My youngest daughter loves owls and has a friend who equally loves giraffes. When my daughter asked me to paint a colorful giraffe for her friend as a birthday gift I was not sure how to create a painting that would be filled with color and appeal to a younger person without looking like it belonged in a baby nursery.

I sketched the outline of a  giraffe and started painting. Hated it and started painting over it. Then I decided it could use texture so I added twine, lace, and a textured fabric. Then I kept painting and painting. It ended up resembling a giraffe, a comical giraffe but at least a giraffe. Not sure if it was what I intended it to be since I didn’t really have a plan or vision in my head of how this giraffe should look. When I start a painting I usually have an idea of what I want it to look like before I start. This is probably why I struggled with this painting. I didn’t want it to look “tole painted” so I just experimented as I painted.

Knowing when to give up or stop has never been one of my qualities when it comes to creativity. Maybe this time I should have planned it out first. But you know what they say, “It’s just paint”.

Keep creating!

Mary

12 Jun This entry was published on June 12, 2014 at 7:18 pm. It’s filed under Art Cottage, DIY and tagged Art, colorful, giraffe, Painting, texture. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.