Dancing Your Way Out Of A Scary Place

 art Juice for the soul

I'm having so much fun this summer. I'm taking Flora Bowley's on-line workshop and it has sparked a mighty passion for my art again, almost like the first years of discovery.
 Her book inspired the elk painting (post below), but her workshop is even juicier. I worried about the price, but it has been so worth it and we are only half-way through.
Above is just a plastic plate of  palette colors I used. I love the way acrylics look with glaze added to them.

This is another large canvas 36 x 48 -very brave for me as you know I feel safest in my art journal. The bad art voice says "don't work too big. Where are going to hide them if the are really bad? Big paintings take up too much room under the bed. Who wants a really, big, bad painting?"

But Screw that voice!

After layers and layers and marks and variation from cool to warm to neutral and back again, the painting begin to make a turn around from all the chaos. It was a wrestling match in my mind for days to continue on pass the fear, pass the awkward ugly phase, walking out of all comfort zones and just painting- intuitively and trusting. Just trusting.


Once the imagery evolved, it began to be such a joyful journey- you know that zone where you hear only "paint, my love, just paint". Like your inner child has finally emerged and is playing again with colors with no care in the word and no judgement for her art. Present, in the moment, and just pure joy for the color on paper or canvas. And it is in that playful place that we learn so much.

details of larger painting

And thenAnd she danced her way out from under the bed. I danced. 

Geez, why is it so hard to trust and let go? I'm not sure, but I'm going to keep doing it until I hear that intuitive voice again loud and clear because I love the way she talks to me.


- Posted by Odd Chick

Elk on the brain

new painting took to Perculator app and then to Diptic app

It started with a friend and her new cabin in the forest. It's a really lovely place but it needs some art and she suggested that I do an elk painting to hang in her family room.

First, I started drawing elk in my journal. I tried encaustic wax for the first time.

journal page

Played with some photo effects.

perculator app and then Pixlromatic app - love the colors on this one

Then, I tried a big piece of watercolor paper and massive amounts of fluid acrylics.

Not really happy with that (nose all wrong) so I played with more effects, changed the antlers, worked on the nose, still looking for inspiration.



Finally, I painted over it and started a whole new layer. I got a new book from Flora Bowley in the mail and found my inspiration with the prompts she suggested to keep your mind open and responding to your own intuition while you paint, free of the critic's voice.

Artemis' Forest Acrylic on Watercolor paper full sheet

I like it and think I will also enter it in the juried show coming up. The colors are really more vibrant than I could photograph and there are a lot of details that don't show up. It's not really my friend's style so I'll keep painting more elk for awhile and see where this new passion takes me.