Psychedelic Branches

This piece is a fun direction I'm heading- painting on silk!  Today I volunteered with the San Diego Silk Guild at the San Diego Festival of the Arts and we offered a hands-on experience for all visitors.  It was fun to see all the creativity from different people- so diverse.

I hadn't planned to create there but then, when Suz suggested I paint one, I realized this is my Sunday's Not-So-Sacred offering, as I didn't think much, and just painted the gutta on, then mixed colours around the space and then mixed the grey purple for the leaves and was done!  I love that even though I finished, the salt continued to do it's magic- pulling the colours all over the place!

I can't wait to continue to explore painting on silk and I have so many ideas for my fall silk scarf line that will be coming out and available this year. (Here's a clue: organics and geometrics...)

Wishing you a beautiful week!

A Rainy Day on a World With Three Suns

This piece is pretty much what this challenge is all about- playing, trying new things, being okay with a mess and then making a judgment call about when it's "done". I have been enjoying creating variations on geometric shapes, and plan to doodle more this summer to build my repertoire and find new combos I like.

Who knows whether this is "done" but being happy with the process, adding and playing and then letting go is what life is all about, right?

Besides, this abstract piece feels like reality on a new world- when there are three suns burning through the clouds, anything is possible!

Enjoy your week!

Peaceful Geofloral

This is so simple, yet so much of what I've been exploring- new techniques and the combo of geometrics and florals. I tried the technique of painting the image first with water, then filling in the water with pigment, which bends and bleeds and moves around randomly.  It is also a bit of a trust, since it is hard to see where the water is, that you are trying to fill with colour.

I love the combo of these colours (you may have guessed, looking at all my work!)  These paints blended so nicely.

Wishing you a peaceful week!

Silence Is Golden

This morning's walk along the water inspired this.  So many succulents and agave are in bloom and their giant stalks are such lovely silhouettes!  I love this simple and elegant style, and will probably continue to make more, since there are so many beautiful botanicals to try out!

I also need to continue to play with ink and water.  Those ombre mountains were so much fun to play with.  This is still a game of "let it be" rather than continuing to "fix".  Perfect companion for this challenge, right?

Enjoy your week!

Dream Warrior

This weekend I had fun blowing expensive watercolour around... But more on that later.  

This painting began as a sketch, then I added watercolour and it seemed like a painted study that I have often done.  So that's where I asked myself, "What else?"

I used a polka dot roller and also a pencil with a brand new eraser as a stamp to make the blue bubbles.  I'm having fun embellishing and somehow the word warrior is coming often to me.  What does that mean?  

I'm having fun incorporating more words into my pieces.  Looking at this I wonder if I need to push further, but for now, I like the simplicity-and the calmness of her gaze.

Growing more fearless each day of this challenge.

Enjoy your week!

Be Here Now

Regardless of being super busy this weekend and having technical issues, I did keep to my challenge!  Now I am a few days late posting it, but I was on time with making sure I am regularly finishing a piece.  I started this one long ago, and this challenge has helped me to "just do it"!

Somehow these quiet moments that I am striving to make sacred in my own life are coming onto the page.  Do yo see a theme here?  I am starting to!

On a side note, I just realized that the background colours were smeared on with a credit card, and this may be a subliminal commentary on finding other uses for our credit cards!  ;) 

Enjoy your week!

Fearless Reader

Who knew a little superhero would emerge today?  

This background was one of three I made from an explosive paint incident.  I have been wanting to do more with figures, and when I did, I wasn't fully happy that she was carrying a basic clutch.  So I turned it into a book and she seemed so confident, that the words seemed right.

Are you a fearless reader?  

I've been reading a lot on many topics, and plan to continue, so maybe if I was a superhero, this could be me...

Enjoy your week!

Warmest of Sunsets

Hello!

This piece was a totally different painting that I have in my head, which I will paint, but soon into it, I realized this was coming out and it took a life of it's own.  Somehow I need to paint beautiful skies and mountain lines... why?  I can't say, except maybe because I love nature so much?

This colour scheme is new for me and I really like it.  I may keep playing with this. 

This week is the embodiment of the 2017 challenge- I had such a busy weekend, got home from after 7 hours at a fair in the sun, thought I might be too exhausted to paint, but started anyway, and this went so quick.  Hooray for giving yourself personal challenges for growth!

Enjoy your week!

Warrior For Peace

I have to admit that I started this as a background using up paint that I had left over.  I just wrote positive words all over and stenciled and went from there.  Since this year's challenge is about "doing it!" and moving forward (and learning from that!), I grabbed that unfinished background that was languishing in my pile of unfinished parts and went for it. 

The new scribble sticks from Dina Wakley are pretty fun!  I used the night and boysenberry shades and had fun using water to blend them.  Somehow as she immerged, two words were left: Namaste and peace.  I recently read a page in my evening yoga book which encourages us all to be active- a warrior for peace, so that just felt right as she was finalizing...

