Struggling To Find His Footing
gouache portrait painting by Katie Jeanne Wood
Available here
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Mixed Media Artist - daily painter of portraits, flowers, abstracts and birds
Mixed media portrait paintings
in my art journal
The hardest part about blogging for me has always been the writing part. It’s especially difficult when I’ve spent all my creative energy on new paintings.
Today, I brainstormed for over an hour. I wrote. I deleted. I wrote more. Deleted. I tried to find a quote that might work instead. I came up empty handed.
I ask myself routinely why my artwork can’t be enough. Why must I hold myself to adding conversation on top of it? I’m an artist, not a writer. Who set these stupid rules anyway? Oh, yeah..I did. Doh.
Silly thinking on my part. Of course my artwork can be enough. Now, and always.
What I’ve been watching:
Lonely life of 92 year old grandmother at the edge of the world is far from civilization.
I watched this beautiful short 30 min documentary a couple days ago, and can’t stop thinking about this lady. Her story is haunting me, especially the part at the end where her grandson said he’d come back in the summer. That’s far too long for her to be alone, imo, especially with the amount of work it takes to provide heat, water & food for herself. Plus, she has no way to communicate with anyone, I assume. Oh, my heart. I hope they do a follow up on her.
Happy old age of an elderly couple in a mountain village in winter far from civilization.
This lovely couple also lives in Ukraine, and it’s another fascinating story.
Reading:
Karola Pezarro Conjures Hidden Thoughts and Emotions Through Gauzy Embroidered Portraits
I thought of my bestie Wanda when I saw these. xoxo
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a lovely creative day.
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Purchase original art through me, and get free shipping.
I also sell originals & prints on eBay and Etsy – shipping isn’t free on these sites because of the high cost of fees & ads.
You can message me here.
Other places to find me online.
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I laid my art journal down the other night. Harold jumped up on the bed, and started angrily scratching it. I guess he didn’t like this page. Ha! 😂😻😹
I didn’t dooz nuffin’, Mom.
I titled this page Don’t Trust Cats.
😹😺😂🐈🙀
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Soldiering On
Gouache portrait painting
WIP
Work in progress
I wish I hadn’t been in a rush to “fix” the blooming gouache in this portrait. Looking at the progress shots now, I prefer his eyebrow the way it was, but I guess I didn’t see how cool it looked as I was painting.
Soldiering On
Available here
Oh, well. I guess I was in a “tighter, less loose” frame of mind when I was painting this one. I like the finished piece, but I like the progress shots better. It happens. After all these years, I sometimes don’t know when to hit the pause button when I’m painting.
If I was able to relive the moment his eyebrow bloomed once again, I would stop dead in my tracks, let it dry, and then make some slight adjustments. That’s all it really needed.
***
Purchase original art through me, and get free shipping.
You can message me here.
Other places to find me online.
Follow me on IG for The 100 Day Project.
***
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Push Into New Directions
Expressive gouache portrait painting
Available here
I know I said I was going to use up my stash of other paints this year, but it looks like the muse living inside me has different plans, at least for now.
Here we are in the third month of the year, and I’m still madly in love with gouache. Can’t stop, won’t stop painting with it.
Isolated Place
Expressive gouache portrait painting
Available here
I want to ride this gouache wave as far as it takes me. If I switch it up now, I might lose momentum. I’m now thinking I’ll get to my stash of other paint when I get to it. No rush.
Hippie Life
Expressive gouache portrait painting
Available here
If it means I’ll need to buy more gouache, I will buy more gouache. I’m still not going to buy new art supplies just to try them, even though I keep seeing new (to me) things I want. I’m making a list, and will purchase next year. So technically I’m still doing a “no buy art supply” year.
Emotional Baggage
Expressive gouache portrait painting
Available here
I’m just making an exception for gouache, when and if I need more – which is a good thing because I ran out of black last week. I was able to mix some myself to get by, but I’m sure I will purchase more soon.
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
***
Purchase original art through me, and get free shipping.
You can message me here.
Other places to find me online.
Follow me on IG for The 100 Day Project.
***
Sign up now to get my blog posts delivered to your inbox for free.
Expressive gouache portrait in my art journal
using magenta and orange
gouache painting palette
I titled it The World Has Turned Sideways, and you can purchase giclee prints of it here.
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Compelled To Live Boldly
9×12 Gouache portrait painting
Available here
I have been posting on IG for the past 5 days, and the results have been somewhat surprising.
Deliberate and Spontaneous
9×12 Gouache portrait painting
Available here
Did IG get rid of all the NFT scammers and spammers who leave comments wanting to post your photo on their IG for “only $39.99 a pop”? Or did they finally realize it doesn’t work for them, and they all quit? Or have I not been using the right hashtags to attract them? hm..
Mind Lost in Labyrinth of Self
9×12 Gouache portrait painting
Available here
Whatever the case might be, it’s been incredibly quiet, and almost enjoyable. I say “almost” because it’s still Instagram, and I’ve felt a certain negative way about the site for years. It might take a minute, but if it stays like this, I might actually start liking IG again. I used to love the site before FB bought it (and ruined it, imo).
I think one thing that’s helped to quiet down the unnecessary noise is – I turned off messaging to anyone who isn’t following me. I didn’t know this was an option until I recently found it in my settings. I highly suggest turning it on. If people can’t be bothered to follow, then why waste time reading or responding to their messages? It’s only fair.
Something Unspoken
9×12 Gouache portrait painting
Available here
The 100 Day Project is in full swing, and so far I’m keeping up with posting on IG every day. I wasn’t sure if I’d find it too stressful because of everything else I have going on, but so far, so good. Just taking it one day at a time.
If you’re doing the project, and want to follow me, you can find me here.
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You will find these paintings and others in my shop. Have a lovely weekend!
Uniquely Her Own
9×12 gouache & oil paint markers
portrait painting
Available here
These portraits were all painted with gouache. I also used either acrylic or oil paint markers in some of these.
Struggling to Find His Footing
9×12 gouache portrait painting
Available here
Fragility of Existence
9×12 gouache portrait painting
Available here
Moon Child
9×12 gouache portrait painting
Available here