Artists are WEIRD
I think everyone’s a little weird – even though most of the time we try to hide it. But artists are especially weird. I mean, it’s a bit looney-tunes to get really excited about a dribble of paint, or a torn edge of paper or a smudge next to a lump. Those are some of my pet loves, I wouldn’t mind betting you could match mine with a few of your own.
Do You Have A Hero?
I’m taking more time to mix colours that are ‘right’. Suddenly I hear a chorus of “What exactly is a ‘right’ colour?” Of course, there is no such one colour. A ‘right’ colour is one that looks absolutely gorgeous next to the colour around it. I’m not being haphazard and just seeing what appears – I’m thinking, what exactly do I want?
Building Layers with Mixed Media
Painting with Total Abandon
The journey from difficulty and confusion to clarity and joy. That’s the path we are all on with our Art. We are all at different stages of that path – some at the beginning bogged down among the weeds, and others further along emerging into openness where the path widens and the walking is more easy. We can kind of see the way forward – a bit.
How to Start a Painting
Some people agonize over starting their paintings, which is a shame really because it’s like setting off on an adventure – but the best sort of adventure. You don’t have to scale heights, get wet, lost or hungry, you don’t even have to leave home. But you ARE venturing into the unknown with very little idea of what will result from the experience.
Photo Transfers
Learn how to do Photo Transfers.
Materials used: Heavy Gel Medium onto Laserjet Photocopy on photocopying paper
Then Soft Gel Gloss to stick the Photo-skin to the painting surface.
Perspective
Questions to ask...
New Beginnings...
I also really enjoyed letting loose with drawing and using dry media a lot more in my paintings when I was working on the large sized paintings. This added a playful looseness which I really liked and prevented me working in a straight-line towards finishing when after each painting session I would draw and scribble over the painting. Coming back into it the next day I would cover a lot of the drawing over but the little remnants that peeped through were really fun suggesting a naivety which I liked.
Finishing a Painting II
Is there ‘Precious’ in your Studio?
Finally, the insistent call of the outside world drags us away and we close the studio door on that tangled grid-locked mess of paint, hope, and self-belief. As we square up to the dishwasher and the dusting that secret smile is now a nagging sense of dread. Am I good enough? Why can’t I figure this out? I’ve killed my precious ….
Finishing a Painting
Learning to make Art without Fear
My Why - Why do I paint and Why do I teach?
When I was growing up there was no such thing as a ‘why’. Well, we didn’t know we all had one or at least there was no drive to examine our motives and find out. I remember doing quite a lot of motive examination directed by the nuns – but I always fell short and found myself counting down to the next confessional to cleanse my soul.
Stop trying to finish your paintings?
How A Self-Doubter Became A BELIEVER
How To Create Irresistable Texture in Your Painting
Arriving at the final destination so soon in a painting’s journey deprives it of a history and depth in character which only a more lengthy process will give. A painting that is cut short of this process has a ‘thinness’ or a flat feel about it. What you see on the surface is all there is. When a painting has texture it delivers so much more and can be irresistible when the viewer moves in close.
10 Tips for Painting BIG
Recently I have started 4 new paintings. These babies are BIG!! Well, they’re the biggest paintings I‘ve ever done. Initially I was a little nervous about starting them as this was foreign territory. I tried not to dwell on the volume of expensive paint I was going to consume, so to quell that nagging fear I ordered another bucket of gesso. That would get me started. I bought myself a couple of wider bigger brushes and I bought a squeegee so I could move the paint around the canvas quickly with one swoop. I was concerned with economy & efficiency you see.
Criticism and Creativity – Can they Co-exist?
When I was 11 it was my legs, in my teens it was my freckles, my boobs – or lack of, my teeth, certain aspects of my parents, our religion and the family car. In my 20’s still the boob thing, lack of career direction and my inability to hook a decent man. My 30’s saw the concern about the man intensify.. In my 40’s it was a general lack of organisation, uncontrol of my two young children – (yes, I managed to find myself a man.) My 50’s has been all about my internal thermometer control and sleep – both far too erratic. What has all this got to do with Abstract Painting?