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?
justpaintandplay 
Oh boy do I have the same experiences. Sometimes I am upset that the previous layer which I really liked is now covered with a layer i’m not too happy with. At times I leave it be and go do something else but other times I push myself to move pass the “ugly” stage and keep painting and am happily surprised at the ending. Btw….totally loving your finished piece!
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Thanks Grace. I have had to push pass the ugly stage many many times. Sometimes I still surprise myself at the game. The good thing is when all else fails, there is always GESSO:)!!!
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Oh boy do I have the same experiences. Sometimes I am upset that the previous layer which I really liked is now covered with a layer i’m not too happy with. At times I leave it be and go do something else but other times I push myself to move pass the “ugly” stage and keep painting and am happily surprised at the ending. Btw….totally loving your finished jpiece!
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