I have finished my painting!
Oh what a wonderful rush of exhilaration I feel when I finish a painting! Oh the smugness of it!!
This one has certainly been all about dancing the Samba. It has been a wild dance - from joy to despair in seconds as I overeagerly dashed something down or lost the feeling I was seeking for.
I have inked and painted and painted and inked. I have dotted like Seurat and dashed like Van Gogh. I have painted so many layers that it could almost get up and walk by itself!
At midnight last night I was ready to let it go ... another one bites the dust... Today I came in with fresh eyes. Some insights from fellow artists in the studio and within a couple of hours it was transformed! Now I feel cheshire-cat smug and as if I can climb any mountain.
The inspiration behind this painting has been all about transformation. Hidden layers that lie beneath, blossoming and bearing fruit. Beauty which is more than skin deep. A different way of seeing the world. From pupa to butterfly. I feel like I have been incubating a very long time and am finally truly waking up and stretching my wings.
For this idea to work the butterfly had to be strong and almost realistic (eek said she in the grips of a wild oil pastel samba frenzy!) Oil pastel was not the right medium for the delicate feathery feeling of butterfly wings. It is so deliciously lumpy and wild, like painting with gelato in its lusciousness - perfect for portraits, difficult for delicate. I had to find a different medium. Gouache and ink!
Pablo Picasso once said 'The artist goes through states of fullness to emptiness.'
Onwards!
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