Flow

Sometimes it's good to just let go and see what appears on the paper; to abandon any preconceived idea of perfection; to surrender to flow...

I've been feeling more relaxed this week as I let thought flow more freely and generally loosen up. Sounds a bit bonkers but (I think) I know what I'm doing.

It's all the fault of this ere chap Michael Neill and his book The Inside-Out Revolution: The Only Thing You Need to Know to Change Your Life Forever. He gives clarity to life, our thoughts and conditioning. Very hard to explain, but it's all to do with how we view thoughts... sort of...  A short enough book that I read quickly and now start again more slowly, to digest and learn.

I'm too tired to go into this in any depth. Go read the book!

Sharing this artwork of flow with Paint Party Friday. A completely intuitive painting that told its own story - it wanted to be dancing jellyfish. Male and Female. Yin and Yang.

Dreamy

I was going to paint tonight but I'm far too tired and consumed a little too much wine.

This morning I had made a mental note to remove the bottle from the fridge so I wouldn't be tempted by its cool, fresh, fruitiness. I forgot.

Then, as I contemplated the heavy grey skies, I figured it wasn't the sort of weather for white anyway... That thought went the same way as the latter.

So here I am singing softly to myself wafting in and out of a dreamlike state and scanning in paintings I made 'earlier'.

I may well treat myself to an early night.

Hic

Aloha!

Did someone say Hawaii?

I can hear the sounds of the surf, smell the vanilla beans and feel the music pumping through my veins. Shall we grab a board and go surfing?

Layers of sunshine, flowers and holiday make up this piece. There are raffle tickets for luck and secret words hiding beneath the paint.

Can you see them?

Sharing some Summer with Sunday Sketches - Aloha!

When Van Gogh and Picasso time travelled

I'm not sure if I ever shared these on my blog before. I can't think why because frankly it's a bit of a scoop - after all, it's not often that one finds evidence of time-travelling artistic legends getting together to paint.

Dr Who fans may remember the episode where he meets Van Gogh. What we didn't get to see was a quick trip they took in the TARDIS via 1936 (to pick up a certain Picasso) to 17th century Holland to visit Mr Vermeer.

There they spent a happy few hours painting a young lady who happened to be sitting for him that day. Vincent was rather enamoured of her by all accounts and gifted her some jewellery to wear. Not to be outdone, Pablo gave her his scarf. I know which one I would have preferred, although that head gear would have been useful to cover up my bed hair this morning.

 

 

The questions on everyone's lips of course are:

Which of the portraits she felt most represented her character and beauty? And,

What happened to the Picasso and Van Gogh versions. Well... funny you should ask...

Sharing with the Artists' Playroom 'inspired by famous artists' theme.

Vulnerability

A little creepy. Empty eyes. Statuesque perhaps.

Collage, stamping, drawing, spraying, blending, painting. A bit of everything in this. A maelstrom of technique and message but nothing coherent. I know how she feels...

A bit vulnerable perhaps? I just watched Skyfall. Nice to see Bond being a bit vulnerable. It's all the rage. Iron Man is at it too. Makes a change to see the heroes act a little more human. It makes me feel a certain connection - like they could get tennis elbow from gardening too...

Sharing for Sunday Sketches.

Spring Showers

Crash Bang Wallop - it's May!

Spring has finally arrived as a green haze wraps itself over the shrubbery.

This mixed media piece was inspired by April showers but finished on a sunny May evening with a crisp and cold Chablis running through my veins to welcome in the season.

Now that I've finished with my romp through the A to Z of blog posts, it's nice to catch up with a few artistic challenges. This one's for the Artists' Playroom as we explore spring showers and flowers.

Dripping onto the page is a mixture of inks, acrylics, oil pastels, coloured pencil, acrylic pen and rain!