BLUE

I can't believe how much art i have done for the month of january! and i am currently work full time!!! It has been fun so far For this week on Misty's blog, we are doing monochromatic coloured journal pages.. one colour for each day this week!!!!!!!!!!!! i don't know if i can do it... but i'll start and see how i go.

The first colour is......... BLUE.. i did this tonight. hmm next entry is orange... what can i do for orange.. hmmmm i need some sleep now... nite!!! :)

Self portrait - 'Painted'

'Painted'

acrylic on canvas

i was so excited painting this portrait.. it was unfolding as the painting begun and i can't hide how happy i am that it turned out the way it did.. this painting technique was sooooo cool. In a way it's impressionistic in that there are lots of layers of strokes and graduation in colour and texture. You can click the picture to get a closer view of the textures. i love how it's not perfect and i love big buttons!!! i can't wait to try another painting like this.

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but what should i paint next? i usually get my ideas when i'm stuck at my desk at work or in the shower... i'm one of those people who cannot do anything when forced.. a lot of the times i just sit and wait.. sometimes i wait for weeks on end for a particular idea to ripen and when it's ripe for the picking, then i can paint.. If i try to paint before, the painting feels like it lacks what it could be.. it's like waiting for time and movement to converge, or be in sync. The most frustrating times are when i plan to do something and my heart wants to do something else.. it is just a disaster.

The Big Red Chair
acrylic on canvas

Few hours later.....

I managed to fit in another painting for this weekend.. this was a painting i had wanted to do for a long time but never found the time or energy for... I am loving being part of Misty's journal challenge/ sharing. It has been fun discovering new blogs and feeling connected ..

More portraits

I have been reflecting...

Deafened by the voice of desire
you are unaware the Beloved lives
in the core of your heart.
Stop the noise and
you wil hear His voice
in the silence.
~ Rumi

This new portrait is about the relationship between the the inner self and the form, between the 'Nameless and the Name'. Where the form is seen as the door into the love that has no boundaries.
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It is about trying to communicate what it's like learning to live inside out, to understand infinity in form. Surrendering by acceptance, going inward and letting go, and learning about why nothingness is not empty.

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More on journal - self portrait

i have been looking and looking inside myself to see what made up 'me' for this self portrait exercise.. the interesting thing I realized was that if i wasn't looking for anything in particular (with no preconception of what i was), i didn't find anything. It felt like me starring into myself starring back at me silently saying " so you've seen the real me, *silence*"
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I think I was trying too hard in the last post to paint a portrait that looked like me but i felt that it wasn't what i wanted to convey. On the surface I am this and that... but i wanted to paint what i really was about deep inside, past the flesh, the face... past obligations and should's and shouldn'ts....
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Tonight I sat down and told myself that i was under no pressure to create.. i was just going to paint something simple with myself in mind but without preconceptions. .
I started out by underpainting the face with cerulean mixed with titanium white.. and in dark areas, i highlighted using burnt umber.
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Then i roughly started painting in the skin with the blue mixture.. blue representing the spiritual element and then i layered on some tinted smoky white colour over the blues. So you can see the blue undertones coming through underneath. Lastly, i highlighted areas with lighter skin colour.
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This was so much fun and although it doesn't look much like me, it does feel a little more like me than the one below.
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I will try another one tomorrow.. perhaps with clothes on LOL
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:o)

Journal challenge - self portrait

This is a little unnerving to post.

Okay I was supposed to do a self portrait for the journal challenge and it wasn't an easy task but at least i tried it... it was a surreal experience.

Art Journal continued....

i tried to scan and also take a photograph of the latest journal entry but couldn't quite get it to show all the textures on the picture... white is a hard colour to scan!!! I applied crackle medium to the entire painting.. then painted over it.. so that it looks aged. What i learnt is that while the top layer of paint is still wet, you can actually scratch marks by just scratching it with a sharp point , pen nib etc... Part of the face has been drawn by scratching and later enhanced with colour pencils.

It's been so much fun seeing what everyone else is doing on their journals. There is a list of blog sites on Misty's blog.. I am feeling so inspired but work starts on monday.. i realized at a friend's place yesterday that i may have forgotten my work computer's password.. oops

Let's see if i can fit more playing tomorrow :)

Here's to a Great Year!

Well, it happened. 2008 came and left in a hurry. As I went about treating the day as any other normal day, I started to become conscious that today was the first step into 2009. Maybe slightly superstitious but i thought that perhaps anything that ocurred today would set the precedence or standard for the rest of the year.

So I made it a point to do some art, as I didn't think a year without art would go down well... I listened to something on my ipod that was good for the soul, I didn't snack on account of my ongoing diet... tried to stay out of trouble as i often do... all up I had a pretty good day. So here's hoping for all, a great year with good intentions.

