Almost finished with a painting that I'm gonna stick in the mail to a dear friend of mine. Got a little sad yesterday because I realized that even thought I adore artists like Kelly Rae Roberts and Julie Nutting and they have the most precious "girlies" in their artwork, I can't draw a human figure to save my life. So the style that I LOVE is well out of my reach. This saddened me. Then two things happened.
1. My husband told me to work with what I am good at. He mentioned the "be not afraid" tree. Which got me to thinking. I do love trees. They aren't intimidating....just fun.
and
2. I read the following exerpt from Inner Excavation by Liz Lamoreux: "Then, I decided I needed to figure out how to "make a girl" with paint. But I had no experience drawing or painting faces, and the negative inner dialogue that came up when I attempted when I attempted it pushed me away from wanting to paint at all. I spent months almost frozen creatively because of this need to "paint a girl". Somehow I had arrived at the conclusion that to be an artist I must be able to paint a girl." Ha ha!! Someone else has been there too! All of these lovely painted girls floating around in the world, simply out of my reach, and come to find out, I'm not alone! :) Thanks for that, Liz!Anyway, I painted a tree instead. Threw some stars and glitter in for good measure. Take that fear and frustration! I painted anyway.
And Amy K., if you are reading this, I hope you like your tree, darling girl!
I will teach you how to paint your girl when you have time. A few tricks up your sleeve and you'll be free.
ReplyDeleteI remember a few years ago i saw a Kelly Rae article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors. I really liked her stuff and tried to do one. My girl looked nothing like hers at all! I couldn't do a face for the life of me! That's why most my stuff doesn't have them. But I made myself practice faces until I could do it. And now I have a book that will show people how to draw faces...lol! Keep practicing and just so you know, I can't draw a tree but I think I'm going to try it...one with hearts!
ReplyDeleteHa ha!! Julie, that's cute. Yeah, I tried one of Kelly Rae's girls. Fail. Who knew something that looked so easy could be so difficult!!
ReplyDeleteAnd this book you speak of, is it the one that's coming out this summer?? 'Cause I've already got my eye on that one! (I'm considering it a "half-birthday present" to myself.) :)
Oh, and how fun about the heart tree! I thought of a hearts tree yesterday...but wasn't feeling it. :) Love to see what you come up with!
Katie! My Art teacher in Elementary would have us turn something upside down and draw it. The exercise was to see the shapes within the drawing. It really works. Everything can be broken down. If you can draw a circle, a squiggly line, a tree ;o), then you can eventually draw anything. He then had us examine our eyes, nose, mouth...and draw them seperately. We often draw as we think things are not as they actually are. So I guess I'm saying, judging by your trees, you have all the skills you need to create those pretty ladies your talking about. ;o)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ames! Funny story: I used to draw girls when I was little. I have a faint memory of a drawing of a girl with ice skates on...so I'm sure it's possible. Still, growing up steals a bit from the artist that we have to win back, doesn't it? Stay tuned, sister! I'm sure I'll be posting my fabulous painted girl one of these days.
ReplyDelete