Going With The Flow...

Recently, I took Flora Bowley's online class... Bloom True. The basis of the course was to take "a groundbreaking and transformational approach to painting (and living) that celebrates intuition, connects body, mind and spirit and allows unique and expressive paintings to emerge naturally and authentically." Much easier said than done!

The first thing we had to do was... let go! Creating layers and layers and layers of color. Alternating warms and cools... not worrying about the end result... just paint strokes and mark-making. Whatever felt good in the moment. It was tough... but I went with it.

Then it was more layers. Layers upon layers. Alternating with the warms and cools again. Still trying to keep the end result out of my brain. Still hard! But I went with it.

Then it was time to add contrast to my canvasses using blacks and whites. Ooooh, I'm liking that.

But now... is it too much? Darn it! So I went back to making layers and layers and layers and layers. And eventually it was time to find some imagery and do some masking. Still with no preconceived images in mind.... these are what my 2 canvasses turned into...

The funniest thing is that I can't even tell you what canvas came from what original because there were so many different layers that I mindlessly created without really paying attention! And the coolest thing was that I learned to let go a little bit more. Just a little!

Facing A Blank Canvas...

After last week's confession, I feel like I'm beginning a new chapter in my life. Starting fresh. Like a blank canvas. Now, I must admit that a clean slate used to intimidate me to no end. But over the years, I've learned to just do something! Anything! Make a mark. draw a line. Paint on some color. I've learned that I don't need to know what direction I'm going... or where I might end up. As long as I keep moving forward. Painting has taught me a lot about life!

Now that school is in, it's the perfect time to "study up" on what it is that I want out of life. And as luck would have it... I stumbled across the perfect workshop to entertain my curiosity! Having admired Flora Bowley's work for some time now, I saw that she was having an e-course entitled Bloom True. Her 5-week workshop takes a "transformational approach to painting (and living) that celebrates intuition, connects body, mind and spirit and allows unique and expressive paintings to emerge naturally and authentically." So I've set my intentions for this class... and I know that I'm in the right place at just the right time.