Archives

Hello !

I try to go back to smaller painting supports. It is still part of my BIG and Fearless painting process though. It is weird because when you pull for the first time a huge canvas or paper to paint on it, you are affraid of the big amount of blank space in front of you. But once you get used to it, I find it even harder to express myself on smaller spaces as I used to. Strange !
So for conquiring this uncomfortable feeling, I bought several 11″x14″ canvas boards to play.
Yesterday (monday january 31st) I wanted to get out of my comfort zone regarding my use of colours. I love purple (that is my all time favourite with blue) but noticed that I only use it in tiny amount here and there, so I wanted to play with it in the background.

Here is the result of my afternoon creative playtime from yesterday:

Of course, I have no idea where these will lead me. I am just having fun, trying to pull emotions out of inside. Trying to shake off the pressure I am putting on my shoulders to get my art to the World, to say “hello, I’m there. My name is Nolwenn and I am an artist, you should check my artwork“. It does not happen as planned, I am facing unexpected events that force me to see things differently, to juggle with other ideas. After the frustration, the sadness and (don’t tell anyone) a bit of anger, comes the boost in my butt to move forward no matter what.

Talking of all this, as I told you recently, I will soon open an online shop. You’ll be able to buy beautiful prints of my artworks, and later this year handmade journals (and I think other things that i’ll develop). If you like what I create and want a piece of my World in yours, don’t hesitate 🙂 And if there is a specific artwork you would like a print of, email me 🙂

I am also creating a portfolio so it will be way easier to see what I do !

Wow, what a long title ! Sorry about that.

A week ago, Kira (aka Journal Girl) and I were talking together when the idea of starting together a new year-long challenge came along in the conversation. We don’t want to feel any pressure. Just have fun, and be accountable with each other.

Our goal is to paint a finished painting a week. It can be on canvas (stretched or loose), on wood, on canvas board, whatever as long as it does not belong to our art journals. It can be small if the week is busy or bigger if we feel that way. No theme or prompt to work on. Just having fun.

We’ll be glad to have you play along with us. If you are interested, you can contact her to be added in our Facebook circle. We are several ladies there now, we seek for advices, feedbacks, motivation together.

This week, I created two artworks. I’ll talk about the second one later (around Monday or Tuesday). This is the one i created with the challenge in mind:

At that stage, it was supposed to be… an owl. I was clearly seeing it.

And then, as I always do, I asked m husband “what do you think of it ?” The answer was “ooooh a dog ! see, there it’s the body, here it’s an eye”, showing it to me as he was speaking.

Of course, it became obvious that there WAS a dog hiding in my painting and that I couldn’t let him in the dark. So I traced his contours, trying to make it stand out more. Which was a failure, in my opinion. But still, i like it.

I am in a dripping period. I always LOVED dripping paint, and there is more and more.

Here is what it looks like now:

I love this eye, kind of disturbing ! I think I may work even more on it.

Hello !

I’m very happy because today I finished up two paintings.
I also want to talk to you about a new challenge Samantha Kira and yours truly came up with last week. In order to get some motivation, we set the goal to paint an artwork a week, that we may feel like finished (of course if we want to come back on it later, nothing against it).
Sharing it together helps because we have someone to be accountable to, we can share where we are in the process, what blocks we face etc.

So, in January 2012, we’ll have 52 paintings. In this much artworks, some will be frigatastic for sure ! No theme to work on, no size: if our week is busy it can be a small canvas, if we have spare time it can be huge. On canvas, stretched or not, on wood block, wood panel, whatever. BUT it must not be in our journals though.

If you wanna play along with us, Sam started a facebook page so don’t hesitate to tell me 🙂

Here is what i’ve done on this first week (I’ll share more about it on Saturday):

The other artwork I finished today is the untitled one I talked about a few days ago. As you can see, I only added a few words. Now it’s done:

I’m also lucky to have one of my latest artwork, Unexpected Gift, put in the new candies gift shop located in Kitsilano, Grenadine & Co.  The painting is for sale.

I hope you are having a wonderful week so far ! Love you.

Hello beautifuls !

I have finally figured out a place to do some pretty prints of my artworks to sell. I only have a few for now, but I’ll do more very soon.

You have two options: you buy only the print, so you can frame it as you want, or you buy a matted print.
I will put them in my Etsy shop that is currently totally empty (do you know if I can add the items and let them not viewable for a time ?).

If there is specific artwork(s) you would like a print of, don’t hesitate to ask me, okay ? it can be from art journal pages as well as mixed media artwork. I am looking for a way to create a gallery but did not find how yet. Working on it.

I am SO excited and yet so scared at the same time !

Hello shiny You !
I wanted to share a little bit about what I mean by “my new creative process” in the last few blogposts I wrote.
As I told you, I now start by painting entirely my canvas instead of looking for a precise idea, drawing it on the canvas and then filling it with colours. And then, the magic happens: I start “seeing” something beyond. It can be a shape, a face, whatever. I don’t fight it by thinking “you’re are totally CRAZY my dear”; it reminds me when I look at the sky until I find a shape in the clouds, I love to do that, even at 25 !
“Listening” is what changed everything. Listening to my Intuition, to the Muse, to what the painting has to express, to the Universe maybe; they all eventually whisper something in my Soul while my hands are moving creating.

The picture above shows what the underpainting looked like. At first, I was seeing birds and mountains. Until face clearly appeared, it was so strong that I couldn’t look at the canvas without seeing it clearly there. I just had to follow 🙂

Here is the painting now:
In person, her hair are as bright as the yellow green in front of her, the picture does not do it justice. I realize that She’s like wrapped up by a sea of… of what ? tiny little Souls that never let her alone ? Love it !

There is something missing, something I don’t see yet. More than just the words. But I absolutely do not worry: it will eventually  come to me.

I’ll share what’s next with you (oh and I am planning on writing a long boring post explaining why my Girls do not have a mouth; it’s a rocky debate with friends and my mom and my older daughter ;-)).