Fairy Flowers

The end of the winter hit me. My sleep got lost in strange time zones. I fixed it, but my energy levels dipped so low this past week that I felt like going back to the dream world upon awakening. The fuck?! It is going to be ok soon, I am sure. Downs a handful of supplements.

While it might appear that I am distracting myself as of late, I believe it is not a complete loss. These distractions might become useful at some point. Plus, I try to combine them with painting or drawing, which is how this painting was born.

It only took me a full year of nearly 0 artistic projects to finally feel like I want to create again. Yay! That is how life is sometimes. I don’t understand it, but I accept the ebbs and flows. I don’t want to be too hard on myself.

_{Materials utilized: canvas 20x20 cm, Amsterdam acrylic paints by Royal Talens, van Gogh synthetic brushes by Royal Talens - 296; 295; 294, Faber-Castell pencil 2B.}

The inspiration for “Fairy Flowers” came from a photo I captured in my flower garden last year. The main focus of the photo and “Fairy Flowers” is Dahlia called Bacardi. It is one of my favorite dahlias, and I especially love the shape of the blooms.

While I followed the general shape of the dahlia and elements from the background of the photo I took at the start, soon enough, the play with the paints, brushstrokes, and tiny taps here and there took me all the way to the fairyland. It was a joyous, slow-paced process that unbounded my creativity once more.

_{Does anyone else love how the palettes turn out at the end of the painting process?}

Acrylic paints on canvas are one of the mediums still fresh and unfamiliar to me. Watercolors and inks have captivated most of my creative energy so far. “Fairy Flowers” is my second finished painting done in this medium. And oh my, I still have much to learn about it!

I would say acrylics are much more unforgiving compared to watercolors or inks. They are more difficult to control due to the texture of the paints and the texture of the canvas also comes into play when adding finer, more precise details. The blending of the colors seems trickier with acrylics. I noticed that I would need to pause between layers often for them to dry before moving further. That ensured everything from turning into complete mush or erasing the details I wanted to keep.

I hardly used any water in the painting process, but I probably will experiment with that more next time to see what kind of effects I can achieve. I used water more to rinse my brushes in between colors than anything else.

“Fairy Flowers” turned out cute. I am still finding how I want to speak in this medium. With every new creative avenue, I am placing myself at the start and finding the path from there. I love it. I am curious to see how they will develop and affect each other in future. I believe that this diversity will morph into something bigger eventually.

I have a pile of blank canvases of various sizes that have been sitting around collecting dust and waiting for their time. For a while, that pile taunted me every time I passed it. Now, I am ready to annihilate it!