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Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Peace
After turmoil, comes rest.
After complexity, simplicity.
After confusion, certainty.
After the rain, new growth.
After struggle, peace.
Coming through the other side is something to cling to when taking the hard steps of the journey, and something to rejoice in when it is reached.
Rejoicing may express itself noisily with hallelujahs and a party.
Or it may be sitting in a quiet place of calm, comfort and peace.
Peaceful art can be simple too, and still ( I hope) express all that is needed:
Louise
After complexity, simplicity.
After confusion, certainty.
After the rain, new growth.
After struggle, peace.
Coming through the other side is something to cling to when taking the hard steps of the journey, and something to rejoice in when it is reached.
Rejoicing may express itself noisily with hallelujahs and a party.
Or it may be sitting in a quiet place of calm, comfort and peace.
Peaceful art can be simple too, and still ( I hope) express all that is needed:
Friday, 17 June 2011
Transformation
I think this has been the longest period I have had away from my blog since I began it and I apologise for my absence. That said I don't want to get into the habit of beginning blog posts with apologies and excuses.
I have been in overwhelm of late, a continuation of my personal drama that prompted the poem of my last post. Blogging has been a refuge for me over recent months, but sometimes we need to step outside our sanctuary and deal with our challenges head on. That's what I've been doing.
(You know, just writing that last paragraph, it suddenly feels so good to be back!)
Over at 21 Secrets Tamara LaPorte's lesson on Collage, Paint and Soul (now also available as an individual course by Tam if you're not part of 21 Secrets) demonstrates how to paint over a collaged image to transform it into something original and new.
That is what I hope I am doing in my life: transforming into something wonderful.
This is what it looked like on paper:
Before:
After:
The words on the side read: You are a Jewel of Creation
The words on her neck read: Don't forget to sparkle.
In the original painting the jewels of her necklace do sparkle.
It is to remind me of how I am made and therefore what I can be.
I hope you know these things about yourself too.
Louise
I have been in overwhelm of late, a continuation of my personal drama that prompted the poem of my last post. Blogging has been a refuge for me over recent months, but sometimes we need to step outside our sanctuary and deal with our challenges head on. That's what I've been doing.
(You know, just writing that last paragraph, it suddenly feels so good to be back!)
Over at 21 Secrets Tamara LaPorte's lesson on Collage, Paint and Soul (now also available as an individual course by Tam if you're not part of 21 Secrets) demonstrates how to paint over a collaged image to transform it into something original and new.
That is what I hope I am doing in my life: transforming into something wonderful.
This is what it looked like on paper:
Before:
The words on her neck read: Don't forget to sparkle.
In the original painting the jewels of her necklace do sparkle.
It is to remind me of how I am made and therefore what I can be.
I hope you know these things about yourself too.
Louise
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Different Versions of Me
As you may have noticed I have recently updated my profile photo - I am now no longer a doll but a real person! My 11 year old daughter took the photo of me while I was painting. (I'm keeping my doll photo up too, though, because she is still my presence on several other sites and I like her).
On a similar theme, Violette Clark has been leading us through some shadow work in the 21 Secrets art journaling workshop, allowing us to explore and express both our public face and our shadow side.
My public face is naturally pleasant and light. The words I associated with my public persona included calm, good, caring and teacher. She is on a pedestal (Violette's suggestion, but I felt very fitting - I have spent a lot of time up there).
Next comes the darker version, the side not seen. I found it liberating to reveal her over a background of writing about who she really is. And you know, she's not so bad really!
As well as benefitting from the emotional exercise and producing two different faces (the shadow was done straight onto the page with no initial sketch which was scary to do, but successful!), I also enjoyed pushing myself a little with the mixed media backgrounds of colours, textures and texts.
Louise
On a similar theme, Violette Clark has been leading us through some shadow work in the 21 Secrets art journaling workshop, allowing us to explore and express both our public face and our shadow side.
My public face is naturally pleasant and light. The words I associated with my public persona included calm, good, caring and teacher. She is on a pedestal (Violette's suggestion, but I felt very fitting - I have spent a lot of time up there).
Next comes the darker version, the side not seen. I found it liberating to reveal her over a background of writing about who she really is. And you know, she's not so bad really!
