Floating With Collaged Flowers

 

In comparison to my art piece in the last post, which took years to be completed, this was a "just slap some paint around and see what happens" piece.  I was tired of over-thinking and not finishing my artwork, and had just wasted an hour of rare free time staring at, and moving around several of the unfinished works.  My "play" time was almost up and I got upset that I just squandered my time with nothing to show for it. 


 I quickly grabbed a 6x8 canvas board and squirted 2-3 colors straight onto the canvas and smeared them around with a brush.  Then I grabbed a foam stamp of a vine, mushed it into some paint and stamped it several times.  I added a few more colors to the canvas and blended them around with a rag, then stamped the vine several more times.  I felt like it needed some more depth, so I tore old book pages into "flowers" and glued them down.  I kept adding layers of paper and paint until I was happy with it.  It still needed a little something, so I grabbed a pencil and defined the flowers, stems, and leaves so they would stand out a bit more. 


    There. 


    Done. 


 Besides, my play time was over and I promised myself I would finish a piece that day.  I did!  Yay.  And I have a pretty cool piece to show for it.  If I wasn't in such a hurry to finish before my time was up, I don't think the collage would've been as loose and free, which is what I love about it.  I started it with no plan other than to create something and, good or bad, call it done at the end of the day.  I let go, and let it create itself. 

"The painting has a life of its own.  I try to let it come through." -Jackson Pollock

 That's something I need to learn to do more often in my life, as well as in my art.  Let go and let things flow.  And I don't think I'm alone in this.  I think it's something we all struggle with in our lives.  Sometimes we're so busy paddling our hearts out, just trying to stay afloat, that we forget that if we can just let go....we will float.   

Hope and Prayer

Ok, so I decided that since my blog name is "E Makes Art", maybe it's time for me to, oh I don't know, maybe post some art. Hmmm.... there's an idea. I started this piece a couple of years ago when I bought this fantastic little brass bird stencil. I immediately wanted to use it when I got home, so I got out a little 5x5 canvas and troweled thru the stencil with plaster.

Then it sat.

I found it a while later and did a wash of color over it.

Then it sat.

I found it months later and added another wash over it. I realized that I didn't really notice the birds, so I added red to make them pop. I also added a lime green wash over the leaves. I liked where it was heading, but I didn't know where to go from there. I couldn't figure out what to put in the blank area where there was no texture.

So it sat.

I decided that it needed a word there, but what? I tried several but wasn't happy, so they got erased (good ol' watercolor pencils!). I kept on going back to it, but I was stuck. Then a few weeks ago my husband mentioned a woman at his work had breast cancer. The word hope was brought up. That's it! That's what this piece was waiting for: HOPE. I wrote it out, but something was still missing. I stared at it a while, then the word "pray" pretty much wrote itself.

What goes better with hope than prayer?

Relax and let your mind wander

"So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering." - Brenda Ueland

Blank canvas

"The blank pages beckon, and from a tender place inside the heart, there comes a gentle voice longing to be heard. Let this then be the time to touch your thoughts, and begin." - Flavia

What is it about the blank canvas that intimidates so many of us? Shouldn't we be giddy with excitement from all the endless possibilities that await us? A fresh start, shiny and new, why would that be scary? I don't know why, but it is, and it has held me back countless times, including starting this blog. We just need to remember that we all have so much to offer and share with one another. Whatever your passion might be, it's your responsibility to get it "out there" and share it with others. We're all in this together, so be gentle to each other and to yourself. Silence your fears and get started.