Painting for Fun!

Remember how easy and fun it was to paint when you were a kid? – and how fast!

I watch my grandchildren whip out paintings in a matter of minutes and I wonder why it takes me days, or sometimes even years, to finish a painting. Of course it does take time to refine and perfect a painting, but sometimes it is really freeing to just play.

That’s what this exercise was all about. The assignment was to create a painting in less than an hour and document the process. I thought you might find it interesting… or maybe you will even want to try it.

I started by blobbing some Golden high-flow acrylic paint on a piece of watercolor paper. Using just four colors that appealed to me in the moment, I tried to get into my inner child mindset. Here’s the result from the first ten minutes.

Can’t say I love it, but it felt good to dabble – especially adding those brown blobs on the right. Of course my mind always goes to the figurative. I guess I’m just not inclined toward abstract painting, even though I appreciate abstract paintings by other artists.

So I turned the painting around until I started noticing little faces. It immediately took on an underwater quality. My recent visit to Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco must have impressed my subconscious mind with the amazing variety of undersea life. Another ten minutes brought this result.

I especially like the jellyfish in the top right corner. I was fascinated by their translucent fragility when I saw them at the aquarium. Coincidentally, I found a big one on the beach a couple of weeks later.

I spent another ten minutes defining some of the forms with colored pens, with this result:

This was starting to be fun! Now it needs some white, so I whipped out a white pen and added some more detail. (Made and ate a really good salad along the way… hence the empty bowl.)

I particularly like that little fish on the left, swimming against the flow of the others. Now just a little more detail and I think it’s finished… at least as well as it can be in under an hour.

Funny, I’m just remembering that I dreamed about fish in an aquarium last night. For some reason the aquarium had crumpled up newspapers at the bottom that I had to fish out. Perhaps the message was about how negative news stories pollute my spiritual “waters.” Good message!

This painting definitely captures the spirit of fun and it doesn’t have to be any more than it is. I call it Swimming Upstream.

What do you think? Should I sign it?

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Bernadette Wulf

New Earth Ambassador — Faery Emissary

Sharing Health, Wealth & Faery Magic to Uplift the World!

What I love best is activating the New Earth reality — a reality of harmony, cooperation and prosperity for all. I call it the New Camelot!

When I discovered how to move beyond the challenges of living in the 3D Matrix, I realized I had found something far more valuable than money or worldly success.

Since then I’ve been creating courses, workshops and blog posts to support people like you in your quest for vibrant health, abundant wealth and the uplifting magic of the faery realm.

I am passionate about protecting Nature, teaching people about healthy whole plant foods, artistic creativity, connecting with the faery realm, Celtic and Arthurian lore, writing, painting, family and gardening.

wulfworks.com