This is a self-portrait of my arm. I drew around my hand and arm to create the outline and then filled it with a mixture of white gesso and Stabilo All pencil to create and to capture the shapes and shades of my hand and arm. After that, I was stuck. The painting of the limb alone, surrounded by black, was too dull but I had a creative block and didn’t know what to do with it. I, therefore, left it for a few days waiting for inspiration to strike. I even asked some art friends for advice but I knew I could not pull off their suggestions. In the end, I just picked up a paint pen and doodled one evening while dinner was cooking. One of my sons said, “I see what you did there: vines instead of veins.” I wish I had been that clever but, nope, just random doodles. The stamped words – grow and thrive – were an afterthought but I think they help pull the whole thing together. Not my best effort but it was good to practice creating tones with the Stabilo All pencil and the gesso.
A Pict in PA 
Smashing!
Thank you, Michael!
Don’t suppose you will tattoo that on your skin? 😉 Either way, it looks better than my arm. I pulled a frozen pizza out of our oven two nights ago, and the dough stuck to the rack, making my arm yank up, leaving a submarine-shaped red burn on my forearm. Vines would be preferable. Ha! But I’m putting aloe on it three times a day. I like how your son turned the doodling into something deep. Why do the vines stop at the opposable thumb? Is there room left for growth in the fingers?
Ooh Kerbey! That sounds sore. Those searingly hot, dry burns are the worst for pain (well, in terms of normal, everyday domestic injuries). I hope your arm feels much better soon.
The vines stop at the thumb simply out of pragmatism. The gesso mixture was all a bit too thick and textured where I had created the shadows in the creases of the palm. The paint pen had stuttered and burped as I began to pull the vines down into the hand so I decided to quit before I made a mess. The stamped words were then added to fill some of that blank space.
Whatever happened to bring it into being, its really striking, and that’s the end result. And that’s the way it is with art, we sometimes pull off in the end by the skin of our teeth, a mixture of unexplored subconscious ideas and that last little push from our magical muse, making it happen seemingly without explanation. That random doodle might’ve not been CONSCIOUS conveyance of deeper meaning but honey, you made a very compelling point with it, and I have a hard time believing that your heart didn’t mean EXACTLY what you are “saying” with this piece. I love it.
Thank you for your very thoughtful comment. I think what happened with this piece is that circumstances – putting it together in snatched moments of time – forced me into a balance between intentional and intuitive creativity that I often don’t find when I am trying to achieve that balance more consciously. I really appreciate you taking the time to write such lovely comments on my blog posts. Thank you!
I see your son is more in touch with your creative unconscious than you are 🙂 I love this! You draw good hands – my ability to paint hands appears to be non-existent!
Thank you. I have really tried to improve my ability with hands. Until the recent couple of years they always looked either like bunches of bananas or talons.
Do you have a store, Laura?
A store? For selling my art, you mean? No, I don’t. I have contemplated it but I haven’t taken the plunge. I would have to get a business license etc to set up stall online and I worry it would be a lot of investment in time and money for no sales. The market is so vast and I am a tiny wee sprat of a fish.
Understood. I have wanted several of your pieces, so I was wondering if there was an avenue for that.
I am very flattered and appreciate the compliment. I do undertake the odd commission here and there but I don’t have confidence enough to set up shop just yet. Comments like yours help build me up though.
You have the talent and ability to swim with the other sprats and to get your share of the food, whatever they eat. What do they eat?
Thank you. I’ve been meaning to look into the business license bit, just as a fact-finding preliminary exercise, but haven’t found the time.
Isn’t it an awesome feeling when you just grab a pen or a brush not knowing where something is going and it ends up being something wonderful! Love how it turned out!
Thank you! Yes, I do like the element of surprise and I need to find methods that just let pieces organically evolve more often. I’m hoping my rainbow themed art journal will help with that.
It looked like a book cover design to me when I first saw it! And a good one too! Yes, switching to another project, working on the project while doing something else are all very good creative tricks for getting “un-stuck” on a project! Good job!
Thanks, Sue!
My first thought was that your fingers are the roots – you thrive and grow with art, so that seems symbolic. Accidental as it may be, it’s well done.
Thanks, Jolene. I like that interpretation.