Painting Energy

Now that I have been painting abstractly/non-objectively for several months I am finding that I can't go back to painting any other way! The energy of abstract has really drawn me in. Guess I will keep on with this, as I said, and work this way for a while.

Working in a Series

I have again been working with oil pastel over acrylic; I love this medium and wish I could figure out how to work larger with it as I have to blend with my fingers and can't do too much at a time or do a big area. This particular painting goes back to my series of "Thin Places" with my interest in grasses, especially growing out of water or water's edge.

Notes to Myself

I love paintings that have a message - literally! I have been wanting to incorporate writing into my work, and I have been working with numbers and letters, using dates and other images to work into paintings. This painting was done in response to a time when I wanted to remind myself of something important that I needed to never forget, and I wrote myself a note then painted over it. I will always (hopefully) remember what the message was for me.

Low

"Low" is an old acrylic painting covered up with oil pastels. The AARP group has been working High and Low, putting the emphasis on either one of the two choices. The scribbles and colors in the lower part of this painting make the lower part the more important, and the fact that this part is the greater area of the painting also makes this the emphasis. So much fun working with this group; we interact with each other as if we knew each other, but we have never met. The internet is great for making new friends.

Highs and Lows

The AARP online group is now working on "highs" and "lows" in drawing/painting composition. Today is the first day I have worked on this. In the past when I was doing landscapes I almost always had a high horizon so it would be natural for me to do the "high" design; many times I have tried to do the low horizon and somehow it would creep back up towards the middle. I am hoping that I can learn to do the "low" design by working on this assignment. I had fun today doing "High Fives".

Missed Opportunity

Wildacres Retreat is an area in the North Carolina mountains that is a retreat for artists and other workshops. I have been by it several times as I have often visited friends in that area. Also, I have a writer friend who spent a week there last summer and told me about the artist residency weeks. I got a call yesterday offering me a week in July to spend there working on my painting; it is such a dream come true to be able to spend time just on painting with no distractions. BUT I couldn't accept because I already have too many obligations for the month of July. I have recently learned that I cannot over-do as I pay for it later. It takes me much longer to recuperate from over-doing that it used to so I have had to learn to say no. I really hated to give up the chance to do the week there; I hope maybe I will get another chance in the future.