A New Painting.... Mermaids

As promised, here is the big reveal of my BIG painting, Mermaids.

It took me about a month to create this 24'x36" painting. This video from Alisa Burke and this video from Mindy Lacefield inspired me for this painting. I watched Alisa's video and I thought "I can do that. I need to paint big!" I wasn't afraid or unsure of what I was doing at any point during this process. I was in the zone!

Here is is from start to finish.

A background filled with collage, paint and inky drips.

A face emerges.

 

Then another.

 

They are mermaids.

 

 

 

Here are details of the painting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so proud of this painting. A part of me can't believe I finished this and another part of me knew I would because I was so into it! I am currently taking Mindy Lacefield's True Free Spirit course. It has really built my confidence as a painter. I highly recommend this course. The women who are taking it are so supportive. It is just amazing!

As a special bonus I have a video here from Qwiki. It's a new iPhone app that let's you share videos. They are short snippets of special times in your life.

Click here to see the video. I hope you enjoy it!

 

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Mermaid Painting from Start to Finish

Here is the completed painting I gave a sneak peek of in my last post.

First is the background with the beginnings of a face. I did this on a textured gesso board with paper, inks and paints. Funny thing is, I originally messed up on the background. I adhered some beautiful papers with gesso instead of glue. It made everything milky white and I lost all my colors. Oops. Well, I think I got my color back.

This is the face. It's still in the early stages but its going in the direction I want it to. I drew the outline with acrylic ink its dropper.

She has become a mermaid. I'm not happy with the tail. I need to tweak that.

I fixed the tail. I added some coral and shells and more blue to the background. I like the translucency and seeing the layers underneath. I feel like she's in a coral reef. I think she is done at this point and then I noticed the left eye. It looks like she got a black eye swimming under the sea. I felt the need to fix that.

She is finally finished. My three year old daughter (soon to be 4 this spring) insisted on some shimmer. She said it would be the "perfect finishing touch". So I added some shimmery inks to her hair and body. My daughter was right!

I really love how this painting turned out.

This is the second one I did based on the techniques I learned from Mindy Lacefield's True Free Spirit e-course. It's only the first month of twelve months of lessons and it is so much fun. We have a very active and supportive Facebook group and the work being produced is amazing. Mindy also created this video here that was an inspiration for my painting. It gives you a good idea of Mindy's style. I'm finding this class has given me a kick in the creative butt! I'm so excited with what I'm creating!

 

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Following my "True Free Spirit"

One of my favorite artists, Mindy Lacefield, has a brand new e-course for 2013, True Free Spirit. I'm reducing the number of classes I'm signing up for, but I had to do this one. It's a year long course with a different project each month. Mindy is trying not to plan too far in advance so each project is a surprise. Our first project is based on Mindy's new series of True Free Spirit Girls. You can see examples of them in her Etsy shop.

 

I started with sketching faces. So much fun!

 

 

Then I felt ready to move to canvas.

 

 

 

I love the look of these girls. Mine look so serene and peaceful.

I am finding creating these girls quite exciting.

Here is a sneak peek at my next painting.

 

I can't wait to see what Mindy has in store for next month either!

 

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