Hidden Purpose

 

9x12 inches, acrylic on watercolor paper

This painting began a year ago with something like throwing color in the air, letting it land where it will then scraping it across the surface of the paper.  I didn't actually throw the color in the air more like dropping paint in puddles on the paper but it has that same out of control feeling.   So thats the fun part, the next step is what to do with it, that's when a lot of thinking and sketching comes to play.  The sketches were not making me happy so I shelved it and occasionally would get the painted background out to ponder.  Just recently I did a new sketch adding and rearranging elements including negative space ideas for this final design until satisfied.  This type of painting takes me way longer than my usual acrylic paintings.  I spent half my time just looking and pondering until something clicks.

It was intentional to keep the owl blended into the background but still keep it visible and identifiable letting the background enhance the image and vice versa.  What I love about this process is how it makes me go places never thought of.

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Mother's Day Flowers

 

Decided to get my drawing stuff out and have some fun.  It's always hard for me to pass up an opportunity to draw or paint flowers, they are so short lived.  And the back lighting from the window just made all these wonderful negative spaces, plus working on toned paper, as I've said before, is my favorite.  

Funny story about these flowers: Walking in Walmart the day before Mother's Day and getting ready to leave I saw these flowers, they must have called to me because I couldn't stop thinking about them.  I went over to check them out and saw they were not in the tubs of water (as they should have been) but laying along side a tub.  Looking at them closer I saw that some of the stems and flowers were beginning to wilt so I shoved them back into the bucket and noticed others and shoved them back as well.  Finally I decided these flowers needed help, they called to me, so bringing them home I cut all the stems back so they could drink up the needed water.  They responded beautifully giving me over a week of pleasure and this drawing.  I can't understand, for the life of me, why people would not return beautiful flowers to the water they so needed.

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©