Jewels' Girls

In Progress at Ellis House, Bayswater

 Jewels' Girls with Kitten

12x16 (A3)

NFS

Do you remember years ago, when blogging was a pretty new thing, there was a gorgeous, absolutely stunning blog called Eyes of Wonder?  What an amazing blog (and an amazing mama blogger) that was.  I wouldn't be the only person to say that Eyes of Wonder changed the way I viewed large family life, homeschooling, homesteading, even chores and housework.  Jewels, the author, wrote beautifully and her photos were equally wonderful.

Over time, Jewels and I became internet friends ;) and recently she gave me permission to use some of her beautiful photos as inspiration for a series I'm planning to do on family.  Part of what makes her photos special is the handmade, vintage-styled clothing her children wore.  It made for gorgeous photos and I think it will make equally beautiful paintings.

As a thank-you, I made the very first painting especially for Jewels, and sent it off to her.  These are her two eldest girls.  She loved it. :)

The Exhibition

Rain Dancer, watercolour 2015 A3 (#4)

I had promised my friends at Ellis House that I would enter a painting in the next members' exhibition.  Unfortunately the entry date snuck up on me and, when I realized how soon I needed to have the painting in -- Easter weekend, which is already really busy at my house anyway -- I had a bit of a panic.  But I had promised, and figured why not try?

The theme of the exhibition was Water Rhythm (or similar).  Not really having a clue as to what that meant, I figured something watery would probably do it.  You can get away with a lot as a newbie.

So the same night I finished the previous painting, which was Good Friday, we went to the Good Friday evening service at church and then I came straight home and started looking for a subject to paint.  Painting one of my own kids wasn't a good idea because I already knew I couldn't put a price tag on one of those.  So I had a look online and found a sweet photo of a girl dancing in the rain with a creative commons license to use.

I asked some friends on facebook what they thought (love it!) and the general response to the photo was good, so I quickly drew it and started painting.

I knew what I wanted to do but I had no idea what order to do it in or what colours exactly to use.  Still had the wrong yellow ;)  I made sooooooooo many terrible mistakes and finally at around 2am I gave up.  I got out a huge mop brush and dunked it in the dirty paint water and swooshed it all over the painting.

Big grey-brown drips rolled down the painting, across the girl in the orange dress, onto my desk, everywhere.  I turned the painting the other way and did it again.  I didn't have any hope of salvaging this horrible painting.

Then I went to bed.

Next morning I got up and hubby said, "I really like your new painting!"  I snorted, thinking he was teasing me but when I looked at it, it was dried and it didn't look...all that bad.  I hadn't got a frame yet or anything so my time was really short for me to get something completed for that afternoon, and suddenly I thought I would just go with this painting.  See what happened.

 

I bought some mat board in a grey colour and a mat cutting set.  I got the frame at IKEA.  Somehow the mat and frame worked with the second mat I made to set off the poor painting and I couldn't say that it was all that horrible.

I put it in the exhibition.

It sold.

:) :) :)

And then after that, someone else wanted the same painting done again for them.  And several other people wanted other paintings done for them.  And just like that, I knew that I was actually an artist.

I can say more about that but to put it simply:  I believe an artist is someone who is able to translate ideas from one form (sometimes unable to be spoken) to another (possibly able to be seen or heard or felt).  Some people make pictures, and that's fine...but it's not the essence of art.  When someone connects emotionally with something you've drawn or made, that's art and you are an artist.  It doesn't really have anything to do with selling stuff -- but having people willingly part with money in order to own what they've connected with is a good indicator that you have made art.

Conquered the Fear

12x16" Watercolour 2015 #3

 This is the portrait that I was afraid to paint.  It was done from a snapshot of one of my boys at around age 2.

So many challenges for a newbie.  Back-lit face, almost monochromatic colour scheme to enliven, water, light, perspective (which had to be completely adjusted from the snapshot photo), tiles, and more. 

I couldn't put it off painting it any longer though.  What is the saying:  "In life you either need inspiration or desperation."  This was a true case of desperation.

The issue was that I had moved up to a 12x16" paper, but it was a block of paper (glued on two edges).  And I had promised my friends at Ellis House that I would put something, anything, in the next members' exhibition.  Here it was Good Friday and the exhibition painting, which I had not yet started nor even planned, needed to be in the next day.  I had this little portrait drawn and ready to paint on the top of the block, and I didn't want to take it off and have to stretch the paper.  Plus, I really just needed to overcome my fear and get it done.

So I did.

I didn't have the yellow I wanted.  So I used the one I had, although I knew it would be unusual.  But it turned out.

And I loved it.

Bravely Attempting the First Face

A4, watercolour, 2015 #2

Before I tackled this little watercolour portrait, I had drawn a larger picture of one of my other children, but because it was backlit and with delicate lighting and a very particular mood, I was still too scared to try painting it.  I felt satisfied with the things I'd learned from the first portrait and thought I must try to do a face, but I wasn't ready to do that one just yet.  So to keep my momentum, I found this cute picture of another son from a few years ago.  I don't normally like "photo faces" in portraits because of the obvious and unnatural posing, but this so perfectly captured his personality that I thought if I could pull off the squashy-face grin, I'd be really pleased.  Nothing like a challenge for your first face.

So here is the series of progress photos.  The first was taken just for fun with my iphone and posted for friends/family on Facebook, and the second I took to post to the local art group for their advice as to whether I should darken the background.  Opinions were mixed, but I decided to go ahead and do it.  The last photo is of the finished painting. 

My favourite part of this whole painting is the shoes.  Funnily enough, it's also the favourite part for the subject.  He loved those shiny silver sport shoes. What a privilege to be able to work at bringing back precious memories for my little ones.

The Story of How I Started Painting In Earnest

A4, Watercolour, 2015 #1

Besides the fact that I really wanted to learn watercolour, we had also recently moved from overseas and brought nothing with us besides what could fit in two suitcases each.  So there was nothing on the walls of our new home, and nothing to put on them.  I was able to obtain some free picture frames that someone was throwing out, and determined to fill them with something meaningful to make our space more homey.  It's very hard when you can't hold on to things that mean something to you, and the next best thing you can do is create something with your own hands to redirect those lost orphaned feelings to a new belonging that somehow means as much as the missing item did -- because you made it yourself and put your own memories and feelings into it.

When I joined my friends at the Ellis House Community Art Centre, I was immediately taken under everyone's wings as a total newbie.  Karl, pictured above in the yellow shirt, was doing water colours too so I stuck pretty close to him at first, and he gave me good feedback and tips.

The first week I worked on a quick "sketch" of pink flowers, but it turned out poorly.  I was using Cotman tubes, which were okay, but I hadn't painted since 3 years before (and not at all before that) so I couldn't remember anything about how much water to use or how to hold the brush or how to use the water to its best advantage.  That same first week I also did a larger drawing for a painting that I was too afraid to start adding colour until I got a grip on how the paints worked.


The second week, I started work on my first portrait, of my little daughter when she was about two years old, pictured above.  I had such trouble with some parts of it but in the end, for my first effort, I was pretty happy.  It's on my piano room wall right now.

One thing that I appreciate the most about my own foray into art, is the interest that my little ones have taken in making art works of their own that mean something special to each of them.  I'll post more about that later, but suffice to say that the little ones picnicking in the back yard of Ellis House were also taken under everyone's wings when they came to visit and create art for the day, and it is so motivating for them to keep creating and learning new skills too.