Moving Past the Fear

I promised myself a day of art and relaxing and here are the results so far...But before I show you my WIP (Work In Progress) I need to tell you about the amazing painter Flora Bowley. I came across Flora's work last year and instantly found her art a breath of fresh air and so inspiring on numerous levels. Flora is an artist who pushes the idea of letting go to the fullest, her book "Brave Intuitve Painting" is superb and gives the artist permission to experiment, explore and "Let go. Be brave. Unfold." I love this sentiment as a year ago, before I knew of Flora, I painted in the front cover of my (then) new journal "Be brave, be bold, banish the fear."

Being able to move past the fear can be a huge issue, especially for those new to art, all those questions of "What if I...do it wrong/make a mess/waste a canvas/page?" etc etc. I've learnt to think "So, what?" It's all about the experience, you can't make art if you, well, don't make art. Remembering no one else has to see your work if you don't want them to is also vital.

So, here's my canvas. I started it on Mother's Day after reading Flora's book in the morning. It's far from finished but I'm so thrilled with it.

 



I'm having a lot of fun exploring what the acrylic paint can do on the canvas and have found that using cheap artist sponges to work the paint creates beautiful effects, see pallet below.

 

Cheap sponges that make me so happy!

 

Happy arting everyone :)