Week 4 - Use Techique by Kelly Rae Roberts

These paintings are based on a techique by Kelly Rae Roberts which incorporates paper collage, gel medium and acrylic paint. I decided to create two pieces - one with a house using paper torn from a magazine. I added some stamping and extra collage bits. I got carried away and painted some flowers which I don't like - think it would have looked better without.

The second one I cut out scraps of paper from my scrapbooking stash and added some torn music sheets. I wanted to add a figure with wings. Again I added extra collage bits and some stamping. Both pieces I wanted to add some positive affirmations. I struggle a bit to be more "loose" and create my own style. I think too much about where I am placing my paper collage instead of being more free and flowing. I would like to play around more with collage pieces to try and find my own style.

WEEK 4 - Use Techique By Kelly Rae Roberts

This week we are to use the technique as described by Kelly Rae Roberts from a magazine article in Cloth Paper Scissors - which I love. The article called "Patch It Together" incorporates paper collage and acrylic paint - this is only a starting point and hopefully will get our own creative juices flowing to incorporate our own ideas. I love the work of Kelly Rae Roberts - she has her own web site and blog - so have a look and see some of her amazing work.

Week 3 - End of Challenge

At the end of painting my week 3 challenge I looked at the left over paint on my plate and thought it was a waste to wipe it off. So...... I pressed small pieces of water colour paper into the plate to soak up the paint and look at the wonderful impressions I got!

Week 3 - Painting to the Music

Have struggled this week to find the time to complete this challenge and that was to listen to some music either dance or mediate and paint what you feel. So after cleaning out my fridge, food shopping, cooking tea for the night - I got started.

Put one of my favourite CD's on Enigma MCMXC a.D. I find this Cd relaxing and also uplifting when I hear what I call the monks voices - I love Mea Culpa and Rivers of Belief. I could see visions of darkness lifting into light purple with swirls going up to the heavens as the voices raised me up. So this is my first painting.

Then with the left over paint on my plate and to the sounds of Rivers of Belief - I just swayed to the beat of the sounds with a paint brush in my hand and felt like doing swirly things. Then I just had to add yellow to my red and blue purple swirls. Quite enjoyed the freedom of doing these second paintings as I just let my body loose and my hand fluid.

After doing a few more chores I decided to see what my painting would be like if I listened to a different type of CD. Poured myself a rum and coke, put on some blues/rock - these songs included JJ Cale/George Thorogood/ZZ Top/Robert Cray. After my third rum, a few songs and a bit of dancing around the lounge room, I decided this music was more uplifting and bright. So I chose red/orange/yellow in bands of colour - to the sounds of George Thorogood's Treat Her Right I flicked my brush onto the bands of colour then added me dancing to the middle of it all, did more flicking with black paint.

Once I found the time to do these paintings I did quite enjoy them - I found I needed to listen to a few songs before I got a feeling of colours to paint and the way I felt like expressing the sounds in paint. I felt very relaxed and happy after completing these paintings (unless that was the three rums I had!).

I also experimented with the left over paint on the plate - will post on that later.

Week 3 - Listen to some music, dance or mediate - paint what you feel or see!

Should be interesting!

Having trouble finding the time to do this one - will be working on it tonight after I cook my tea! Just do it and not think about what else I feel I should be doing - I'm sure once I start it will be relaxing and fun.

Week 2 - Mountainscape

This week was based on technique using tissue or rice paper, gesso, watercolours and acrylics.
Quite happy with my piece, had fun playing around with the watecolours which I do not normally use. Tried to follow the instructions but didn't always feel like I was getting it right. Felt like I didn't get enough light and dark into my painting.
Still working on a second one using watercolour paper this time.

Looking at this piece on the computer I can see areas I would like to lighten or darken - so may play around with it a bit more later on.

Week 1 - Painting Around Our Name

The challenge this week was to do anything we wanted as long as our name was part of the painting. I got carried away and did three paintings.

The first I just sat on my lounge and doodled my name. Started using a pencil and found I kept rubbing it out as it wasn't "right" so I grabbed my black marker and without thinking just doodled. Then I used my water colour crayons and coloured in the doodles. Quite enjoyed doing this piece as I didn't think too much.



The second I decided to use straight lines and paint with acrylic paint between the lines. Didn't enjoy this one as I didn't like painting between the lines - found it too structured and rigid. It looks rather messy as I was rushing to finish.



The third was in acrylic. Tried not to think too much, just wanted the colours to flow.



Quite enjoyed this challenge as I didn't have to think too much, it was just to get us started.

Second Part of Challenge - Finger Painting

Part of our first week challenge was to explore finger painting - only use the fingers to push the paint around. Quite messy and fun to do and a good way to feel the paint, let loose and just enjoy without any thought to what are you creating - it doesn't matter. Not too certain what the blue blob means?

The Beginning

This is our idea to bring art and being more creative into our everyday life. Both Li-Sa and I love to paint but always find it hard to do art when there are so many other things that have to be done. So we have set ourselves a challenge to create "something" every week. So every week we will have a challenge whether it is based on a technique or an emotion.

The guidelines are simple - to create at least one "piece" each week - the aim is not to create a masterpiece that we expect to hang on the wall but to throw together paint and paper and whatever - have fun, let go of blockages, relax and see what happens! Hopefully, we will find the time to do what we love to do and it will help expand our knowledge, add a bit of art therapy into our lives - and somewhere at the end of it all we may create the masterpiece.