New painting alert you guys!

I have a lot of ideas lately even if many of them either don’t make it to reality or start off looking one way, and end up… somewhere else.

I remain eclectically driven, shall we say. Some days I want to paint in, say, soft blue and white, with a faded, vintage look; other days I want to do punchy shapes and colours.

Sometimes I want to paint people, sometimes abstract. Maybe I am just a body that houses many artists, all with wildly differing tastes! Certainly keeps things interesting.

{Can we just take a moment to enjoy the delicious thick layer of gesso above please. I heart gesso.}

This painting was always going in a red direction. I specifically chose red and yellow papers ~ some are backgrounds I made, some bought papers ~ and I was most definitely in a red mood when I started. I also like my collage pieces square, even though circles have my heart forever.

See what I mean? I got right in there with several shades of red and yellow acrylic, plus my beloved oil pastels. I actually can’t remember now what I had in mind but there was definitely something planned to go across the centre.

And then I spotted this:

Specifically, the shape that looks like the figure of a man staring at the ground deep in contemplation. It was showing through from one of the collaged pieces. So I gave him a tree to stand under, and then the lines started growing.

I reeeeeeeally enjoyed doing the colouring in with the oil pastels. Also you can’t tell from my appalling photography but I went in with my blade and scraped away some; when you look up close the textures are scrummy.

I turned it on its side to check the balance of colours and bubbles. {It’s all very professional round here you know.}

It’s definitely the kind of painting you want to get your nose right up against to really get the full benefit. 🙂 So by this stage {below} I was pleased, but we’re talking several days later and my need for red had passed. So now it was jarring.

I toyed with a few really crap ideas before deciding to keep it warm but tone it down. I guess my root chakra was pretty full that day! But my sacral was obviously needing some topping up. 😉

I went in with the Naples and Diarylide yellows. My two fave yellows, in case you were wondering.

This felt better. I liked it. It just needed some finessing, or ‘frosting’ as Flora Bowley calls it. And as ever, I may yet add more. {Sometimes I wonder if I say that just to keep my options open. I think I’m going to stop saying it, even though we all know I’ll be thinking it. 😉 }

Anyway, turns out all it wanted was some definition round the edges, and voila!

the uncertain: mixed media painting by tara leaver