Louise
Monday, 4 April 2011
The Secret To Great Art ??
Perhaps I know the secret. Or perhaps I know 21!
The collaborative art course 21 Secrets is now open and will remain so until the end of July, giving us four months to learn the secrets and experiment under the guidance of 21 different artists. If you haven't already heard about it, go check it out.
Here are some little faces I drew by way of introduction in Jane's class:
I am also aware that it is National Poetry Month in the US. Where I am here in the UK no such luck. I would like to post some more poetry and some tips or prompts for my American friends during April, but I must be realistic. As well as having secrets to learn, my children also have nearly three weeks of holidays coming up. The environment may not be ideal for writing, painting or posting!
So please patient with me and we'll just see where the month leads us...
The collaborative art course 21 Secrets is now open and will remain so until the end of July, giving us four months to learn the secrets and experiment under the guidance of 21 different artists. If you haven't already heard about it, go check it out.
Here are some little faces I drew by way of introduction in Jane's class:
I am also aware that it is National Poetry Month in the US. Where I am here in the UK no such luck. I would like to post some more poetry and some tips or prompts for my American friends during April, but I must be realistic. As well as having secrets to learn, my children also have nearly three weeks of holidays coming up. The environment may not be ideal for writing, painting or posting!
So please patient with me and we'll just see where the month leads us...
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Sketching Men
Since I started drawing and painting faces, I have wanted to try my hand at a male face. I think I first felt the urge when I painted a female angel, for although we all paint beautiful female angels all the time, the traditional biblical angel is portrayed as male. As soon as I painted the female I knew I wanted to paint the male. I haven't got there yet (watch this space!), but I've made a start by sketching a couple of male faces in my sketchbook.
The first still looked very female, but I kept adjusting (thickening eyebrows, squaring the jaw) until I got this which I think could just about pass for a man, although I think he/she could be suffering from some gender confusion still:
Not yet satisfied I immediately embarked on a second, this time in profile, which I think is more successfully male:
Do you draw men as well as women? What adjustments do you make to the features to emphasise the gender of your portraits?
Louise
The first still looked very female, but I kept adjusting (thickening eyebrows, squaring the jaw) until I got this which I think could just about pass for a man, although I think he/she could be suffering from some gender confusion still:
Not yet satisfied I immediately embarked on a second, this time in profile, which I think is more successfully male:
Do you draw men as well as women? What adjustments do you make to the features to emphasise the gender of your portraits?
Louise
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Stretching The Poetic Muscle
With all this sketching and painting filling my free hours, my poetry writing has just about dried up. My thoughts are elsewhere with pretty-faced girls and art journal pages. I am not sitting still for long enough with pen and paper and a jumble of words in my head.
I need to rectify this. So this week I have written two short poems. They were written quickly and fall far short of the masterpieces I would like to write (!!), but they serve their purpose in just flexing those poetry muscles a little in preparation for some more serious exercise in the hopefully near future.
I share them with you because their simplicity allows us to ask some questions about poetic technique. I would love to know your thoughts on the points I make below.
The house I grew up in had a line of poplars at the end of the garden, a lasting image of my childhood scenery that came to mind as I racked my brain for a starting-point image:
Poplars stand sentry
As the field is ploughed
As the soil is turned
As the seed is sown
Poplars stand sentry
As the crop is grown
The harvest taken
As you come home.
And as it is painting that is keeping me from the poetry, I took the hindrance and charged it to be my muse:
Painting your portrait
I take care
As my brush sweeps the tender
Curve of your nose,
As I colour your eyes
With the shine of experience.
Painting your portrait
I swirl joy
Into the curls of your auburn hair,
But at your cheek
My brush slows to uncover
The tear I know is hidden there.
How about a little analysis?
Do you notice how each of these poems repeats the first line in each stanza? I used this as a simple technique to lengthen the poems, by building on the same ideas a couple of times.
Do you notice how there is a slight twist at the end of each? This provides a reason, a justification, for capturing these scenes in poetry in the first place: they are not quite as ordinary as they seem. Having these changes at the end of each poem also provides a proper end, a completion, without which the poems may have just petered out unsatisfactorily.
The first poem is not very creative in its use of language: "the seed is sown" is unoriginal and an automatic, common description of the activity. Should the seed have been "flung" instead? Or perhaps it should have been "bedded?" But neither of these would have created the uneven rhyme with the later word "grown".
