Grow Where You Are Planted

Posted on February 9, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

This past week I have been painting every day, layer after layer on the same painting. It is week six of the Life Book 2015 course and the second Main Lesson with Tamara Laporte, whom I love having the chance to learn from! I painted and painted, I lost track after the tenth time I found myself applying more layers of colour and bringing up the lines again …. and doodles. Doodles for Africa my friends. I am a person who should not be encouraged to doodle. I don’t have a ‘stop’ button and now I’m rather afraid the painting looks like it has a sudden attack of measles – or a very bad rash!!

This is such a different style for me, though I didn’t stay so much in the abstract side of the venture but wandered into the whimsical as is my wont. I enjoyed the slow build up of colour, the challenge to place the right amount of dark and light shading and to blend just so…… I don’t think it’s a brilliant balance of colours, [not enough white and neutral spaces] but for a first go it’s okay. I loved being able to add in and add in and add in – the miniscule details all add up so that wherever the eye wanders there is something to look at, something to notice. For some of you it may be too much – it is for me – but the exercise was a great one for layering, building up blocks of colour and then somehow uniting them and for playing around with doodles [and for finding out I don’t know when to stop].

Here’s the whole caboodle for your viewing pleasure:

And here a some detail corners – highly magnified so you can see some of the layers and all the mistakes.

Bottom Right

Top right

Left side

I think there are certain little corners of the painting that I quite like. The colours blend well, the doodles are well balanced – something happened and it came together – but overall I find it a bit too much, what do you REALLY think?

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

A ‘FAIL’ and What Came Afterwards

Posted on January 24, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

In case you haven’t caught up yet, I am taking Life Book 2015 this year. This past week we had the opportunity to watch an artist at work and then, if we wished, to follow her process and have a go ourselves. No instructions were given, so it was a case of wing it, be inspired and have a go.

First up I have to admit I wasn’t that inspired. It wasn’t the artists fault. I really enjoyed watching her process and what she made. I think I felt the process was finished right there. But as I want to try new things this year I decided to get stuck in.

I decided to use an already collaged A4 water colour paper – the fact that I didn’t like the colours on the paper should have been warning number two – but apparently it wasn’t and I pushed on doggedly.

I made this

It’s an epic ‘FAIL’ There is nothing in here that is pleasing in any way. Layers of colour turned muddier and muddier – the figure is – just awful. I certainly learned a lot about what not to do ……….

So I tried again.

The rest of this post is specifically for Frank, who asked me to document my process – I hope you will enjoy seeing the stages

First I sketched my whimsical walker

Then the first layers of colour are applied to the face and body

I worked with these three colours until I got the shading, shape and depth I wanted – maybe eight or nine layers of colour – I wasn’t counting. Next some red is introduced

The hair colour is ‘Payne’s Grey’

She’s well and truly in ‘the ugly stage’. I know to keep going, it’s just a phase!

I’m still working on the face, adding layers and details, backwards and forwards, switching between eyes, nose, mouth, legs …..

Suddenly and abruptly, she leaves the ugly stage and starts to come alive. I paint her tutu

Her underskirt appears and words are added. Later I discover I don’t like the word ‘Walk’ here

The background colour is painted in and I’m in the zone

I work for another hour and a half, collaging and adding in the background detail, painting layers over, toning down with gesso and bringing back up with more yellow and green. ‘Walk’ is discarded. The face and hair get final attention. I take no photos, I am too engaged with what I am doing. Finally I am happy, she is done

The Tightrope Walker, holds her heart in her hands and walks out onto the high wire. Her eyes are closed, she is intent on her inner world, her intuition, her trust, her faith and her knowing. The sounds and activities of the world do not pull her off balance. She is in the zone.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

Happily Painting …….

Posted on January 12, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

Here I am again – already! It’s only been a few days since my last post – whatever is happening I hear you cry? It’s cooler today – which is good. We can actually move and not wilt! Siddy has more energy to play and even Orlando has woken up for brief periods. And I am painting

…… until I am asked to play a game of ‘Fetch’

How can you resist this?

We play ‘Fetch’ for a few minutes – then Siddy retires to cool off and I continue work.

In the previous post I showed you my second version of the ‘Beacon of Light’ that was the first main exercise in Life Book 2015 and she was looking like this

She’s under-gone a number of changes and now I think she is finished. This is just a photo shot, not a scan – I am just so excited to share her with you

This is MY Beacon of Light – she rises from the sea – a metaphor for when I am lost at sea, or ‘all at sea’. You know that feeling, I’m not standing on firm ground ……. her message is you don’t have to feel like that, you are not alone. Trust, surrender, relax.

