Aurora Leaves the City Behind, a painting in stages

Painting on the brain...
I've been working on my painting skills over these past few weeks. I struggle though. The struggle is not just to find time to paint but to allow myself have the time and space to paint. Not sure what your take on painting is so I'll just speak to what it is for me, at this time. I like painting and I'd like painting to be one of my regular hobbies. I know that it isn't just a hobby but a skill that needs time, patience and lots of practice.

Express...
A painting can be an expression of an idea, a place real or imagined, a dream or be completely random and spontaneous. I usually creatively express myself in other ways like sewing or baking. Maybe it's because I prefer making something that I've had the most consistent successful results with. I should persist with painting because in time it too will begin to have successful outcomes...

Learning to relearn how to paint...
I've taken drawing, painting and watercolor classes years ago but I feel like I've forgotten much of what I once learned mostly because I didn't regularly paint. I only occasionally painted. So this year my New Years Resolution, a first for me, was to paint more. I don't make New Year's Resolutions so I thought if I do make one it will have to be a resolution I'd actually enjoy doing. A resolution that would bring back something I would like to welcome into my lifestyle; something that would enhance my life as an artist. In deciding to paint more I needed to find at least one on line painting class. And this painting (below) is from the first class I took this year by Juliette Crane called How to Paint a Girl.

Take a break...
One thing I'm beginning to understand is that I'm just like any other person who struggles with creating. There are times of success, times of frustration and sometimes downright failures. Some days I have a clear direction for what I'm creating. Other days I'm totally lost and muddling through. I'm learning to identify and accept these cycles as part of the process. It's difficult to KBO (Keep Buggering On) so when things don't work out I'm learning what works for me... taking a few minutes, hours or days away from a painting can be helpful. Working on more than one project at a time can be helpful. Get involved in something else like gardening can help to change my perspective. Taking the opportunity to get past a mental block can be a great way to help me work through these difficulties so I can get to that next level of creative freedom and expression. The more time I work on and work through these moments the more I will begin to have successful outcomes; just like I do with sewing and baking! Truth be told even though I do have a lot of experience baking and sewing there are still times they don't turn out no matter what... so yeah all part of the process!



Using an existing skill for a new purpose!
I love taking photos! One method I've begun implementing is to take photographs of my painting at different stages. Using photos in combination with painting is a new tool for me! I'm enjoying it because I can see how my painting evolves. I like seeing the progression from an idea to where I struggled and it's cool to see where I discovered elements that helped my piece become successful. It is kind of hard to see one idea get covered up by another but by taking photographs through the stages I can always look what I've lost and use the idea for another painting in the future so that's kind of cool. When a painting seems like it's not going anywhere or like I'm not having fun anymore taking a color I like and painting in a playful way helps. These photos are a great way to take a step back from the work. Seeing how the colors are balanced and work together, how the elements are balanced is important to see where the piece is going and what possibilities are waiting to be discovered! Photographing my paintings seems an especially helpful tool when I'm struggling.

Here's the first idea I had for this painting, a fairy girl in a garden... So I put a bunch of paint and ephemera on the canvas and started to carve out shapes but when I stepped back I wasn't liking the uneven wings, her hair or the ephemera after all... So I snapped a photo. Then I took a color that I do like and painted over all the stuff I didn't like. I kept at it and putting other colors on the canvas overlapping them and dripping paint all over and scuffling in some new shapes... 

As you can see a lot has happened between that first idea and this next photo. I applied many layers of color I turned the painting this way and that so I'd get interesting drips. I added trees and that big grey cloud. I added more detail to her face and dress. And with some time and energy and perseverance the whole thing was a lot more appealing. And although it is quite different than it began I really liked where it was going.

This is the finished painting! I really worked hard to get this girl to emerge. It was hard but I spent several days painting her, the path she's on, the trees, the shading, the cloud, the cityscape and the snow in order to get them to look as they do. And I believe the work I put in payed off! This is one of my more successful paintings and I couldn't be more pleased. It may not seem like much but from three simple photos it's easy to see where I started and how far the work has come. 

Change is good!

I ended up changing the initial theme but really this snow scene suits me better. I really love the blues and greens together. Her dress is such a cheerful green and the belt, which is really a bit of ribbon, is so sweet! To me there's something very magical about snow and shadows. The city and the cloud is a bit gloomy but it's behind her and with each step into the forest she's leaving the city behind. And what a coincidence! I moved from the city to the country! And I'm much happier for it. I know I can always go back to the city for a visit. Maybe someday I could even live in a city again but for now being in the country and seeing the stars and smelling the fresh air is so completely magical that it rejuvenates my soul everyday!

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave me questions, comments & feedback about my painting, Aurora Leaves the City Behind.

Enjoying the sunshine,

Stephie

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Topiary Girl

Hello! I wanted to tell you about this on-line painting class I'm taking & where it's taking me!!! 

In early January I signed up to take a class by Juliette Crane called How to Paint a Girl. It's not my first on-line class so I was not terribly nervous about how on-line classes work and whether they'd work for me. I was only a little bit nervous but really I was more excited to get over my fears: getting past muddy colors, sharing my art work with other people & painting faces!  It's been two weeks and already I'm making decent progress in these areas. Check out Juliett's sneak peek of How to Paint a Girl & an Owl!

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Here's my painting

Topiary Girl

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I dunno if you can you tell but I really like orange & green together!  Here is one of my 'girls' and I don't know about you but my favorite part of the girl is the skirt! I really love polka dots!

Honestly it took me a while - I worked on and off for days - to get this Topiary Girl accomplished.... but before I took this class I would have been discouraged when I got muddy effects from over painting. I would have either set it aside or worse yet thrown it out. Good thing Juliette talked some sense into me because I've learned how to avoid getting muddy effects. And if I do, and I did get them, I learned to walk away , let it dry, then apply a new color that I do like and continue on. Sometimes if I don't want to wait for the paint to dry on it's own I'll get the craft hair dryer out and speed things along.... my craft hair dryer is really just a travel sized hair dryer... ;-)

For my painting Topiary Girl  not only did I have to over come muddy colors but another more alarming obstacle for me was that I didn't know that I had selected a page with Crackle Glaze on it. I thought it was simply a sparse background of color. I think it was over a year ago that I put that page away. More than enough time to forget that it had Crackle Glaze on it. So, once I started painting everything got crackled needless to say I had to walk away.

I knew that the one thing I didn't want was a girl with cracked skin, or a crackled background. But, maybe I'll use that effect in the future but for now I had to work hard to fix it up. And yes it got muddy and a couple of times and when I went to blot at the paint it horrifically peeled off to the bare paper in some spots - this was unexpected and kinda ruined a few things I was liking. =(

I walked away though and let it dry. I knew I had to keep at it. I'm guessing that's how crackle acts when you water log it and poke at it too much? LOL! But eventually the crackle either came off or got buried under lots of layers of paint and I painted new things that I liked and forgot about the stuff I lost. The only place the crackle looked nice was on the skirt.

I think in two weeks I have come a long way, not just in dealing with my fears of painting faces and sharing my art with other people but in managing to make a difficult painting work by persevering and seeing it through to something that is successful and cute. =D

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Here's what I used: acrylic paint, chalk, origami paper for the dress top, security envelope for the belt & an atom from scrap booking paper for the belt buckle & applied a gem with mod podge. A variety of brushes including: round, flat, sponge, and a stencil brush loaded with 6 different colors for the rounded effect on the topiary I think it really made the topiary's leaves look great!

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I'll make her available at my Etsy shop soon but in the meantime you can let me know what you think!

Happy Days,
Stephie

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