Blog

Most artists are solitary creatures. We spend a lot of time alone in our studios immersed in the hard work of creating and experimenting. We fine-tune our skills in isolation. We have good days (success and productivity!) and bad days (when nothing seems to work).

Artists supporting artists.

As much as this artist enjoys her alone time, it's good to counterbalance my seclusion with regular gatherings of like-minded friends.

I've been hosting a small group of watercolor artists in my studio once a month for about a year now. We spend half a day sharing ideas, encouraging one another, and talking about all things art. Sometimes we even get some painting done!

During one such meeting, career artist/mentor/friend Marilynne Bradley suggested that I ought to incorporate my negative painting technique with my portraits. I've considered it before, and even tried it once or twice (as in Spring Romance, below), but after this nudge from an accomplished artist, I've been giving it more serious thought.

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I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.

 

~Georgia O'Keeffe

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I'm just beginning to explore this new direction, and the challenges are many:

• I've had to adjust my negative painting technique to suit the paper I use for portraits (140lb cold press paper is very different from 300lb hot press).
• I paint my portraits upright on an easel, while my negative painting florals are painted flat on a table.
• I have to be careful that the negatively painted backgrounds don't upstage the subject.

After a couple of false starts, Dreamy (top of page) is my first successful attempt (in my mind anyway). I'd love to know what you think!

Paint. Love. Repeat.