Oh my god you guys. A painting BEAST has been unleashed.
I haven’t been in that kind of a crazed painting state for quite some time. As I type, Small Fearful {who looks like Dobby from Harry Potter actually} is whispering in my ear “Don’t tell them! It’ll go away and you’ll be all creatively sticky and clenched again.”
I laugh in the face of Small. mwAH ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa. {I may regret this later.}
I pulled out a painting that’s been in a state of semi-finishedness for freaking ages yesterday, with that kind of reckless, devil may care, ‘well it’s been going nowhere for ages so I can’t really mess it up by playing around with it’ vibe that sometimes overcomes me. {Any ideas on how to make that one stick around?!}
Then I pulled some of Flora Bowley’s techniques out of my metaphorical painting tool kit and set to work painting without thinking, alternating between lines and dots and random flourishes.
I started to really like what I was doing {Happy Bonus #1}. Then I spent some time turning it round and round, looking for what to pull out and what was ready to be covered.
I knew I wanted a figure in there; I did toy briefly with some kind of foliage inspired shapery but to be perfectly honest, I’ve seen rather a lot of that about lately, and besides, figures are my thing {and of course I’ve seen none of those}. I rooted about in my art college portfolio, since that’s how long it’s been since I did any life drawing {11 years in fact}, to see if I could find anything inspiring. And lo, {Happy Bonus #2}, I found the following:
{this is me in thinner days, when my work across all disciplines was figurative and I also had use of a darkroom. I made my boyfriend at the time take some photos for me to work from. I think he was ok with it. ;)}
{i drew this! i kind of freaked out with joy when i found it cause it restored my faith in my ability to draw with an element of realism. Happy Bonus #3}
{this is NOT me, but i found it with the other one and loved the composition so i kept it out for possible future use}
Anyway, back to my story. The painting in question was this one:
Which may or may not have previously been the one below. { I actually can’t remember but I can’t find it so this must be it!} You may remember it from a while back. {I thought I’d posted about it but can’t find it just now.} At any rate, it started life looking VERY different…
So here’s what happened yesterday:
At this point I knew it was time for some shapes. Which was the point where I unearthed the photo and charcoal drawings. And I thought, you know what, I’m just going to go in there with the black paint and see what comes out. Nothing too contrived or planned out or copied. I was quite scared at that point actually; I knew I could easily bugger it all up. But I thought about this Art Every Day thing and got over myself.
And there was a lady with a beautiful dress! {Happy Bonus #4}
Look at her swirling and twirling. So yeah, this is where we’re at now.
Stuck.
But confident of further inspiration. {Bugger off Small.}
Halleluia!!!!! (don’t think I’ve spelt that properly but no matter) YAY! A wondrous painting doth unfold!!! Love it! I love all the leafy designs in the background then this gorgeous figure just melts into your vision. Your muse has returned with gusto. But I have this funny image of Dobby sitting on your shoulder now.
Your life drawing are SO good – you need to include more of that.
x
I loved seeing the different changes this painting has evolved through! Great life drawing too!
I wouldn’t mind a muse who looked like Dobby….he was such a sweetie ~ 🙂
There is so much awesome in this post!! 😀
You’ve inspired me to try to draw realistically — something I’ve been wanting to do, but afraid to try. I know my first attempt won’t look anywhere near as good as your figures, but I’m going to try anyway. Thanks for the encouragement!
I’m in the zone right now too – it sure feels great eh?
I do love how you shared every stage of progress – i usually forget to take pics along the way.
Wonderful work 🙂
Wow…what amazing transformations in the painting…fun to see. Awesome sketches too!
I love figure drawing and it is great to revisit it now and again… your work is really flying along and I am a bit jealous that it is all turning out so beautifully xx
Fantastic! I love when my muse takes over and things just happen 🙂
The sketches are great, and it’s good to see the process as well as the finished item.
Yay! I totally smiled reading your post. I love this painting beast that you’ve unleashed!!
I love your fearlessness with your paintings! It’s so amazing to see the changes that happen when you work. Drawing and painting makes me skittish (which is why I make photographs mostly!) and I wish I could channel a little of that fearlessness once in a while. Nice work!
What an interesting process – thanks for taking us through it with you. This is going to be great, I can tell!
LOVE the lady and her dress. I’m glad you laughed in the face of Small Fearful and went with the flow! Gorgeous work.
Thanks SO much for sharing your process and I just loved seeing the progression of your painting. The end result is just stunning! There are so many lessons for me in this post I don’t know where to begin!!