What Did I Do, That I Haven't Done In A While .. You Ask???

I Painted With Oils ..

I may as well get right to the point .. It has been an awful long time since I have picked up a bush and dipped into paint. It's been too damn long. So I made it a point this weekend to change that. I didn't set out to paint something this weekend, but my current state of mind and mood took me there. And it felt good. It felt REALLY good.

Revisiting The Past ..

A piece that I haven't worked on in a while at least.. I have been staring at the Caribbean themed painting, that sits on my easel, for way too long. I can not even remember the last time I worked on it. Years I think. Many of them to be exact. But that changed this weekend on Sunday.

It's no secret that I have been struggling with work .. And I need to be creative from time to time in order to mentally escape the stress and anxiety of it all. I thought to myself a while back, that I need to take the time to do things that I enjoy in order to relieve the stress. Sex almost immediately came to mind first.. Now we're going to see who is paying attention.. LOL .. But I thought I would stick to something I could blog about safely. Painting! hehe. I remembered that I like to paint and I like the way it feels to create something. So when Sunday arrived and I had a few hours to kill, I grabbed that painting off of the easel, took it outside, and began to get to work on it again.

I grabbed a few supplies .. The basic like brushes, paint, a rag, thinner, and my palate. OH S**T! The palate has not been cleaned in ages. That paint is supper hard and stuck beyond tomorrow. Sooooo I then remembered why I haven't painted in such a long time.. lol.. just kidding. I broke out a bran new razorblade and some elbow grease.

SCAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE

And then More Scraping .. Then it was clean!!!

Then I Grabbed Those Supplies..

Now out to the patio table I go.. I hardly ever paint outside because of the fact I have to lug all these things down and out from my studio. It's a pain, but the weather was so beautiful that I wanted to try it. It was a bit of a hassle but so worth it. The lighting was fantastic and the setting was just perfect. I was in my 'Happy Place'. It was so enjoyable and the thoughts of work and life stress drifted far off and away from the forefront of my mind.

So at this point, I know what I want to do.. Hell, I have had a ton of time to think about it.. Right? I had a few hours and knew I didn't have enough time to finish it, but I was going to try and make another good dent. I wanted to see some real progress. I needed to get the foreground started; some sand, some waves, some of those beautiful Caribbean blue hues. Yes that all sounded good and doable.

A wave is where I needed to start.. After all, a wave is what I wanted to put there all along. I enjoy painting waves and am looking to get better at them. Well, practice makes perfect.. or so they say. Waves are really difficult to paint (at least for me). To make it look like it is curling and crashing into a foaming white mess, is harder than one would think. I'm getting better at it, know I have a lot to learn, and I'm having fun teaching myself.

I want the wave to break about center of the painting, just below the tallest mass of clouds on the horizon. I got a lot of detail into the wave in about 45 minutes or so. It still has a long way to go. I'll work on it when I can and hopefully before the oil dries out too much. You'll see in a the next few photos, that I was able to add a few additional details before calling it a day on the wave.
The sand was the next big thing to tackle today .. So I began laying that in. I used Titanium White mixed with a tad of Burnt Umber. I was looking for a light brownish grey color sand tone.

After I painted the sand up to the water, I began to blend the two and add in some darker blues for a shadow affect. Sometimes when the a wave recedes, it leaves the sand looking a bit darker due to the saturation of water. I am trying to create that look here as well.

A Little blending here, a dab more paint there, a touch of white splashing water and some more of that dark blue under the left side of the wave .. before I called it quits for the day. I promised my in-laws that I would help paint their pool, so it was time to hang up these brushes and pick up another. A day of painting! haha. Not all of it as fun as this project.

I packed up all that I had brought down and outdoors.. And took it all back up to the studio. I then grabbed the painting from the patio table and brought it back up too. Back up to its spot on the easel. But this time when I turned to walk out of the room, I was charged with new creative life. I felt accomplished and productive. I felt relaxed and wanting to begin again.

Stress Gone - Enter A Better Frame Of Mind ..

So very glad that I did this.. I needed to do this for so many reasons, and all of them legit. Getting back on the horse after a long break from the ride, is hard. It was hard getting back into the painting, but then somewhere in there I remembered my happiness was the most important thing.

And Paining Makes Me Happy.

The painting is NO WHERE near finished, but I was able to begin again. I made some good progress and can't wait to jump back into it again soon. I need to for the benefit of my sanity. hehehe.

"Colour is the touch of the eye, music to the deaf, a word out of the darkness. Because I’ve listened to souls whispering – like the susurrus of the wind – from book to book and object to object for tens or thousands of years, allow me to say that my touch resembles the touch of angels. Part of me, the serious half, calls out to your vision while the mirthful half sours through the air with your glances."

"I’m so fortunate to be red! I’m fiery. I’m strong. I know men take notice of me and that I cannot be resisted."

"I do not conceal myself: For me, delicacy manifests itself neither in weakness nor in subtlety, but through determination and will. So, I draw attention to myself. I’m not afraid of other colours, shadows, crowds or even of loneliness. How wonderful it is to cover a surface that awaits me with my own victorious being! Wherever I’m spread, I see eyes shine, passions increase, eyebrows rise and heartbeats quicken. Behold how wonderful it is to live! Behold how wonderful to see. I am everywhere. Life begins with and returns to me. Have faith in what I tell you.”
― Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red

Thank you for swinging by my blog and checking out the post. Have a great day!

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