I’ve had a good week off and today’s the penultimate day.
Morning prayer verses spoke to me:
Psalm 104:23 Then man goes out to his work, to his labor until evening.
Isaiah 43:21 The people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
So I set the day before God and asked for his guidance. As I thought about my painting and art I decided I’m a bit like a kid that’s been let loose in a sweet shop. I feel like having a go at something new. I read about artists swapping cards they’ve painted – who would have thought!!! sounds like a good idea and I am tempted. BUT then I look at the framed pictures hanging on the cupboard in my art room and feel drawn to complete the last 5 spaces. Each one is post card size.
The pictures in it are from various things I’ve done and many of them were cut from larger pictures that hadn’t totally worked out.
I found a flower I did in 2019 on a CARM – The Creative Arts Retreat Movement that’s the right size. I don’t know why I hadn’t already put it in the frame.
So – today’s challenge is to do 4 small pictures – or at least make a start. Some people say you should work on more than one piece at a time. So at the start of the week it was a HUGE (for me) piece and now some small ones (postcard size).
The first one to be finished was the watercolour – the only one where there was a plan of what it would turn out like. Wet on wet splodges of colour. Then when dry I added some more colour where I thought the flowers and stems would be. After they had dried I very quickly added the black. I wonder if I should have gone more carefully. I accidentally dated it for tomorrow, which is my eldest daughter’s birthday. So I sent a photo of it to her.
The next to be completed was the doodle. I had closed my eyes and drawn a continuous line with a pencil and then filled in with water colour, gradually adding layers but sticking with yellow, orange and red. The border was in brown. I was going to do zentangle but decided to stick with the lines. I like the way they add depth.
The next one to be declared finished was the watercolour where I had started with some green, blue and red shapes. I didn’t know what to do with it so I got some acrylic paint and daubed on it with a dark red and yellow ochre. After a while of looking at it I thought I could sense a fence, some flowers and maybe a tree. I added some black pen but wasn’t pleased with the effect so got some brown paint then green. The result was OK I though.
Finally I set to with the last one. I had peeled off the bits of paper to discover that the green had not left a stain, but the orange and red had left a feint colouring. I wasn’t surprised as the instructions had said to use tissue paper and this was just think art paper. I got a paint pallet shaped like a flower and placed it in various places on the paper and drew round it with a black pen. Then I dabbed the circles on. I love this technique. I use a cork from a sherry bottle, dip it into the paint and then make marks with it. Next I got some oil pastels and did some shading. After a while I thought the circles could become flowers. And then I discerned some leaf shapes and created them.
Next job was to see if they actually fitted the frame! And voila! Here’s the result:
So I end the day thankful for the opportunity to simply get engrossed in doing some art. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t masterpieces. I have learnt and grown by doing them. Whilst they are perhaps not strictly speaking mindfulness and art – I was engrossed and going with my instinct, which is a big part of mindfulness.
Which is your favourite and why?
Elizabeth Jones' Diary 