I’m happy! But what do you think?

She is painted on 300gsm A3 watercolour paper and I think is destined for a frame and my art room wall! But I’ll probably put a couple of prints into the Etsy shop as well 🙂 I’ll show you another shot when she is scanned – then you will get to see all the colour and details.

Thanks for coming by today, you know that I love that you did!

It’s January & It’s Summer!

Posted on January 9, 2015 by thecontentedcrafter

It’s January, it’s hot, it’s Summer! We didn’t have one last year. She must have unilaterally decided to give my part of the country a miss, I believe it wasn’t personal, she just had other places she would rather be. So there has been unbounded joy in this little corner of the world – long hot days followed by long warm dusks. It is just now getting dark about 9.30 pm, light by 5.30 am. And my word, you should see my garden! It’s a jungle out there folks, no room to sit and sizzle in the hot sun, it’s been taken over by tomatoes and salady stuff and petunias and lobelia and sweet-peas – let’s not forget the sweet-peas!

I was getting worried about the lack of fruit on the tomatoes when voila, up these popped overnight. If you can’t see them, biggify the photo – they are there I promise. So proud! 🙂

Siddy and I water every evening, well I water and Siddy bustles and bumbles about through the undergrowth, rather reminiscent of a rare black and white wombat – eventually popping up all muddy and wet and happy and puppy-ish again. [This one’s especially for Jill.]

This is his ‘Whaddya want mumma?’ face, because I whistled him and he stopped what he was busily bumbling about with and rushed up to me.

As a complete aside, a few days ago we celebrated Siddy’s ninth month birthday. He has stopped visibly growing, thank heavens. He is much calmer now, he loves his mumma very much, adores Orlando and his aunty YD is his most favourite person in the whole world – but should he meet you, you would immediately become his next favourite person in the whole world. Siddy’s joy and enthusiasm for life and people remains unabated. It is just tempered with slightly better manners these days.

Getting a scenic shot in my small garden is impossible – so here is a little montage

This tiny garden, organic and companion planted, growing mostly in buckets and tubs is in good looking condition – but something has been eating my peas!

I’m picking them this evening, ready or not!

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My ‘rhythm of life’ – that thing some of you refer to as routine – has suddenly disengaged. It erupted! I knew it would. I signed on for a year long art course last October. I’d been waiting since mid-May for the signing date to arrive because I knew I needed and wanted to focus on developing myself as an artist. I don’t usually refer to myself as ‘an artist’ – I say I ‘muck abart with mixed media’ or ‘I paint’. Some folks have thought that means I’m a house painter – [which makes me smile because I spent years decorating my homes with paint, now I do it with mostly fabric] and start to ask me which paint is best for this or that problem – or even offer me a job!

Anyway – having taken that little meander off subject, let us return …… the art course has started. It started for me on January 2nd, with a bang I might add. Immediately I fell behind as I had, coincidentally, been asked to act as an honorary ‘colour advisory consultant person’ and I was a bit caught up in that process.

But I got my act together and set about creating this

Beacon of Light – Pauline King

If you follow my progress with mixed media you will see a huge improvement in the way the paint has been applied especially to the face – I learned so much in just the first lesson!

In case I have piqued your interest, the course is called Life Book 2015 and clicking on that will take you there. You’re welcome! 🙂

I was so pleased with the result of this first exercise that I set myself the task of doing an older more Contented Crafter version – here she is underway, but with a LOT of work still to be done. What do you think?

and the eyes, with which I am particularly pleased

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If you have noticed me missing from your blog, or missing with my usual long and opinionated ramblings in your comment section all the above is the reason why. Suddenly there is not enough hours in the day. I wasn’t so busy when I was still a working girl! [Ooow, did that sound wrong?] I’m still doing my best to read everyone’s posts – I always feel that if you took the time to write and proof-read and insert photos and anything else you do on each of your wonderful posts, the least I can do is participate fully! I just can’t fit it all in at the moment – But, like Arnie, I will be back!

And I nearly forgot – there’s also these, that sometime get a look in during the long warm evenings – but progress is slow

Life is warm, it is busy, it is very happy. Life is good! I hope you are enjoying all your busy moments too.

This is my 150th post and I just recently went past 350 followers. Most don’t read, but to those who do, who come by regularly and leave your endearing messages of support and cheer, thank you, thank you, thank you. You warm my heart, encourage me in all kinds of crazy directions and inspire me daily.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!