I’ve been working on a couple of paintings that I started back in the last of February. Sometimes paintings take a while to make themselves known to me. I’ve said that often. Other times, paintings fly out of me almost like being painted by someone else. It’s kinda crazy how that happens.
Even though I have quite a few unfinished paintings in my studio, I never give up on them. Someday, they’ll have their glory. This might be their time, I’m not 100% sure but I’m thinking so. I just need to keep my momentum up on them. Although, I do have several flats of flowers outside in Studio Gardens waiting to be planted! I just have to pray for rainy days, ha ha.
Above, see me mushing paint and creating some of my favorite colors. Different tones of blue and green. I love making these shades for some reason. As I look back at a lot of my paintings, there’s a lot of these colors in them. I make them with Phthalo blue and Cadmium yellow, sometimes a touch of titanium white. I love all the drips and textures I create. Playing with color is so fun!
I really fell in love with the designs that began to emerge. Maybe that’s why it took a while to continue working on these paintings. Sometimes I need to get out of my head so much and just paint. Being precious with a certain part of the painting doesn’t help me at all. In fact, it can be quite detrimental.
As you can see from the photo above, I got over myself and painted over the backgrounds I had created. For some reason, I thought it needed those orange stripes on the left side. Ugh.
In the above photo, I had painted in a turquoise blue tree. Why blue tree? Why not. I like weird, quirky and mystical looking stuff so I went with it. After painting the last couple of floral paintings using that new technique I talked about before, I felt it was time to get back to my natural style that I gravitate towards. The flowers I painted were pretty, and the Easter lily sold right away, but it just isn’t me.
I felt I was painting another artist’s paintings and I was even though I painted them. (I’m keeping the orange zinnia for myself but will sell prints) So I’ll take some of what I learned and leave the rest. I do have prints of the Easter Lily now here.
As you might notice, I got rid of those orange stripes. What was I thinking? Thankfully, it’s just paint and I can paint right over them.
Okay, now for the stars of the show. A deer and a stag. What’s the difference? Honestly, I didn’t know either and had to look it up. Apparently, they’re technically both male deer… bucks. However, the one with the largest antlers is considered the stag. Usually, the stag describes the largest types of deer.
And of course, to fit in with my mystical folklorist type of paintings I like to do they had to be white. I started with albino, but the one standing up ending up looking like he was challenged so to speak so I’m in the process of changing his face.
Above, is the stage where this deer lying down painting is left still. Waiting for me to finish it. I will, just not today. The flowers and weeds are calling. I want you to notice that I finally had enough time in-between me and the initial background painting to let it go. I loved the abstract feel it had, but it just felt too monotone. It was boring. So I mixed up some Payne’s Gray, blue and white and painted in a more mysterious night sky and made the painting pop.
The addition of the fireflies or lightning bugs as I tend to call them, just made the painting all the more magical. I still need to add a few things, but this one is nearly finished. The stag that was standing though, well he needs a facelift. Rain tomorrow, so maybe I’ll get to him as well.
←Painting an Easter Lily / Two new tulip landscape paintings ⟶
A few paintings I’ve created
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.
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