"The harvest taken" is a very minor improvement on "the harvest gathered", not because it is a better word, but just because it is slightly less obvious. Do you think the use of familiar descriptive language is sometimes helpful to the reader, or does it simply make for a poor poem?
The inspiration for the second poem came from the drawing you can see here. This one I posted without the tear, but I have a copy of this girl in my sketchbook, with a tear on her left cheek. Hence the hidden tear. However the poem changed the girl substantially: the poem paints her in colour and curls her hair. What do you think of these developments? Should I have disciplined myself to describe what I first saw, or was it better to let the poem go where it would?
I would love you to let me know what you think of these ideas.
And why don't you follow similar inspiration to write a simple poem or two of your own? Again I'd love to see.
Louise
I need to rectify this. So this week I have written two short poems. They were written quickly and fall far short of the masterpieces I would like to write (!!), but they serve their purpose in just flexing those poetry muscles a little in preparation for some more serious exercise in the hopefully near future.
I share them with you because their simplicity allows us to ask some questions about poetic technique. I would love to know your thoughts on the points I make below.
The house I grew up in had a line of poplars at the end of the garden, a lasting image of my childhood scenery that came to mind as I racked my brain for a starting-point image:
Standing Sentries
Poplars stand sentry
As the field is ploughed
As the soil is turned
As the seed is sown
Poplars stand sentry
As the crop is grown
The harvest taken
As you come home.
And as it is painting that is keeping me from the poetry, I took the hindrance and charged it to be my muse:
Hidden Portrait
Painting your portrait
I take care
As my brush sweeps the tender
Curve of your nose,
As I colour your eyes
With the shine of experience.
Painting your portrait
I swirl joy
Into the curls of your auburn hair,
But at your cheek
My brush slows to uncover
The tear I know is hidden there.
How about a little analysis?
Do you notice how each of these poems repeats the first line in each stanza? I used this as a simple technique to lengthen the poems, by building on the same ideas a couple of times.
Do you notice how there is a slight twist at the end of each? This provides a reason, a justification, for capturing these scenes in poetry in the first place: they are not quite as ordinary as they seem. Having these changes at the end of each poem also provides a proper end, a completion, without which the poems may have just petered out unsatisfactorily.
The first poem is not very creative in its use of language: "the seed is sown" is unoriginal and an automatic, common description of the activity. Should the seed have been "flung" instead? Or perhaps it should have been "bedded?" But neither of these would have created the uneven rhyme with the later word "grown".
"The harvest taken" is a very minor improvement on "the harvest gathered", not because it is a better word, but just because it is slightly less obvious. Do you think the use of familiar descriptive language is sometimes helpful to the reader, or does it simply make for a poor poem?
The inspiration for the second poem came from the drawing you can see here. This one I posted without the tear, but I have a copy of this girl in my sketchbook, with a tear on her left cheek. Hence the hidden tear. However the poem changed the girl substantially: the poem paints her in colour and curls her hair. What do you think of these developments? Should I have disciplined myself to describe what I first saw, or was it better to let the poem go where it would?
I would love you to let me know what you think of these ideas.
And why don't you follow similar inspiration to write a simple poem or two of your own? Again I'd love to see.
Louise
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Book pages in mixed media art
I have taken the brave step of pulling pages from a book (sacrilege!) in the name of art.
I am quite sure people fall into one of two categories : those pure and perfectionist souls who worship a pristine book and those practical pensives who will happily deface one to extract its goodness.
Amongst readers there are those who handle their novels with care and insert respectful bookmarks. Then there are those who bend the covers backwards for easy reading and fold the corner of a page when there is no bookmark to hand.
In churches there are those who wrap their bibles securely in a leather cover and fret when the thumbed pages turn a little grey. Then there are the annotators who scribble notes in the margins, underline and even highlight in neon colours.
There are those who must buy new, to smell the pages and display on the shelf. Then there are those content with second-hand who can let the book journey on again after reading.
Which type of bookworm are you?
Being largely the former myself, choosing even an unwanted book otherwise destined for the charity shop, to rip the pages from for a little mixed media artwork required several deep breaths and a solid determination. But with a greater purpose in mind I took the plunge and now have these two ladies with book page hair to show for the poor book's sacrifice.
