Painting Angels and Slow, Slow Boats *Updated!

One thing I miss about college is the fact that the constant demands of various classes would force creativity. You were told to "create or die" in a sense. I feel that since I left the academic environment my endeavors of an artistic nature have taken a back seat to those more mundane. Recently, I've been trying to change that. Odd sometimes what sparks your initial creativity. I do a lot of illustrative work, some for business, some for pleasure, but I've let my skills in other areas wane. Painting and book arts in particular. This is the first thing I've painted in several months! Thanks to a creative mission sparked by my spectacular friend Mystic, I was inspired to return to the canvas. Today, it's somewhere on the F/V Wizard...after spending many long weeks on a slow boat (thanks parcel post!) up to Unalaksa/Dutch Harbor.

Due to a short time span to paint this particular painting, I used acrylics...I'm not as confident with them as with oils due to their quick drying time, but maybe that's good. Sometimes it's better to step into the unfamiliar than to continue to walk the well trod...oh gosh, cue Frost!

It felt good to break out the brushes again. There's something soothing about painting. Even when it frustrates the mess out of you, it's still better than a great many things.

I particularly liked working with this color scheme, verging on monochromatic for the most part. Blue is my favorite color, cerulean in particular and mixing and blending and discovering the various hues and values was exciting.

I started the painting with a yellow ochre outline as you can see in the outline of the Wizard. I personally find it easier to work with a guide than immediately begin applying paint...however, I often deviate from the guide. Also, you can see here where the sea is lacking in its white foam...which I was actually very timid about adding in the formative stages of its application.

I also employed a technique I'd never used before. (keep branching out!) A grisaille, is a gray underpainting that provides a tonal guide for the colored layers that consist of thin glazes of paint to create a transparent luminosity. It is especially useful when trying to paint skin tones.

Finally, I finished the painting off with a glaze to protect it and to restore the original sheen of the wet paint. After that, it was boxed, shipped and sent off with a wing and a prayer. It's no "high art" but it was an absolute delight to paint and the meaning behind it is heartfelt. I'd jokingly been promising Capt. Keith a painting for a while...to cheer up the bathroom of the Wizard...the scariest place on earth...it turns out I actually painted something...but if it ends up in the head...well, your guess is as good as mine!

*UPDATE!

Turns out, it ended up in the office on the Wiz! I received this pic on Sat...put a big smile on my face! :) Thanks Capt!

At the Canvas once again...

The original sketch for the last painting I did...

This past weekend was a good one. I went out with a friend, walked around, talked, and ate some killer Indian food. How do you not love curry? Seriously? I spent some time with some good girl friends and watched the Miss America pageant...where we...like any group of girls worth their salt...ridiculed the answers, dresses, and general demeanor of the contestants. We also watched Sweeney Todd and I have subsequently had "The Worst Pies in London" in my head ever since. Johnny Depp, can you be in every movie? *girlish sigh!* Ok, ok, now onto the issue at hand.

A Duality of sorts...like night and day, hot and cold...one would be nothing without the other, distinct, and yet irrevocably linked.

Also, this weekend, I got inspired. I have am currently part of a "mission" that remains at the moment, somewhat secretive, but it has given me reason to pull out the paintbrushes again. It's all too infrequent a hobby really. I'm working on a deadline and was really starting to sweat the fact that I hadn't even come up with a simple sketch yet! However, last Friday, I found the image of a sculpture...and one line in the form set off a firestorm in my mind. All weekend I simmered thinking about it and today, I put it down on paper. Tomorrow, I'll buy the canvas and over the weekend, work as I always do when I paint, for hours upon endless hours, not even realizing or minding the passage of the day. It's transportation in a sense, a complete collapse of structured time, a step outside of the self while at the same time the full internalization of self, a duality of the body and soul. (My gosh, I sound like some high minded artsy fartsy professor that deserves a good roll of the eyes from her students. LOL!)

Anyway, it'll be something I'll update when I'm done with it and the "mission" has been completed. It's no high art that I'm creating, but something deeply felt none the less...I honestly, just hope my skills are up to the task I've put before them...I suppose I'll find out soon enough!

...and the finished product of that sketch.