What comes from experimentation

Daily Painting - Day 21

In early January, I had a request from a customer on my etsy site to paint St. Anne.  She was in no hurry so I saw this as my opportunity to try to combine my current style with the Saints in acrylic with my new found love of pastels.  I explain some of my process and my discoveries below.

St. Anne with the Blessed Virgin Mary
9x12 pastel and mixed media on Uart sanded paper

I began by exploring just what you could do on sanded paper.  Below is the underpainting using watercolor, acrylics, ink, stencils and stamps (similar to my process that I use on canvas boards)

After the initial sketches, I began to lay down large blocks of color in pastel.  I ran into a few problems.  I found that pastel does not like to stick to acrylic paint.  I worked with it as best as I could and fortunately there was not a lot of it in the underpainting.  The areas where the acrylic was used that had been watered down as in a wash seemed to work ok.

As you can see I struggled.  I put down too much pastel.  So, I set it aside and the next day, with fresh eyes, I still felt the same and decided to remove some of it.  I found a stiff brush in my studio and I gently brushed off areas I didn't like.  I also used a gummy eraser to remove some other areas. The Uart sanded paper is great for this - very sturdy and holds lots of layers of color.  Still plenty of tooth to work with.

After this removal, I decided that I like seeing some of the designs, textures and prints that I had originally created in my underpainting and decided I would try to allow them to show through and work with and around them (see St. Anne's garment - the triangle area in the center).  Also the celtic stamp that I carved and stamped is a symbol of the mother/daughter bond, certainly had the shape of a heart.  This shape made me think if the image of the sacred heart so I went with it.

I learned a lot from this and I think the final result is more than acceptable.  We will see what my possible customer has to say.  I will take what I learned from this, along with some other ideas that came my way while working on it and try some more new things.

Please feel free to comment and ask any questions you may have!

What to paint?

I Didn't Choose It, It Chose Me! 

Like many artists/crafters, I've tried my hand at many and most mediums.  I became quite proficient at sewing, quilting, lampworking (aka glass bead making) and hand built ceramics.  I've tried numerous other things throughout the years; watercolor, photography, scrapbooking, the potters wheel, ceramic tile making via plaster molds, a variety of jewelry making techniques (chainmaille, resin, metal stamping etc...), linoleum block printing etc.... You get the idea!  Until, some life events forced me to re-evaluate what I was doing with my life.  Through lots of prayer and reflection, I finally came to the conclusion that God was calling me to focus on this gift of creativity that He so generously gave me.  Fortunately, I was able to quit my job and focus more on what I felt God was calling me to do at this time in my life - paint!  It's a bit of a long story on how I came to this conclusion but it is a really cool one at that.  I asked the Holy Spirit in a very bold way to let me know what God wanted of me and He did in an awesome way.  Maybe someday I'll share it here but if you ask me in person I'll not hold back.

Hunh? Paint?  I hadn't really painted since my college days.  Where to start?  Hmmm, I think I found a mini mixed media lesson of sorts online.  I had all the supplies (scrapbooking paper, acrylic craft paint, stencils, stamps) so I sat down and painted "my guardian angel" as the tutorial suggested.

It was lots of fun.  So, I did another and another and another - all angels.  I kept painting angels because after painting this angel, I started thinking about my guardian angel and how little attention I had given her/him throughout my life and it got me thinking about angels and their presence in our lives.  This in turn lead me to reading a lot more on the subject.  I LOVE to learn and wanted to know more about this subject.  Then reading about angels lead me to a deeper understanding of my faith which then lead me to the Saints.

Reading, painting, reading, painting - 

-now mostly the Saints.  Reassurance from family, friends and eventaully etsy sales kept me going.  However, the more I painted, the more my style evolved - what was in the beginning very stylistic, simple, folksy (like the online tutorial taught me) started to become more realistic.  I didn't plan it that way, it just evolved that way.

The subject matter chose me! 

I never, ever would have thought to paint portraits.  Portraiture is intimidating and difficult, at least that is what I recalled from my school days.  Yet here I am still drawn to painting portraits.  In my next blog, I'll share with you how my newest love, PASTELS, chose me. I did NOT choose them.

What to paint, you ask?

Let it find you!  However, you can't just sit back and wait for that magical moment.  You have to do the work.  May I suggest a few things to get the ball rolling:

1. PRAY about it - not just once or twice - consistently, especially if you are a faithful, God trusting person, (or even if you're not) try it anyway!

2. Search the internet for how-to's and/or tutorials to try something new.  I love Ivy Newport.  She has such a great variety of classes that are fun, inspiring and affordable.

3.  Take a class at a local art center

4. Read up on a subject(s) that excites you or that you always wanted to know more about.

5. Just do it - don't let fear of failure stop you!

I know I am guilty about waiting until the moment is just right, until I have all the right supplies, the right space, until I've read up on the subject, and until I have to have the right amount of time set aside with no interruptions etc... those are all excuses.  JUST DO IT!