Drifting

My latest watercolor

This weekend I had the pleasure of painting in the studio.  It was a much needed getaway for me.  It has been a quiet and restful holiday weekend for me and I always enjoy it when I can spend uninterrupted time creating.  I decided that I wanted to share my process of painting with you and you could see how I came to the completion of this piece.

I always start with of course a fresh piece of watercolor paper.  This time I chose 300 lb cold pressed Arches.  I had a sample pack from Cheap Joe's, one of my very favorite art supply stores.  The 300 lb is extremely sturdy, and does not require any stretching before painting, and it doesn't curl up while painting.  It can handle a lot of water, since I love wet on wet watercolor technique.

I have a quiet meditation bell in my studio and I always find myself slowing down, ringing the quiet bell before beginning my creative process.  We get so busy with our day to day lives, I want my heart and mind to be calm when entering the creative process.  When we allow ourselves to meditate on what is right before us, thoughts and visions of what the piece is suppose to be will take place, you just need to be in tune with yourself and your work.

I love quiet music playing in the studio, I have my own Creative Mix of music on my Ipod, songs that are soothing and calming for me.  I have lots of candles burning and a little scent of incense as well.  All of these comforts are soothing to my creative spirit!  We become creatures of habit, even in our creative process, I know I certainly am. I know I have certain expectations.

For this piece, I did a complete water wash several times over the paper, allowing the water to saturate well into the paper.  I then began letting the paints run onto the page, it slowly began to look like sloping hills.  I let my first stage of the painting dry and tried to envision the next step.

Trees, Trees and more Trees

As I envisioned sloping hills in my painting, I then began to add trees.  I have always said that I have a fascination with trees in my watercolor paintings.  I loved painting them even in my watercolor classes with Louis and Susan Jones. Trees represent strength, roots and a strong foundation to me, they carry a certain gentleness.  My trees are never life like, more whimsical, but I love my interpretation!  I used sponge technique for added leaves, my #1 Rigger brush for the fine branch detail.  I could lose hours just painting the limbs of trees!When I finished the trees and let the piece sit for awhile.  I then decided that it needed some snowfall . . . I used white gouche paint and splattered it over the trees. When I finished the painting, the name Drifting just came to be.  It looked as though the trees were drifting along. I am very happy with the finished piece.

Drifting

There are times when we want answers to life and don't receive them, we are unsure about our future, and we drift along from experience to experience. I feel we all are drifting from time to time . . . not knowing where we want to be.  This picture represents that. Drifting isn't always bad . . . sometimes we drift from one thing to another and finally find our way. The place we are supposed to be in life.  Be aware, watch and grow during these times.

I have worked hard on my Etsy shop this weekend and listed this piece and many others.  I am very proud of it and it gives me a sense of peace when I stare at it.  I encourage you to visit my Etsy shop, this is all new to me and I have some creative goodiness there to share with you.  Hope your week is filled with beauty and all good things.