Have a beautiful week and maybe you can find that moment to be a peace warrior... 

because after all, Mother Teresa said,

"Peace begins with a smile."

Smile on.

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!

Mountain Calm

I am really feeling good about this challenge.  It's been reminding me to "just finish" a piece, rather than wait and wonder if I ought to do something else or "make it better".  I think this has also helped me leave a piece alone before I fuss with it too much and then don't love what I did...

I have been so drawn to mountain lines and they still make me happy. 

 I love the combo with these big circles.

Mountain Calm, Acrylic on wood.

Enjoy your week!

Calm

Here I am, letting go, creating a crazy background, 

setting with it and then finding calm amidst the storm!  

Using Aquaboard is great for this "just-create-without-so-much-thinking" challenge since the best effects come when you don't try to manipulate it so much and just go with the flow- literally- the ink is flowing around in the water on the surface and interacting with the other ink puddles in unique ways.  

For instance on the upper right side you see a cool shape that reminds me of a tree on a cliff being blown.  I don't think I could have got that delicate organic-ness if I tried, and if I had messed with it I would have lost the beauty.  

The orange pieces are from a watercolour piece of paper, with similar zen relaxed effects- paint with salt and then sit back and see how it dries...

Wishing you peace and calm this week- 

or the ability to relax and enjoy the storm, 

which is pretty much the same, maybe?

Water is Life

I'm finding it interesting that I named this challenge "not-so-sacred" and the messages that have been speaking to me are pretty sacred!  (Must be the times we are living in right now!) I started this wanting to make sure that I keep a weekly practice of playing, exploring and not worrying so much about the outcome of a painting.  This I've done, though this week I am a day late, since so many paintings were in progress and needed drying between going forward.  For instance the paper for the flag and boat are both painted as well, and then I cut that out and used them for the imagery.

The Standing Rock message- Water is life- is one that has been pulling me lately.  If, in fact, we soil these waters, then many states down stream would be without clean water.  I feel it is so important to reflect and make choices that will help our future society, not just help the here and now, or those who already have a lot of money and power.  

The concept of a water protector is beautiful, and a metaphor for our own lives.  

What do you protect and find so sacred in your day to day life that you would take a stand for it?

This one is in dedication to all those people in the freezing cold, 

standing up for something they feel is quintessential for our life- clean water.

Mni Wiconi

Water is life.

All parts of the whole

This week I continue to let go, enjoy the moment and not worry so much about the outcome of my art.  I have been thinking about collage a lot, and incorporating beautiful papers, so I enjoyed using these triangles.  

The words came to me, wanting to convey something about us being parts of a bigger whole.  This sunburst shape gave me the last sentence.  Imperfect, growing, trying to navigate a stormy world, the sun shines on us all, so are we so different after all?

Wishing you moments of connection and feeling a part of a bigger picture. 

Enjoy your week!

Together, We Are Strong

In the vein of letting go and freeing up, today I did what I love to do with watercolour- 

play with lines and balance.  

Of course, important messages and statements are swirling around my mind, after spending a rejuvenating march with maybe 40,000 other humans who took a stand for humanity today here in San Diego.  

So today, these lines that I often paint felt like they were representing the people of the world coming together. Let's stand- for all we believe that humanity can be and hold it true.  Embody love, hope and unity to model positive energy for our future generations!  

The Sea Emerges

Here's my second week's endeavor of this year's weekly challenge to flow, relax and be with a painting and not overthink it.  This one I was thinking would have a word or phrase on it, but then I loved the movement and subtleties I captured and decided to let it be "done".  It's much more pastel than I've done before, but feels great in person.

I love the ocean so much, it makes total sense that when I relax and let go, the sea emerges...

Enjoy your weekend!

Not-So-Precious-Saturday-2

Simplicity: The First Not-So-Precious-Saturday post!

Happy Saturday, everyone! I have been pondering what my new creative steps would be for 2017, and I am excited to finally share my plans! 

When I began the 2106 Creative Quote challenge, my goal was to foster consistency, to ensure that I made creating a priority for myself, and I am proud of a full year of quotes! 

For this year I asked myself what I most need in order to go deeper, and I realized it is about not holding so tight to beautiful parts of the creative process so much that I become stuck and don't finish a piece. 

So- this year's challenge is called Not-So-Precious-Saturdays: to remember that each layer is a journey, and nothing is so precious that it stops me from moving forward or discovering the piece's full potential. It is also about saying I'm done to a piece, rather than putting it indefinitely on hold because I'm not quite sure how to proceed and am afraid to "ruin" it.

This piece: This is acrylic on wood with ink, stamping and a golden paper triangle.  I enjoyed leaving some of the wood showing through, and the word just felt like the right element and is so apropos for my life right now.  I am going for more intention, more discernment and less of what I don't fully believe in.  It was lovely working on this wood panel- so sleek and inviting!

I am looking forward to challenging myself to get messy this year, and I imagine some Creative Quotes will still be an added bonus here and there! Thanks for all of your support and feedback! 

Sending out lots of love!