Artist's Prayer


Give us Your daily Inspiration
So, we can live a Creative Life.
And lead us away from self-doubt,
For to doubt our creativity
Is to doubt Your Voice within us.
Amen.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

In The Process of Letting Go....


As the above painting is gently and peacefully coming into being ~ one messy brush stroke at a time ~ I can't help but wonder how much it reminds me of my personal journey, especially the messy part... I was inspired to experiment with a more expressive and abstract composition while browsing through an online gallery of a friend of mine, Don Larson, who paints mostly nudes. I just fell in love with the very pronounced, chiseled~like brush strokes combined with a strong value variation which he masterfully employs in capturing the beauty and mystery of a human body.

I decided to challenge myself to a larger canvas size and additionally to explore new territories by working with a vertically oriented canvas instead of the usual horizontal placement. I deliberately abstained from taking pictures during the initial stages of painting itself.... more than anything the process was intended to be a safe channel of 'throwing out' from within and directly onto the canvas, through the very spontaneous and 'loose' gestures of my brush over the surface. My intention and hope was to create a sensation of emotional purging, letting go of whatever wanted to come out and letting it find its place on the canvas. I decided to let the paint colors to pick me, rather than the other way around... After I felt a sense of completion ( at the stage that is shown in the top photo) I let the painting sit and wait until the inner urge of continuation returned.... over a week later.

The next phase of working on this painting was marked by development of new layers and texture. Hence, I up~cycled a Starbucks paper cup and filled in half with a mixture of Golden Self-Leveling Gel, Quinacridone Crimson and Interference Oxide Red.

This cloudish ~ reddish mixture should not be mistaken for a serving of a gourmet coffee!

I tilted the canvas and spilled the content the gel/paint mixture over the surface.

Next, I decided to let the gravity assist me in finding even more in this creative mess.

Yet it wasn't until I begun to spread the wet mixture around the canvas with some serious help from a plastic shopping bag, that I actually started laughing.... the tactile delights and messiness of the process reminded me of childhood art projects.

The following day I went back to applying the initial spontaneous brush strokes over the surface, this time by applying a mixture of Golden High Solid Gel (Gloss) with Blick Acrylics Titanium White.

.... it looks that much more paint and gel texture is in the stars for this painting. In the above photo I added a layer of Golden Acrylics High Solid Gel (Gloss), Golden Acrylics Cerulean Blue Deep and Turquois (Phthalo). I feel a strong inclination towards a Glass Bead Gel as a next candidate of the list of possible texture 'contributors'...

On a side note, this week I had a chance to participate in the preview party for the Chicago Art Open at the River East Arts Center, downtown Chicago where one of my paintings 'circul~R' is on display until May 7, 2010. For more info visit the following link ~ Chicago Art Open 2010.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Tatiana, I'm so proud of all of your recent art accomplishments - you are making a name for yourself in Chicago for sure! And thanks as always for providing us an eyewitness seat to your art making. I enjoy it a lot. xoxo

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  2. Another nice piece happening! So many layers!

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  3. How I adore the pink portion of this work, the spill speaks to me... the lack of resistance to it, the intentional pouring... all about surrender to me.

    I am grateful I found you this morning... kindreds, indeed...

    See some of my creativity at play here, too!

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  4. Dear Tatiana; You are an inspiration! Love your imagination so much. I can't thank you enough for going thru your process and sharing your techniques. It's so helpful to a beginner like me. I have to hug you, Jean

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