Category: look forward

art, best effort, brushes, digital art, digital art academy, look forward, Maui, Painter, paintings, watercolor

Maui Flowers

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Maui Flowers

Maui Flowers

Lately, all my paintings have been influenced by my trips to Maui.  There is just so much color there.  The flowers are so bright and beautiful.  The water is a gorgeous blue and the dirt is a glorious red color.

The island is made from a volcano.  That makes the scenery unique and very different from what I see at home in Seattle.

My husband and I are getting ready to leave for two months in Maui in October and November of this year.  I am very excited about this trip.

For years we dreamed of being able to be retired and spend two to three months in Maui.  Now, our dreams are coming true.  I have to say that staying positive in thought and consciously claiming what I wanted in life have worked for me.  I stayed an active participant in my life as I went along.

Of course, becoming ill was not in my plans.  But, by staying positive and focused, I have been able to adapt to a chronic illness and still live my dreams.

This piece of art was done on the computer, using Painter 2015.  I started this painting by splattering drops of watercolors on the canvas.  I put down three layers of colors, red, blue and yellow.  Then, I sat and looked at the drops and suddenly saw the flowers.  I pulled them out with one of my watercolor brushes.  It was a fun exercise that I did in a class on Japanese Inks.  You can read more about that class here.

Have a great rest of the summer.

art, best effort, brushes, digital art, digital art academy, look forward, Painter, paintings, positive, positive energy, time out, watercolor

This is Blog 100

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Japanese Inks

Japanese Inks

I’m so excited.  This is my 100th blog.  I never realized what I was getting into when I started blogging.

I thought I would be the lone blogger picking up a follower here or there.  Then, I found Word Press.  Word Press makes the blogging experience very special.

First, they make it relatively easy to set up your blog with a theme of your choice.  Second, whenever I’ve been stuck, people have been there to help me.

The community of Word Press bloggers blows me away.  Word Press works at bringing us together to share our love of blogging.  I feel like I belong to a special community that is incredibly supportive.

A huge thank you to all the people who follow me.  I never dreamed I would have actual, real followers who were interested in my art AND my health.  You are all special people to me.

As to my health, well, it is what it is.  I’m feeling better the last few days than I have all year.  I continue to be returned to a life.  For that I am grateful.

As to the art in this blog, well this is something different for me.

As you may know, I take classes at the Digital Art Academy (DAA).It was founded by Karen Bonaker, a fabulous artist.  Check out her blog here.  We learn art while using the application Painter.

Starting Saturday, I am taking Japanese Inks from Karen at DAA.

This is a type of art I have studiously ignored all my life.  I have had no interest in it at all.

So, why not broaden my horizon is what I figured.  I’m totally intimidated, of course.  Something new. There is a small part of me saying “you’ll never be able to do this.”  But, I’m happy to report there is a larger part saying “yes, I can!”  This is a huge change for me.  Mrs. Negative had her way with me for a long time.  But I have practiced being positive and loving myself and my art.  I put Mrs. Negative Voice on a time out recently.  I refuse to engage with her on any level.

Interestingly, I am finding that she is becoming less and less by my not engaging and fighting with her.  When she pops up, I lovingly as possible put her on a time out.  Of course, she will try to come back.  I just gently remind her of the time out.

Read more →

art, best effort, brushes, digital art, digital art academy, look forward, Painter, paintings, pencils, positive energy

Looking Forward

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Looking Forward

Looking Forward

Looking Forward is what I like to do.  One can choose to look at the past, whine over previous mistakes, regret what was or look forward and see what can be.  I found that life is way too short for regrets of what was.  I realized that it is human to make mistakes.  It is the human condition.  So, no use fretting over them.

I recently did this painting with a group I belong to on Facebook.

We do intuitive paintings by using prompts that people in the group suggest.  For instance, this painting started out by one woman suggesting that we cover our canvas in a fun color or two and make sweeping marks and stay loose.  Then the next person chimed in to do the same, using contrasting colors.  I suggested we cover the 1/3 of our canvas with geometric shapes.  Then someone suggested adding tissue paper or some other media to give the painting texture.

I am the only digital painter in the group.  I particularly enjoy this group, because it challenges me.  When they suggest something that I can’t necessarily do the same way they are going to do it, I get to use my imagination and do it digitally.  So, I just imported a blue piece of tissue paper into my painting.

For those of you using Painter, you can bring things like this into Painter on a layer of its own by going to File/Place.

However, pieces of tissue paper hanging out on the page did not look cool.

So, having recently taken a dynamite brush class at the DAA (Digital Art Academy), I simply made a brush that would respond to texture.

I have a huge collection of textures to paint on.  One way I can use these textures in Painter is through the paper panel.  Over the years I have collected various paper textures from pond scum (really good one) to asphalt.  I chose a couple of these and with a darker blue, added some texture to the blue/violet areas of the piece.

In the beginning of this piece, I chose to use liquid inks and dribble red, oranges and yellows over the page to give myself something else besides just paint strokes to start with.

I also used pencils to add some interest to the piece.  I am finding that using a very dark or very light-colored pencil in my work will add pop to the piece.

If you’re interested in joining our Paint Prompt Facebook group, please drop me a line and let me know.  We’re always looking for new members.