Friday 14 September 2012

Celebrate yourself

I finished my painting yesterday! Well, actually, I saw some things this morning that I didn't like so changed a bit more, but now it's done. And I'm not gonna touch it anymore!

I call it "Celebrate yourself", and it's in honor of all those women who regularly doubt themselves, who think they're too fat or too thin, too ugly, too wrinkly, too old, too clumsy, who feel inferior, who think they have too much of this and too little of that. Don't let anybody put you down, you are you, you are unique and you should go and celebrate that. To hell with all the rules that society puts on us, the rules that tell us to stay young and beautiful forever and otherwise disappear out of sight. Just show yourself as you are and enjoy life.

Well, that's what it means to me anyway, maybe someone else sees something completely different in it. And that's okay too :-)

It went through a lot of transformations in the end. Here's all the pictures in progress:

The very first layer. Just some leftover paint from another canvas ...

warm colours on top

all kinds of drips and dribbles added, and also some black and white already (I must've forgotten to take some pictures in between)

Hmm. This is really a case of TOO MUCH. I just remembered that I had some tar gel, and decided to make some dribbles with that. So I mixed it with white and started dribbling. Only, the dribbles didn't come out as planned, and I was left with some big blobs, that I had to spread out over the canvas. Very ugly at this point ...

So I tried to cover it up again ... 

At first, couldn't see anything beyond some birds and fish, but when I looked at the picture on the computerscreen I suddenly saw two figures.

It was really fun to bring them out

Decided that the bottom needed something ...

Added some circles and some more drips

Didn't like my ovals at the bottom, so added some more paint / drips.

Worked on the figures some more, still unsure about what to do with the ovals

no, too opaque, but I kinda liked the light colouring

so here we go dripping again (what would I do without my spray-bottle ...)

Better, but still not to my liking ....

Okay, I'm finally satisfied (I think ...;-))

The figures were the easiest part of this painting. I can't believe those ovals took me that long.
I have two new canvases in preparation now, looking forward on starting with them!

And here's my daily girl for the 29 faces challenge:

She doesn't look very happy. I wouldn't either if this happened to me ...;-)

Well, this week I'm going to try and visit everybody on Paint Party Friday. Didn't manage that this week, but at least I don't have a market this weekend (and boy am I glad about that!)

Thanks so much for visiting! Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to go celebrate yourself!

39 comments:

  1. It is so much fun to see your process!
    And the lady at the end is awesome, the expression on her face says it all ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. loved seeing every step and progression... and the face made me laugh out loud when i read it... i think I have those days sometimes...xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. oooohhh I love that step-by-step denthe! Love your process, thanks for sharing it like that, made it even more beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Denthe is zit zo te genieten achter mijn PC. Ik ben zoooo dol op dit werk van je. De figuren vind ik zo mooi.En uiteraard de kleuren. Dank om te zien hoe je dit opbouwt. Dit zou ik zo graag willen leren, dus wie weet.
    Heel fijne dag en weekend
    lieve groetjes
    Marja
    (marjascreativity)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ik vergeet nog wat, moest lachen bij de tekst van je portret. Zo herkenbaar en zo grappig.
    daaag
    Marja

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm admiring colors and movement in your paintings like always. :) And what a gorgeous one liner! :) Love!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love your art so much! It's wonderful to see your painting progress because it's a discovery for you as well as us as to what it's going to be and I think it's brilliant that it truly unfolds as you go along. I can't gush about it enough!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Loving the fab results, truly beautiful. Happy PPF, Annette x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Powerful piece of artwork!! Excellent message!! LOVE IT!! Thanks for sharing your process, it really does take a lot to get to the finished product!!Well done so worth the wait!! Have a great weekend!!

    Hugs Giggles

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a lot of work involved and the end result is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jajajaja! that happens to me my daughter often, I swear I do not touch one work anymore and here I am changing everything. I like your girls dancers. Saludos

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love,love,love all the beautiful colors and the shapes. Good lesson to remember in first paragraph, too. Thanks for the "reveal".

