Eighteenth Painting

Whoah!

I disappeared for a bit there.

Sorry 'bout that!

I got caught up in some other stuff and didn't have time to blog.

So!  Here we are, back to our "regular program".  =-)

I've been writing about an online painting course i took with Connie, called BIG Fearless Painting.

LOVE!

Did i already tell you how much i loved it?!

'Cause i CERTAINLY Loved it!!!  =-)

I still love painting, but truth be told, i haven't really painted since the course ended... 

Sad, but true.

But that's NOT 'cause i don't like painting!

I LOVE PAINTING!!!

...i'm just not too sure of what to paint, and i haven't done one vital thing: i haven't MADE time each day to paint.

I've been doodling in my Notebook, so that's good.  =-)

But i'm not standing up and painting BIG, so that's not too good...

BUT!!!

I HAVE ordered one of the art books that Connie recommended, and it should be here in a day or two, so THAT'S good.  =-)

Anyway, i came here to tell you about my 18th Painting.

Okay, for this exercise, Connie told us to think about

"What does it feel like to be me?"

... ummm...

WHAT?!

This exercise had me stymied.

...what does it feel like to be me...?!

I have no idea what it "feels like" to be me!  I've always *been* me, so i don't know how it feels to be anybody else!  What do you mean, "what does it feel like to be me!?!"

But after i let that settle in for awhile, i started thinking.

...Well, it's kinda...

...I'm kinda dreamy...

...and floaty...

...and swimmy...

I didn't really have a "pre-conceived" idea when i started this one.  But with "dreamy" and "floaty", I just got out a *bunch* of blue paints, and i began.

Then it needed orange...

and yellow...

and then some !Raspberry!  I'm lovin' Raspberry lately!  =-)

Sorry but i had to resort to taking the pictures inside, where the lighting for a camera isn't really great. 

In the meantime, here's the best photo i have.

I think this Painting is fairly juvenile, but it's what came out.

I just "painted with the Flow".   =-)

This is a preliminary photo of the Painting "in process":

And here's a shot of it, *almost* completed:

... um, i don't think i have a "final" shot...

Crap!!!  I thought i had a finished shot, but i don't!  I looked all over my 'puter, but i never took one!  I guess i didn't take it because i was gonna wait for a Sunny day, but then, when the Sun finally decided to shine,  i'd moved on to other things and forgot!

...hmm...

I'm sorry.  I honestly don't know if i'll *ever* get a "final shot".  Just sayin'.

I added some white highlights, is all.

Anyway.

The full title is
"Floaty, Dreamy, Swimmy
Usually Good, Sometimes Sad"


Because i'm typically never "just one thing"; i vascillate.
Today i like something, and tomorrow i'm not really fond of it.
Today i want something, and tomorrow i'm not interested.
Today i feel good, and tomorrow i'm depressed.

(Though lately, with all the painting i've been doing, i've been feeling GREAT! =-) )


I hope YOU've been feeling great too!  =-)

I apologize again for being absent for a couple of days.

Shit happens, ya know.

Hopefully i'll keep up now.  

=-)

Seventeenth Painting

In Connie's course, BIG, we were encouraged to paint by "going with the flow"... "listening to the Painting"... "painting what we're feeling".

After my scribbling, and shapes, and painting like a 5-year-old, and the serious Memory paintings, i felt like painting "without a plan".

...actually, i had a bit of a plan, but of course, once again, the "plan" in my head was NOT what came out onto the paper.  =-)

My "plan" was to paint the night sky, and then to paint a Big Moon.

...well, i painted that, and then i walked away 'til the next day.

Ha.  

The next day, that Moon suddenly became a Girl!

And then a moon showed up small & in the upper corner.

So i learned that when you're painting "from your feelings", the picture will most likely *not* (almost never, hardly ever) turn out like the one in your head!

Here she is, Gothic Moon Girl  (Sorry. I couldn't figure out how to rotate the pic; just turn your head to the left):

It's hard to tell from a picture, but she's kinda big.  

She's 28" x 34".

I'm not crazy in love, but i think she's alright.  =-)

And that's okay.

I hope you're having a great day today.  

If not, try this for me (just humor me a little):

Right now, 

just where you are,

turn your head up and say "Haa ha ha!" loudly!

You have to do it really loud so the air is forced out of your lungs.

You'll feel silly, but you'll also feel something else.

I'm not gonna tell you what you'll feel.

You'll have to find out for yourself.

=-)

Thanks for stopping by!  See you tomorrow!  =-)

Sixteenth Painting

I took Connie's on-line painting course, BIG, and i've been posting about it here.

