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