ART PROCESS 05 // soundwaves

It's funny how sometimes the littlest thing can trigger a big idea.

This week, I finally geared myself up to start practicing yoga daily. An unexpected benefit of this was that it got me listening to music in the early morning. I was feeling a little bit stuck in my painting, but at least I was enjoying the soundtrack!

So I decided to do a little exercise for myself that I hadn't done since my days at music theater summer camp (yes, really, and you can bet I was the only tone-deaf camper there). I decided to "draw" the music.

This process turned into a series of sketches as I listened to one song and then another, and before I knew it, I had gone from is-it-naptime-yet to ready-to-paint-a-whole-series.

That's not to say there aren't some rough moments in the process.

As I shared on Instagram, greens just aren't my thing when it comes to painting. (This will be a real problem if I decide to start doing botanical still lifes, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.) I love blues, pinks, yellows... I adore turquoise and I can happily do a nice blue-green.

murmur, detail

But dark, moody forest greens are not something I've quite mastered.

This was an issue because I could see so clearly that one of the songs I really wanted to paint, The Mummer's Dance by Loreen McKennitt, was quite obviously a true, deep green.

After some significant pondering (plus two cookies) I think I have the pieces where I want them: a triptych of three songs all from my yoga music mix.

I often end up with leftover paint on my palette. Since I paint with acrylics, even slow-drying paints will dry within a day or two, so I end up wasting a lot of paint. This time I had an easy solution:

All five paintings are available on my Etsy shop and I'm offering a mix-n-match deal if you're interested a "mama" painting and "baby" painting together -- half off the small painting. Just convo me with your order and I'll hook you up. :)

Have a great weekend!

xo Diana