I know, I did it again. It has been quite some time since I have posted. I have been super busy. This time of year is all over the place for me and my family. On top of all the normal holiday stuff, we have 4 out of 5 birthdays to plan and prepare for plus me and my husband got the brilliant idea to make two of our kids Halloween costumes. A lot of things get pushed to the side for sure.
The other reason it has been so long since my last post is because I have been focusing on finishing a painting. I have started quite a few of them (lol), but I finally managed to get one completed! I am super excited about it!
The Story:
So, about a year ago I was told that I have Fibromyalgia. Fun stuff right? I refuse to accept this so I started looking into some alternative medicine like acupuncture and different types of modalities for two reasons. One, Fibromyalgia is kind of a catch all diagnosis, or we checked out everything else so it must be this. And two, the medicine they can give doesn’t really help that much. So my options became find something else, or live in pain. I found a sweet friend in my neighborhood who is a Massage Therapist at Foundation Massage (You can visit her website to find out more about what she does. It’s amazing!) She has helped me beyond what words can express, but that is another story. As she has worked on and helped me we have become best friends. As random thoughts pop into my head I tell her all about them. All of the sudden I realized that something that happens to me all the time, does not happen to everyone. When someone describes an experience to me I get these pictures in my head. I thought it was a totally normal thing… Apparently not. I soon figured out that these pictures where actually drawings and paintings. Cool huh?!
A couple days after telling my friend this, she called me up and told me about another friend of hers who was going through a really hard time. She was pregnant with twins and was experiencing a miscarriage. She asked me if I could paint her a picture. Man, I wasblown away. I had no idea how I was going to make something for this person I didn’t even know that could help. I started to say just that when there it was, her drawing. I grabbed a canvas and this is what I ended up with.
This is the cool part though. I have done this painting from scratch about 5 times, and I have a picture of the whole thing! It was a lot of layers, one at a time to get just the right feel and color that I wanted.
The Technique:
I say technique, but really I am just going to explain some of the colors that I chose to use in this piece.
First is the back ground. It is red and pink on the right side to represent the unconditional love between a mom and her child. On the left side there is a lot of yellow and orange to represent the joy and happiness that Christ brings into our lives and wisdom that is built into the plan of salvation. Where the hands meet in the middle is where the two areas of color collide. There is yellow and orange all throughout the pink side to show how Christ is always influencing and surrounding us in our trials. There is a bit of pink on the left side to show that we are trying to reach to where Christ is and become like him.
The woman is in blue to show her trust and faith in the atonement of Christ as she moves in this world. Christ is in brown to represent safety, and courage. The robe is green for peace, healing, stability and balance. The whitest part of the piece is where the hands meet together. This is to show the healing, truth, and protection that can come when we connect to Christ.
Conclusion:
This painting for me was a huge learning experience. I learned the importance of layers and mediums, how patience and time can change the feel and growth of a painting. I learned a lot about the shape and influence of jaw lines and noses along with how the hair connects with the top of the head.
I learned about how I personally like to paint dark in the first layers of a painting and lighten each layer as I go up. It provides a depth and value to a piece of work that I had never been able to capture before. I am very happy with the results of this piece, and can’t wait to start the next to see what else I can learn!
To purchase this painting, and take a look at my other paintings, visit my Etsy shop, Guardians of Light.
Moms say crazy things 