The Lily - On the Edge

This flower was extended from edge to edge, the flower itself becomes the composition and the design. What is the lesson to learn from this?



The Lily (Mixed Media)

 You do not always have to have a background or a foreground.  Most all of my paintings have both, in order to give it depth. This one the flower itself becomes three dimension on a two dimension surface.

Petal Tips! The lines in the petals, all joining in the middle ares the design. Each line leads your eye to inside the flower. This was a mixed media, I started with a sheet of watercolor paper, added gesso. A trick I have learned to do years ago. I will use white gesso, add a color by dipping an old brush in my watercolor paints, I work on a different surface, such as a plastic paper plate.

Don't use your good watercolor brush or your palette. Gesso is like acrylic and is death on your supplies. I add the tinted gesso in places, After it dries, then I begin to use watercolors on top of the tinted gesso. The watercolors serve as a glaze or a transparent layer over the colored gesso.

The gesso will keep the watercolor paints from sinking down and staining the paper. 

Meanderings~~~~ God uses a lot of different kinds of paint, strokes and methods to get the job done in us. Things I have thought was totally wrong, will end up being my salvation. Sometimes, He can not work on us in a conventional way, because we are not conventional.

I have brought on many disturbing problems, then I run to God and ask Him to solve them. He solves them with what I got to work with. Just like gesso, is a cheap acrylic. It is a water base paint used for priming. Whatever it takes to get the job done, God is willing to bend the rules just to show me how much He loves me.

Link: http://www.laurainesnelling.com

The Tattered Wing

This is another butterfly in my butterfly garden collection. I painted several in order to get this one right. I guess that's the way with life. We practice until we become free. Every mistake teaches us something that helps us to be us.

The Tattered Wing (Watercolor full sheet)

Petal Tips! This painting is on a full sheet 300# paper. The beauty of this one is the spontaneous response to the paint and water. I love the fact that some of the wing is missing. This makes the painting more appealing and interesting. This painting was done wet on dry. This means, I did not wet the paper first, but laid the paint on a dry sheet of paper.

The way this works, is that I worked with a very, very wet brush, full of paint and water and I kept a wet edge all through the painting. This painting was probably done in thirty minutes at most. There is no time to doddle. You need to know exactly where you are going. That's why you will probably need to practice on the back of some of your old paper first. 

Each stroke counts. I started with Payne's grey. I worked from the center out. I used a half inch flat brush with a chiseled slant. I use this a lot in watercolor. I lay it flat to get the paint down, but I also can turn it on its edge and get a perfect line. 

I laid in the Payne's grey first from center out. While I had a wet edge, I washed my brush and worked the yellow from the edge into the grey, then the purple into the grey, washing my brush between colors. While the paint was still damp,I took a credit card and lifted the paint. You can use the tip of the palette knife or the tip of your watercolor brush handle to do the same. 

Another way to get the lines in the wings, before you put in the color,  take a white candle, or a white crayon will do the same, and draw in the lines. Where the wax is, the paint will not stick to it. The lines will remain no matter what paint you lay over it. 

If you notice the drips. I was working so wet and it was on a slope, so the paint dripped. I liked it, I felt it had a story to tell. 

Meanderings~~~~I could write a book on The Tattered Wing. And where do I start?

If we look carefully, most of us have a few bruises which life has afforded us. Just as the painting, the incomplete wing becomes the most interesting part of the butterfly. That is where its story lies and that is where our story begins.

Most of us didn'tt get our story right the first time. It usually starts when we are in the cocoon. In the struggle to be free, the wings must have time to develop in the cocoon, it is the fluid in the struggle that produces the wings.

And yet we continue to fly because that is who we are. In each one of us, God has invested in us, Himself, who He is and who we are. He puts in us something that keeps us afloat. Maybe its determination, guts, integrity or the desire to be better than we are. Whatever it is, we fly because it is who we are and how we are made. 

The Cactus Flower

As  I filed through my photos of flowers I happened on this one, "Cactus Flower".I love to paint cactus with their blooms and pads. I have written many things about the cactus flower growing in the dry desert.

The Cactus Flower (Mixed Media 20X24)

Petal Tips!  This mixed media was fun to do. I used the cactus pads as part of the design. They are rough and with a lot of texture along side the delicate flowers. I started with a 300# watercolor paper, painted in the design in watercolor, then I added white acrylic in strips, showing creases in the pad. I added needles inside the creases just to give the impression they are  pads. 

It is an impressionistic painting so I had the liberty to paint the cactus pads turquoise, peach and purple. I used the white acrylic also to show the highlights on the flowers. This was a fun one and very rewarding.

Meanderings~~~~~ Yes, flowers can bloom in the desert, I know, because I have. The dry seasons of my life have made me go deep into the Word, prayer and faith, and eventually I come through with a new countenance.

