“Eat Pray Love” – PRAY – A ‘do-over’

This is my second painting in the Eat Pray Love series. I must admit, there have been some bumps along the way.

Bump #1 - I have been videotaping each painting. I just couldn’t face putting my face in front of the camera, so I positioned the shot over my shoulder. Since I forgot to take still photos I had to clip some from the video. Lo & behold, there’s my face. Worse than that – it’s my profile! Ugh.

Bump #2 – I still haven’t even tried to learn Windows MovieMaker. Well, I can clip still pics from the video. But I have no idea how to edit the dang thing. C’mon! How hard can it really be? (she says to herself)

Bump #3 – This ‘Pray’ painting is a do-over. It started out as Buddha, for anyone paying attention. I even painted the whole thing, videotaping along the way. I had my reservations from the get-go about painting Buddha, but I didn’t listen to that inner voice.

Suffice it to say, it didn’t turn out. Well, unless you’re wanting a cartoon painting of Buddha. And I don’t do cartoons. So back to the drawing board. (No, I’m not gonna show you any pictures.)

This time I wanted a piece that evoked a meditation feeling, a zen vibe. So I went to my feng shui roots – a mountain (stillness), the sun (illumination), bamboo (personal growth) and a stream (the Journey). All the elements I want when I pray.

I had already basecoated the canvas with Yellow Ochre, then applied a Raw Sienna glaze – just like on Eat. I reapplied Yellow Ochre to the sun, basecoated the mountain with a smoky Purple and used a combination of the Purple and deep Blue for the stream.

Then I pulled out my ‘secret weapon’ – FolkArt Floating Medium. I LOVE this stuff! I’ve used other mediums, extenders, gels, etc. But I use this over and over and over. Why?

• It thins the paint but doesn’t dilute the color too much.
• It keeps the paint ‘open’, allowing me to work with it before drying.
• It makes ‘erasing’ really ease. I just dip a clean brush in medium and erase the overstrokes.

There aren’t too many paintings I haven’t used Floating Medium on. Especially if you’re a beginner – give this stuff a try!

 

I applied the floating medium first and then put the Raw Sienna over it. You can mix the two together. I just like to coat the area I’m working on first and then the paint. I can then manipulate the paint however I want. I added more on to highlight the mountain tops and to make the waves in the stream.

When the mountain dried I reapplied Yellow Ochre to the bamboo stalks.

I mixed dark Brown with Floating Medium, outlined each edge of the bamboo, then a little on each ‘knuckle’. You could use Green or antique Gold or even Raw Sienna for the bamboo.

Not the clearest picture, but you get the idea.

For the leaves I wet-blended Green with Yellow Ochre. Really simple & quick. Then I threw in some stems.

Here it is without the wording, “Pray”.

And with “Pray”. I did it in Photoshop. I think the green is a little dark, but at this point, I’m kinda done playing with this thing.

Ever had a project that you weren’t really happy with, but just said “Enough”!

So, regardless, there it is. And now I have to go back and play with editing the video. Wish me luck!

Linking up this ‘do-over’ to these parties today.

Colleen