be captain of your own ship

BE CAPTAIN OF YOUR OWN SHIP. Prints available in my etsy shop.

a few months ago i woke up from a dream with this phrase in my head, "You Are The Captain of Your Own Ship." and as soon as i finished this painting i just knew it had to be the title.

i've been taking misty mawn's stretching within e-course, and so i decided to try a few background painting techniques with adding and then rubbing away acrylic paint.

then gluing on different papers like this vintage postcard...

and these sailboats from a vintage greeting card. the crazy thing is, i glued the right sailboat on first. then decided to do a gel transfer above it (you can see the face down postcard there drying), and went to work on another painting. when i came back, i found the other half of the sailboat card on my studio table and was really drawn to the seagulls, so that's what i was placing on my background (not even that second row of sailboats on the left that ended up right in horizon line with that first boat!). i love it when that happens!

next on finished my gel transfer and really loved the paper left behind, so i used that and added some bright blue (the whole time i was just playing, and not really thinking).

i thought it needed an owl right there at the center (i still wasn't even seeing, consciously, that there was a sea on the horizon right behind my character!). and for some reason, i just loved that giant poinsettia right like a crown on top of his head!

here, i added his features and little polka dot embellishments.

then i finally realized this piece was sort of an owl, resting on a cliff above the ocean!

and definitely a reminder to BE CAPTAIN OF YOUR OWN SHIP!

i really love how images just come together like this! it's like finally realizing this story you've had inside, just waiting to get out!

happy creating!