Every year, on thanksgiving, I will “make” my family say what they are thankful for. This year I decided to start a new tradition. I will paint a page and incorporate what we are grateful for. This is for 2015. To all my friends and family, thank you for all your love and support. It’s been a wonderful year because of you.   

I have been obsessed with painting girls with watercolor lately and have not been playing with mixed media. Until today… I painted this girl and did not like how the face turned out. Instead of scrapping it, I decided to play with the background, added collage, paint, stencils, ie just make a mess and play. While I was playing, I went back to my girl and worked on her more, layering acrylic on top of watercolor and eventually, it actually turned out pretty decent. At least, it turned out to be something I actually like. I just love the process of art, how it evolves with each layer we add to it. Don’t give up, just keep going, enjoy the process. When all else fails, there is always gesso!

I am taking an online class Life Book 2015, by Tamara Laporte (love her!) and one of the classes was about “follow your happy”. We were to paint what makes us happy and be free and messy. I love dolphins and loved the moment when I kissed a dolphin (years ago at some Sea theme park), so I decided to paint that. It brought back so many happy memories that I got more and more excited as I paint it… I started out with this picture, which I just love…

Then I realized that the class asked us to “play” with the background (OH NO!!! Deep breath!!!!). “I can’t mess this up”, I thought to myself… I don’t know what to add to the background without “messing” this up! I am frozen. So, I did the next best thing I know to do to break the white space.. I glued some tissue scraps on the page. But I was worried… yucks, I don’t like how it looks.

So, I added paint… and more paint, then gesso… really, I am lost, fearful that I have messed it up!!!!

But I eventually ended up with this.

I wasn’t sure how I feel about it, something did not feel right. So, I slept on it and the next day…..

I am happy with where it is now. What do you think? The orange bubbles or the white/blue bubbles?

Regardless, it was a good lesson learned for me. I can become paralyzed when I am in love with my work. I need to be free and messy BEFORE I start working on the subject matter… that’s just me. AND that sometimes a good night sleep is what I need…:)

I would love to hear what you think. Do you have the same experience before?

 

 

 

 

 

I love babies. They are so cute and innocent and represents all things good and hopeful. We need that more than anything now… Really enjoyed painting this. Watercolor and collage for flowers (cuz I don’t like painting flowers😉). Hope this brings you a smile. 😘 it did for me!  

 Like my Facebook art page if you’d like to connect. 

https://www.facebook.com/teresalowart/

Had the most horrendous travel day yesterday, stuck at LGA for a whole day. I only had a notebook, pen and pencil with me and lo and behold, I actually had fun just drawing with simple tools. My silver lining on an otherwise horrible day… Rediscovering my first love. Drawing. And knowing that I don’t need fancy supplies to have fun! Have you had this experience before?   

   
  

First love yourself. Three simple words yet I often forget to do this. Here is another big hair girl. Her hair reminds me of a lion😂. Practising side profile here, admittedly not quite there yet but will keep trying☺️ practice makes perfect, right? Love to hear what you think?  

 Like me on https://www.facebook.com/teresalowart/ if you want follow me

I often find that people’s true colors come out when they are stressed or under pressure. I saw this quote and thought it made a lot of sense… When you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice because that is what’s inside. The same is true about you. When someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, what comes out is what’s inside. And if you don’t like what’s inside, you can change it by changing your thoughts” by dr Wayne dyer. Loved dripping watercolor down the page and painting the big hair! Watercolor.  

 

There is a lot of pain and anguish in the world right now. Different people react differently to this. While I wish I have the solution to eradicate all the evil in this world, I know I don’t. I can only do what I can do. That is to send love and hope to those in pain. This is for all those in pain. H.O.P.E. Hold On. Pain Ends.   

Friday nov 13, 2015. I remember having a very busy day in the office and overheard my colleagues talking about how many people were killed in Paris. As time goes on, the story became more and more horrific, with more casualties. Paris is near and dear to me as I have travelled to Paris many times and have good friends living in France. Luckily, all my friends are fine but shaken by the events. It saddens me at the thought of the innocent lives lost and the grieving hearts of many. What kind of a world do we live in where there is a possibility of a terrorist attack anywhere you go? What do we do in the face of these horrible acts? Retaliate with more hatred? Don’t do anything? What is the right thing to do? One thing is clear to me, … During these times of tragedy, the world stands United. Even if it means we are united in tears. Here’s my gift to all my friends in France. We are united…

   

I love painting girls. Started with the girl. Loved playing around with the watercolor. Then, I auditioned stuff on her hair..

Finally decided on flowers and shells… 2 of my favorite things. And I came across a quote that says I’d rather have flowers in my hair than diamonds around my neck…. Hmm, actually, I want both! Which kind of gal are you? Flowers or diamonds? Watercolor and collage