My Inner Van Gogh

What a wonderful night I had with my inner Van Gogh. I LOVE when I let it out!!

If you are an established blog friend of mine, it's no secret to you that I like to call myself an "artist". Yes, I'm pretty sure I've written once or twice before about the strong joy I get when I create. And if you caught my post earlier this week, you know that I have something up my sleeve for the holidays (a special creation, but of course!) I've worked on my holiday creation for a few hours already this week, and all I will tell you is that it is REALLY taking shape!!! (You're going to LOVE it!)

But tonight, I had a fantastic reason to pack up the holiday crafts and pull out some good ol'fashioned paints, brushes and canvas . . . and this, my friends, is what I REALLY love working in.

Tonight I started working on a special baby gift for a dear co-worker of PG's who gave birth to twins (a boy and a girl) a couple of weeks ago. Mary Liz and her husband are the most wonderful people, and they are going to be absolutely FANTASTIC parents. I remember when they first told us they were expecting . . . do you remember that trip I took to Washington D.C. with PG in May? Well, this was the couple we had dinner with during that trip, and it was during that special "couples" dinner that they shared their pregnancy news with us. I just adore them! And I'm so thrilled that their little bundles of joy have joined the world, that I wanted to do something really special for them.

So, I pulled out a couple 18 X 24 canvas, painted a neutral color on it, drew up a couple of sketches that included the babies names and some of the characters in their nursery bedding, and re-drew them on the canvas . . .

Then grabbed a brush and took off . . .

When I was a young child, I used to sit and watch Bill Alexander every single weekend (do you remember him at all? With his "Magic White"? He was amazing.) I would sit and watch him with a pad of drawing paper and a box of crayons by my side, and I would copy everything he did with my crayons and paper. I learned all of my paint colors from watching is show . . . Alizarin Crimson, Prussian Blue, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre. Those colors are music to my ears. Mr. Alexander was as amazing to me as Van Gogh. I remember how fascinated I was that he could make mountains look so real . . . all with a palette knife.  What a gift.

I may not be painting "MOUNTAINS" this time around, I'm still having so much fun with it. It's been a while since I've picked up a paint brush, but it's like riding a bike. The biggest challenge I have when doing an art piece like this is having patience to wait for the colors and layers to dry before digging in and adding more details to the painting.

I still have quite a lot to do to finish the gifts, but it seemed like a good time to break from it and re-visit it tomorrow. I'll be sure to snap a few photos of the finished work as soon as I'm done. Maybe next week I'll have to pull out the ol'palette knife and see where it will take me!!!

I'm so glad to be creating again . . . it does so much for my soul. So much.