You can purchase this original painting from my Etsy store. Prints and other products are available in my Redbubble store.
Tag: abstract watercolor
You could be fire – Original abstract intuitive watercolour painting
You can purchase this original piece in my Etsy store, or get prints and other products like the ones below from Redbubble.
Windrunner – an intuitive abstract watercolour
Lately I’ve been playing with an intuitive art style, where I just start out with shapes on the page and see where they take me. I don’t start with any kind of plan except perhaps some idea about the colours I’m going to use, and I just start painting. As I paint, the image evolves and changes.
While I was painting this one, I was listening to the the audiobook of Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, part of the Stormlight Archive series. (I’m trying to re-read all the books before the newest one comes out next month!) So, when I was trying to think of a title for this piece (something I always have trouble with), I decided to name it “windrunner”, inspired by my favourite sad bridgeman.
You can purchase this original painting from my Etsy store, and get prints and other products like home decor, clothing and accessories from Redbubble.
Art as meditation
I’ve never been good at meditating. Most of the time I have trouble switching my brain off to be able to sleep, let alone meditating. But I do find that creating art is a form of meditation for me, especially when I’m creating more intricate pieces and lots of little swirls. I get lost in the painting.
Two of my most recent painting are great examples of this.
For these two paintings, I was initially inspired by Linda Melvin’s abstract watercolours. I started working wet-on-wet and letting the paint flow and do its own thing. I also used gauze as a textural element, as she does with some of her work. But that’s where the similarities end.
As you can see, my work is very different to hers. In her tutorials, Linda talks about the importance of coming back in and enhancing an image after it dries. This is the stage at which I get carried away! For both of these paintings, I began to see a shape emerging from the abstract patterns – in one I saw a humanoid figure, and the other, a dragon-like shape. As I went in with my fine paintbrush to enhance the images, I accentuated the shapes I saw. In both cases, I did not know what the shape would be until the initial layers of paint dried. I used swirls and patterns to add details to the images.
I really enjoyed creating both of these paintings – I loved the way I could switch off my brain and get lost in the small details, and the way that an image emerged from the painting seemingly on its own. When I paint, I feel calm and peaceful, and it’s the closest thing I get to meditating.
Original paintings ‘Taking Flight‘ and ‘Dracontine‘ are both available for purchase in my Etsy store. Prints and accessories are available via Redbubble or Society6.