I have been painting away the time.
Well, some of it.
Birds, to paint them puts my mind at rest while allowing myself some sort of escape.
Not quite the escape in my mind as what I get from painting the 'others' the strange creatures and people from my imagination, but it is something.
Then there is the portraits,to paint them , or draw them as it may be, is an entirely different experience.
I need to be in the mood, the zone, what ever you want to call it.
If not, they become forced and devoid of spirit, or whatever you want to call it that makes them different from my other work.
I begin painting the portraits by preparing the canvas, I add layers and layers of paint, gesso and other textural mediums, then allowing them to dry, I add the colors. Colors of the earth, colors of our skin. Dirt. Fire and sun.
Warmth.
Then begins the rest. I use various mediums, mainly soft pastel and acrylic paint when needed, mainly pastel.
I scribble, I use my hands, I mold the colors into the image we see,
The face takes shape , the features, the elders.
After painting these paintings, I feel recharged, electric and exhausted all at once.
Sometimes it is like having drank a large coffee, all energy and hype, without an outlet. Other times it is sleep that is required.
Whatever the feeling, the painting is finished.
This is why they are the way they are.
