Friday 12 June 2015

Summer of Colour, and intuitive painting

Summer has arrived, and with it Summer of Colour, the six week blog party with weekly colour prompts, hosted by Kristin from Twinkle, Twinkle. I finished the challenge in 2013, but only got to week two last year (you can see all the paintings I did for SOC here). It really is a great fun challenge, and this year, I want to finish it again. So I sat down to paint already on Monday afternoon. But I think I got a bit too excited, and ended up mixing up the colours for this week. Instead of using two blues and one green, I used two greens, and one blue.
  

 So I went back to my desk and my sketchbook, and did a quick second one, this time with the right colour combination. I used my trusted "What's in your fridge" theme as inspiration, using watercolours for the background and coloured pencils for the subjects. Two years ago, choosing a theme for my paintings for the challenge (watercolour background with pen doodles on top) worked well, so I might do that again this year, working myself through the contents of the fridge.
 

June is going to be a busy month, creatively, as apart from Summer of Colour, I'm also going to dive into intuitive painting. Three years ago, in June 2012, I took Flora Bowley's online class Bloom True, to get some new ideas, and to generally get my painting mojo back. But I never really got into it and to the end of the course somehow. Maybe I just simply wasn't ready for it back then. But this different approach to painting continued to fascinate me, and I had been thinking about giving it another try one day.

Tuning in to your intuition, letting go, being brave - these are all things that appeal to me very much right now, both on and off canvas. Most of all, I want to put Fun back into my painting process. And my life. I somehow seem to have lost it along the way a long time ago.

When an e-mail announcing a new class beginning in June arrived a couple of weeks ago, I decided to sign up. I'm really fed up with standing in my own way by over-planning, over-thinking, over-expecting... and although it will be challenging, I'm now ready to try and let go. And to just splash some paint on canvas and let it develop. I'm quite excited about seeing where this journey will go.


These are the two canvases I'm working on. I've applied the first two layers, and it's all looking a bit chaotic and ugly. Even more so because both canvases already had layers of paints on them and I just went over them with some gesso. Especially in the first (upper) piece, it made the first layer of reds and yellows rather dull. This is actually one of the canvases I used for the class three years ago. The other (lower) one was a painting I did in 2001. At that time, I was very fond of using lots of modelling past and gold. It was high time to let it go and put it to better use. I've always been a firm believer of painting over any paintings you're not really happy with. And these layers will soon be covered too. So it's alright if they look a bit chaotic and ugly.


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18 comments:

  1. Beautiful work, Love the idea of painting your way through the fridge! Have fun with the Flora Bowley course, too. Valerie

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  2. Well, you may have mixed up the colour combination but I love that painting of the blueberries - it's beautiful. I like the idea of what's in your fridge - clever!
    Good for you for getting back into the intuitive paintings. I keep hearing about Flora as Denthe took her class and her work is amazingly wonderfully colourful and intuitive and I can already see a little of that in the under layers of the canvasses you've posted here. I do love the idea of intuitive painting which is sort of what happened with the rhino I painted recently although it was more a 'vision' that I followed through on but you know what I mean! I can totally relate to being the one who stands in your own way - I have signed up for so many distance learning courses over the years - cartooning, creative writing, crochet - and I've yet to finish any of them! I'm looking forward to seeing where your intuitive paintings take you.

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  3. Looking great! I am participating in SOC too! I'd love to see what you do with those canvases!

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  4. Love your theme for social and the canvases are beautiful. Love the intuitive process creatively and otherwise!

    Hugs Giggles

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  5. First of all, I love the 2 canvases that you have been working on and cannot wait to see what you do with them, too! Secondly, I love the 2 paintings you made for this week's challenge - the 2 greens and one blue turned out great, even if not the exact combination. I love the way you went to your fridge for inspiration for the second! It's amazing!

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  6. Looks all fabulous! Have fun with the course .. hope to see what go will do with the canvas!
    oxo
    Susi

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  7. These canvases look like you have put fun into them otherwise I don't think they would be so bright and cheerful. Love them.

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  8. Have fun with your new class, I'm sure you will do great. Love what you did for the first week of SOC. I'll be following your refrig. stash, so to speak. tee hee. Have a great day and awesome work.

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  9. Lovely, both the succhini and the blueberries. Good luck in you new class, I'm sure it will be both inspiring and exciting.

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  10. Good luck with your new class. Your new piece looks very exciting!

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  11. Oh, you're going to have so much fun with your new paintings! Since I did Flora's course in February 2012 I have never looked back. My way of painting has changed so much, and I love not knowing what will come out of the many layers. I would never have been able to think up and draw the paintings that came out of it. Looking forward to where these will go!

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  12. Your words really resonated with me as I am trying to get back to "my painting" free of judgement or worrying if it will be okay. I love your post and both of your canvases too. I have never done SOC and am going to check it out. Have a great PPF and a terrific weekend! Rasz #69

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  13. I am in awe of what you have done... I do hope I one day will be able to paint that well... Thank you ever so much for sharing your history as well...
    Tacker så mycket :)

    Kind regards
    Mariane
    http://cordes.re/blg/wind/?p=2118

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  14. Great work and the class sounds like it will be just the ticket to get your mojo working again!

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  15. Beautiful! The textures you've utilized here are just amazing.

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  16. I think both of them are lovely! Very nice shades!

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