Nourish your seeds… painting process

I would love to share the making of one recent “mixed media” painting with you:

1 paper

First, glue different papers to the white canvas with Golden medium glue. I use the medium gel or soft gel, and choose semi gloss or gloss. Inspiration at this stage was very basic: a color scheme involving the yellowish papers. No big ideas yet.

2 Beginnings

After gluing, lightly go over the dry papers with some acrylic color on a sponge,  “binding” the whole look a bit. I use golden fluid acrylics for that.

Then add more paper details…..

And begin sketching! For drawing the tree/ground I used Litho crayon, a black oily crayon. It can be wiped away until dry in about a day or so. At this stage my inspiration has boarded the project, I have a plan, a vision is emerging…..

8 working with a sketch

I often use notes/ journal sketches while painting, helps me keep the overall focus when I´m lost in detail.

5 more details

 

Adding more details, using molotow pens to draw dots and finer lines.

7 Nourish your seeds

And finally, adding words. And it´s done:

“Nourish your seeds”

3 On the table

Somehow our move delayed a real good painting session forever. (House full of boxes, unsorted things, ill children and adults and ill children again…and again!!!). And of course I got frustrated and even scared if I would ever be able to paint again. But that´s part of the whole process, I guess any artist knows that feeling?  When it comes, I know it´s not permanent, and never will be as long as I am alive. I wrote a post here about getting started when you really don´t feel like it. And the satisfaction when we push through that fear and become humble enough to simply try again is worth it all.

Hope you enjoyed!

Small morning chat with myself….or how to convince a cow to paint!

This morning the house was finally emptied of sick children and other obstacles. Everything was ready for a wonderful and long-awaited painting session. Coffee poured, the stove roared nicely. Painting day, finally!

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 (Creative quickie page, inspired by the wonderful line from a Leonard Cohen song: “There is a crack in everything – that´s how the light gets in”)

I had waited and sighed soooo long for this day to come! And then:

– Ready to GO!!?

– I CAN´T BE BOTHERED!

-What? Oh no, honestly, you have longed so much for this moment and now it is here!

-Yes, but I AM JUST NOT IN THE MOOD!

-Why not?

-I am afraid! (maybe she’ll feel sorry for me ….)

-What are you afraid of?

-(Oh no, she´s in question-mood, better come up with a real good reason, ahem…):I am afraid….I have ….forgotten…. HOW TO PAINT! (HA!)

 -Forgotten how to paint? You can´t forget how to paint, you just paint….even dots are good for starters.

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-Well, actually I am afraid that I CAN paint, what if  I am a brilliant genious, I am not up to a commitment like that … I am sure it will be really really hard with all the overwhelming success and fame and too many requests for me to handle!!! (Surely she wil buy this one, I know she loves to have big thoughts about herself, hahaaa!)

-Are you afraid of that? Is that the REAL reason you don´t want to paint?

-All right no, not really…….. it is simply because I CAN´T BE BOTHERED!

-You can´t be bothered?

-No, I CAN´T BE BOTHERED!!!

-Well, you know, that’s alright.

(What, she said it´s ALL RIGHT! Now we´ll take the day off and watch a good movie in bed, yeeaaaah, ta-ta-ta-daaa-di- dum-di -dum-da…)

-Listen, here´s what we´ll do:

-(Movie, movie, mooooviiie!!!)

1. First we dance 10 minutes to beautiful music, just move for a little while as you like, neither more nor less, are you ok with that?

-….OK

Flying vision

(“Joy in the air”, original available, just e-mail me)

2. Then, we fill the palette with colors and made the table ready, all right?

-Yeah, I guess

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3. Last, we´ll take a canvas and play around with papers and colors, no intentions of making art, just having fun, ok?

-Well, if it´s only for fun….

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4 hours later:

Wonderful creative mess in my studio yeaaaah!!!

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And now it´s time for a good movie…and a glass of red wine….

Be gentle

(“Be gentle”, print available here)

….or maybe I will just continue painting…or do them all at the same time; paint, wine and movie!

So, there you have it, now you know what goes on in my head on a completely normal thursday!

Mixed media painting in process

Thought to show you these step by step pics. Above: Blank canvas!

Step one: papers on as a background. I use Golden medium to glue/ shield them or just any collage/decoupage glue.

Then: layers of acrylic paint, making sure the background is still visible. I use a cloth or spunge too. This is fun!

Image forming up…. using an oily cohl crayon for sketching. It can be rubbed off easily with a wet cloth or a rubber, because of the already lack-glued paper.

Then some more painting with acrylics and/or pen´s called molotow. They come in many colors and sizes and are seriously cool (pic above). I used them for the tree and the bird.

Finished piece: “Wild nature – Quiet heart” (Comission work)

 “In the middle of  the wildest nature you may find a quiet heart”.

Also: today I am part of  the guest-post series  “Changing places” over at Dixon Hill!  Go visit Helen Agarval´s  beauty-filled blog (she´s an awesome photographer!) and read the post about cafés here.

In love with the process

I love to see how other people create stuff. Each person has a special way of doing what they do. I paint at the dining table in our living room, and what you can´t see: I´m left handed. Here´s a sneak peak into my painting process…

White canvas, paint, brushes, and an idea

The sight of patterned paper can make me so happy!

Simple start, I glue the paper with Golden medium or glue-lack

Adding thin layers of acrylic paint, using spunge, cloth and water spray. Drawing a sketch with an oily pencil

Painting with acrylics, and some more sketching…and as always at this point, remembering not to judge, trusting the process, trying to stay curious: “I´m here, doing my best. Now show me what will unfold from the canvas today.”

“Quiet now” Here cropped. Almost finished, but still in process…

Answering the stars

I once heard a story. Two people talked at night under the stars. One told the other that the stars once spoke to humans. They would sing their strong and deep messages and those who had ears could hear it during the night when it was quiet. The other person asked why he couldn´t hear them now. And the first answered that the stars had been quiet for years. “Now they are waiting for our reply” he said.

(Answering stars, part of painting in progress)

That story stirred something in the young person I was then. It is up to us now, to answer the stars. I liked that. It held a mystery and an importance of what we humans do with our time here. Still does. I can´t recall the title of the book. Asked many people without finding any clue. But the story lives on in me today, now also in a painting.

I hope the stars will recieve some light back from us, even if it is in a tiny scale. They are doing such a great job out there, reminding us night after night of the bigger picture and interconnection of everything.

The process and the result

Last week I wrote about my inspiration for this years cristmas-card from our village. Yesterday I finished that project. You can see the result in the buttom of this post. First some glimpses from the painting- process:

I started this canvas when I was playing with the girls in childrens creativity I used: different papers, decoupage-glue, acrylic colors, wet cloth.

Doodles, ideas. I went for the text from a Danish winter-song about how the Tree of life eventually will turn green when we “Give time”

I love this state: a piece forming up, and anything could still happen. Getting so inspired by color-combinations. All my stuff is on the left side. Did I tell you I am left-handed?
Playing with papers, crochet flowers, owls.
More playing, also with letters forming the words “Give time” and with buttons.
Slowly coming together.
Did you notice the key? That made me really happy! I love how the keys in life are often hidden in the places we least expect it. And how, with patience, vision and time, they surely will reveal themselves and come open up doors we did not even know existed. Decicion-and gluing time for the last bits now.
Finished painting/christmas card 2011: “Give time.”
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