Day 6 - Community and PAINT!

After yesterdays events in Boston, I woke up so thankful that I would be spending the day finishing a community project I had been working on since December. I absolutely LOVE being part of a community! I have my church community (where I spent the day today), my artist community, I am blessed to have two groups of friends who my husband and I "Do Life With", then of course there's my family!...and then there's always the neighborhood community! Life is just plain better doing it with people you love and care about!

I've always loved being a part of a community, but I hadn't really started thinking about community until I joined this new church. ( http://www.southpointeri.com ) 

What excited me about this church was their strong desire to build community and love on everyone! Fit me like a glove! 

SO.... naturally I started a community project with the two pastors encouraging me all the way. 

( I love you Jordan and Tanner!)

The idea was to build a huge tree that would be our "Family" tree. I started off by purchasing 3 hollow doors from Home Depot... Did you know how AWESOME these doors are to paint on?! AND they are only $24! ( http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/202036234?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=hollow+door&storeId=10051&superSkuId=202766787&N=5yc1v&R=202036234#.UW3S17_ZYqc ) 

I gessoed each door. Then everyone got in on the fun of painting the trees! 

Next step was to make the leaves for the trees. I gessoed brown grocery bags, painted them, and cut out about 300 leaves! By the way, my favorite brand of Gesso for preparing surfaces is Utretch. 

( http://www.utrechtart.com/Utrecht-Artists-Acrylic-Gesso--White--Medium-Bodied-MP9000-i1004379.utrecht ) My favorite brand of Gesso for using as white paint is Holbein's smooth white. 

( http://www.dickblick.com/products/holbein-acryla-white-gesso/ )

Everyone in the church was given a leaf to write on, then they were applied to the trees with gel medium. Today my BFFL came along and helped me with the finishing touches! We did a little square dancing in between getting yelled at by our neighbors for playing our music too loud and going out for lunch with everyone! 

Here's the finished painting!

The last part of the day was really fun too! I got to splatter paint all over my friend JD! I guess I just like painting everything... Even if it moves! LOL!

Playing with Shapes

Today I only had a few hours of painting play time. I decided to tackle a painting that had the "Uglies". Instead of my usual decision to gesso over an ugly and hopeless painting, I decided to just start painting shapes. I was inspired by these oval/ sunflower type shapes against what was a blueish background.  (now painted in greens)

I really took my time shading these little guys, layering 3 different shades of orange and white. Sometimes I really enjoy these simple shapes and shading that don't require much thought. When I was done, I looked at the painting to see where it would take me next. I kept turning the canvas until I realized these shapes would make great sunflowers. 

I created the two hills and of course... a tree! I'm looking forward to my next day in the studio... I can't wait to see where this painting will take me next! I'm sensing leaves and shapes in the bark of the tree... We'll see!

A NOTE OF SYMPATHY 

I started my day with two of my friends having coffee. Great way to start any day! I came home and couldn't wait to get into the studio. It wasn't until my husband came home around 5:30 that I came out of the studio. It was only then that I saw the news covering today's horrific events. I would like to say how sorry I am to anyone who was effected by these senseless bombings. My heart just breaks by these acts of terror. My prayers are for peace and healing tonight.

Follow YOUR path!

Day 4 - Changing the Challenge and Following My Own Path

Today is actually day 6 of my 30 day blog writing challenge. For the past two days I was racking my head trying to think of something interesting to write about. I thought about doing a blog on color theory. I thought about simply writing about the things I love....

Then I realized something... I have the ability to change my own challenge! We all have the ability to make changes in our lives... after all, ultimately we all have the right to choose our own destinies. SO... I've decided instead of writing everyday in my blog, I am going to follow my intuition and simply write when there is something to write about! My new challenge: Write 30 posts regarding art... without time restrictions.

I generally paint anywhere from 3-5 times a week. I will try and post each time I paint. I will post images of what is on the easel and what I have learned for the day. I believe this will make a much more interesting blog to read, and then I won't beat myself up or feel like a failure when I am not posting daily!

My challenge to you.... Follow your own intuition! In the meantime, please feel free to post any questions or ideas for my challenge! I've had several people asking me about my use of color... I will tackle this question this week.

So, I leave you with this little giggle:

Hugs and Happiness!

Kim

DAY 3- THE INTUITIVE PROCESS AND BEING VULNERABLE

I am about to do something that makes me nervous! I am literally sitting here typing with butterflies in my belly! I'm about to show you images of a painting in progress, from start to finish. There are MANY ugly stages in my paintings before I find the beauty. You will see also that the beginning layers of paint are only minutely visible in the end result. So... Here goes....

So now you see the process. The next part is naming the painting. This was at first I thought should be called "Impressions". I thought this because of it's impressionistic feel to it. However, the name and the painting changed shortly after taking a photograph of it. ( See yesterdays post)

I usually paint birds and trees. The bird is either a self portrait or simply portraying us, all of God's children. The tree always represents God. The fact that the bird was in the painting almost right from the beginning ( see above images) is pretty cool, right! If I hadn't taken a photograph, I might never have seen him! Hence the name: "I Was There The Whole Time!"

