Let go and play

This is the place where I let you into my thought process as I look for possibilities. I am getting too bogged down on my figures so I need to loosen up a bit. I love the figures but playing in a different way helps me bring in new elements to my canvas pieces. I just want to keep learning how far I can bend the rules and what accidental effects can help build my understanding. I put flowes into my spring painting but they were too tight? I needed to loosen up. That is how I have ended up with a field of flowers and have started loosening the flowers in my spring painting.

I have decided to play with my watercolour paper pallets and create flowers. This is blissful fun and I love exploring the possibilities of marks and exploring colour pallets. I plan to have a folder of these unmounted pieces for sale at the group show in November. Mostly I have just painted base colours I like and then looked for a vase shape so I can develop the image and create marks and flowers in lots of sizes. I am throwing away any rules and making up the flowers as I go. Lots of background knowledge to inform my play but I am avoiding direct observation in these pieces. I am referring to references and then putting them away. The instinctive colours that are emerging are beautiful and make me smile. A couple of the pieces are 2 pieces combined as I ripped out sections and Collaged a base layer before adding flowers. Some have my trademrk wallpaper texture effect. All are intuitive, playful explorations of the elements of design that create semi abstract flower pieces.

Spring needed my flower play to allow a looser approach to develop this piece. Lots of bouquets.

I feel as though this inspired flower play is giving me another pathway. My figures take a lot longer to create as I am being to tight. The flowers seem to come together far quicker and are helping me be looser in my approach. The ability to create work quickly that will sell is imperitive if I want to make a living from my art so this pathway is opening up new possibilities and I am having fun. It also is another way of playing with semi abstract ideas that strengthen my composition, whatever I am creating.

The decision is to play so today I started a large diptych of a field of poppies. Lots of fun. The question is always when to stop. I am impressed that I finished such a large piece in a day.  I need to work on the small pieces  but I do like the large play zone.

This is the space where I renmember to keep playing.

Large diptych: field of red poppies.