There was an invitation on Misty Mawn's site to work on our own art journal for 2009 . I hadn't worked on my own art journal before and thought what a great idea to compile a book of mixed media art with journalling... so I started my cover page today. I am naming my Art journal "The Story of the Nameless and the Name'. Have no idea what else is going into the journal but here's what I've done today. It's all paint, finger painting too.. i did try to do a gel medium transfer but it failed... LOL.. oh well...

Happy New Year everyone!

Matisse Varnish transfer ATC

I tried out an image transfer today using Matisse Polyurethane satin varnish. The idea was to paint about 5 layers of varnish onto a photocopy, letting each layer dry in between. Then soaking the image in water as you slowly rub the back paperoff.

No mishaps while getting the paper layer off and what was left was a thin see through varnish layer with photocopy image.

What i then did was rub some skin toned paint colour onto the back of the transfer to give the image some colour. You can't quite see it in the photo but she does have some colour on her face and arms.. Then i layered the image onto some dictionary paper and some of the writing has come through areas where no paint was applied.

Any marks you see on top of the images are due to my sticky fingers which had residue paint but i think it gives it a nice aged effect, don't you think? :oD

I stumbled across this technique on youtube of all places. Enjoy! :)

Ah the other cool thing i stumbled upon was the Matisse Iridescent Medium. Basically you can mix this medium with ANY acrylic colour at all and voila, you have instand shiny paint!!!!! I haven't tried it out yet but the jar sitting on my desk is calling to me... imagine all the tubes of acrylic paint you have... YES you can convert them all to sparkly iridescent paint.

I''m not trying to sell Matisse Derivan products.. they were just there staring at me while i was at shop buying canvas boards.

Faux rust

2009 is approaching. Funny how it often starts with new year resolutions this time of the year.

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My new year's resolution included trying out some new techniques that I had been meaning to try for years. Unfortunately it still qualifies for 2008 ... so I guess i tried out faux rust painting onto ATCs in 2008!!!

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I started out with painting Jo Sonja 'Celadon' using the credit card technique as described on one of Kelsey's blog posts. Then I proceeded to using a tooth brush to splatter some random sprays of waterred down celadon and then copper paint. Needless to say my pyjamas are covered in paint splatter again. Using my fingers, i finger painted the alphabets, key and keyhole with the celadon and copper paint. Then with a paintbrush, i brushed in some burnt sienna in spots... and after that painted in some areas with prussian blue. Was kinda fun. :o)

Painting - The Wounded Heart

The Wounded Heart

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The heart's light loves
and in that loving, i have come to be
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Without it, i am not able
for it is my breath
and through it all strength
to live another lifetime
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But the walls came up
brick by brick with each beating
Instinctively
to protect
that precious love
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Why should a loving heart
be inflicted with so much hurt?
Yet ironically the walls
became a prison
deeper and deeper it sunk
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We spend most of our lives seeking
for that wounded heart
buried so long ago
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But how is it that you were able
to get up from your knees
after each painful beating
and somehow had the courage to choose
how to love and comfort
to forgive and accept
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Deep down beyond the tenderness of pain
The wounded heart...
The love that will not die
The love that could not die
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Unyielding in unconditional loving

Healing compassionately

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The wounded heart endures

in order to give

love..

Owl photoshoot and some unexpected surprises

i had a weird feeling about a year ago that someone in my workplace did stamping (crafts etc) and i could never figure out why i had such a thought. Perhaps because i longed to be at home stamping instead of being stuck at my desk at work LOL.....

By some weird coincidence, work decided to have a secret santa event on my floor and we were to have a person from another floor come help us out with work. By a series of unexplainable email events, we came to discover that we both stamped, did atcs and mixed media stuff... lol All this time.....I wonder how many years LOL how funny is that!!! Well... Kerin has a blog too as I soon discovered enough. You may visit her blog here!

Second surprise of the day was this stunning totally amazing canvas art that i received in the mail from Natalie Briney.. OMG.. Nat, you MUST tell me how in the world did you get the flowers and branches to be 3d... what is it? This is such an exquisite piece.. something i would definitely buy from the shop. The flowers are just so beautiful and the little black dots reminds me of spores or flying seeds. Thank you soooo much. i love it very much.

Okay lots of excitement today. I tend to get overexcited and then feel sick from it afterwards LOL. Here's a little mini photoshoot of some xmas cards I made, some for team mates at work. Thought it might be nice to make them some handmade items this year.. not too sure how it would be received. I have had mixed reactions in the past.. i was also going to bake some reindeer muffins on sunday night..

i wonder what others have done with their Collections owls... i would be interested to see...

Painting

'On a Journey'

acrylic on canvas

I was holding off on posting this scene as I had sent it to my friend Natalie :)