I finished this course a week or so ago, but i've delayed posting 'til now.  The timing simply worked better for me.  But i journaled a bit during the course, so it's like you were there with me!  =-)

Anyway, today's painting was another Contour Painting.

I drew the contour with a regular Ball Point pen, and then painted it with watered-down Acrylics.  I used "close to real" colors this time, instead of my usual brights or "odd" colors.  The only thing is, i forgot to paint in my white hairs (some people call them grey... whatev), and i didn't paint the background...  But, honestly?  I'm done with this one.

Again, i don't love it, but i don't hate it.  So, it just is.

It's practice with faces, is what i think it is.

So there.

I did it, and *that's* the important part.  =-)

Have a look:

Again, Boyfriend said, "You look way better than that."
That's sweet.  Not that he thinks i look better, but that he thinks i could actually *draw* a *realistic-looking* person!  Ha ha ha!  =-)


Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you have a SUPER DAY today!!!


=-)

Fifteenth

Sorry, but this one isn't really a Painting.  Well, it is, but it's not.

In Connie's course, BIG, she asked us to do a Blind Contour drawing, and then to paint it.  She warned us that we'd probably end up with something very "Picasso-like", so i knew it would be funky

and that it's okay.  =-)

A Blind Contour drawing (of yourself) is where you look in the mirror, but NOT at your paper, and you draw "the edges" of what you see.  It's a good exercise.  They do it in "real" Art classes... at Colleges and Universities and everything!  =-)

Anyway.

So i tried it.

I don't really like it, but that doesn't matter.  It's definitely NOT supposed to be a Masterpiece or anything.  =-)

...but i must confess.  I had to cheat.

I just *had* to! [whine when you read that]

When i was doing the eyes, i couldn't stop myself from looking at my paper!

Whew! Confession really is good for the soul.  =-)

See it for yourself:

I painted it with "odd" colors again.  I wasn't going for "realistic" here, once again.  I like painting with bright, vibrant colors.  I decided to go sort of Pastel-ish here, though.

I don't love it, but i don't hate it either.  It just is.

I look at it as an exercise in getting me to paint a face, without allowing my Inner Critic to be able to say anything about it because i had the "Perfect" excuse of, "I wasn't able to look at it while i was doing it! *NO*body could do a "perfect" face without looking!"  [again, with the whining!]

Anyway, again, this was in my Notebook.

Drawn with a regular Ball Point pen.

Painted with Acrylics (watered down).

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope your day is MARVELOUS!!!

=-)

Fourteenth Painting

I've been taking an on-line painting course (called BIG) with Connie.

I decided to post my results here.

Okay, so once again it's a picture from my Notebook.

Connie wanted us to do a Contour Painting of ourselves...

A Contour Painting is when you simply paint the outline or the edges of your subject.  For this, i had to look in the mirror, then at my paper; mirror, paper, mirror, paper.  You get the idea.

This is what i "came up with".  =-)

Not really too happy with the results, but that's not the point.

I think this exercise was to help us get an idea that faces aren't really as difficult to do as we might think.  To help us stop avoiding trying to paint faces.   To let us know that our faces may not come out like we would like, but that it's okay.  It's not like it's Brain Surgery!  It's okay, however it comes out.  =-)

So anyway.

I painted it some funky colors 'cause i wanted to let myself know that it's okay to have fun with it.

Boyfriend looked at it and said, "You look a lot better than that..."   =-)

I thought that was *HILARIOUS*!

I told him it doesn't matter.

What matters is that i *did* it!  =-)

I hope you have a MARVELOUS weekend!

See you Monday!

=-)

Thirteenth Painting

I've been taking an on-line painting course called BIG (with Connie), and this is your "daily update".  =-)

This is Tuesday morning's "Painting", but in all fairness it isn't really "A Painting".    =-)

Again, it's in my Notebook.

I didn't have much time with this one, so i simply used my Watercolor Crayons and "played around" on the pages.

I told you i love Blues!  =-)

Simple enough.

Like i said, i didn't have much time that morning...

But i have something good coming up soon.

Not tomorrow, but soon.

Tomorrow's post is "just okay".

But remember, it's NOT about the Painting, but about the Process!  =-)

See you tomorrow!

=-)

Happy Birthday to...

She's a Photographer

(I've used many of her photos on my blog, like this one, and this one, and this one, and...  Well, you get the idea!

She's working on making an Etsy site...

I'll post that when she gets it going.)

She's not afraid to be Silly

She's an excellent Travel Partner

She's Sweet, 

and Talented, 

and everybody LOVES her!

She's my oldest daughter, Bunny, and 

TODAY IS HER BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Twenty-second Birthday 

Sweet Girl!!!

I hope you have a Great Day!

