I’ve finished painting three of the works for a new moon and tree series I’ve titled “Ancestral Lands”. These paintings are purely an experiment in color, imagination and play. They’ve evolved from completely unrelated paintings that I immediately took a dislike to, so I painted over them.

Below, you can see the painting underneath the yellow. I must’ve been possessed by something deeply sad because I never paint with such drab colors (blue-gray and more gray). I was really not happy with the paintings and they just kept getting worse so I decided to scrap the whole idea I had going and paint happy colors over the top.

A lot of white and yellow and it was already looking better. I’m not really sure what came over me to paint such somber (and not even in a cool way) paintings. I’m all for melancholy but this was not typical for me. (see the very beginning underpainting on this post)

When I started painting initially, I had landscape in mind. I had committed to three paintings for an art exhibit at a nearby art gallery, Hoosier Art-Salon, and I needed to come up with something, the deadline is looming. I had even come up with titles and a series name before the painting even began. I’m not sure if that was a good idea or not.

I feel the paintings were too literal. Sometimes that’s what happens, I get stuck in my own head. Well, this intuitive way of painting by adding patches of color shook that out of me.

As I thought of my titles, I began to think of my grandmother, my mom’s mom. She had loved to quilt and sew. Coming from a very humble upbringing in eastern Tennessee, that skill was needed. That lead to patches of color and pattern. The orange started to represent flowers for me, Grandma loved flowers. As I looked back at the painting when I stopped to take a process photo, I realized this reminded me of a quilt I have that she had created for me as a child.

Color seemed to make it all come together. Then I felt I was ready to add some more recognizable symbols, like the moon and tree to each painting. Feeling of landscapes crept back in, but this time in a more natural way for me. Mysterious and dream-like fantasy landscapes… dreamscapes. That’s the perfect description I feel. Dreamscapes.

I continued to work from canvas to canvas using the same theme and colors to create a cohesive feeling. Each one took on a slightly different personality.

I noticed the moon theme, only it had happened unconsciously. The moon had started to travel in different paths on each canvas. Moon and tree symbols seem to show up a lot in my work.

I continued to add stronger color, then knocking it back (making it duller) to find just the right vibrancy. I’m feeling I need to create more for this series, as there is much more to say.

Below, the finished paintings.

All three of these moon and tree paintings are headed to Hoosier Art Salon and are for sale there until the end of the exhibit. The exhibit is called Watercolor Invitational and runs from February 8th thru March 28th, 2020. The artist’s opening reception is from 4-6 pm on Saturday, February 8th. After the exhibit, if they have not sold I’ll list them here on my website.

On a different side note: I’ve recently been learning about a personality test based on the original Myers & Briggs test. I took the test and discovered I am an INFP. According to what I’ve learned, we make up only 4 to 5% of the population. Hmmm… not sure how I feel about that yet but it’s something I’d like to talk more about, I find it very interesting. Have you done the test? What personality type are you? If you want to do the test, go to 16personalities.com, it’s free. Next, I’m trying to find my Enneagram, but I’m thinking it might be a 4 from just listening to a couple of videos.

Thank you for following along on my artist’s journey.

---

⬅︎ Happy New Year! 2020 is Here

Learn more about me on the ‘About’ page under the additional links menu. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts and have started created more and more of them. My most favorite thing to try to achieve in my painting is is mystery and telling mystical stories.

If you would like to keep up with what I’m doing, I have a newsletter e-mailed about once a month that gives you special status for invitations, birthday greeting and more. I’d love for you to add your email to my Friends and Collectors list!