Autumn View: May Madness Day 11

| Laura (Createarteveryday)

What I’m loving about acrylic painting is that you can completely wreck something in every way: colors don’t jive, composition is all over the place and the texture products you tried so that a certain effect would happen sort of … didn’t. And yet! The surface has a new life, thanks to the power of covering it up and starting again!   This was painted on a 6×6″ piece of acrylic canvas paper.

05112016

Do my trees in every medium I’ve tried need lots of work? Sure. But in this case, its past life, and all of that texture and depth underneath this painting actually helped it seem like more of a completed work.   Perfect background?   Far from it.    But hey, it was resurrected from the trash!   So I am saying yay today, even though my trees still wanna leaf.

And so art, once again, is a metaphor for life:    We may have layers that aren’t perfect, or even pretty, but the lessons learned add layers of depth, understanding, warmth and compassion, making us more beautiful, even as the years go by.   I hope your Wednesday is wonderful and that you and your trees are dancing like they mean it! Peace.

55 thoughts on “Autumn View: May Madness Day 11”

  4. That background is great…the texture makes it look like collage. It’s a good background for a tree, but I don’t think the tree was necessary. I would trust those abstractions to find their own way. Did you photo it before you added the tree? Would be interesting to compare. (K)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Great feedback; most appreciated, Kerfe. I was watching videos about painting realistic trees in acrylic and wanted to test out the technique. So I figured I’d grab one of the “do-over” paintings. I didn’t take a photo either of the original art fail or the background as it looked after I scumbled the green paint over it. After adding the tree, it looked a little stark against the background, so I added a red iron oxide wash here and there so it would blend in more. I love those lines from the texture paste. Absolutely love. I love the tactile experience that acrylic paints and mediums are. I enjoy working with clay too and it reminds me of that feeling. I love your comment about “trusting those abstractions to find their own way”. I need to remember it; I think it’s really important. This was more like a tree painting exercise that went awry, but the reason I posted it is that it surprised me when I kinda liked it in spite of the tree. It’s given me a whole new perspective on “failed” paintings, and a potentially really cool avenue in terms of jumpstarting an abstract piece. Thanks again for your very helpful feedback.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I like it too. The starkness is striking. But I think the ground could stand well on it’s own.
        I don’t remember to do before photos most of the time either. But I do often let things I’m not sure of wait for a day or two.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

      1. Yes you can Laura, it’s just the waiting time is getting to me now…keep thinking have a break and do some watercolour, but I have four left unfinished, with oils at different stages, and I really need them out of the way, finished. I did finish another slate in oils today, but to tired to post it…oh maybe I will??

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  7. I’m starting acrylics! I haven’t touched the paints yet, but I’m learning a little about the medium, so I’ll soon me joining you in your acrylic fun. I hope to discover a bit of “abstraction” within myself — all of which has been inspired by your posts and paintings.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Henri Matisse said, “creativity takes courage.” And, Laura you are very couragous with your exploration of art! Art never needs an explanation, it just is! Have a beautiful day. I love your new painting today.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. I love this painting! don’t go for perfection because there is beauty in the imperfection. I rarely see a “perfect” tree in nature, there are always knobs or an off kilter branch…..I think you are coming into something Laura….letting go of something and starting to blossom. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  16. I like this. I used to deliberately customize small foam rollers by snipping shallow holes then rolling thick gesso onto box canvas frames with them before over painting in acrylic. Reminds me of this effect.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  21. Some of my most favourite paintings I’ve done have been going over old stuff that wasn’t working…..the previous layers definitely add to the final piece, like patina.
    I love the background of your painting, and I love the tree without leaves – I think the strong form and structure of the tree complements the background.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Vicki. It’s really reassuring to hear that about going over previous work. I do think it added so much to the final painting in this case (if indeed it really is final hehe). I appreciate your feedback. I’m posting a new abstract piece in the morning that may also become background fodder for another piece lol! 🙂 I am loving that about acrylics though, an option I didn’t really have with watercolor that I really appreciate.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Reply to REcreate-RebeccaEvansCreate Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s