Back tomorrow with more Painting posts.

=-)

Twelfth Painting

Well, to be fair, this isn't really a "Painting".

Connie wanted us to "art" every day this week...

This is in my... Notebook.  Some people call it a "journal"... Some call it a Scrapbook...  Some call it a Doodle book...  Different people call it different things, but i'm most comfortable simply calling it my Art Notebook.

...Honestly?  I'm not comfortable calling it *any*thing!  But Notebook will do.  =-)

Anyway, here's my Monday morning Art;  i used 

Acrylic paints and

Stencils

This picture should be turned sideways so the leafy picture is on the left, but...  I don't know what happened here.  I *still* don't have a great grasp of Blogger.  Sorry.

Anyway, i did the "top" page with three stencils, and the "bottom" page was my "cast-off" paint - the place i used to sort of "dry" my brush off before i painted on the stencil page.  I didn't want to "waste" all that paint, so i just put it on the facing page...

Here you go:

Nothing great, but it felt good doing it.  =-)

I seem to really be into red, orange & yellow lately...

And i'm *always* into Blues!  =-)

See you tomorrow!

=-)

Eleventh Painting

For the painting this week, Connie told us to look back at all of our other Paintings and simply be curious about them.  

To spread them out and look at them and ask questions like:

What color(s) did i use a lot?

What symbol(s) or theme(s) seem to show up a lot?

How did i feel while i was making each Painting?

How do all of the Paintings seem to relate to each other?

She didn't want us to ask "why" this or that came up.

She didn't want us to analyze how we could have done a "better job".

She didn't want us to critique our Paintings, nor to worry about proportion or any Art School type of categories.

She just wanted us to be curious about all our previous Paintings, and to be open-minded about our next one.

So i went to my Studio with NO pre-conceived notion of what i would paint.

I did go to my paper with the idea that i had used a lot of green and orange in my previous paintings, so i wanted to explore that a bit.

What came out sort of surprised me, since i started with NO picture in my head, and no idea where i would start or where i would go next.

Well, let me show you my Painting:

There's a lot i don't know about it, but there are certain things i do know.

For instance, i have figured out that the Girl is me.

The orange & black things on the top right side are Adults talking to me, dictating things to me.

I'm not sure what all the dots on the top left are.

I also don't know why i'm all "zipped up".  I  think it has something to do with not voicing my opinion for many years while growing up.

I'm not sure why my heart is black... and why it's broken.  (You probably can't tell it from the photo, but it's broken in half.)

I also don't understand why my 1st Chakra is so dark.  (The 1st Chakra is low in the groin.)

I'm not really concerned with all those "Unknowns" above.

I'm fairly certain i'll be standing across the room from this Painting in a number of days, months, years, and suddenly have some deep understanding... some deep "knowing".  I'm not really concerned with it right now.

But i like this Painting.  =-)

I  also like that my family likes it too.  Or at least, they *tell* me they like it.  =-)  And Bunny noticed something i had already noticed: she said it looks like a Nesting Doll to her.  I like that too.

This has been a wonderful process, this painting from the Heart-thing.

I plan on getting a couple of books that Connie recommended and doing more.

Because i've discovered that 

I

FREAKIN'

LOVE

PAINTING!!!

I hope you find something that ignites your Fire like i have.  =-)

'Til tomorrow!

=-)

Tenth Painting

So i've been taking a 6-week painting course on-line with Connie, and i'm having such a BLAST!

Connie told us to paint a memory, and my first memory painting was a bit of a downer.

So i decided to paint something happy.

In the car, i could think of *tons* of happy memories i could paint...

I thought *surely* i could find a happy memory to paint...

Um...

Hmmm...

Easier said than done, i guess.

When i got in front of my big white paper, the only memory that would come up was *another* bad one.

There's a looong story behind this one, but i'll try to give you the condensed version...
I skipped high school one day, got drunk, woke up to my oldest brother fussing at me about how i was being awful to our Mom.
This painting is my view while walking away from him, toward my car up the steps.
He was fussing at me hard, and i yelled back, "Shut up!  You don't even know!!!"  I don't exactly remember what happened after i got in my car, but this painting wanted to come out.


So i let it.
That's kinda what Connie's course is about: letting out what needs to come out; letting the painting speak to you... and LISTENING; letting happen what needs to happen (sort of like in Yoga class).


It's about Painting (the verb), the *Process*, not about The Painting (the noun).
And i still LOVE painting!


Hope i haven't brought you down today with this.
That is NOT my intent!
Just sharing my life and what i'm doing with my Art.


Won't you share yours too?


Hope you have a GREAT weekend!
See you Monday.


=-)