Monday, January 28, 2013

Embracing the Creative Process

Moving along from the Happy New Year zone and into the "let's get on with real life" zone -
and further, for me, it's "C'mon now, get into embrace" mode (see previous post)

I have to, have to, have to, embrace the process of learning to paint.
I tend to throw mental hissy fits when I can't paint what I want, how I want it, immediately
Yes, it IS just like a bad tempered infant
I know.

So, in the interests of learning process, I'm going to put the good, the bad and the downright awful up here.
In cyberspace -
No tucking the failures underneath the better ones.
Maybe that way I will become more pragmatic and more patient with myself.

So todays efforts:



This one could be called Summertime Treetops. It sort of  'happened' which is fun.
What I like:
Its warmth.
The colours.
The left hand lower corner
Some of the silver.

What I dont like:
Lack of balance.
The compositon
The bottom centre and right - too heavy
Too much silver
Too 'bitty'.

What I learnt:
Don't overdo the silver.
Sometimes you just can't change the direction of your painting. This had been prepped with textures for a landscape painting. It shows.
It sometimes works wonders to paint a thin layer of colour over the completed work. It unifies it.
I did this with a lovely peachy sunset-y colour and was pleased with the warmth of the outcome.


This one (unexpectedly) makes me smile.
Perhaps I could call it Definitely Maybe
I only hauled it out to sketch something on the clean reverse
And found myself intrigued with this old attempt of a maple(?) leaf over some broad strokes of colour.
I started off doodling with a black pen around the leaf outline
Then writing in the name of the leaf in various place
Then the whimsy crept in

I wrote 'Maple' all over the place
Then suddenly thought "Maybe its not  a maple"
Which thought was then also written in - at the top -
As a reminder to me not to be too cocky about my own opinions :-)

What I like:
The boldness of colour and strokes
The composition
The whimsy - it  speaks to me.

What I don't like:
The writing is yucky - I had no idea I'd like the rest of it and regret how little trouble I took with it. But maybe that will add to the whimsy :-)

What I learned:
The most unexpected things can turn out to be work you'll like.
Having fun; making yourself smile while you're working is great.
The stuff that you feel no strain to 'get it right' might turn out to be something you really like.

Well lookee here!
I have painted, confessed, bared my paintings to public scrutiny AND written a blog post.
Impressive!

3 comments:

Chez said...

Thanks for sharing your talent. A tip I learned from way back when.... try turning your work of art upside down. You'll be amazed. Sometimes it works better. Looking at ones artwork while facing a mirror, also shows another dimension. I look forward to seeing many more of your great talents x

MrsLG said...

Hey mom! Good thought! You have more painting skill in your little finger than I have in my entire body! I love seeing everything you do! :)

Lynette Jacobs said...

Stunning art work...that is the amazing thing with art...there is no right and wrong. Thank you for sharing it with us.

xx