I think they are both mindful of the action required to style their recycled hair and appreciative of the result, as am I.
Louise
I am quite sure people fall into one of two categories : those pure and perfectionist souls who worship a pristine book and those practical pensives who will happily deface one to extract its goodness.
Amongst readers there are those who handle their novels with care and insert respectful bookmarks. Then there are those who bend the covers backwards for easy reading and fold the corner of a page when there is no bookmark to hand.
In churches there are those who wrap their bibles securely in a leather cover and fret when the thumbed pages turn a little grey. Then there are the annotators who scribble notes in the margins, underline and even highlight in neon colours.
There are those who must buy new, to smell the pages and display on the shelf. Then there are those content with second-hand who can let the book journey on again after reading.
Which type of bookworm are you?
Being largely the former myself, choosing even an unwanted book otherwise destined for the charity shop, to rip the pages from for a little mixed media artwork required several deep breaths and a solid determination. But with a greater purpose in mind I took the plunge and now have these two ladies with book page hair to show for the poor book's sacrifice.
I think they are both mindful of the action required to style their recycled hair and appreciative of the result, as am I.
Louise
Friday, 25 February 2011
Mermaid
Painting an underwater mermaid face had me trying some greener, yellower skin tones which I liked:
Louise
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Running on Empty
I've put off coming here this week (not because I don't love it - I do. And I am getting more and more fond of you who join me here), but because sometimes I feel empty. Not drained or depressed empty - just I-don't-know-what-to share empty. No wise thoughts, no beautiful ideas. So I hesitate, with a little worry in the back of my mind that maybe that's it, nothing will come at all.
So I've come here anyway and am writing about the emptiness. And in so doing I find words in the emptiness. They may not be my best, but they counteract the worrying silence. Minutes ago I despaired of having a blog post - now I have one, even if this is all it is.
So now I find the lesson. When we get stuck it's up to us to unstick ourselves. Not to worry that the end result may not be brilliant. Just take a few small steps and we will end up somewhere a little different. And sometimes that is enough.
The rest of my life hasn't been empty so I can also share with you my first profile portrait - my blue girl.
Keep moving won't you.
Louise
So I've come here anyway and am writing about the emptiness. And in so doing I find words in the emptiness. They may not be my best, but they counteract the worrying silence. Minutes ago I despaired of having a blog post - now I have one, even if this is all it is.
So now I find the lesson. When we get stuck it's up to us to unstick ourselves. Not to worry that the end result may not be brilliant. Just take a few small steps and we will end up somewhere a little different. And sometimes that is enough.
The rest of my life hasn't been empty so I can also share with you my first profile portrait - my blue girl.
Louise
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Monday, 3 January 2011
Intentionality
We human beings seem always to feel the need to divide our lives into segments according to the calendar, and the beginning of each new year has a particular hold over us: an invitation to a fresh start. Our penchant for New Year’s resolutions reveals our dissatisfactions with where we are currently going in our lives and provide us with motivation for change.
Some people love the opportunity to review and embrace the hope of improvement and rejoice at the chance to get back on track. For others, resolutions can mean pressure and failure. I tend to avoid setting them if I can, but inevitably find myself secretly thinking I would like to exercise more (my resolutions are always mundane, but important, like that).
Something I have noticed during my short few months in the blogosphere is how intentional so many of you are. There is a deliberate planning and goal setting that stands out and it has certainly captured my attention.
I realise I have not lived my life that way. I have been swept along by circumstances and obligations and the one thing that leads to another. The thought of making more deliberate choices and exercising intentionality I find intriguing. I feel it seducing me, but I feel myself hesitate. I am excited by the possibilities of more actively directing my own life, but like any new venture that requires more from us, it is daunting.
To be honest I don’t even know what it would mean for me, what it might look like. Perhaps this is what 2011 will be about: learning intentionality.
I have been practising though. Over the last three months I have become increasingly intentional about one thing: my art. I have thrown my energies into this new skill and made time to explore and hone it. I have loved this intentionality. I want this to motivate me to extend intentionality into other areas of my life and see where I lead myself.
