Under the Stars

"Under the Stars"

Mixed Media on paper

18x24

I have been learning the method "if you don't like it, paint over it and paint again."

It is so liberating.

I had a fun time swishing a bunch of colors on my surface. Then I looked at it and thought, "oh man, what a mess. I'll never be able to do anything with this."

I walked away, wondering where I had gone wrong.

When I came back I thought I saw an image. I took an oil pastel and painted the image on the surface.

Now, I started off by not listening to my own advice that I said in my last post of taking a photo of every step. So first look at this photo and picture it without the outline (my first step) and then look at it again for my second step with the outlined image:

I painted around the image:

Then added a few details:

Is that cool, or what?!

It was a lot of fun outlining an image and then painting around it to get this fantastic "pattern" for the image.

What was more remarkable was that a painting that started off so terribly that I almost ditched it turned out to be a painting that I really love.

It taught me that when you begin to doubt yourself, shut off the thoughts and jump in.

Hang on tight and just go for it!

Go do your thing this weekend!

Carol B.