Taking Flight

I so wanted to paint tonight. Something was in the air and as I hadn't managed to rustle up something for the Mixed Media Monday 'wings' challenge, that flighty subject seemed the very thing to wet my paintbrush.

Yet how I pondered... how I stretched and searched for the lift onto the thermals of inspiration. Then the words 'taking flight' fluttered past and I knew... I would like to say thank you to Ms Kelly Rae Roberts for her truly uplifting book - Taking Flight - and her delightful blog where she shares her insights into her creative soul. Kelly is one of those people who proves that YOU CAN DO IT! After years as a social worker and without formal training, Kelly is now a successful artist and writer with her creations reproduced as prints and stationery across the world. She had a dream. She went after it. She caught it and netted the rewards.

I've taken informal lessons from many artists these last six months or so and the experience and techniques lovingly shared by Kelly in her book have given me not just endless fun and inspiration but have also given flight to my creativity. So for this challenge I wanted to create a little something with a nod to Kelly but still very much my own.

After my foray into portrait painting last week I couldn't resist another go. This canvas block started life as a completely different picture which never quite lived up to expectation. Layers of acrylics, transfers and collage have been painted over leaving an intriguing background. I painted the girl who represents me (though she was never meant to look like me!) and made her wings from words because, for me, my words and art go hand in hand. I added some collaged hearts and got grubby with pastels and detailed with caran d'ache. I was pleased with the result. I feel like I've come a long way since I last posted a Kelly-inspired creation which I felt was far too much an inferior copy of her work rather than something of my own.

I think I like painting portraits!