Leave Your Mark

Line by line...

 Stroke by stroke...

 Color by color...

Leave your mark.

Who Are You?

The search for your individual artistic fingerprint, your unique personality as an artist is an ongoing endeavor.

If you are on a search for what defines your creative self, you cannot start every painting the same way and expect different results. 




You need a fresh exhilarating, exciting experience; living on the edge will take you to different places.  Try the exact opposite of  your usual approach. 

 

In this demonstration I started with a loose rough drawing indicating the shapes and forms of the flowers which tell the main body of the story.  Then I applied local color to the background which was complimentary to the center of interest.   





The strokes that I used were inspired by the shapes and forms of the live plants and the rhythms they produce as they cross each other and intermingle like friends greeting each other at a party.   
The flowers are bowing as though they have met royalty in an unexpected place, moving and swaying as if the energy from the crowd of friends were praising their beauty. 

 

"I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart."  ~Vincent van Gogh

Stop Searching - Creativity Will Find You

Creativity comes in many shapes and forms.  

It comes to you every day if you are looking for it.  

It is there for you to pick like an apple from a tree.  

 

The avove piece, Four Faces of a Woman, started as a traditional portrait but then the muse took over.  Read more about creativity and the 3 Graces by clicking on the lick below.

Creativity and the 3 Graces 

A Journey Down Paths of Gold

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Finished piece: A Golden Walk ©Gerrie Govert - pastel - 12" x 18" - $450

This landscape was started with complementary colors, strong shapes, and forms, and develops a personality of its own from there.  With each addition of something new, the painting calls for me to use the color or line in additional places to balance out the new composition, which changes as the artwork progresses.  I am done when the artwork asks: "No more."

The Dance

Line and form, 

shapes and values.  

Design, color and strokes, 

The dance has started.  

Who is leading?  Have fun.

Building a piece of artwork 

is always a mystery 

and full of surprises.

Any suggestions on a name for the finished piece?

An excercise in observation

This portrait was not started from a detailed drawing, but from a rough black and white value sketch.  From there I observed the shapes and forms, light and dark values that surrounded the figure, filling in the cools and warms where they fit.  She had a space to exist in before I even started painting her.

After the initial lay-in of shadows I started searching for form and detail.  I like the bold use of color and shapes which were inspired by the model's posture and positioning.  This piece is not done but as I finish it, I would like to retain the feelings of rapport that I built with the model during the initial sketches.

Eye See You

 Can you see all the hues captured in this piece? Or are your eyes limited to only 1 million shades?  Some people can see one hundred million different colors in a work of art!  Learn more about the science colors and vision in the article below.

Humans with Super Human Vision