Using an App Notanizer, reduces any image to Values & Contrast, the Painting without first drawing, just the shapes & tones over all
What empowers You Today? How can You thrive, flourish, expand and grow on this precious day of your life? Your Values and Contrasts of life, are what make Life and Art interesting.
We all have light/dark/and medium experiences since that is the basis of our Adventures of Life in Time and Space itself. The world keeps turning in cycles, providing rich abundant discoveries, feelings, and interactions. We give them judgement calls by our choices and focus. These become our values along the way.
Then, these shift to beliefs that direct our actions in all things. We have to remember that there are always choices to make on their impact in our lives. Do we allow them to rule our day, or do we take control and step away from the outer world and into our creative life for direction?
In Art, I’m playing with the art app Notanizer. I turn my selfie into values of black/white/and grey with the little buttons at the top. From there, I choose the challenge of not drawing first, but instead, just making myself see and paint shapes of grey first. With a large flat brush, I work all over the paper, using the paper’s edge as a plumb line to gauge angles and distance.
Often when I try a new technique, I end up doing two. The first is my sample, the one I learn with. I think I channeled Laura Dern in that one. Then the next day, I try again, really making myself see only shapes…not labeling eyes, not measuring proportions, and for sure not thinking I’m painting my Self Portrait! This is a painting of shapes. Greys, then whites, while I also leave white paper to show through. Lastly comes the darks, keeping them to a minimum, just as we try to do with life.
For me, the painting is a success since I did the process! That was my challenge for today. Shifting away from thinking, obsessive, ‘know it all’ mind, to just a relaxed gaze at the image. It was much more pleasurable to let an image appear without forcing, controlling, or struggling over every section.
This allowing helps us continue to move forward in art and life. So, what empowers you today? You’ll know immediately by the feeling of it. Struggle paralyzes, is almost painful, and keeps us stuck. What will you choose today to flow, flourish, and thrive? Make it good! If you can, make it Art…or writing, or a walking meditation outside as you take notes of inspiration that flow into your relaxed being.
Be sure to connect with Pat Gullett Designs for inspiration and community. Let me know what you choose to move forward this day. Comments, conversations, connections keep us all going.