But for now, art. Since I received Willowing's Fabulous Faces DVD for Christmas I have been hard at work and so here is lesson one. I am new to shading with graphite and I am happy with the result. I imagine she is looking into my new year to see what I will do with it. She is challenging me, but kindly!
Louise
Friday, 17 December 2010
Girl and Deer
Willowing has a monthly art challenge. This month it is to paint a girl with a deer. I have painted a few girls over the last couple of months, but animals, no. I have a Christmas decoration of a slightly stylized white deer which I love so I envisaged such a deer in a snowy scene all blues and white and sparkly.
Then I put pencil and paintbrush to paper and found instead an alert brown fawn against a background of Christmas pine green. Oh well. Now I know I can paint animals (deer, at least).
Louise
Then I put pencil and paintbrush to paper and found instead an alert brown fawn against a background of Christmas pine green. Oh well. Now I know I can paint animals (deer, at least).
Friday, 3 December 2010
Beauty and Art - A Perfect Match
Thanks to Willowing and AEDM, this blog took a turn I did not expect - as did my life.
Today I want to draw together both how it began and what it became, because the fit of these things is good and will lead us into whatever comes next.
But first, my latest artwork. I am truly hooked and find myself drawn back to my desk by an invisible string every spare moment I can find. This time I decided to try a little pencil shading and I was delighted to find this girl where pencil and paper met:
I began this blog as a poet who felt her life lacked poetry. I felt life shoud be beautiful, but I was missing it. Maybe I looked a little melancholic, like my shaded girl.
So I resolved to "slow down, breathe easy...look for beauty".
What I found was Art. And a community of (mostly) women who care about things both artistic and spiritual. Like me. Here are people who encourage me to express myself in poetry and painting. Here are people who have the courage and generosity to share the beauty of their creativity with me. I can't tell you what a difference you have made!
In finding Art, I have found the beauty I was searching for. So quickly, so easily! And it is the beauty of a growing confidence in my own abilities as an artist that has wowed me the most. I am a creative soul, in the image of my Creator, and I have found that to be of value in the world.
This is where beauty truly lies - in feeling ourselves to be of worth. Whether for you that is being valued by God, or your family or a community of artists or friends - that will be what truly makes the difference in your life.
Connection. Belonging. Relationship. Acceptance. Worth.
Thanking all of you for helping me get this far in my journey. Looking forward to walking the rest of it with you...
Louise
Today I want to draw together both how it began and what it became, because the fit of these things is good and will lead us into whatever comes next.
But first, my latest artwork. I am truly hooked and find myself drawn back to my desk by an invisible string every spare moment I can find. This time I decided to try a little pencil shading and I was delighted to find this girl where pencil and paper met:
I began this blog as a poet who felt her life lacked poetry. I felt life shoud be beautiful, but I was missing it. Maybe I looked a little melancholic, like my shaded girl.
So I resolved to "slow down, breathe easy...look for beauty".
What I found was Art. And a community of (mostly) women who care about things both artistic and spiritual. Like me. Here are people who encourage me to express myself in poetry and painting. Here are people who have the courage and generosity to share the beauty of their creativity with me. I can't tell you what a difference you have made!
In finding Art, I have found the beauty I was searching for. So quickly, so easily! And it is the beauty of a growing confidence in my own abilities as an artist that has wowed me the most. I am a creative soul, in the image of my Creator, and I have found that to be of value in the world.
This is where beauty truly lies - in feeling ourselves to be of worth. Whether for you that is being valued by God, or your family or a community of artists or friends - that will be what truly makes the difference in your life.
Connection. Belonging. Relationship. Acceptance. Worth.
Thanking all of you for helping me get this far in my journey. Looking forward to walking the rest of it with you...
Louise
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
A Bird for the Future
The last day of AEDM. Like any anticipated period of time, this month promised to be long, reached the halfway mark and sped to its end like a runner sprinting his final lap.
For my last offering I have illustrated a short poem I wrote a while ago as a poetry workshop exercise, so it is nice to make use of it in another group setting, so to speak.
Here is the poem:
The future threw a flash of colour past my window
Like an unknown bird caught in sudden flight
And finding my own wings, I rose and followed,
Forgetful of the day I'd planned -
A new one in my sight.
I feel this is appropriate for today for two reasons.
