A Warm Welcome

"Crocodile Dinner" copyright 2008

Along with the very first The Makers Art Group blogspot post, I've decided to post my artistic endeavors on Blogger as well. You may still view my artwork online on Flickr and my shop at Etsy (it is currently being updated). It may take awhile before I use a blog properly, but I'll give it a chance. Hope you will tag along for the ride.

I haven't painted with a brush since 2003 and have preferred using vector or raster art - no clean up and the linework is oh-so-perfect. But I had a couple of canvas boards laying around and some cheap acrylic paint from a previous crafty project and I thought I'd give it a go.

The result is "Crocodile Dinner," above. The crocodile has successfully killed the carp and is happily circling and playing with it before finishing it off. The water current created by this "dance" is shown by the swirls around the animals as well as the river stones kicked up from the shallows.

There are parts of the painting that I really feel are successful such as where the crocodile head meets its body and the ankle area. Other patterns are not as successful. So, I learned quite a bit about what I feel works and have begun another one of a seahorse.

The process is so wonderful. I paint at night much like another person might read a book before bed. Afterwards I imagine what I might change as I stare at it and drift to sleep. Many times, in my dreams I will see these changes and know if I should make it or go in another direction. The Australian aboriginals are known for their Dreamtime paintings...which a completely different concept of a dream time, but I think it fits for my purposes.