Just a quick post this evening. I’ve got a painting on my easel that, to me, has a carnival like feeling to it. It started out a lot different, but I can’t find a shot of it.
I actually painted pretty much over everything that was there before. I was downright reckless. Ha ha…
Sometimes it’s easier to see how my painting is turning out if I take a photo of it and view it through my phone. I see areas that need improvement, more color or whatever. This painting isn’t nearly finished yet, but I learned a lot from this shot.
I took it back inside into my studio and worked on it a bit more and ended up with this.
I’m still working on it, but I have more of an idea of the direction I want it to go now. Sometimes, I just start laying down paint and wait for the painting to tell me where to go. It does.
I’m not sure why I think this has a carnival feel to it, it just does. Like a mystical carnival.
Not quite a circus, with clowns, tents, elephants and peanuts. A circus is fun and lighthearted… but a carnival is a bit more grungy, more mysterious perhaps a little dark. Think of the bearded lady, the magician, the mystic who will read your tarot cards. More like a freak show. I like that.
A carnival will pop up out of nowhere like gypsy wagons and settle in for a weekend, then as mysteriously as they show up, they are gone. Looking at it now, I think I may be a little bit influenced by a movie I saw earlier this year called “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” I liked it and it kept my attention through the entire thing. That and an all time favorite of mine called “Chocolat”.
Also, I love how loose this painting feels compared to the tropical series I just came off of. It feels good to let the brush lead my hand before my head does.
Yes… those two movies are the kind of feel this painting is developing. I also feel I may have a lot more to explore with this subject so a series is probably in order. My mind is already exploding with possibilities! I’m excited just thinking about it.
I’d love to hear what you feel when you see the painting, even in its unfinished state.
Learn more about me on the ‘About’ page in the menu at the top. 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.
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It’s interesting that you ‘edit’ by looking at the piece through a different lens. Rather like writing in one format and editing in another as it allows your eye to see the words differently. Almost like it gives you a little separation from the original. When I saw this painting I immediately thought of a book that was a favorite of my son’s when he was young, called ‘Where Do Balloons Go’ by Jamie Lee Curtis. My son told me the book always made him happy but sad. When I asked him why he said because it reminded him of my parents, who had recently passed away. We talked about how the book is actually about loss, and letting go, which can be happy and sad. That ‘letting go’ is what I saw in this painting.
Yes! That’s very much what I do… looking at it differently is key. You are so right too about getting separation from the work. Writers, musicians, dancers, painters etc. … We’re all artists with a different gig, right? I would imagine it would work similarly for all the arts.
I don’t remember the book you’re talking about, I’ll have to look it up now to see it through your eyes. I love to hear what others “see” in my paintings, thank you very much Lisa. I also love that phrase, letting go. It would be a great painting title.