intuitive painting, take 5

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling

of letting go and holding on. 

Havelock Ellis

hello people.

I've been MIA for the last few days.

Sometimes, life itself is too damn good

to be spending any time

blogging about it. 

I'm back now,

so you can all breathe a sigh of relief,

get yourself a drink and settle in.

(giggle)

I started this last night with no idea 

where it was going.

Intuitive painting, i guess.

i thought of the funny & multi-talented Cat as i painted,

when she posted the question lately

about whether or not we talk to ourselves while painting. 

I do.

Last night, i seemed to be repeating the words

just trust yourself.

And so i did.

It's still a work in progress,

so i'm not sure yet how i feel about it.

I sometimes wish i didn't always gravitate

towards these familiar leafy pod shapes...

But it is what it is, right?

If i consciously tried to change its direction

then it's no longer intuitive painting,

but controlled painting.

Controlled painting is ok sometimes

but last night, i was in the mood 

for letting emotions run free,

like wildflowers in the wind.

I'll try to post it again once its done.

It's a rainy Sunday,

my teenage son is here with a few friends,

and i think I feel

a painting coming on.

;-)

Hoping you all have a great week.

Pull yourselves away from the computer now & then.

It does the soul good.

xoxo

europe and standing tall

I started this painting yesterday.

It's for the sister of a friend who travelled across Europe

on her bicycle.

The grey-ish blue-ish purple path you see on the left

will eventually look like a bike path,

and she'll be on it with her bike. :-)

And the middle part will eventually look like water.

It's nowhere near done

but i'll post more pics when i have it finished.

... and this was last nights' fun.

mixed media collage.

I'm just noticing how crappy the hair looks right now  :-(

I may add a bit to it before the end of the day.

I saw a poster the other day that made me smile.

Carpe the hell out of this diem.

Don't you love it?

So yeah, that's what i wish for all of you today. 

To seize the hell outa this day,

wherever you may be on this big blue ball in the sky.

xoxo

Martin Luther King Jr.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

heart flower

A heart flower - for my fellow Canadian friends.

:o) BONNE FÊTE DU CANADA!!!

happy flowers

A new focus for me these days... not quite sure where this will lead, but we'll see. I so enjoyed painting this. A meditation of sorts. :o)

cello woman

I got a little carried away with the length of her neck here... maybe it was subconscious, as if she was slowly becoming a cello herself... : )

Last night was one of those nights were I just had to paint something. Whenever I feel like this, i don't waste much time looking for a specific image. I usually find something within 10 minutes top, and get to it. You've got to harness the inspiration or the energy as soon as it happens, otherwise, it's gone. Opportunity comes knocking all the time - we just don't always answer the door. The same thing goes for inspiration and creativity. Whenever we feel that urge to write something, or paint something, or play something - it's time. It's up to us to pick up the brush or the pen or the guitar and get to it.

boy and his grandfather

This is part of a painting i did a while ago, of a jewish boy & his grandfather.

Both died in the holocaust.

life

Life sometimes throws sucker punches. We all react to experiences differently, and what seems like a bump in the road to some, may feel like the end of the world to others. Some people have made a living by complaining, and others are grateful for simply being able to breathe for another day. I am always in awe of those people who turn tragedy into triumph, or who at least make it known to the world that they have not been defeated. It's easy to be positive when all is well. It's much more difficult to find rainbows & sparkles in the midst of a crisis. The crisis can change us, but how we choose to see it or what we choose to do about it - given the opportunity - is what changes us profoundly, I believe. One only has to read Elie Wiesel's NIGHT, to understand this.

We can all live like robots if we want... work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep - or we can try to be more conscious of the day and appreciative of the fact that we are here at all. It really isn't about who has the most toys, in the end.

Matt

Well, it's done. I know you all must be tired of seeing this (i think i posted it 3 times now) so i gave it a different tint, just for variety. To the musicians out there, please forgive my harsh rendition of the guitar. I tried to paint the feeling of music rather than a portrait of Matt Mays. More than just painting what i see, I'm trying to capture the emotion. I'm finding myself more & more comfortable with less & less detail. Less is more. :o) I'm pretty happy with this one. 

Carpe Diem folks. 

matt mays, take 2

Only about an hour to go & it's done. I'm trying to keep it soft & loose, but not so sure I've captured this softness (or as my friend would say, his "furi-ness") :o) I may have even pushed it too far already...? Regardless, the important thing is: I am having a grand time here, painting & listening to music. I hope you all find some time during the week as well for whatever makes you happy or brings you at least some sense of satisfaction.

matt mays

Just finished the first 2 hours of painting this one. (yes... for all you Matt Mays fans out there) 

A nearly perfect evening for me - the paints, a good size canvas (18" x 36"), a glass of wine, and good music. Doesn't get much better than this for me. I look at basic shapes & values when i first start a painting. Where's the light coming from, where are the brightest whites, the deepest shadows, etc. The first sitting is always fun for me, but like many artists, the mistake i often make is not knowing when to stop painting. I love this raw look but I often end up over working it. I'll try really hard not to do that this time. It feels nearly done now - but not quite. I'll post the finished painting soon - if it's not overdone. :o)

stream

I have done very little painting lately, so I'm posting something from a while ago. Things have simply been too busy. Life gets that way sometimes. So I'm feeling the need to regroup - to quiet myself and find my happy place again. One of my happy places is being around a body of water - an ocean, a stream, a river, a waterfall. I can almost hear the water gushing here. :o) 

Alex

Well folks, since I haven't posted in the past week or so, you're in for a treat - two postings in ONE day!

As promised, the finished painting of a sketch i had posted a while ago. I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet. It looks fragmented to me. Sometimes, my moods vary so much from one sitting to the next, it shows in the brush strokes. I put the finishing touches on this one yesterday, as the wind & snow howled out there & made me feel like i was shut out from the rest of the world. Not a bad thing, I must say... Nothing like a snowstorm on a quiet Sunday afternoon.