get your paint on: week 2

"Dreamer"

My painting assignment this week was to select an artist I feel inspired by and draw from specific elements of their paintings, concepts, feelings, colors, or any other aspect of their work that could be used as a jumping off point. I chose Sunshine Barlowe Lewis....a current obsession. I wrote about Sunshine last week, and I have to say her tree-laden paintings immediately sprang to mind when I read my assignment. Part of the lesson here was to explore subject matter.....what do I want to paint? Trees. I'm predicting a lot of trees. But, there are also other elements of Sunshine's work that I feel very drawn to, such as her use of exaggerated size (i.e. very large flowers or leaves) and the inclusion of inspirational words or phrases (being a writer I adore being led into a story when I look at a painting).

I'm feeling more and more comfortable with a paintbrush in my hand. I have a long way to go, but it is one of those things that feels like a part of me that was just waiting to be discovered. I suddenly feel so elated knowing I have the rest of my life to paint and work on my craft (among many others artistic crafts, *smile*). So this week's painting was inspired by that feeling....

I really need a studio space! With my growing list of art forms, a small office is just not going to do. It was barely working for my photography...oh, to dream...someday.

One of last week's paintings finalized:

"The Adventure Begins"

The story behind "The Adventure Begins": The photo in the center is of a large piece of driftwood on a beach in Ventura, California. This was taken on the trip to Southern California on which I came up with my brilliant plan to pack up my life in Connecticut and move to San Diego....which I did a mere 2 weeks later. Crazy. My least thought out plan EVER. There is a lot of emotion behind this painting that can't completely be translated into words. In a way I can say that the free flowing, imperfect circles are the many and constant thoughts/ideas swirling in my head. The colorful ones are the ones that have been brought to fruition, and the others are still waiting but are complete (like a circle). So much here.....in a nutshell though, this painting symbolizes the beginning of one of my greatest adventures.