Want to see my first painting?

After six weeks of being intimidated by my new paint supplies, blank canvases, and utter lack of natural talent, I decided to paint something today. I re-read Nik’s comment about just doing it – just dive right in, splotch the paint all over the canvas and don’t worry about making mistakes. I also read the instructions for the first technique – paint glazes – in Claudine Hellmuth’s book, Collage Discovery Workshop. Paint glazing, it seems, is very simple, requires no talent, and is practically idiot-proof. You can see why I might be drawn to it.

And then I dove right in, splotched paint all over the canvas, and tried not to worry about making mistakes.

Here are the two canvases I painted today. (They’re not finished. I don’t know how they’re going to end up, but they’re not finished.)

Works in Progress:

This is my first-ever acrylic painting. I actually like it. I painted the base coat, the border, and two layers of glazes. I need to put something in the middle. I have a skeleton earring that would look pretty trippy in there – I could glue it in. I also have an old photograph of a nun that I’m thinking about using. I could make a copy (I’d never use the original) and attempt an image transfer. So far my experiments with image transfers have all failed, but I read about The Great White Transfer Technique today, and it sounds promising.

This is my second-ever acrylic painting. I started with a garish layer of primary yellow, and then did a full glaze of yellow ochre, and partial glazes of burnt sienna and burnt umber. I like it except for that clumpy dark bit in the bottom-right quadrant. I wonder what would happen if I tried to do something about the clumpy dark bit, like glaze another colour over it? Maybe the more I mess with it, the more I’ll draw attention to it. I’m not sure what to do with it next. Something belongs in the highlighted area, but I’m waiting for an inspired idea. (Feel free to share your inspired ideas, by the way.)

This is what my art table looks like after a day of being messy and creative. (As an added bonus to the day, I started using my camera again, after avoiding it for a week. I’m happy about that.)