It’s what happens to half-finished bad paintings.
Step one:
Step two:
Paint it all under - now. I’m free of it. Time to begin again.
One thing a creative person does is stab out and do new things, even if scary, all the time. And another thing an artist does is continually practice. Practice, practice, practice. One cannot be afraid to fail, one can only be afraid to not try. This painting was bad. NO big deal; I learned stuff. I’ll take my ‘learnings’ and go on and continue to improve. I acknowledge that it was bad, covered it up and go on a little bit better and a little bit smarter. I guess that makes me the winner!
Okay, so here’s the problem, and one reason why it’s so wonderful to get a perfect piece. I adore this 8x10. I love the colors, the way they flow and intermingle, the shapes... everything. Except for the leaf stuck in the paint. What would you do? I could try tweezering it off, but the chance of ruining the entire piece is about 85%. I could just pour resin over the whole thing and call it art... hmmm?
Other things that can happen? People mowing and blowing down the street - flying debris. Insects, twigs, dirt... the paint literally sliding off once I get it ‘set’ and ruining the entire composition... cats and rats and elephants... SOOOO when I get one I like - I REJOICE! Let me know what you think about my LEAF painting. Would you buy a painting with a leaf?
Honestly, for me, it’s so beautiful I’m just not willing to risk ruining the whole thing to remove one leaf.
I decided to give you a little tour around my latest painting. This one is a 16x20 paint pour. I wanted to incorporate whole bunches of cheery, complimentary colors, a lot of gold and some iridescents for a downright, riotous festival. Hmm... I should name it festival. Festival it is! Now, to cure, then I have to varnish and wire it. Look for wonderful new stuff being added to my website regularly as I get ready for upcoming shows and Christmas giving. Super bad reflections in this first one; it’s mirror-shiny. :)
After the entire painting, here are some closeups:
Oh my goodness, I love the way the colors meld and how you can see through the layers.
The above one, where it looks kind of grey, it’s really blues, whites and the iridescents that make it look that way from this angle.
I’ll be putting it up as soon as I get it wired. If you’re interested, let me know right away as I’m sure this one’s going to go fast!
SOOOO BEAUTIFUL!
Now THAT is a lot of pencils, Bubba! My students could look at just these ends and know each pencil’s purpose - light lines, super dark values, initial sketching, super-fine details, etc. Can YOU? School starts SOON and I still have a couple slots open in almost all of my classes. I teach in two locations, in The Woodlands - www.hisclasses.org; The Training Center - www.ttcclasses.com. If you want a spot, let me know right away to get your spot.
Here are the links:
Paint. Lovely, beautiful paint. 🙂. Because I seem to have lost my mind whilst trying to recover from my shoulder surgery, it’s been easier for me to work on abstracts and pouring art. Though these have their own set of difficulties, it seems I’m better able to do them, and the colors are a really healthy therapy unto themselves. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever recover. Sleep would be nice. Just a night’s sleep.
Would appreciate prayers tomorrow; ten weeks out of surgery I still can’t do any work with gravity or my fingers/hand and arm go numb. Tomorrow I meet my new doctor who will be looking at my nerves.
Here’s a tiny piece I created inspired by a building I saw downtown. Sitting at a stop light I looked to my left and there it was in all its beauty! Believe it or not, it was a parking garage. A very NICE parking garage!
I like doing these tiny works as they inspire me to bigger works. I can get the inspiration out with no pressure and it’s down for when I have time or need to be inspired. Here I’ve got it sitting on my palette for a nice pop of color. I think it’s time to get back into artist trading cards.
This was a good portion of today’s work. After a lot of sketching I finally laid out my new painting, this time on cradled wood, not canvas. Once I sketched in the entire plan it was time to choose paints. Test, mix, compare, eliminate. Once done with all this, I make careful notes for posterity as to exact type of paint and medium.
I wish I could show you more but don’t as a rule when I’m working on a commission. You’ll see the painting itself soon!
I had to step aside from the work I’d outlined for my painting day because these hyacinths were driving me to distraction! Their fragrance is divine and I literally carry them from room to room. Finally I prepared a canvas and did some color testing. Pictured here are the color winners; the color losers were banished back to my paint drawers. We artists make it our job to make creation look easy, but you can see from this photo that a whole lot of planning and work go into a piece long before brush meets canvas.
Also, sometimes I have a helper come into my studio. Trust me, when he comes in, I stop and enjoy life for a while.
As a professional artist I’ve created paintings and said goodbye to them as they have all gone to various new homes around the world. Over the years I’ve watched as my style has changed. I look back at paintings I’ve sold and think, ‘hmm... I guess that’ll never happen again, I don’t even paint like that anymore.’ I change, I grow, I move on to new ideas; after all, I have an entire world of creativity to explore!
All this to say, if you are eyeing art by an artist, ANY artist, whatever medium, BUY IT. You are not buying Walmart (fake, reproduced, fall-apart) art, you’re investing in an artist’s life. You’re purchasing an heirloom, a legacy and it’s not going to come around again. If you miss your chance, that particular piece will never happen again.
You can join the artist in that shining, creative moment in time and enjoy a beautiful, unique piece that can never be reproduced. Now THAT is special. Yes, Mr. Bear is long gone, but I DO have small posters of him at
colorcatstudios101.etsy.com
I bet you didn’t know that today is TINY BRUSH DAY! What that means is I’m almost done with another painting! :). It’s a commission so I can’t show you yet, but it’s coming! Yay! I love the sense of accomplishment when a painting is finished.
Sold ‘Maestro’ last night. Soon he will be flying first class to Massachusetts! My painting gets to fly in a better class than we do! The other octopus painting, ‘Walking,’ is still available.
I painted these two octopus paintings several months apart. For one I wanted to focus on lines and for the other I focused on texture. I was surprised when I set them next to each other that they looked like they had been painted together and look as if they’re joining... well, not hands, but maybe like each one’s arms are extending beyond himself over to the other. They truly are a pair! One thing that unites them is my treatment of color; I used the same colors and laid them down in thin glazes so you could see through each layer of color like stained glass.
The borders I put above and below (to make a square for Instagram!) are super closeups. Each piece is 24x30” and they’re on my website to be sold separately unless some lucky person decides to purchase them together. LOVE these!
You can find them at
colorcatstudios101.etsy.comHere’s another tiny section of my new mystery painting. Can you tell what it is yet? My concentration for this piece was texture and color. The plan was to lay down textures before anything else, and then I thinly glazed colors, one on top of the other so it would be as luminous as stained glass. I am a colorful girl after all! The big reveal will be tonight at 7:00. To help you guess what it is, this painting is the mate to another, which you will already find on my website
colorcatstudios101.etsy.com
