Thursday, June 2, 2011

Unstuck after 6 months!!!



I finally was able to finish a painting after 6 months of trying. I painted but nothing seemed to be going well. I went back to Chaos and Calm -a online class I had joined earlier this year, all the videos were available,I went through the videos very quickly looking for the beautiful colorful paintings they showed in the introduction to the class. The paintings in the background.
I didn`t find the video that taught how to make those exact painting. After throwing a tantrum (privately in my own resistant head) , I saw someone had written the question where are the videos that show how to make those paintings and the answer was , they taught the techniques of how they did them, but not using those paintings. Crap!
It finally dawned on me that the one I really wanted to try was Julie`s drip technique she shows in class 12, and continues in the next 2 videos. Her paintings looked so different from the paintings in the original video, I didn`t even realize that is what it was.
I played the videos over and over until I got somewhat like Chris`s beautiful painting, my version of it. I need to work at the blending some more, but I`m happy with the results. Now after going through the frustration and resistance , I realize the value of having to figure it out myself. Good teachers don`t just give you the answers , they stir up the pot that is our minds, dreg up some of the sediment at the bottom and get things moving and flowing.
I do recommend the Chris Cozen/Julie Prichard online classes. Even though I wish Julie would let us hear what Chris says when she`s painting.I love watching Chris paint. Thank you Chris & Julie for all the work you put in the classes.