Friday, December 23, 2011

In the vast ocean of blogs I thought that no one will notice if mine disappears. It is sometimes difficult to know and understand that real people look at our art and read our words. After receiving several warm and worried emails, I thought about it and felt bad for leaving without good bye.
I have been blogging for six years, and in that time had a privilege to meet many amazing people. I learned a lot from you and benefited from your feedback and kindness so many times... I am deeply grateful for it. I am not sure what happened, but at this point I feel a need to pull back, to go inside, to think. I have always been an introvert and I guess that side is pulling strongly right now.
I will continue to create, and will keep both of my etsy shops open, but will not post any more.
I wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Zorana


Sunday, November 6, 2011

I attempted...

I attempted to paint a self portrait... And it didn't work. Whenever I try to put the lines and dark circles where they are supposed to be, they turn out too harsh and completely unnatural. 
Still, it was interesting to paint because I experimented. I wanted to paint on a base of gold gesso, which I don't have, so I painted a layer of gold and transparent gesso over it. I used burnt sienna, raw umber, titan buff, white and a touch of red for skin colors and it was interesting to see how they look on top of a warm gold background. I left a lot of gold showing through.
Is it still considered a self-portrait if it looks nothing like me?
Have a great week!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

More of the same

I painted both birds at the same time, but didn't have time to prepare photos for both,
so I'm showing this one now.
 And because I usually love the close-ups as much, or more than the paintings,
I can't resist to post them too.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

All colors again...

It was nice exploring a limited palette, but I can't stay for long from using all crayons in the box at the same time :-)

Monday, October 31, 2011

In my journal...

While I'm waiting for little masked creatures to knock on my door, I thought I might finish this journal page and post ih here. Reminds me of my sister and me, except that she never had that weird hair style. On the other hand, I did..... yikes!

Friday, October 28, 2011

My new favorite color

So, here it is... my new favorite color:
I used it here only with Payne's gray and Titanium White, but it woks so well with all other colors. I love what it does when used as a transparent layer, and will probably be exploring it in everything I paint in the following months (or days... I might find another 'favorite' very soon).
Anyone else that loves this color? 
I'm about to go and check what's been posted on Paint Party Friday. It's a great way to get introduced to blogs that I haven't seen before.
Happy Weekend!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Painting big

I wasn't feeling very talkative on my blog this week, but that doesn't mean that I was not painting. I worked on several big canvases (36"x24"), mostly enjoying the splashes of color and their interaction than anything else. I didn't even listen to music while painting... it was just me and color and brushes and I really loved it.  
 
I hope you enjoyed my mostly blue-green paintings...
This last one is an older painting. I don't think I showed it on the blog, and it goes well with this series so I included it.
I have a new favorite color (not blue or green). I think my big journal is calling me... so in the next couple of days I hope to explore the "new" color and share the results.
xo

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Happy place

Maybe inspired by my recent dreams of ships and sea, last Sunday my favorite man in the world suggested that we drive to the end of the world.
And we did.
The day was perfectly gray.
The line between the water and air almost nonexistent.
I loved seeing him:
I wanted to be this bird:
I saw this tiny place... I don't know what it is, probably not a house. But it looks like a little house, and I immediately thought that I would love to stay there. I don't think that I could tire of looking at all that  huge space. I felt like my lungs could breathe twice as much as normal and my heart was happy.
Actually, my heart was not happy at all while I was climbing the steps. 308 doesn't sound like much, and maybe it isn't, but I am so out of shape that my heart was pounding so much that it felt like it will burst out...
Since I can't live in that little house, I can imagine it and I can put it in my journal so I never forget. 
I was cutting the words from a book that reminded me of what we experienced and randomly placing them on the page. My plan was to cut the edges with more care later, and to find just the right place for them on the page. But when I stopped to look at it - I actually loved it just the way they fell, so I left them like that.
The week is almost over, but in my mind I'm still there...
I think it's my new "happy place".

Friday, October 14, 2011

Dream Voyage

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight,
and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.' 

~Oscar Wilde
I painted this like I usually do my journal pages.... adding texture and mixing medias where I want to. The stars are scratched, and drawn with color pencils and oil pastels.
I'm in love with everything crackled, so I bravely crackled the whole surface.
I wasn't sure what will happen, so I was really happy with the result.
I finished it with layers of cold wax, which gave everything a dreamy feeling...
Most of you said that it feels "big", and you were right. It is painted on a 24"x36" canvas!
Biggest journal page ever!
Do you know about PPF? Check it out!
Happy weekend!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Evolution of The Voyage

It has been a while since I painted on a black background, so I thought it was time. I painted a layer of black gesso and with a white crayon sketched what I thought I wanted to paint.
It didn't take me long to stray from my drawing. A ship showed up, a tree, and moon.
Colors, shapes... I didn't have a color scheme, so I just played.
Suddenly she looked like her right side of the face was
 swollen, so I changed that. Wings covered the tree.
Wings for me simbolize safety and everything good, so I paint them often.
I tried changing the color of the house and girl, but it didn't work.
At this point I think I realized that I am painting the scenes that have been happening repeatedly in my dreams lately, so I just covered the girl and the house and went with it.
Almost done.... A thick layer of crackle paste, and umber glaze.
Almost done, but not quite there yet. I hope to show the finished piece tomorrow.
Can you guess what size is it?

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Watching over

 Thank you for the sweet comments on the first third of the painting. I'm so glad you like her!
I hope that you will enjoy seeing the full painting.
I don't know why I have to use every color on the color wheel... I think I would like to paint a similar painting in muted, almost monochrome colors.
You should see me painting a triptych in my little studio... I have one easel that will fit only one canvas, so I keep moving the canvases on the table (they are too big for the table), then on the floor... very often it seems like I'm playing that game (I forgot the name - the one with the colorful circles on the floor). Exercising while painting :-)