Firstly, those few snowflakes that fell around my visiting fox yesterday increased overnight changing my plans for today. This is the scene outside as I write. I know lots of you have snow too.
The second reason is this: this blog was still new when we began AEDM so now the month is over what will this blog become? The future is full of promise so please do stick around (like snow) and see what's still to come!
This month has been great. Thank you to everyone who has visited me here and offered such encouragement. Thank you to Leah for stretching me so much at the beginning of my art journey.
Let's follow that unknown bird into the future together!
love,
Louise
For my last offering I have illustrated a short poem I wrote a while ago as a poetry workshop exercise, so it is nice to make use of it in another group setting, so to speak.
Here is the poem:
An Unknown Bird
The future threw a flash of colour past my window
Like an unknown bird caught in sudden flight
And finding my own wings, I rose and followed,
Forgetful of the day I'd planned -
A new one in my sight.
I feel this is appropriate for today for two reasons.
Firstly, those few snowflakes that fell around my visiting fox yesterday increased overnight changing my plans for today. This is the scene outside as I write. I know lots of you have snow too.
The second reason is this: this blog was still new when we began AEDM so now the month is over what will this blog become? The future is full of promise so please do stick around (like snow) and see what's still to come!
This month has been great. Thank you to everyone who has visited me here and offered such encouragement. Thank you to Leah for stretching me so much at the beginning of my art journey.
Let's follow that unknown bird into the future together!
love,
Louise
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
What An Angel May Bring
The final week (for now!!) of Willowing's Art, Heart and Healing course gave us the task (or opportunity as I prefer to think of it) to create an Invitation Angel. This encourages us to be open to (rather than demand) something more in our lives. My angel immediately, though simply, offered LOVE.
Here are two photos of her taken in different light:
Now we all love a beautiful feminine angel, and I delight in mine. But actually she is a million miles from what I believe a true angel to be. An angel, for me, is a strong, powerful, awesome warrior and to the extent that one may ascribe gender to a heavenly being, male. He is to be feared - in a good way. Now a male presence like that would be something to celebrated as much as my gentle, beautiful love angel. He would be determined to bring love too.
How interesting to explore how radically different figures might carry the same message. The wonderful thing about this AEDM month (apart from the art I'm doing in it) is the inspiration that will be carried over into the months to come (I'd like to try painting my male angel).
Which leads me to another thing. It will be over soon (remarkably quickly, don't you think?) and that begs the question, what will this blog look like post AEDM? I am anticipating a certain melange of things - a continued display of Art as it happens , and of Poetry which is more where I started and also a return to my search for Beauty beyond the obvious (like my angel!). I also hope to explore some Philosophy of Life (such as the angelic guises in which love may come) and I really hope you will want to join my exploration because it will be so much more of a growth journey with your thoughts linking with mine.
So please hang around next month too and join in the journey. Let's go arm in arm together!
love,
Louise
Here are two photos of her taken in different light:
Now we all love a beautiful feminine angel, and I delight in mine. But actually she is a million miles from what I believe a true angel to be. An angel, for me, is a strong, powerful, awesome warrior and to the extent that one may ascribe gender to a heavenly being, male. He is to be feared - in a good way. Now a male presence like that would be something to celebrated as much as my gentle, beautiful love angel. He would be determined to bring love too.
How interesting to explore how radically different figures might carry the same message. The wonderful thing about this AEDM month (apart from the art I'm doing in it) is the inspiration that will be carried over into the months to come (I'd like to try painting my male angel).
Which leads me to another thing. It will be over soon (remarkably quickly, don't you think?) and that begs the question, what will this blog look like post AEDM? I am anticipating a certain melange of things - a continued display of Art as it happens , and of Poetry which is more where I started and also a return to my search for Beauty beyond the obvious (like my angel!). I also hope to explore some Philosophy of Life (such as the angelic guises in which love may come) and I really hope you will want to join my exploration because it will be so much more of a growth journey with your thoughts linking with mine.
