Last night, I was pretty exhausted and did not trust myself to to work on the background of my painting so, I decided to apply a bit of masking fluid to it to preserve the white areas and call it done.
This morning, I realized it had been a very long time since I had painted the type of background I was hoping on doing, let alone around such complex shapes so, I decided to practice first. I wanted to have a painting that had super bright intense colours in contrast to deeper earthy ones without producing mud. This has proven to be a lot more difficult than I had expected so, I am really glad for having spent today practicing despite the delay. I have learned a lot and I'm hoping it will pay off tomorrow when I tackle the real paintings.
What's inspiring me today:
Change and introspection. As much as I have enjoyed listening to the series of artist interviews in The Spark, I needed a change of environment to get into a creative space this morning. I moved my painting set up into a sunny patch on my living room floor and found a Youtube play list of some of my favourite upbeat and inspirational singers.
Personally, I need to establish a joyful and energizing space around myself to paint. I find the process and product of creation fascinating. Last night, I spoke with a friend who is high energy, bold and simply a vibrant person (who may or may not own a pair of bright pink high heels) but, when she paints, it's dark, deep and intense. I, on the other hand, tend to be, more prone to introspection and self criticism. I am generally very concerned about others and well, life the universe and everything. Part of me is quite morose and easily discouraged and it takes a lot of effort for me to stay in a place of hope and joy.
One would think that this would make me the dark and brooding artist but, instead I strive for bright, joyful, beautiful and even silly subjects. I admire those who can paint from that dark place and make people stop and think about the state of our world but, I simply can't create from there. Sadness, doubt and anger are paralyzing rather than inspiring to me. My creative battle is to move from the dark into the light.
One singer I love and listened to this morning is Tracy Chapman. She can sing about some seriously dark and disturbing issues with great depth and yet, have you dancing, feeling charged up and empowered. I hope one day I can paint like she composes. For the moment though, my goal is to highlight the joy, hope and beauty in the world. Maybe in some small way, helping someone see the beauty in our natural world will open their hearts and minds to how precious it is and encourage them to protect it. That's where I stand for now. Maybe one day I will be able to tackle some of the big issues on my heart but, for today my goal is simply to delight.
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