Peaceful Sky

Hello!  I love Art Journaling Magazine and am always finding inspiration to get messy when I read it. This weekend after reading many articles I was reminded of how much I love to just spread paint, see the raw brush strokes and enjoy, without trying so hard.

I incorporated the scribbly writing across, as some art journal artists do. This time I felt like mirroring the writing three times, but with varying thickness of pens.  I like how it came out, kind of reminds me of reflections on rippling water, or how words sometimes echo in our minds...

For some reason these words came to me, and even though the sky is pretty dramatic here, the colours felt peaceful.  I've been deepening my yoga practice and am learning to connect to my breath and heartbeat to find peace, even when it isn't peaceful around me..

This colour scheme was simple, but it sings to me.  Wishing you a peaceful heart this week!

Within You And Without You

I had some ups and downs this week while painting.  One may become something totally different, which is yet to be seen.  I was trying a new technique, but am thinking I went overboard...  

This week's painting is one of three I started when the deep red paint squirted out VERY quickly.  I had so much paint to use up, so I incorporated it onto three newly gessoed pages.  One became an art journaling type piece, inspired by an old photo in the Drive Magazine and words I pulled from my collection.  The other I rolled with a polka dot roller and love the texture, but don't know what it is becoming yet.

I feel like  I see landscapes in so many of my paint swirls.  This piece became what it was when I went crazy with the birds and felt like leaving the girl see-through.  This was making me think of phrases like, "We are one" and "We are all interconnected", but then this quote from George Harrison's song came up (as it sometimes does) and there you go.

To our journey, the fun, the frustration and the finding peace with finishing.

Enjoy your week!

Botanic Cameo

Here's one I had "on hold' forever.  Since this challenge is about combating that feeling, I thought it apropos that I would jump in and finish it, and not worry about "messing it up" or it not coming out as imagined.  

In the end, I still worked on the details a lot, and maybe am still working on leaving it, rather than over workings something, but I finished it and am happy with her!  She's sweet and surrounded by nature.

Wishing you the same this week!

Billowing Magenta

This one's a piece of subtle happiness.  It's almost monochromatic, but then I felt the green was in order.  The silver over grey is interesting in person, with different play in various lighting.

Again, I struggled a bit with not wanting to "mess it up", since the pink and white cloudiness came so easily and I liked it as is!  I don't know if I would have gone bolder with the botanics, but I still like the effect.  These cloud-scapes keep coming out of my paintbrush, and the inky releases are so much fun to watch and leave be...

I used symbols from a favourite deck- Animal Spirit By Kim Krans.  Somehow I wanted all entities represented- earth, water, fire, air and spirit.  Plus, I've been loving incorporating triangles lately, so this just felt right!

Enjoy your week!

Magenta Mountains

This one is very hard to photography, so we'll just have to know that it's more special in person!  It seems to be shining on the collage pieces below, but where the actual shine is- the copper sun- it seems dull... Hmm.  (Someday maybe I'll have a good scanner/printer for this work.)

Anyway- my process.  I always keep gessoed pages ready to capture excess paint while I'm painting. This page began to immerge as oranges, pinks and purples and blacks, but it was very busy with lots of cool marks...  So I decided to cut it for collage.  I've  been thinking about triangles a lot.  First I played with making an all over pattern on the brayed wood panel, but then I decided to use these in a more abstract mountain way.  (Go figure- me and mountain lines!)

Even though I still almost over worked it- stop while you're ahead and before you do something you will be bummed about!!!- it came out pretty nicely.  ;)  I am enjoying sitting down and creating and then finalizing without so much hemming and hawing and putting things on hold.  So this challenge seems to be working.

Enjoy your week!

Carefree Courage

Hello!  This was one of those days where I went through a range of emotions- excitement, interest, despair, disgust, courageous, carefree, curious, unsure, almost stuck, brave and then happy and proud!

If you look on the Palmsprout Facebook feed, you'll see how this painting unfolded- how it had a beautiful warm background and then a beautiful little face, then a painting fiasco continue, and I did what I often envy other artists for- I bravely covered it almost entirely over with more ink...  In the end there are a bit here and there peaking through, but a totally new layer of darkness changed the direction.  

Interestingly, I made almost the exact face as a practice in my art journal, and she came out to be a lovely piece.  I guess it was all meant to be. 

Wishing you carefree courage in what ever you are trying (and failing) at this week!

Howlin' at the baloon

This weekly challenge is helping me finish things!  Even though these layers take time to dry between each, I still sometimes get stuck and put a piece "aside to think", which ends up being an indefinite unfinished business...  So this piece was on that track, but because I needed to finish it this weekend, I made a choice, and the wolf is just what I needed to make this have "something extra".  

I am learning that part of my "putting it on hold" impulse in art is when I have an idea and then the immediate feeling like I don't have the skills to actualize that idea.  This weekend I just went for it, drawing that wolf multiple times until I was happy with it, then I rolled paint across a piece of paper, waited for it to dry, then transferred my drawing onto it!  Yay!

Wishing you a week of reflection and learning more about your fears and behavior patterns!

PS That is a goofy title, but it might stick!