Thursday, July 28, 2011

Paint Party Friday: The Art Party

Last Friday I had a great opportunity to get together with friends in one of their art studios along with a number of other women, most of whom are or had been art teachers.  It was a wonderfully creative experience.  Everyone was working on different things, including sewing.  
Never a dull moment, the conversation flowed!  

Sometimes I feel intimidated when working among other artists which is exactly why I think it is a very important experience to have right now before school starts again.  I can put myself in my students' place and understand their fears and help to alleviate some of them by the words I speak and the projects I assign.  

The piece I started on Friday started off as a traditional watercolor but because everyone was trying to stretch themselves and most started their paintings minus the preliminary drawings so that the pieces were freer and looser.   I had to jump in and follow along.  I must say it is difficult for me to abandon my safe zone and venture out into uncharted territory
BUT
...I never allowed the piece to be "precious" to me!  
By that I mean if it ended up lining the trash can...
so be it...
I would just start another.  
I allowed myself to play and have fun. 

I have worked on this every evening while listening to a movie or something in the background.  
It has numerous layers.  
I applied a little bit of stamping, numerous watercolor washes, detailed in watercolor pencil and then outlined using a Sharpie and then went back in varying values in the designs. 
It has been a positive experience.  
Although I may not abandon my traditional style of painting, it certainly has changed my perspective.
Have a great Paint Party Friday
I know I will!

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35 comments:

  1. this is wonderful and alive
    how fun that you were brave enough to stretch your self to try new things!

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  2. Such a gorgeous painting. Let me know if it is about to line a trash can and I'll give it a home. LOL! I especially like the light coming from the right side.

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  3. Beautiful painting. Love the colors. Happy PPF!

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  4. I love this!!!! This is beautiful piece.
    I am with Faye if you decide to get rid of it let me know. I'll take it!!!

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  5. I get the feeling what you put in the garbage most of us would frame LOL... this is AWESOME!!!!

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  6. this is wonderful! it would make a fabulous book illustration. i love the depth and light. which bit is stamped-it all looks hand drawn (and beautifully so) to me?

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  7. oooo I absolutely love the doodle feel the painting acquired. this is a huge success! I love it! great job letting go and exploring and just seeing where your creative genius took you! its so hard to trust the process, but this end result really speaks volumes about how important it is to do just that!q

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  8. WOW this piece is fantastic! The background just blows me away!
    Have a great Friday :)

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  9. Absolutely beautiful piece! Your story this week is of encouragement too. Learning to be more free in creating art is a great lesson for us all. Thank you and HAPPY PPF!

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  10. Wonderful! Don't you love it when that happens! The doodles are PERFECT!

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  11. This is wonderful- I LOVE the way you captured the light and the doodles in the background are perfect....beautiful work!
    Happy PPF,
    Stephanie

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  12. Oh this is breathtaking!!!! I can so relate to the "safe zone". Wow your venturing really paid out, its beautiful! And I just love the precious sharing scene of an adult and child!!!!I like what you said about doing something with other artists so you can see what your students feel!!! Thats cool!!! Deb

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  13. Oh, I really love this one! It appeals to my sense of whimsy!

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  14. It's always important to have fun and enjoy the process. YOu did such a great job with this one. I love the black marker outlines.

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  15. Oh, my! I can not thank you all enough! You make me feel so good! In answer to Nicola at Pointy Pix it is not very much stamping at all. I think I used a stamp that said "believe" in a lower lever layer to add texture to the background. I only did it on the far left side and in the end designed around it using it as texture to design into, never actually using the design or word in the stamp. I'm not sure that explains it but if you work in layers where you just start adding layer on layer before actually beginning to design then you would understand it. The concept is to give yourself something other than a flat white surface to build upon.

    Thanks again! I love hearing from you all. You are such supportive people!

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  16. This watercolor is fantastic. I love the subject matter! So sweet! :-)

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  17. Love this ~ It is great ~ namaste, Carol ^_^

    Over from PaintParty Friday ~ come visit my blogs ~

    http://www.artmusedogsharethecreativejourney.com/

    http://www.acreativeharbor.com/

    Thanks ~

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  18. HOLY MOLY. This rocked my socks off! I love the graphic elements in the background.

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  19. Beautiful, Beautiful painting. I love this and the colors in it. The details and just everything. You have a definite winner here.

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  20. Aren't LIVE paint parties fabulous!! Great to hear about yours!

    This is fabulous! I love all the detail you added with the shrapie etc.

    Beautiful!

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  21. Beautiful I just love the depth and detail! You are so talented! Have a wonderful weekend!
    Nat

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  22. This is EXACTLY how my garden grows! it seems I have no control. Love this piece.
    Thank you

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  23. How gorgeous. The light, the colours and just the simplicity of parenting as a subject. I hope this will hang on a wall pride of place somewhere.

    Love it if you would link up at my creative weekend blog hop between friday and sunday every week. Heres the link for this weeks - http://wordsinsync.blogspot.com/2011/07/weekend-creation-blog-hop-guest-post-by_29.html

    Hop along if your fancy it.

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  24. I think this is wonderful! You did a great job stepping outside your comfort zone. And I really like the idea of not allowing a painting to be precious so you can free yourself to experiment.

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  25. WOW! Really great watercolor. I'm so happy for PPF. I got to discover your blog. Beautiful work. Wish I had a group of peeps to paint with, chat with and be challenged by. Not many painters in my area. Love your work!!

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  26. Absolutely stunning...you are an amazing artist!

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  27. wow wow wow!!! I think this is fantastic, I love all that detail in the background and the colours in this piece really make it pop!! Well done on stretching yourself!!! :0)

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  28. beautiful painting Darla... and thanks a lot for sharing your process. I am inspired to stretch myself and do something out of my comfort zone:)

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  29. This is amazing! Wow - stretching yourself and facing some fear really produced incredible results!

    xo
    Kristin

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  30. Just wonderful work! Wish I could be this good! Like someone said, it does look like a book illustration.

    Annabelle

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  31. it's always amazing that wonderful artists such as yourself are intimidated. This is a great piece!

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