Painting a new challenging endeavor

I have meant to write a post about some inspiration I have found in the past year or two. Tonight about 3/4 of the way through my first date with acrylic paint on canvas I decided tonight was the night to go ahead and give credit where credit was SO due.

Blue Green Screen by Cookmefud on Etsy

I had blogged a bit about my need to collage.  I added to this blog the idea that I wanted to incorporate painting into my collage. Earlier this week I gessoed. (Seriously, is gessoed a word? spell check always says no...what the hell am I supposed to say in place of it then? whatever.) I gessoed pieces of canvas I had ripped and decoupaged onto panes of an old window. I had hoarded this old window from my home improvement's past.

Eventually this piece will become a mixed media work of  art? crap? garbage? something for me to try and hide from my artistic husband so I am not dropped into a state of complete poser-artist-dom? Really though, whatever it becomes, it is an experience I wanted to work through

I followed my (fully educated in the arts) husband's instruction. I collected my brushes, paint, palettes, two cups of water...headed to my basement to paint. First off, two cups of water are FAR from enough. I quickly realized I needed a bucket of water. Another thing I realized is that all of the brushes I purchased some weeks ago were too skinny. I went upstairs and grabbed a trim brush we use for household painting. that worked nice.  Tonight's portion of the work was, at first, a pain in my ass. As time went by, somewhat intriguing, fun, Mostly, daunting, and humbling.

I liked painting. I'll tell you it's harder than I thought it'd be. I was positive I wanted nothing to do with trying to create something realistic. The reference I had was underwater. the sunlight shining through from this underwater spot. Crap, now I realize this would make so much more sense if I would have enough guts to post my work in progress...deep breath... not tonight...Listen, long story short, I enjoyed painting. Eventually what I create will be posted. Dear God it better not be too awful.If it is just know, I make kick ass headbands.

The main reason for this post was to give credit where it was due. So, here goes. My friend Mike is a self taught painter. He's also a wonderful father and human. I respect him a great deal and I dig his paintings. Truth be told, there's no damn way I'd have ever picked up a paintbrush and put it to canvas had this guy not done it first. It has been inspiring to me, him being self taught, and the fact that he finds painting therapeutic. Check out his work on Etsy. He says

"my major inspirations are the sea (upon which I've spent most of my life), the music I listen to, my travels, my family and my environment. I am passionate about life, love, and art, and I think that some of that comes across in the bold and expressive style of my paintings.  I tend to live my life in the abstract, and I see things in that way. These paintings are my attempt at recreating the way I see the world around me."

Abstract 2008

And in my, completely humbled, opinion he achieves that amazingly. Keep up the great work, Mike and thank you for the inspiration.