A Major Dose Of Art Therapy

I’ve returned to my first love, and the reunion was glorious! It’s been so long since I’ve held a paintbrush, having shunned it for a mouse and a tablet to create digital art. But oh, how I’ve missed it! I swear I will never go long without painting ever again.

Being a designer is loads of fun, I love what I do and I love creating beautiful designs for my clients. But I also need to be an artist, to create works that are not intended to please anyone else, not limited by a design brief or colour palette that someone else dictated.  When I hold a paintbrush in my hand, it’s all me in there — my feelings, my taste, my style, my whims. Me, me, me.  And I don’t care what anyone says about my paintings, I do it for myself, not for anyone else.

It’s the best therapy there is. Well, retail therapy also works wonders, but burns a hole in my bank account. This one has no down side. =) And, I get to have art on my walls! Now that’s a fantastic bonus.  Our living and dining area walls are all white. You have to have art if your walls are white.  It’s a MUST.

I did 2 abstract paintings – in colour palettes that I love. No thinking was involved in making those 2 — I just mixed colours and attacked the canvass like a crazy woman.  =) Finished them in a couple of hours – including drying time for the texturizing putty that I mix with my acrylics to give them body.

And then I was challenged to make this one.  My mom and I saw this pretty canvass print of daisies in the Laura Ashley store.  She said, “you can do this, you know, the colors will look great in your living room.”  I absolutely agreed, except I didn’t want to copy it exactly, and I’m not such a fan of daisies, really.  Having read a biography of Queen Elizabeth II just recently, I thought to myself, why not poppies? They have the loveliest petals and would look great with the peony painting that I have in the corner.  It’s not finished yet, that’s why it doesn’t have my signature. I need to fix a couple of flowers (bottom center and bottom right), but I love how it came out.

It’s now hanging on the wall behind the sofa.  Why isn’t it centered? Well, I love negative space, that’s why. And I might just make another one in the same size to put beside it.  I’ll wait until I feel all angst-ridden again. haha.