new art and a way different inspiration from ryan spring

TITLE: HOPE. The Original Mixed Media Painting is available in my etsy shop.

I'm kinda in LOVE with this new painting, HOPE. I painted it to express all of the freedom I feel when I acknowledge my wildest hopes and dreams, knowing they can become reality. I had so much fun playing with layers of paint, then spray painting on stencils, then adding paper cut-outs (I'm LOVING to cut and paste half circles at the top, as if my characters are on stage). Then I add all sorts of materials from my studio-pastels, acrylics, ink, and pencil. I'm finding less is more and often cover up parts when they get too full of pattern, but it's all part of the process, getting through tons and tons of layers until I see where the character wants to be until finally I know what they're trying to say.

A while ago I stenciled the word "HOPE" on a tshirt. I still had that stencil at the back of my closet and when I found it I just knew it had to go into a very special painting.

I've been meaning to put up a stencil template for you to try too, but haven't yet decided on the right one. So in the meantime, I thought you might find inspiration from one of my favorite artists, Ryan Spring Dooley. He's an old friend of mine and so much an experimenter in every medium, I can hardly keep up.

Art by Ryan Spring Dooley

Ryan paints the most wild things out and about, in places you'd never expect. He always finds the perfect way to connect spaces with art. 

 TITLE: Dream Your Dreams by Ryan Spring Dooley

And no matter how much time passes between us seeing one another, it always seems like our artwork overlaps, in some way. I mean, I feel like I have definitely wanted to title something "Dream Your Dreams," yet I am certain it looked nothing like this.

TITLE: City Limits by Ryan Spring Dooley

And then there's Ryan's AMAZING animations, featuring his illustrations, photos, cut-outs, words, whatever! I just adore watching them and pretty much laugh every single time.

TITLE: Choo Choo by Ryan Spring Dooley
 
The last time we made art together, he showed me how he creates these magical movies....thousands and thousands of drawings that he photographs individually because he likes the old-skool, handmade effect. I think I made it through thirty sketches of one of my characters before going back to a painting. 

 Art by Ryan Spring Dooley

Ryan also creates these really lovely paintings on canvas.  I always love hanging out with him because then I get to use his stencils too. They are WAY more beautiful and elaborate than mine. He hand cuts the most elegant faces and imagery and then layers it over and over to create texture and pattern. 

Are you inspired yet? Visit his website to see more.