A repeating flower pattern
Woohoo - I think I am beginning to get the hang of things. I finished another repeating pattern using my own hand drawn flower as a starting point. Slightly more complex this time - a little bit of recolouring and some slight variations in the tossed repeat to start with.
Still a fairly simple pattern - but I am pleased with the step up from my first effort! Now, for some more practice and then a step up to something more complex.
From the colour a face emerges
Sometimes it is fun to just play with colour in my journal. No set idea on what I want to create; no set idea on the colours to use. I usually just grad whatever is handy on my desk and just play. My equivalent of meditation. I am just focusing on the page.
Usually, though, once I have finished playing I come back to the journal and see what might be lurking on the page. Not surprisingly, on this page I found a face (I do so love faces). So, some more mark-making and from the colour a face emerges ...
From this ...
To this ...
Our favourite time of the year | Halloween
We love Halloween.
We love the opportunity to use it as an excuse to celebrate with family and friends. We love the spooky, the kooky and the general spirit of the evening.
Admittedly not everyone enjoys Halloween. I've met many people who would prefer to ignore it altogether ... and that's OK. We celebrate Halloween enough for everyone!
Each year, our yard is transformed into a cacophony of monsters, graveyards, skeletons and animated witches. Throw a smoke machine (or two) into the mix and you have quite the experience. Thanks to some very helpful neighbours the whole thing comes together over a day or two.
Thankfully, the rain held out and the neighbourhood children were able to experience this year's efforts of creativity.
Hmmm, and now to pack it all away ...
Splashes of colour
Big, bold splashes of colour and lines of acrylic ink ... yeah.
After spending the morning working on two detailed paintings, it was nice to just splash colour onto a canvas. Ultimately this part of the painting will never be seen; I am planning to cover up most of the canvas with a somewhat less abstract painting. Still, it was great fun to just move paint and ink around the canvas in whatever patterns appealed to me in the moment.
I'll do some more work on this canvas this week. I'm tempted to make it brighter and more textured as I continue to work on the underpainting. I have absolutely no idea of where I am going with the painting ... and that is what makes it so much fun. Some more warm colours next perhaps?
Layer 1:
Layer 2:
Negative painting | Canvas #4
The white, blank canvas is intimidating. What do I se there? Where to begin? For canvas #4 I decided to get rid of the white canvas and just splashed lots of paint around (paint that was leftover from other paintings on the go).
There done. Now its a colourful canvas. Still no idea of where I was heading. So the next part in the process? Hello gesso! I started to block out areas and voila I found him ... lurking in the painting ... waiting to be created.
I have stepped back a bit at this point and done some digital work to the image to help me see where I am headed:
I still have some sketching to do before I can see if I am heading in the right direction but I'm loving the ability to work digitally at this point ... let's see what happens next!
Hello Halloween!
The Halloween houses are complete!
The are tiny - only 6 inches high. They did end up being quite time consuming however - probably because I made 6 of them all at once. They were this year's gift to my neighbours to mark the start of our Halloween festivities. Traditionally I have made tags and I might go back to tags next year (or maybe I'll do Christmas tags ... now there's an idea!).
They have a battery tea light inside - so it looks like there is a flickering light inside.
Hopefully they will look good on people's tables as part of some Halloween decorations. I think ours will go the on the buffet table at the entry ... although the house might get dwarfed there by the rest of the decorations that will probably get added there! (We decorate for Halloween in a very BIG way).
Canvas #2
Woohoo - he's finished! I am have working away on a new canvas. He has morphed through a few stages; colour added and modifications made.
I rather like him. He is bold and colourful and the canvas is very large. What fun.
I'm not sure if my family is entirely convinced but he is going to be hung on our wall. (I have a wall for my paintings and he is going to be a big part of it!).
Here he is in stages:
The building continues
I didn't realise how long it would take to make a tiny house. I definitely didn't realise how long it was going to take me to make SIX tiny houses. No matter. I am enjoying the chance to stop and just focus on each part of the process. Slowly, bit-by-bit the houses (or Halloween Village Manors) are coming together.
I am aiming to have them all finished by the 1st of October. I think it is going to go close. I may have to have a "building a Halloween house" extended session before September is over ...
Lesson 3 ... of 50
My small painting series of lessons continues. This week the underlying lesson focused on colour mixing; using a simple landscape as the basis for the lesson.
These canvases are only 30cm x 30cm. So quite small really.
The landscape is a very basic colour blocked image. I could probably go back in and work on the painting a little but to give it more complexity. But, then again, there is something about the super-simpleness of the painting we had to do that is appealing. Maybe I like a simple painting in a complex world?
Having 50 of these paintings might prove chaotic but for the moment I am enjoying the lessons. The weather is beautiful and standing outside enjoying the moment is part of the appeal.
Bring on lesson 4 ...
Lesson 2 ... of 50
And so I continue to learn. One step after another; one painting after another. (Admittedly it is not hard to do when it is something thoroughly enjoyable!).
I have finished my second lesson from the "Learn to Paint in Acrylics" book I have started to work through. I like working is smaller sizes, it appeals to me. I can finish the painting fairly quickly and I haven't therefore got to leave all of my paints and brushes out. This is especially important as I don't have a dedicated painting studio.