I bought this framed canvas painting (a questionable still life of flowers) from the thrift store years ago with the intention of someday doing something with it. What it would be, I had no idea…and then it just sat in my craft room for a very long time.
Fast forward to now, being stuck in the house, determined to craft only with stash (obviously shopping for supplies is rather difficult now). I decided to pull out this canvas and finally do something with it, and the decent amount of paint I’ve had for a long time but haven’t touched. Inspired by @alteredmommy’s Big Mountains acrylic painting, I decided it’d be a fun exercise in just painting as my whims and emotional responses dictated…which was a fun process though led down many an ugly path. But we’ll call those ugly paths “layers”, and layers make the painting more complex and interesting right?
I documented each layer as I went to see the evolution of it. I did get lax near the end though just due to being a bit tired of continually making bad choices. But I do think I landed in a spot where I’m happy. Originally I thought I’d use only paint, but I ended up using alcohol inks, sharpie, fabric paint, mica powders, watercolors and collage elements too. I wasn’t happy when I was forcing myself to only use paint, but once I opened the door to anything, it became a lot more fun.
Here’s where I ended it. It’s so easy to be tempted to continue adding more details, but the second it’s too much, there’s no where to breathe. It’s definitely a balancing act.
This canvas holds multitudes in its layers. It is nice that if your top layer is going really really wrong, you can hit the reset button by throwing another layer of paint on top of it.
That is fantastic. Each layer is a journey, I love that you showed some of them. It would be SO cool to have a stop motion slide show type thing of all the layers, bet that would be a work of art in itself.
Wow!
I’m loving all the process shots, the different techniques and colours you try out. I was intrigued to spot that most shots had circles in. A reoccurring motif. Does it show up in other work?
I love the orangey red 3 circle iteration, the black with lots of circular windows was interesting and the final version is surprising. I love the fish!
Great seeing how much effort went into the picture before you were happy with it.
I have a fascination with circles and circular patterns so it’s no surprise to me that I kept trying to work it in. Equally funny that its final representation is not what I envisioned at all. I think it just shows that you can’t force the process to go your way.
Wow! What a journey! You clearly had a great time creating this work of art!!!
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AIMR
(Linda -2024 Choose Projects that You Want to Do :us:)
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The process took you all over the place…but in the end, the art became what it wanted to become…
I love all the layers…I saw a couple of the layers that could just as easily been the base start…the one under the all circular one…love the gold little circles on the white…the teal and lime one with the hint of the dark circles underneath…
What an incredible piece! What a great way to document the journey you’re on during quarantine, as well. I loved looking at the final piece and then walking through all the different layers. Beautiful!
I love seeing the progression. It makes me feel better about some abstract art that I’ve been making! I thought I was going crazy with all of the layers and changes, but you’ve definitely helped me see the light. Such a cool piece. Thanks for sharing it with us.
This is really neat! I like the process shots, but I also like the final result! There is so much there to look at without it seeming crowded or overwhelming. (It actually kind of reminds me of a painting my grandparents had in their house, minus the fish… from a local artist, I think his name was Charles Dix.)
It looks like it doesn’t work now. Oh well.