NEW Mixed Media Painting - The Journey

THE JOURNEY. Original (SOLD).
Prints available in my etsy shop.

if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know i'm on sabbatical through February, painting and writing and refueling my creative spirit. 

and i have to say, with all of this painting i've really been pushing myself to new levels, which can often lead to frustration and so many ugly first starts that i seem to paint over. many times these last few weeks i've returned to my comfort zone and panted owls.

for me, that's all part of my creative process.

and whenever i figure out something new with my artwork, it's like a light goes off and the painting suddenly resonates. maybe it's a new technique, a new mix of art supplies or a new character style that gets uncovered, but i definitely know it when i find it.

when i got to this point, something clicked. 

i'd found a new character and loved it's part human, part bear, part reindeer quality.

i had started out painting lots and lots of backgrounds. i like to have a ton going at once. that way, when i get to adding my characters i can just keep going and going on each one. generally there's one or two characters that i sketch on the background and like best.

then once i get to painting them, i might end up hating their direction (that's the ugly stage). and when i find myself at that point, i most often start fresh on another background or sketch a new character. 

i usually have at least 5 or 6 painting in-progress at once.

it took quite a few more layers of background and definition before i figured out this character.

my amazing friend dave kreisman stopped over to shoot some videos of me painting for my new website (so excited! the footage turned out so beautiful...i can't wait to share it with you!).

and this is the painting i worked on while dave shot the video. the spontaneity of the moment and being on camera really made me have fun with the process and, i think, all of that joy got infused into the layers of the painting.

but it wasn't until i added a few paper elements like the bird, some book pages and the face of a queen that this painting really fell into place.  

THE JOURNEY. Original (SOLD).
Prints available in my etsy shop.

through thick and thin, the phoenix always rises strong and beautiful from the ashes, knowing that what matters most, above all else, is at length THE JOURNEY.

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have a wonderful holiday!!!

ps. i always post new paintings first on my facebook page here. find lots of other fun photos and quotes there too.