New Paintings and Their Process...

Take a look at the transformation of this painting....

The painting (above on the left) was an experimental done on Yupo...
However, (above on the right) it didn't quite work out how I had envisioned it.

So the three new paintings to the right were born! If you look closely you can see where they came from the original Calla Lily painting.

All is not always lost with a painting that didn't work! New paintings, new directions. (Calla Lily will be revisited in a new start of a painting.)

Keep up the creativity...

Ashley Inn 2017 Art Retreat.....

....was a huge success!!

On August 4th through the 6th, we stayed at the beautiful Ashley Inn in Cascade, Idaho, where we held our annual art retreat.

This year we focused on various experimental abstract projects, including some watercolor & acrylic with mixed media, Yupo, India Ink, stenciling, collage & printing; as well as some in depth work on composition & color choices.  It was a wonderful group of ladies who were all excited to learn new things and have fun at the same time!  

Some comments from the week...

"Learned a lot about using watercolors & incorporating texture...how to correct a mistake"

"Total focus...Everything else done for us...park, eat, paint."

"It was well structured and organized; provided an opportunity to experiment & abstract"

"The design worksheet helped me to see my work; it will help me digest the thought process."

"A lot of time to paint and get away and just focus on painting"

"Enjoyed the opportunity to work on many projects."

"Tools for thinking and developing...exposure to new media & examples and time to do"

"What a great workshop and leap to a new territory!"

"I enjoyed the format and the mixed media and all of the substrates and mediums we got to explore. I know I can take some of what I learned and use it to stretch my boundaries."

"Linda is so generous with her supplies and tools"

"Thank you very much for your passion for art, teaching and growth!"

As you can see, they were all very successful...

 

 

 

This was a blast, ladies! You all did a phenomenal job.

 I look forward to this every year.  

We would love to have you join us next year!

Failure...So What!!

I just painted a failure…it has great “stuff” in it but the traits of “Oh My Goodnesses” have taken over. I am not going to allow that, to squash my continuing to paint today.

I am taking the experiment to the next level…why not? It is just a piece of paper waiting for an education. Now of course that is how I feel in the privacy of my studio. If you walked in right now I would start the apologies and excuses of what is wrong with it. But you are not here so I can examine my process, evaluate what was I thinking or maybe missed thinking. I can sort out the educational value and think of possibilities for the next painting and or solutions to the one in front of me…I am certainly not going to be discouraged or stop my creativity. I just will not allow myself to go down that road.  So what if it doesn’t work? I will strive on…to the next discovery.

None of my paintings are truly a failure as I am learning.

How cool is that!

When I stop learning, experimenting, analyzing and having fun- my work will show it. The freshness of discovery will be undiscovered.

My moving forward and repeating the successful past is wonderful. How blessed I am to have the opportunity to create. Failure….nope….not in my studio! Paint on-paint now!

© Linda Aman – July 2017