 We can not do anything to bring about the flowers but yield to Him who has made us. It is the Holy Spirit working in us who will bring about His work in our lives. I am always amazed as to the gifts that seem to pop up in us as we wait on Him.

Such as writing. It is not my chosen profession, but it just seemed to happen. Yes flowers can bloom in the desert without water from the earth. It needs the dew in the morning and the rain from heaven to be what it is suppose to be. I pray for you grace upon your heart and hands.

The Earth will Bring Forth Its Praise

Art is a form of praise, it is giving back in recognition of what the Master Creator has done for us. Lifting up our talent to Him is like echoing back what He has done in us. He has revealed Himself in His creation and when we paint it, we are saying "So be it, Amem, Amen, Surely, Surely."

We are saying, "We see it." Hallelujah! Revelation has just occurred. The Lord has shined his Light,and I have respond."

 Petal Tips! This painting stands alone. It is the first and the last of this practical style. I always admired artists who painted in this matter and thought I would try it. I began with a 16 X 20 size canvas board. Canvas board, is not one of those flimsy panel boards. Don't put your good work on a panel board. It's cheap, it warps, and to me, it will waste your time.

I took a piece of masonite board, I bought loose canvas, cut it in a 16 X 20 square, I took Elmer's Glue and spread it on the face of the board, then I laid down the canvas on top. It makes a good sturdy surface. Then I sized it with Gesso. I thinned the gesso with water and applied 4 or 5 coats of thin gesso. I didn't want any lines showing through in the undercoat thats why it has to be put on thin.

I drew on the tulips. I blocked it in with a thinned down coat of oil paint. I have used different mediums over the years to thin oils. Any will do. Then I took a measuring stick and drewa grid on the surface. I then proceeded laying in thin paint in each grid.

 I decided on the light pattern before hand. I wanted to make sure I followed through with each grid and that the light pattern wasn't just haphazard and looked  like a tic tac game.

It was one of those paintings, I did it, I tried it, but it felt too constricted for me. But for some of you, it will be your cup of tea. It has its beauty in the eye of the beholder.

Meandering~~~~~Art is a form of praise!. We do not think about the earth praising its maker by bringing forth its vegetation, but it does. There are places that are barren; no water, no life, not substance. We call it wilderness, forsaken. My life has felt like that several times through out my life. There was no fruit on the tree or oxen in the stall but I continued to paint. I believe it was Ezekiel that said, "Thou I will praise him."

Did I know what I was doing in such a desolate state? No. Did I feel like I was praising Him? No. I was escaping from the harshness. I hunkered down into what I knew to do and that was to paint. Those were some very, very dry years, but I look back today and realize, even though there was no dew in the morning, and the heaven shut up its rain, I was exercising what God had put in me, the gift of painting.

And I painted and painted. I honed my gift in the midst of the trial and spent hours in the Word, trying to regain the Light on my life. I painted a painting called  "Drawn into the Wilderness". It was a little cabin in a cold winter scene, desolate and forsaken. It was a picture of me. I took it from Hosea 2:14, where it says, "I drew her into the wilderness to speak gently to her." Yes, God was in the midst of that wilderness experience. And yes, he was speaking to me gently through my art. 

I just remembered how I felt, like a lone tree standing on a hill with bare branches for the world to see. I was being stripped of everything that brought me comfort, everything I thought represented success with the Lord, i.e. His blessing. 

This painting, "The Earth will bring forth its Praise" was painted at that time. I am always so amazed when we feel like we are so alone, we aren't. The Spirit is lusting against the flesh, it is fighting for our soul.  It is a stripping away those fleshly desires. The tulip is the first flower of spring and it is always a sign that the winter has gone and spring is coming. Many times the tulip in this area in the Rocky Mountains is coming out of a cold ground, where the snow is just beginning to melt.

The Earth will Bring Forth Its Praise (Oil)

Pears in Gold

Pears in Gold

This painting is one of my favorite. I probably say that about every painting I paint. I love it when a painting takes me to another height in my art. This one did. Sometimes, a painting will take me to my bare soul; I have to surrender to the painting, before I can go on. Some times, the painting paints itself.

Petal Tips! I painted this as one of a series. The previous lesson on the golden apples is exactly the way I painted this one. Look at that one to learn the technique.  It is a large canvas, 24 X 48. It is horizontal instead of vertical. I painted the fruit in both paintings larger than life size, I wanted a bold statement. I laid out the design extending the fruit to edge. Very little background fills the space.

I made all the pears golden red, except the one in the front which is laying down instead of standing and I added dark green with a little light green for a highlight. The green comes forward from the red pear behind it. This is called pushing colors. The rim of the platter is god and also comes forward.

Meanderings~~~~ A songwriter said once to me when I asked him how he wrote songs on a whim. I told him that they seemed to come naturally.

