ARTISTIC FANTASY...or is it?

Hello everyone and Happy Springtime!

I've been busier than usual in the studio this past month and have a couple really good examples to show and tell.  Each showing a painting progression and the point where... fantasy and reality meet, during the creative process. 
Intrigued?  Let's start...

​Oil paints are on the palette, cup of tea nearby, Pandora radio on Shuffle, and currently playing xmas music.
I've taken transparent paints of mid to dark values and kinda-sort-of, strategically placed them on the canvas, left.  I've included my sketching tool so you can see how I define my shapes, and space.

On the right I have removed alot of paint with Kleenex tissue, small sponges, and Q tips.  What you are seeing is the staining affect of paint, paint left alone, and a couple of hours of removal, to create lighter values. Am careful to keep the darks where they are needed.  This is all very technical and requires practice and time. 

And then I get up and leave for a little time...either going for a walk outside or getting lunch.  I've found it so important to disengage from the painting at this point so when I come back, I am looking at it with new eyes and feeling my next move.

Then,I spend time examining it's entirety.  I'm fully present....and I walk into my painting and am there looking around and sensing balance, color, and realize the painting has 'good bones.' 

Then the question "where is this composition taking me?"  I see where the strong diagonals of the path and mist meet... to where the mist identifies the top of the path.  Hmmm...I wonder what's beyond that curve?

I am a creator in this place and am adding opaque paints now, my brushwork controls the energy of the moment.  Lavender mist, through the trees.  I feel it's coolness on my skin as I soften edges.  The mid ground trees need warmer green in the branches coming forward, yes, that's good. 

Then I smile at the colorful mess in the foreground path and mix complimentary colors and enjoy the strokes placed to receive the light. Neutrals give energy to those wild colors and add cohesion to the story, a misty morning hike on the mountain path.  What beauty lies ahead?
 

I'm back now.
As I paint, I rely on technical creativity to a certain point
​then allow intuitive ideas or inspiration that bubbles up, to guide my next steps. Want to come into another painting with me?.....

Another fun start laying in transparent paints and developing my sketch with shapes.  I get right into the subtraction portion while the paint is still wet enough to work.  I leave darks and some paint and have fun with those spiky grasses.  I can leave it like this to dry and finish later, or continue applying the final paint...which is known as alla prima painting.  

After a short walk in the sun with Angel, the wonder dog, I return and take in the painting.

I walk right into the background  determining an Autumn palette, and add the sky. Pink mist and a couple  orange brushstrokes for and abstracted sense of trees.
Long simple strokes create a resting place for the eyes which is needed to balance the busy foreground grasses.  The water is an important secondary player and gently guides.
Early morning sunrises are softer, as the hot sun is not high in the sky producing bright highlights.  Colors seem more saturated and the outcome is pleasing to me.

IIII Intuitive painting and intuitive living are pretty much the same. 
We all have guidelines and when overwhelm occurs it's helpful to disengage
for a short time and do something nourishing.

Come back, open yourself to answers...
get quiet and allow ideas and inspirations to bubble up. 
Then try them out. The outcomes may be pleasing to you too.

For those of you following the emergence of my Misty Landscapes...this is where I will be exhibiting them all, for the first time! 

Plus, this amazing group showcases authors, world traveling animal and bird artists, competitive award winners, instructors, and Pacific Northwest favorites. 

Artist wine reception Friday and Saturday 5-7pm.
Look for me...would love to chat with you!
Blessings,

Patrice