The irony of the name is that the tree, being God, was really the one that was there the whole time!

I hope you enjoyed todays post, as I feel I have made myself vulnerable for the sake of being real. Isn't it funny how much easier it is putting on our daily "mask" than it is "Being Real"

Maybe I went a bit too deep today. Tomorrow, I will try to be funny instead! :)

Day 2 "I Was There the Whole Time"

I had a BLAST painting yesterday in my newly cleaned and organized space. I had three paintings started, and all I had to do is pick which one I wanted to work on first.

The painting just flowed! I painted from 9:30 am - 2:15pm.

I never know I am finished painting until a few days after. I like to look at the painting prior to finishing the piece with varnish. The first thing I do when I finish a piece is I take a picture of it and usually post it on my Facebook page to see what comments and  critiques I get from my Facebook friends. Here's the first picture I took:

I wasn't planning on adding a bird to this painting... but look who was waiting for me to notice him at the bottom left of the painting... HA! I LOVE intuitive painting! So, I immediately followed his calling and finished pulling out /painting the little guy! (See image below)

"I was there the whole time!"

15x30x2.5

I don't think I'm done with this piece yet... but I love the process and evolution of being an artist!

If you want to check out my face book page:

https://www.facebook.com/kim.elleryartist

Hope everyone has a happy day!

Kim

NEW BEGINNINGS

New  Beginnings!

So, one of my mentors Flora Bowley (http://braveintuitiveyou.com) , challenged herself to write a blog everyday for 30 days. I decided to follow her lead and challenge myself to do the same thing. I’m not sure how interesting this is going to be, but I guess we are about to find out!

I just finished Coordinating the Fine Arts area of the RIBA Home Show. Although this is loads of fun, and I get to meet some amazing artists...This takes me about three months to prepare, getting all my artists in place, getting contracts signed and making sure everyone is prepared. Then, it’s six 12 hour days setting up and exhibiting the show. … Needless to say this takes me completely out of the studio for an entire month!

   I’ve decided that this will be my last year coordinating this event because I really would rather be painting! Also, while the galleries are selling my work, I am not producing new work during this time. So it is no longer possible for me to be both Coordinator AND Artist... So, I decided that I would think of today as NEW BEGINNINGS! Naturally what follows this idea must be a clean and organized studio! RIGHT!

I did get a chance to splash a little paint around… but I am so filled with joy to begin painting tomorrow! So, until then, I took some images of paintings I was painting a month ago… Hello old friends! Are you ready to finish our journey together!

To all my artists friends out there reading my blog, THANKS for taking the time to read this! Let me know if you begin the same 30 day Blog Challenge!

Happy Creating!

Kim

IT'S COOL TO BE SQUARE!

It’s Cool to be Square!

I was recently invited to exhibit in a special show called “The Square Show”at an amazing gallery in Providence , RI… Gallery Z http://galleryzprov.com/galleryzprov/upcoming-shows.html.

The exciting part of this exhibit is that the gallery provided each artist with the canvas’ to paint. Each one of us received  a 12x12, 16x16, and 20x20 canvas. My shape preference is usually square, so I was feeling right at home with this invitation! YAY! The thought of all of us painting the same exact canvas shapes seems really exciting to me! What will all the artists do with the same exact canvas’?!

I actually started off painting 8 canvas’ at the same time. I know, crazy… right! Well, I had also signed up for a class on intuitive painting during the same time that I needed to be working on the three pieces for the show. I figured I am Super Woman… I can do it all! … Did I mention that the whole time I am doing this class along with the eight canvas’, I am also coordinating the Fine Arts area of the RIBA Home Show held at the Providence Convention Center!

Needless to say, I am not as super as I hoped to be! I didn’t quite finish the class because I realized I would need to finish at least the three canvas’ needed for the Square Show! So I focused on the three canvas’ and here’s what came to fruition.

                                          “Love In The Garden”

I painted these shapes from my memories of scuba diving. There were these beautiful pod type greens growing about 60feet below the water. I sketched them out right away and realized they looked an awful lot like roses. The first shape that came to me was the beautiful heart at the bottom of the canvas. For me, Everything grows out of love… It seemed to me to be the seed that planted this beautiful garden.

                                          “Walking Out of The Darkness”

This painting started with drips of paint. I immediately saw a forest. Recently, I have been studying the work of Gustov Klimt. I just love his use of color, and his mixture of patterns and shapes. The bird in this painting tells the story of coming out of the darkness of the woods, and walking into the light, seeing hope and beauty.

                                          “Klimt Tree”

I’m not sure which came first, the tree or the birds. This painting just took on a life of it’s own. Again, studying the work of Gustov Klimt, I was inspired by his color palette and shapes in the tree. In this painting, the birds seem to be stopped in their tracks by witnessing the beauty of the tree.

You’ll have to wait for the next blog to see what the other canvas’ ended up as!

Until next time!

It’s Cool to be Square!

;)

Kim