Dori

Another in a series of "me", palette knife vs. brush.  I worked on this again today.  There are things that are happening that I like and some that I can see now on this screen that could be fixed with a stroke or so.  I will wait and see if I change it.  These are for me to learn from.  

Looking at myself is not easy and I find it emotional.  It is not just the surface that I see when looking in the mirror.   Every plane change, line and mark are there.   It is a kinda history that stares me down.  The face shows many sides of emotion and expression.  It carries the weary and raises up with joy.  It wears love with a spiritual sense of wisdom bringing warmth and color to its surface.  

I think I see my quiet times, my deep emotions that are kept quiet and not often shared.  The person I live with and feel with everyday of my life is there in the mirror.  The face that shows life's stealthy movements and changes that appear so honestly without a word.  From self portrait to self portrait, life paints it own portrait without paint or brush.  It is masterful and unique.  

Edgy - A Study Of Self

The palette knife is a tool unlike a brush.  There is an awkwardness to my handling of it.  It is like trying to use a tool in a small space.  I had the feeling of being restricted.  That feeling did get better.  I realized the fun of it was mixing color and putting it down. It felt very much like laying down chucks of pastel except with a tool.  I wanted to use my hands and just move the paint around with my fingers.  The other difficult thing was that I cannot see well without my glasses and they are a part of me.  I kept pushing my face thinking that I had them on.  I had a wonderful shade of phthalo blue on the bridge of my nose for most of the session.  So as you may get from all this, ...I was very much out of my comfort zone.  I seem to do that as much as possible these days.  There are things that don't work, so I will keep this practice going and you may so these from time to time.

Sunday in the Park 8x10 oil

Today is the day after the 4th of July and what a beautiful day it is.  I went out to paint...YES!  I am a lucky girl.  My dear husband encouraged and came along on my paint out.  It was wonderful.  He walked the dry bed and took lots of photos for me to use for painting, read a bit  and then put his feet up and took a nap.  I have got to say it was very nice of him to come along.  What a peaceful day.  

Not being out for a while I decide to try and take it a step at a time.  I scraped a lot of paint off with my palette knife and used it more than ever before, which was fun.  I did a second small 6x6 that I will post next.  Well back to work tomorrow.  I hope to get Karin Jurick's challenge done this week...will see.