painting. I really need to leave a post-it note on my easel to remember everything, but the most important thing I try to remember is to have fun. I may have said this a time or two before.
I feel like I am banging my head up against this wall waiting for a break-through in understanding. I just know that if I keep chiseling away one day a light bulb will go off.
I am an introverted extrovert, perhaps even an ambivert, but I hold more introvert qualities. I love quite nights with a good book or painting. I can go days without human contact and be perfectly at peace. Parties with unfamiliar faces make me quite reserved, and therefore I am not so good at talking to perfect strangers to promote myself as an artist.
This is where social media comes in. I can chat away, post and be much more active in general about promoting my work. If I want my post to gain more attention I simply click a button and away it goes for all to see and I don't have to say a word! IS social media an introvert's best friend? Could this possibly be the way for us to share what we love with the world without personal consequence? Could it also be my enemy? Keeping me so attached that I never learn how to break out of my shell. I want to become better at being able to talk to perfect strangers, I can't do that through a computer.
I have a love/hate with social media. It is like a necessary evil. Yes I am not much for socialization but I don't want to completely shut it out. Human interaction is so important to ignite our key senses that, well, make us human. You don't become a better painter entirely by reading about how to paint or thinking about how to be better; you must experience the thing!
2015 will be a year of less technology for me and more social interaction in-person. I want to dive into the depths and enjoy it so I can step out of my comfort zone and continue to grow as a person. The overwhelming joy I feel when I have spent a day painting with friends, sitting down to dinner discussing the learning experienced that day out in the field fills me like nothing else.
Pillars in the Sky | oil on linen
When I first started painting I painted from photos. The thought of painting from life or the out-of-doors was such an overwhelming thought at the time, yet now I find myself only wanting to paint from life or plein air. A photograph robs the stimulation of the senses that is part of the joy in experiencing the emotion you feel and convey in your work.
I found myself scrounging for a subject for my last challenge, looking all around for something that stirred my emotions. I sat still for a moment and there it was right in front of me, my dog sleeping so humbly on the couch. We carry such an emotional attachment to our pets and mine is no exception to constant spoiling and love.
I added some color around her with my coat and scarf, getting a look as I stirred her briefly from her slumber and took to the canvas. I had no rhyme or reason, while I listened to Richard Schmid on my tv, as to how I was going to paint it but just that I wanted the viewer to feel the emotions I have for this furry creature.
Rarely ever do I use such bold colors and I have to say it was quite enjoyable using some straight out of the tube and for once I didn't worry about whether this was going to be a good painting or a complete calamity. So often I find myself thinking before I paint, this one has to be sellable, and it places so much pressure that I often am extremely disappointed. I threw out all (well most) of the rules. There she is smack dab in the center of the canvas and on the horizon line, but she was where I wanted her to be.
So often I think we get so worked up over the success of a painting that we forget the importance of enjoying the process. Once I sat down and just went for it, I had so much fun playing with the color, and just putting it on the canvas and leaving it.
May your 2015 year be healthy, prosperous, full of color and love!
Nemea in Repose | 9"x12"
Painting over old paintings is something I enjoy doing every now and then. I have never been one to waste a canvas or two, plus I just love the effect of letting the old painting seep through creating interesting variety and textures.
This week I played around with using thick paint. I pasted it on like butter and it was so interesting to see what different effects could be achieved using this technique. I must confess that I conserve paint far to often. Each tube is so expensive, to me at least, and I become afraid to use too much of it for fear of waste. Truth is I think I waste more paint this way, plus just look at those delicious textures that are created by using thick paint! How can you resist?!
The Dairy Barn | 7"x5" | $225
This week I decided to paint something I have never painted before, the beautiful Arizona desert. This point is near the Superstition Mountains. I am absolutely amazed at the splendor that is there. It's like a giant disguise for all the painful and deadly items that lay there, similar to one of Odysseus' sirens luring you in. The white piece in the front is nicknamed the 'Teddy Bear' cactus, and it is anything but nice and soft.
Needless to say I had a lot of fun creating this one with lots of layering with paint and color. I hope you enjoy it.
