In my interpretation of this week’s theme at Illustration Friday, I decided to capture the little sparks of “electricity” that you can feel by reaching out and touching someone.

As C. J. Franks once said:

“Love and electricity are one in the same, my dear. If you do not feel the jolt in your soul every time a kiss is shared, a whisper is spoken, a touch is felt, then your not really in love at all.”

As a visual artist, I’ve experimented with various mediums, but over the years, I’ve let my paint brushes collect dust while I explored soft pastels. 

I found myself in love with the richness of color, and how quickly I could capture the emotion I envisioned with soft pastels.  For once, I found a medium that could keep up with my inspiration.

But lately, I’ve been wanting experiment more…challenge myself to embrace the muse in all her shapes & forms.  So tonight, I picked up the paint brush for the first time in years.  While I didn’t have much time to paint, I was able to get a solid layer for a series of 12″ x 12″ paintings I have planned out.  Unlike my ususual style of female portraits, this time I’ll be exploring various acrylic collage techniques.  One of the paintings will feature a Buddha image.  Another a peacock.  And the last two paintings will feature a lizard and lotus.  While they are all images that have been painted before, all of these images hold meaning for me that I wish to capture on canvas.

As Jill Badonsky states in The Nine Modern Muses: 

If we pay attention to the present moment, we will discover that inspiration is not elusive or out of reach…Creative electricity is everywhere, and when we connect to the voltage of our awareness, anything in our environment can be come a conductor of new ideas.  Everything from the way the grass blows to the music of a child’s laughter can become art of our lives and the substance of artistic expression.

[Submitted for this week’s theme “A Passion for Canvas” @ Step Outside your Box Saturday]

This week’s theme at Illustration Friday is “Leap”, which is the perfect opportunity to share this soft pastel painting I’ve been working on the past month.

It represents a leap into experimenting. The semi-nude woman appears in a half awake dream state. The wings gently hold her as she chases butterflies, creatures of transformation and renewal, while the deep red poppies are in full bloom alluding to endless possibilities.

We must continuous challenge ourselves to evolve, to experient. As Marcel Proust once stated:

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

So if you find yourself emerged in creating from comfort, challenge yourself to try a different medium or style. These experiments in time will lead to inspiration, and possibly even a new direction with your artistic path.

This week’s theme at Gothic Arches is “History”, which immediately inspired me to work on a piece of artwork reflecting the fall of Rome.

For the background, I selected a map of the Roman Empire at it’s most expansive that was taken from an ancient history book which has been handed down through my family. The poor book is falling to pieces from use so I need to research how to properly glue back the leather spine that came off during this project. (Any tips would be greatly appreciated!)

The other main element of design is the peacock, which is the symbolic animal for Juno, the goddess Protector and special counselor of the Roman state. Quite fitting, don’t you agree?

While I could easily write a good, long post pointing out the similarities in the current issues facing the US in comparison to Rome, I’ll spare you. If you pay attention to current events, you can see the writing on the wall, and while it may never happen in our lifetime, the question is…will we learn from history or simply repeat it once more?

I’ve designed several Valentines day cards recently, but none of them really move me as much as this one.  Finally, one worthy to give the hubby!

[Submited for Mixed Media Monday’s theme, “Love & Romance”]

Created in response to Created Byhand Challenge’s Tuesday theme, Black and White.

The fish might look familiar. It’s one of the six goldfish featured in my most recent soft pastel paintings created for a surreal theme. This fish is actually the original sketch that I applied a photoshop stamp filter to give it that fossil look. I’m think it would make for a smashing father’s day card.

Tonight I discovered Mixed Media Monday.  It’s another meme site that challenges mixed media artists around the world to create something new based on a weekly theme. 

This week’s challenge, Whimsey, sparked something inside so I pulled out my collage scrap box and instantly came across this design I had created a couple years ago during my decoupage cigar box phase.  Most of the design was created using Stampington rubber stamps if I remember correctly. 

It’s the perfect little creation to follow this past weekend where I literally locked myself in my studio.  Didn’t pick up the phone.  Didn’t even really go outside much.  And it was the best weekend ever.  I painted to my heart’s content. 

The painting, untitled for the moment, is quite diffent than anything I’ve painted in the past couple years, and I love it. 

For the longest time, it feels like I’ve gotten so serious about my artwork that I haven’t taken time to just loosen up and enjoy the moment.  As Linda Naimen wrote once, “Delight yourself and delight your world.  Edison, Einstein, Picasso, and da Vinci all loved to play and they loved to explore.  Through play we open our receptivity to imagination, intuition, and daydream.  Play is the root of genius.”

Embracing the whimsical side of art allows us to experiment, to step outside the boundaries of what is considered proper, acceptable, or approved.  So the next time you catch yourself getting too critical or serious about your artwork, just place this quote by Henry Miller somewhere near your easel, “Paint as you like and die happy.”

Created for 4×4 Friday’s theme, Music, using soft pastels. I’m still working on the shoulder, and am debating on whether to leave the background simple or not. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and feedback…

Inspire Me Thursday’s theme this week is New Year Resolutions…

The new year is always the perfect opportunity to review the past year, and see what next steps we need to take to bring ourselves more inline with our overall goals. Yet, while I’m a firm believer of setting goals, I’m also think it’s just as important to listen to intuition if not more so.

Last year when I sat down to write down my goals for the year, I never would have imagined that by the end of the year I would have my artwork displayed in the Tampa Museum of Art nor I would have the opportunity to create a live painting at one of the museum’s Art after Dark events.

This past year brought many wonderful opportunities from redesigning my studio that has allowed me to finally create larger scale soft pastel paintings to opening my online Etsy store that has given me the opportunity to connect directly with art collectors near and far.

In this upcoming year, as silly as it sounds, I simply desire to lock myself in my studio and create. While this image is probably what most people would envision an artist doing, it’s been a challenge for me since I’ve become active in the local art community.

As an artist that has a demanding full time job outside of the arts community, my free time is very limited. So in this next year, one of my major goals is to plan out my month in advance to set aside for creating, networking, marketing, and setting up photo shoots with local models to develop a collection of source images for paintings.

So this upcoming weekend, I’ll be locked up in my studio with pastel dust flying everywhere, but I will be out and about next Friday checking out retro|perspectives, the last Art after Dark event, at the Tampa Museum of Art before it’s scheduled closing and demolition. There will be over 50 emerging and established artists participating so you definitely won’t want to miss it if you’re in the Tampa Bay area.

When it comes to creating art, there is a time for everything, and a season for all of our creative cycles.  A time for serious paintings and a time to experiment.  A time to explore in our art journals and a time to create mantra art.

Mantra art speaks to the soul.  Like a written affirmation, it contains a message that we need to remind ourselves of every day.

So I leave you with my mantra art created for this week’s theme at Inspire Me Thursday, “Watercolor“: