Drawing lesson from Danny Gregory

I read his book. The Creative Licence. He set me free.

He made me think differently about art, about drawing. Such a relief. Old beliefs were thrown to bin- easily and happily.

He reminded me to play more. Art is about to play of ideas. He taught me how to go to museums- I was tired of museums before. He taught me how to deal with procrastination... well I needed this treatment no doubt. And that one about how to relate to critique. This book is a real life saver when one is stuck.

Here are the first couple of results. Even I see the incompleteness in them, they were fun to draw and paint. So I keep going, keep playing.

More Success

Morning scenery.

Sunrise.

Early.

Early morning.

Get up city!

The light has come.

Have you seen these colors of a summer morning?

Next time you will, that is for sure.

Batik experiment, any idea to find solution?

Do you have any experience with Sodium-Silicate?

May be you have.

I don't.

Imagine that I painted a new batik piece. I tried new dyes, special pigments from Thailand in powder form. I melted wax, coloring

lines then I painted what I wanted. Well... Almost... As this paint was new to me sometimes it did what it wanted... "Who is the boss" you can ask. And even if I know the answer well the thing is still the same: there are

unpredictable dye-movements. OK. I will survive. The piece as an experiment was better than I expected BUT... But fixation goes with sodium silicate.

Normally it takes a nice coat over the finished painting, 8 hours and fixation is ready. This is an ugly looking liquid that is hard to cover evenly. (see picture)

If you see my picture you probably find these small uncovered fields.

I painted new coat. More coat. Those uncovered areas are still there. You see, besides wax-lines. That means fixation is not going to happen there.

In my minds eye I can easily imagine how I have to throw to the bin all my effort. No, no, I don't want to follow this thought!

OK then. Back to basics. What is the manual's suggestion. Nothing. No-thing.

Any idea?

Stay tuned, I come back in a few hours to show what's happened.

So here it is. Better than expected.

The colors are a bit faded says the Censor in me...

but it is OK. Even if it is not perfect.

Learning by experiment. Sometimes it is like that.

Celebration Of Colors...On My Handpainted Silk Scarfs

Painting and dyeing silks is a process of full enjoyment.
Dancing colors on the surface and suddenly the silk drinks them all as they move and blend.
When I see the brilliant colors my heart is pounding. Excitement and zest.
* Sometimes I let them live their natural life.
* Sometimes I stop them by borders.
* Sometimes I dye or paint layers.
* Sometimes I use silk as my canvas mixing techniques and mediums.

Hopefully I can share my enthusiasm through this short video. Enjoy.

Cyclamen

Small daily experiment, watercolor. I had a lot of fun to paint this small beauty. I found this new tool 'watercolor on paper' thing exciting. Although I used to paint on silk, I captured old habits that didn't work on paper. Funny. Facing limitations. Mine. And the limitation of the medium. This makes me think new variations. I plan to paint new variations. More texture.

Street from the sketchbook

Colors on the street

Experiment with watercolor and oil pastel

I want colors, more colors...

(Lilly watercolor 19x13cm, 7.4x5 in)

I want colors, I used to say, more colors. And when I see this lilly, each and every part of me stop for a while. Look at this amazing color! Bright and pale and orange and red and a dash of light. White light. Simply amazes me.

The World in the Bottle

(watercolor 12x18cm, 4.7x7in)

The world in the bottle might be spicy, might be tasty.

A taste is closed in the bottle. How amazing that we can

close a quality into bottles.

It is so amazing to see from outside.

Ready to fly?

(watercolor and oil pastel 12x18 cm 4.7x7 in)

Ready to fly?

Sometimes we need nice weather and sunshine to fly.

Sunshine outside? May be inside?

And the best when outside-inside. Fly anyway!

Wings are already given.

This is how I try my wings in watercolor .

Play and color

(Cotton 76 x 106 cm, 30 x 41 in)

The first thing is in existence: spiral.

Not wonder I am greatly admire spirals.

Here is one of my spiral play on batik.

Who am I?

Hi, I start with the hardest question that one can ever answer: Who am I?

Is that one at all who can answer this question properly?

At some point in my life I considered myself full time artist. And later I became full time therapist. Still I am. Both? Oh. no. My life had become so busy that I lost my artistic half along the way.

After a few years I had to stop to ask myself: Hey, what are you doing? Are you happy?

And the answer was: No. I lost my precious artistic part. But I also knew that I didn't want to get back to my old life. So I needed to find a new balance.

I couldn't be happy without my therapy (The Journey), my clients and I couldn't be happy without my art.

So after a few years quitting my art I decided I was ready to integrate my rediscovered parts into my life. After some endless struggles with and in myself finally I have got the point: each and every part of me needs space to express itself and has the right to do it. Otherwise I couldn't be happy.

And here I would like to share my love of colors: art, batik, watercolor and mixed media .

Art is tree

On the way back from a pilgrimage in India I had realized how much I hid myself. I realized that this hiding is a pattern. A life pattern. I saw this unhealthy pattern of my life and as it cracked I burst into tears and I suddenly clearly, clearly understood my hiding. And in my mind's eye there was a nice tree symbolizing art. The Art is tree.

This tree has a few strong arms like batik, silk painting and textiles. And it has few new fresh and young shoots like mixed media and watercolor. This nice tree needs watering, fresh air and nourishment and it grows at its pace: blooming, prospering, fruiting joyful fruits.

Now, here I am. Not hiding any more. Ready to share my fruits of art. Welcome here and come back regularly and enjoy! Let this be a meeting point in the blogsphere.
Take my first picture from my art-tree: a color-full batik.

(cotton 106x67 cm, 42x26 in)