it's a bird... it's a plane... WTF is it?

hello everyone!

Last night's painting session

on large poster size paper/bristol board.

Sometimes, i feel like using a larger format,

but i don't really know what i'll be painting

and i never want to waste large canvas

in case it ends up looking like crap.

So i use poster paper. :-)

i started out with finger painting...

again... my fingers

by this stage, i picked up the brush

birds in the forest...
but i hated the left side.
The orange, yellow, greenish part
that looks like there's a tree on fire.

So i decided to add white & texture.
I used a plastic hair curler thing -
one of the many tools i buy at the dollar store
specifically for art textures.

i also use sponges, 
or whatever else i have in the house at the time.

 filled in some spaces with turquoise, black, white...

a close up of the bird...

this was taken this morning,
in natural light.

and look! i added some red.

Making art is a lot about daring to get away 
from our comfort zone, isn't it?

We're tempted to stay
where it's familiar
where we know exactly which color to use,
or which shape to draw.
There's nothing wrong with doing this,
but if you stick with doing this too long,
I believe the art becomes stagnant.
Predictable.
Safe.

It's good to feel scared when making art.
It's good to not always like what you see.
It's good to give ourselves permission to make bad art.
To use unfamiliar colors.
To make a mess.

It's in the MAKING that the magic occurs.

I read a story somewhere about a woman
who was asked by her psychologist to draw something really bad...
to make him a really crappy drawing.

She froze, starring at the blank piece of paper in front of her,
afraid that her drawing wouldn't be bad enough.
(need i tell you that she was a perfectionist?)

So if you want to create something,
but you're afraid it won't measure up...
give yourself permission to suck.
Give yourself permission to make it really bad.

But make it anyway.
You'll be happy you did.

Your heart will be happy too.
xox

a place in my heart for Syd Barrett and horny drawings

hello peeps!

Had a great evening of drawing last night,

and painting

and even watched a movie.

This is micron pen and watercolor on paper...

she is not impressed...

and he's just a little horned up... ;-)

(i love the quote.)

 (acrylic on canvas)
After a few little drawings, i decided to paint.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Syd Barrett

the founding member of the band, Pink Floyd.

It was 40 years ago this week

that they recorded "Dark Side of the Moon",

one of the best selling albums of all time.

I posted about Syd here

if you want to know a bit more about him.

I purposely used sick looking colors for his face.

After i added this green background, 

it just didn't feel done.

It didn't feel right to me.

It all looked too perfect.

Too unlike Syd.

So i added these pink paint drippings
and i liked it much more.

(i was gonna add purple and then remembered PINK FLOYD)... :-)

Sometimes, we get to a certain place with our art,

and we don't always dare to do certain things.

We should dare more.

What's the worst that can happen?

In the end,

it's not about whether someone else likes it or not.

It's about how you feel about that person,

that place,

that thing.

It's about your own perception.

Picasso used to say that he didn't paint the tree itself,

but rather, he painted how he saw the tree.

This is how I see Syd Barrett.

I love this portrait now

because I feel it is more representative of him.

And who knows? Maybe Syd would love it too.

xox

(a video of the song that Pink Floyd wrote for Syd Barrett)...