Please share images, thoughts, reflections and inspiration in response to Week 4 art encounters. I look forward to sharing with you.

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Lisa LipsettWeek 4 Discussion

Comments

  1. Isabelle

    I am excited to finally share my art with you. I just thought I could live without the internet….
    While looking at the plants, I noticed a tiny worm moving along a leaf.
    I know it is somewhere on the paintings but cants figure out where.
    The colors are brighter on the left painting for being in a good space. The second image, was painted on a darker day.

    1. katherinecs

      Hi Isabelle. Great to see your beautiful work. Please can you tell me the make of watercolor you use?

      1. Isabelle

        Hi
        My watercolors pencils are from the store Opus in Victoria. The mark is “Milan” and they were only $8 for 12 pencils. I also have a little kit Lisa gave me called “Watercolor Compact”, which is easy to cary around.
        Isabelle

        1. katherinecs

          Thank you Isabelle for these resources. Will get them. Really enjoying your participation and seeing your work.

  2. katherinecs

    Thank you sincerely again Lisa for your feedback. I really appreciate the depth of it. I am going to try cutting and pasting your comments to word to print off and read several times over the next months. I took very tentative steps with this course and the content and your ongoing encouragement and support is really helping me “just go for it.” Great feeling.

  3. katherinecs

    I was drawn to a small plate with a picture of a beautiful black wolf’s face. I realize I need to stick to abstract work as I cannot draw or paint forms etc for the life of me. You can see the meager attempt to paint the wolf’s face using my right hand. I decided to abandon that idea and simply free paint with my left hand (still looking at the wolf). Then I colored it and played around and two faces emerged so I titled it “Mr. Grumpy.” The photo will probably not allow you to see the two faces. One thing I have taken away from this experience is to stick with nature’s beauty and choose things like you did Lisa at the beach. I will head there this afternoon and see what appeals to me.

    1. Author
      Lisa Lipsett

      Hi Katherine,
      Thanks so much for your descriptions and for posting photos of your work. A couple of things bubble up for me. First I think both paintings are vibrant full of life, interesting and compelling. I hear some disappointment that the right hand one doesn’t look like the original. I guess I would say that’s when photography is useful. In other words if we want a replica most of us should likely take a photo- myself included. A painting is instead an arti-fact of a relationship between the painter and the subject. It is a postcard from a relational experience in the moment. So there is life: happy accidents, embellishment, exaggeration, diminishment etc etc. That’s why painting is so expressive and compelling. I love how vibrant strong, colourful and clear these two images are.
      Another thing that comes to mind is the way I try and relate to images I have created. I try and treat them like sweet innocent children who are doing their best to be seen, to be themselves and need my loving careful consideration. I try not to chide them for missteps and imperfection. I try and speak about them to others lovingly. I do this because like with a child, too much criticism causes them to withdraw and shy away from exposure. Ultimately I want them to come out and play.
      Finally working with and creating outside in the living world is juicier because it holds more vitality. This helps us stay in connection especially when starting an image and ultimately our experience is more satisfying. That being said working indoors with plants, flowers or looking out the window is good too.
      You’re doing really well with observing what keeps you in the flow and what pulls you out again. Where there is playful joy, there is creative vitality. When that feeling falls away it is our job to shift something in order to get back on track again.
      In creative connection,
      Lisa

  4. katherinecs

    Thank you sincerely for your responses Lisa. They are incredibly helpful and encouraging.

  5. katherinecs

    Well that was another fascinating experience. I love the strategies you are getting us to use Lisa. This latest one will take practice for me just like the previous ones. Although I could easily focus on what was within the opening of the card, my peripheral vision allowed me to see part of the page. I had to work on not looking down and wasn’t too successful. It was all good though. I did draw the circle before I got started, and next time won’t. I really enjoy coloring and extending original drawings and just letting my eyes focus on the crayon or paints and colors are selected. What I mean is I don’t look at a drawing and decide on a color, I look at my colors, and let them choose themselves. Hope that makes sense. As I work away, new shapes take place. I am thoroughly enjoying this course!!

    1. Author
      Lisa Lipsett

      Hi Katherine,
      It sounds like you are enjoying the art encounters and really experiencing the edges and possibilities of your relationship to painting. I have designed the encounters to become progressively more challenging as most people find working with eyes open takes more effort than touching in or listening. What I am hoping is that by the end of the course you become adept at choosing different ways to work even within the same session so that you can fine tune what you are doing to help you stay in the flow. For example if I feel like I am beginning to get too tight and heady about things then I will close my eyes, work with both hands or somehow switch things around. The art encounters are offered as tools in your painting tool kit.
      Colouring in shapes and bringing line to paintings is so soothing and compelling. I can spend hours doing this too. I am so happy that you have discovered the joy of this. In a way the art encounters are a way to shift your energy quickly so you can create images to then extend and play with.
      There is magic in letting the colors choose us. I am so glad that you are playing with this!
      I think more practice in each of the ways to work especially developing flow and softness with eyes open is valuable.
      Thanks so much for sharing!
      In creative connection,
      Lisa

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