    ReplyDelete
  13. I really enjoyed seeing your process here. It's so easy to get stuck, at least for me, so seeing how other artists work past the points that are challenging is really helpful and inspiring. Such a lovely message, too. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The painting is beautiful. I love the idea behind it of celebrating ourselves. Its so important that we recognize the amazing beauty that we each hold inside. Really lovely. Love the process too. Happy PPF

    ReplyDelete
  15. thanks for showing us your progress. it's so nice to see the layers and layers that go into your paintings. wow!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your process is magic to me. I don't know how you see what you see but it's quite magical and wonderful the way you brought out those two figures. the back ground is beautiful. I love it.

    and your quote and face are delightful too.

    HPPF!

    ReplyDelete
  17. thank you so much for sharing your process. It is so encouraging to see the various steps and how you stuck with it and transformed your canvas into something magical. I absolutely love it. And you face + quote is great -- seems to describe my morning today... xo

    ReplyDelete
  18. love your ppf piece today with an even more wonderful message!

    ReplyDelete
  19. oh, i love how you shared the process with us! how cool to see this piece emerge step by step!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Amazing!! I thought it was a digital painting, it's AMAZING!! Very fun to see your process! Happy PPF!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Love your painting and the whole process you shared to get it there :0)
    Your daily girl gave me a good laugh!!! That's exactly the kind of day I had today .

    ReplyDelete
  22. wonderful post! love the colors!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Congratulations on finishing your painting!
    It looks fantastic!
    Love seeing the whole process again.
    ♥♥♥
    Happy PPF!!
    Mary
    Mixed-Media Map Art

    ReplyDelete
  24. Your painting is brilliant, it's really been great to see it evolve.

    ReplyDelete
  25. "Celebrate yourself" is the perfect name for this spectacular piece. I love it and so appreciate your sharing the step by step (and your thoughts along the way). You should be very proud of this. It is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  26. The step-by-step is wonderful to see.
    Ohhhh if we could remove ALL doubts from our lives. What a nice piece to remind us women of that.
    Happy PPF!
    Sheri Cook
    Happy Horse Studio

    ReplyDelete
  27. Way cool--I really like the final painting, and really liked seeing your process. That's the best kind of playing. I actually liked it at all the stages--so luminous and full of color/life.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Fantastic post Denthe, you put so much into your paintings and they are all wonderful. Thanks for sharing you techniques altough I think it takes a certain talent to see beautiful women and creatures in coloured patterns the way you do. You are certainly very talented!

    ReplyDelete
  29. oh Denthe, was a fabulous process!! Thank you for showing us so many wonderful steps... the finished piece is AWESOME!! I also love your words at the beginning. Yes, i am with you on that. Have a wonderful weekend! xox

    ReplyDelete
  30. I love your process Denthe.. and also the result. Your words are very strong too .. so thank you for sharing !

    ReplyDelete
  31. Powerful work, it conveys everything you said about the meaning behind it. It is radiant, luminous from within. :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. I have loved seeing all the layers that have led you to this finished work. I love where you went with this, the colours and energy are beautiful. Gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Love the painting and the message! ♥

    ReplyDelete
  34. Wow, this is soooooo awesome! I loved seeing the transformation and I loved the painting in ALL its stages, amazing work and wonderful message!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. THis is great seeing your layered process I have been using a layered process lately as well. Thanks for sharing & happy PPF!

    ReplyDelete
  36. You captured the spirit of all of us. . . how uplifting. Whoops, she who misses the floor, needs more sleep, lol. Like the face. . .tells it all. Blessings, Janet PPF

    ReplyDelete
  37. Fun to see how you came up with your painting. HPPF

    ReplyDelete
  38. This is indeed magnificent...love everything about it!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Wow, what a process...love how it turned out!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment! I love hearing your thoughts about my work. Because I am getting too many spammer comments, l have to use Captcha, sorry. Hope this is not a problem for you !