Sundrip Journals
At 7 x 5 inches this painting packs an emotional punch for me. The pallet is gold, green and hues of blue. Fire swirls, water climbs and falls, mist hangs and a young girl in a white dress sits by the bank waiting for something big to happen. This painting is highly textured, is full of energy and wonder. Continue reading “Waiting for Magic”
A canvas splashed with a tiny bit of color on the side sat on my desk for a good long time waiting for something, anything to happen. Last night in my rush to paint trees, I picked up the canvas and began to sketch.
This afternoon I completed the painting by adding brighter colors than seen in Tea Tree. As a matter of fact, this tree has a totally different feel because of the boldness of the colors. I still had a ball of fun creating it. Continue reading “Colors”
Sometimes I don’t know what I want to put on paper so I just spray it with water, put a reusable tea cloth on it and leave it alone. I may even remove the tea leaves and spread them over the paper. Later I’ll come back and add color then put the paper away expecting nothing to come of it right then.
Nights like last night make pieces of paper like described above worth making. It was a long night and I needed to sketch but I needed to sketch just one thing, trees. I sketched three in all. The first is on the tea and ink stained paper seen in the accompanying photos.
Although I have used rainbow colors this has more of an earthy feel to it. It appears to be watercolor stains but the medium is acrylic paint and tea leaves accompanied by scribbles and scratches for branches.
I’m pleased with the painting.
Title: Tea Tree
Art by: Faith Magdalene Austin
Medium: Acrylic paint and tea on paper, 8.5 x 7.5
Seeing the Lines
I’d like to learn to paint birds and I’d like to learn to paint more abstract pieces such as expressionism, contemporary and modern abstract. I really, really want to do abstract. I recently purchased an art pad that I intend to dedicate to this abstract journey of mine. When I paint an object such as birds, flowers, what have you, I need a photo reference in front of me so that I can see the lines. A long time ago I didn’t paint sunflowers because I couldn’t ‘see’ it in my head. I couldn’t see the lines of the petals.
I found a website that showed step by step how to paint a sunflower. It was some sort of site where the artist painted with the mouse and then the program showed viewers step by step how the artist painted the piece. That is how I learned to ‘see’ the lines of what I wanted to paint. Wish I could remember that link.
I think I may need to get a cheap book of various birds and flowers. Once I can ‘see’ it I can alter it according to the theme of an individual painting, but I’ve got to learn the lines first.
Abstract Freedom of Expression
Continue reading “Artist Thoughts: Seeing and an Abstract Journey”
‘What the Crows Left Behind” is a surreal scene of empty bodies holding their hands up to the wide spread wings of the largest crow. The sky is a river of color boldly contradicting the color next to it. While some of the bodies are beginning to shape shift and morph into crows, others remain empty.
Feathers encircle a figure in all black, some have the beginnings of white feathers, others black. Continue reading “What the Crows Left Behind”
Its difficult for me to post art therapy pieces here but awhile ago I decided I would. It’s still had though. This piece is art expressing multiple personality disorder. It is a painting showing the need for one of the figures to feel pure or relieved of her burden. The painting shows all the movement, the light, dark, play, rest and chaos inside my head.
In the painting called ‘Purify’ you’ll see hidden people, hidden faces and layer upon layer of color. Sprouting or perhaps bursting forth from the woman’s face is a large white flower. A body rests over her forehead and lays over her eye. The arm leads to the main figure in the middle who is almost in a state of mental rest. With her eyes closed it is as if she’s blocked out the worries of the world and taken a rest. The taller figure beside her is an odd little girl who wears another little girl in a red dress. She creates the Odd Girl’s eyes, nose and hair bow. There are faceless figures and one figure in a box. There are swirls, strikes, smearing and of course flowers. Continue reading “Purify”
The small art piece shows a white soul standing in front of a tumultuous sky on a black bridge. There is fire raging beside her, a fire that glows in the sky. The sea rages beneath the bridge. The single white, faceless figure stands at her threshold.
This textured, emotional piece is painted on sketchbook paper in acrylics with ink. Though small, it packs an emotive punch with its mix of washed colors and heavy paint strokes. There is swirling blue, white and grey. There are layered brush strokes and haunting color contrasts. Red and orange climb slowly from gray, blue and black. The glow of the orange stops the sky in its tracks. The white ghostly figure on the bridge even has a touch of orange on its side. And there it stands, on the bridge above unsteady waters.
For nearly three weeks I painted nothing. I sketched nothing. My paints, pens, inks, brushes and canvases sat without purpose as I struggled with an emotional issue that closed me off from everything. I knew I needed to paint but I couldn’t, I just couldn’t but it was suggested to me to start small, take baby steps. I tried that but then something happened, my emotional levee broke.
Images of what swirled in my head were put on canvas. Symbols indicating lack of sight, lack of understanding, anger, frustration and being half informed came to fruition in two painting sessions. It took two painting sessions to drain the emotional level and let it spill on canvas. Continue reading “The Possession of Woe”