Blum

I have  been avoiding those  two canvases prepared for Lynn Whipple’s Big Bold Blum online class for some time.  Eventually I just needed to  start, do the first marks. For some reasons I felt intimidated.

Also I felt my style of flowers was oscillating  between real flowers and child like flowers and couldn’t get settle for one or the other…

  
  awkward stage

 
Some pencil 
More layers and then pastels to define and be playful!  
 

   
 
I’m very unsure about this piece; I only like bits and pieces of it for now. 

I will leave it aside for a while ..

Make

Art wise, I haven’t had projects for a while. I just have been doing things without much direction it seems. 

I sense a new vitality coming from the latest Misty Mawn Make/do/art workshop so far, some collage, stencil making and even natural paint brush… 

   
  

For this collage, I wanted some meaning. A way of remembering my own wisdoms, the things that are good for me. The things that seem easy, and yet they get forgotten. Somehow Life has to slow down a bit. And I am actually allowed to enjoy it. Yes!
 
   
 

feeling

How to deal with disappointment?
and where does it lead us…

I was so looking forward to this camping trip. I couldn’t wait to be far away, disconnected, in a remote place. In the W i l d. 

We prepared for some time. We talked about it. So many times. And prepared more.
We were so ready, organized. All the gear, the extra stuff that you need when you go remote. The spare tires, the fuel, the extra fuel, food, good food. R e a d y !

I had bought myself a gorgeous watercolor paper Moleskine art journal and planned to take with me Jo Bertini – Fieldwork, a beautiful book about sketches and gouache she made in the desert, as my inspiration! I visualized myself being immersed in the endless scenery, the wilderness, the absence of connection, the nature everywhere, feeding me…

  
I could see myself drawing the landscape, sitting in the shade of a gum tree, chasing the flies away, drawing, feeling, drawing, breathing….

 
 
But the camping trip was cut short. Two smashed tires on a hard gravel road. So we came back earlier. Darn!
And here I am reading blogs, checking my phone, pesting against the walls I am entrenched in.

I will paint instead, and meditate; will wait for the next trip…
for the next adventure.

I am weary.
 

Camping studio 

just try

When I started to seriously embrace my creativity 18 months ago, I knew very little about art supplies. Do you know for instance that you can paint on carboard? I love cardboard now…(merci Anne;)

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It’s interesting actually how a cheap surface influences my process…I am more spontaneous, more daring, without thinking about the result, more about the experience or experiment!

My friend Lyn asked me what helped to tackle portraits and if I had any suggestion.. I’d say..just try!

Before starting this 100 Faces Challenge, I didn’t think I was good enough. I didn’t think I would dare showing up. And the fact is, there are many many more talented artists who are better at painting portraits. But here is another fact: I am enjoying it!!

I really loved Carla Sonheim online class DRAW. It definitely helped me to start with basic drawing skills, contour, blind, haiku and so on…

She delivers fun and interesting techniques in short videos, which are very accessible for all sorts!

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My curiosity and desire took me places I never thought I would visit…

Melancholy talk to me

I have been procrastinating quite a bit, painting cards and mini canvas that were abandoned. The melancholic post Christmas feel I guess…

Then, I thought I would just try…

Painting values

sketching to start with…

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Then, applying different value, trying to keep the paint brush flowing…

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so hard to make sense of colors…

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During this attempt, I realized how little I know about colors and values…

so much to learn 😉

slow motion

yes it feels like that and yet days are flying fast…
and before we all know it, it will be Christmas!

I have being playing with collage, acrylics, gesso and Stabilo All Marks quite a bit recently….

and while playing, I got reminded of a good lesson….

when it comes from the heart, things flow…
when i use my head too much and try too hard, things looked rigid and un-natural…

this fits into my work as well. I was reminded by a client, who was acknowledging my therapeutic style…
She felt she could trust me…things were said and taught from the heart she said!

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heart is the wisdom

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fly

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life

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breathing in…breathing out…

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while listening to the cello