Very Superstitious | oil on canvas | 8"x6" | $250
I recently watched a video I purchased titled Antique Jar & Summer Fruit by Daniel Keys, who is a young artist that paints superbly beautiful still lifes. It really opened my eyes to just have fun with painting and there is no right or wrong (well sort of) to painting. I highly recommend it. It also reminded me that one of the things I love so much about painting is that it is forgiving. You can just wipe off, smudge, scrape, etc., a portion that is not working and fix it easily.
Autumn | 8"x10" | oil on linen | $325
Cottonwood Sunset | oil on linen | 9"x12" | NFS
Oil on canvas | 5"x7" | $200
For a while now I have been on this speed race to get better as fast as possible. While working a full-time job it isn't easy to not get burnt out really quick. I panic on nights that I don't study or paint thinking that one day of not doing these things is going to seriously set me back. All the while my local painting friends keep telling me to stop rushing and just take a breather, which is hard for me to do... I mean really REALLY hard.
My dogs surgery forced me to breathe. I couldn't paint; It just wasn't in me to enjoy myself while my dog was suffering. I read a book, looked at paintings (ok so I didn't really stop studying) and just sort of took it all in. I felt really guilty for not painting, but knew that it was necessary for me to slow down.
Then I noticed that I began to think about and understand the other side of painting. The movement, the importance, the mood, the REASON for painting. Why am I doing this after all? Why do I love to paint? What makes me passionate? I'll be darned if these aren't some of the most important aspects but I never gave myself time to even give it a thought. So I have applied a few of these things that I contemplated and now I am really having fun playing with paint!
It has probably reached a whopping 34 degrees here over the past week and with the mix of freezing rain and the onset of a bug I caught, I just really have not felt like painting. About 2 or 3 times a year this happens to me. So for a week and a half I have not been in to my studio, which my studio-mates kindly reminded me of.
Last night was my last night with my instructor so I mustered up the strength and went, albeit I almost fell asleep during the presentation. I talked to some fellow classmates for a bit and finally bit the bullet and started painting.
It was like a miracle. Once I started putting my brush in the solvent it was like an overwhelming feeling of something good stirring, and for an hour I completely forgot I was ill. Creating art truly does have some magic over us.
I spoke to my instructor about what to do in those painting lulls and he said 'When you get in a lull just make yourself pick up your brush and canvas and paint for 20 min. That's it. Just do a tree or something small.' I think to manage these moments better I am going to get a second set of paints and bring my small easel home so I have no excuse.
Hope everyone is staying warm!
Last night was my last night with my instructor so I mustered up the strength and went, albeit I almost fell asleep during the presentation. I talked to some fellow classmates for a bit and finally bit the bullet and started painting.
It was like a miracle. Once I started putting my brush in the solvent it was like an overwhelming feeling of something good stirring, and for an hour I completely forgot I was ill. Creating art truly does have some magic over us.
I spoke to my instructor about what to do in those painting lulls and he said 'When you get in a lull just make yourself pick up your brush and canvas and paint for 20 min. That's it. Just do a tree or something small.' I think to manage these moments better I am going to get a second set of paints and bring my small easel home so I have no excuse.
Hope everyone is staying warm!
As an artist I know that the cold, hard truth to getting better at art is to do it. I feel it is important to also focus on the fact that an important part of this process is to not only to experiment with your own ideas but to also experiment by recreating previous works of art.
You may think 'Why on earth would I want to copy someone else's work?', but the truth is you should, and often. (Selling them is a big no-no) You learn so much from trying to recreate something someone else's done and you may even go about getting an effect they did in a different manner.
I can even guarantee there will be some collective sighing and possibly foot-stamping (who, me?). but the end result will astound you. You may not produce an exact replica of said persons painting but I bet will even inspire you to do it again!
My lovely painting is a re-creation of the great master, Richard Schmid. There is a lot, and I mean a lot wrong with this painting in comparing it to the original, but the lessons I learned from it are invaluable.
Remember there is no such thing as a failed painting, only failure to paint, so keep those brushes going!
Over the past 2 years I have rediscovered my love and passion for creating art. I took a long hiatus after being unsatisfied with my work, but thankfully I felt a calling to try again and I have never been happier to have the brush re-marry my hand! I am taking workshop after workshop to continuously improve my work.
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