So please hang around next month too and join in the journey. Let's go arm in arm together!
love,
Louise
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Mulberry Tree and Night Crows
Willowing has a monthly challenge and this November we were invited to try our hand at a painting inspired by Van Gogh. I took his "The Mulberry Tree" and "Wheat Field With Crows" as my inspiration and came up with this:
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Heart of Darkness
Yesterday was a dark day for me and I wanted to paint with black. So I decided to experiment further along the background route I began a few days ago and this is the result:
Needed to add a little colour to the black, then I found this old eclipse photograph which I turned round and discovered it looked a little like a heart, so suddenly I had my wording and the painting came together. Suddenly the darkness seemed to have something bright at its centre. Hope where I had expected to find only bleakness. Psychologically interesting.
Today I'm back to working on bigger projects, but until we next meet, here's a droplet poem for you:
O my sweet, sweet love have you
fallen from the edge of the earth
as you searched wide for me?
Or have you in madness
just fallen for somebody new?
Louise
Needed to add a little colour to the black, then I found this old eclipse photograph which I turned round and discovered it looked a little like a heart, so suddenly I had my wording and the painting came together. Suddenly the darkness seemed to have something bright at its centre. Hope where I had expected to find only bleakness. Psychologically interesting.
Today I'm back to working on bigger projects, but until we next meet, here's a droplet poem for you:
Upon your absence
O my sweet, sweet love have you
fallen from the edge of the earth
as you searched wide for me?
Or have you in madness
just fallen for somebody new?
Louise
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Messy Art Is Great!
I've missed a few days posting, but have been busy with art and general creativeness, so it's time for a catch up. I'm not displaying a piece for every day I've missed - some of my work is still in progress (isn't that great!), but here's what I've got so far:
I said, having painted Eve last week, that I needed to learn how to paint backgrounds. Well I got down and messy and loved it - threw the paint on, didn't panic when I wasn't happy, just threw on more until I was. This is what turned out:
I overcame two lifelong aversions: tearing up books and losing control. It felt great!
I've found that it's ok to mess up photos too. It's exciting to be going mixed media too:
I'm 20 years older and greyer than this photo, but who cares - it's how you feel inside that counts, isn't girls?!
And finally a little poem droplet:
If I could breathe the fire of dragons
I would not need to catch my breath
At the thought of you.
Louise X
I said, having painted Eve last week, that I needed to learn how to paint backgrounds. Well I got down and messy and loved it - threw the paint on, didn't panic when I wasn't happy, just threw on more until I was. This is what turned out:
I've found that it's ok to mess up photos too. It's exciting to be going mixed media too:
And finally a little poem droplet:
Dragon's Breath
If I could breathe the fire of dragons
I would not need to catch my breath
At the thought of you.
Louise X
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Eve
I promised something more substantial today and here it is:
This is Eve. I have wanted to paint her for ages now, but I haven't dared attempt her - not believing I could paint faces. Thanks to Willowing that is a negative belief I have been able to prove untrue. And she is my first blonde. My other success in this painting is the speed with which I produced it - from first sketch to finished product just two days. Now I know speed is not the point here and I want to cultivate a greater care in this new venture of mine, but in this instance it simply shows me what is possible.
Now what I am not happy with is the background. I need to do some serious practice with this. I need to get a lot braver. Look out for my progress...
The colours are another problem - both the background and the serpent. But you know what? I've learnt that's ok. I don't have to get everything right first time round. It's not about perfection; it's about expression.
I know I will paint this picture again sometime - different colours, darker background. I'm looking forward to it, though it won't be for a while...
What I am happy with though is my tree and Adam on that serpent-Eve pathway to where? Heaven or Hell? What do you think?
This is Eve. I have wanted to paint her for ages now, but I haven't dared attempt her - not believing I could paint faces. Thanks to Willowing that is a negative belief I have been able to prove untrue. And she is my first blonde. My other success in this painting is the speed with which I produced it - from first sketch to finished product just two days. Now I know speed is not the point here and I want to cultivate a greater care in this new venture of mine, but in this instance it simply shows me what is possible.
Now what I am not happy with is the background. I need to do some serious practice with this. I need to get a lot braver. Look out for my progress...
The colours are another problem - both the background and the serpent. But you know what? I've learnt that's ok. I don't have to get everything right first time round. It's not about perfection; it's about expression.
I know I will paint this picture again sometime - different colours, darker background. I'm looking forward to it, though it won't be for a while...
What I am happy with though is my tree and Adam on that serpent-Eve pathway to where? Heaven or Hell? What do you think?
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