Skip to main content

NEW PAINTING Spooked

 

"Spooked," 16" x 20" x 1/2", mixed media painting on gallery wrapped canvas, $649 plus s&h to the first asking nicely. I accept paypal, personal checks and payment plans. Inquiries may always come to me.

I came into the studio this morning, but had no focus or desire to create. It's been fading as these weeks have toiled on, and I actually went offline for a good part of the weekend, in an effort to minimize doom scrolling and keep my morale up.

Usually I can pick up a brush and get something started, even if my heart isn't in it,  but today was different. Nothing showed up. So I busied myself with paperwork and correspondence and other admin tasks and tried to gently call up a visual while getting other things done.

I kept seeing black scribbles. Fierce and angry ones. Tightly snarled, dark and fearful. Threatening.

I decided to give into them. Just grab a tool and bring them to life. No expectations, just giving myself permission to make marks. It was hard. Ugly. Raw. I found a creative flow where I stopped caring and just painted. I actually closed my eyes and scribbled on this piece several times. It didn't matter where the marks ended up - just that they got out.

This is a tough painting to look at, but it is what I'm feeling right now. And there's a certain beauty to the honest strength of the emotion. I realize now that the creation of it was like a much needed hard and ugly cry. 

And that this piece may have given me the key I have been seeking in investing more emotion into my work.

Thanks, as always, for following along on my art journey,
Warmly, Kim

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Picture Book "A Dog Named Blue" - now available!!

The cover of "A Dog Named Blue," now available from Blurb publishers. When I first painted Amelia I never imagined that she would be re-christened "Blue" and inspire a book. In her defense, Amelia had a number of other partners in crime - animals who's portraits seemed to fall into a specific color category and prompt color-centric names. In typical ADD fashion, my brain started spinning 100mph. What if I turned those muses' paintings into a picture book for animal loving kids? I shared my idea with three friends in the industry, and they eagerly offered their expertise. I am truly indebted to them. Illustrator and author Matt Faulkner and children's book author and literacy expert Kristen Remenar edited an early version of the draft. They suggested key plot/conceptual changes that made it oodles better. Designer Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson worked her magic, pairing the images with perfectly color...

Tabby Kit

"Tabby Kit," 5" x 7", acrylics on a museum quality panel, depicting a tiny little orange striped guy from Morgue File . This painting can be yours for $289, which includes s&h inside the US. And in case you didn't see it, a little doodle of him is also available for sale here . Inquires may come directly to me .  Although it certainly doesn't FEEL like spring here (snow and ice and wind chills, brr!), I can tell that spring is coming. The mercury is rising a wee bit each day and the days are getting longer and brighter. Over the weekend we drove with the moonroof open just to feel the sun's meager and oh-so-very-welcome warmth (although the heat in the car was cranked, too, in the interest of full disclosure!). I wanted to work with spring-like colors today, and this little guy was still on my mind , so I grabbed a small panel and got to work. Of course, I also have Poppy to finish and some changes to make to another po...

Dear Copyright Thieves

Dear Copyright Thieves,   Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's free for the taking. So let's just stop pretending the internet is a free-for-all.   Don't play the card that you didn't know - that's insulting. And don't also tell me that you meant to follow up and get permission but never got a chance to. That's insulting too. And by the way, don't you have a copyright protection notice on your own site?   And don't even try and point the finger at a third party who commissioned you to make a copy of my painting - again, an insult - you and I both know the difference between a reference photo and a painting.   And don't tell me that I asked for it because I share my artwork on the internet. I share my paintings and ideas and the stories behind them so as to encourage others to pursue  their own passions . I do not share so that those lacking integrity and morals can copy and market the images as their own...