He said, "Some times I write out of the pain and depth of my soul. I have to dig deep, almost out of a melancholic state or a state of frustration. Other times it comes out of the overflow. Painting comes the same way. Like I said, sometimes I work and labor out of the grind of life. Other times it is the grace of God that carries me along. Either way, they both will take me to greater heights. I love best the spontaneous of a painting, but I learn best out of the grind of  learning something new. I pray your hands full of grace and your heart full of love.

Apples in Gold

"Words fitly spoken are like Apples in a golden pitcher." Anytime I paint apples in a gold bowl or a gold plate, I remember these words that Solomon penned.

Our words mixed with faith are gold to anyone who is ready to hear what the Spirit says. Another proverb says that "Truth uttered will be heard throughout Eternity." I count on words of truth written will be around after I am gone. They will stay for the next generation and the next, if we have fitly spoken them.



Apples in God Oil 24X40

 Petal Tips! I painted a series of oversize paintings in oil on canvas. The surface is very smooth. This particular painting I applied thin coats of oil paint. I painted the white canvas with a pink gesso. I don't know if they make a pink gesso, but I just add some red acrylic into the white gesso and water to give a smooth finish. I will put five coats of gesso on first. Some people will sand it will a fine piece of sandpaper, I don't. 

I paint the canvas with pink I do this because I don't want to contend with the white, but also, the pink will be a back illumination. It's amazing when you put on a transparent paint such as Aliziar Crimson, how the under painting comes out.

I first blocked it in oil over the pink gesso, then I painted the shadows and the gold inside the apples for highlight. I worked from a scale in value from 3 to 10, the lightest being on the gold bowl in the background. A stark white reflection would have stood out like a sore thumb. I continued to apply thin coats of paint until I painted it the way I wanted it.This thin paint enhances the under painting which is just the sizing in pink gesso.

If you notice in the triangle, (just left in the bottom of the bowl), I painted it purple, the complement to gold. I needed to bring out the lip of the bowl to give that three dimension.  I placed a shadow on the left of the front apple to add to the dimension. The purple along side the gold brings the bowl forward, tricking the eye.

The thing that makes this painting electrifying is the polyurethane I painted on it after it had completely dried. I applied about 5 coats and it sunk the image deep into the canvas and the shine is beautiful.

Meanderings~~~~ Words fitly spoken. How often do we speak words that are needed and fit for the situation? I think a lot of our words just go into thin air. Once in awhile, we say something that we have no idea the impact it had on someone. They will say later, "When you said such and such, it touched my heart." 

I am thinking to myself, I didn't say that, I wished I had. When the ear is ready to hear, those words that the heart needs will hear them, even if the Lord has to change them around a bit, for the hearer.

It is a mystery how the Spirit works for us, in us and around about us. Our best shot is to surrender to the one who inhabits Eternity. In Isaiah it says, I'm paraphrasing, The high and lofty One will dwell in us if we have a contrite spirit and a broken heart. He will meet us in that high and lofty place and dwell in us there.

I am believing when I speak words of spirit and truth, my words will meet people in those high and lofty places in God. .So words fitly spoken is when God speaks through us.They are like apples in gold.

Turtle Doves and apples

Turtle Doves and Apples -  Mixed Medium

Turtle Doves are a seasonal bird. They know when it is their season. The Lord says in Jeremiah, The turtle dove knows their season but my people do not know theirs.

When the Resurrected Life came to the little Shulamite in Song of Solomon, the hart on the mountain top symbolising resurrected Life, calls to His beloved, "Come away with me... The turtle dove is heard in the land, the winter has past." She would not come with Him, but turned him away.

Petal Tips: This mixed media painting 16 X 20 canvas, is done on the same premises as the hummingbird from the previous lesson. It has several mediums, a base coat of acrylic, spray paint, oil and permanent marker. I love the technique because of all the interplay with lights and darks.

This is considered an impressionistic painting. The grapes and apple seem to be floating which is perfectly okay in this style. The birds are all turned to the center..  The eye begins at the left bottom corner and follows the white doves around to the apples in the gold plate. I love this painting, it feels spontaneous and alive.
Directions can be determined with color, values and design. This painting move with the doves.

Meanderings~~~~ The Holy Spirit is alive and spontaneous. He moves through our lives. He comes to us at the point of relevation knowledge. The winter has past, it symoblizes a  harsh and dark season. We all have them, but the Lord is faithful to bring us into the light if we will open to the relevation light.

I am afraid many of us are like the little Shulamite, we hear Him call, but we are too busy tending our vineyard and worried about the little foxes who will destroy our vines. We wants us to let go of our vineyard and allow Him to take us into His vineyard. One is earthly, the other spiritual. One has temperal value, the other eternal value. One is by faith, the other by sight.

The Holy Spirit will come with a notion, a nudge, an idea, a Word or even through other people who carry the Life of Christ in them. Our Spirit will know when the Lord is calling to come away.