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Manic-depressive painting and trying to get back into the swing...

smb

Entry posted by smb ·

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I've been manically busy with this and some of my other websites for most of my present vacation, (from my work as a seaman.) And yes - I have also been going through one or two pretty minor depressions. Nothing serious, you understand - just the normal stuff that anyone would suffer, when they have been putting their heart, sole, all their energy and almost every waking hour; day after day into a task that they know may or may not eventually reap rewards - or might just as easily end-up in complete failure!!! Not to mention the fact that although I do enjoy building websites - I'd much rather be painting. Or taking my lovely Pit Bull terrier for long walks!

 

Anyway, when I was just about at breaking point with the amount of time and energy I was spending on constructing and running websites, I decided it was time to take a break and get back into some painting before I got called back to my job at sea.

 

The below effort was about my third attempt at painting a pastel portrait from a photo of a lovely Thai girl, called Tussinee. Each attempt was getting progressively worse than the previous. When I finally realized that I just wasn't in the mood for painting, I lost my patience with it and defaced the thing completely. Then again, when I looked at it, I just thought; "Hey! I'm going to keep this one!"

 

 

Posted Image

Tussinee - One (The Manic-Depressive Art Version!)

 

 

The disaster with "Tussinee - One" did help to get something-or-other out of my system. Somehow, I quite like that painting. I decided to keep it, as it represents a small part of my life... Anyway, the fact that I had something that I actually wanted to keep - rather than burning, along with all the other failed attempts, prompted me into starting my 4th attempt at doing justice to the lovely Tussinee...

 

 

Posted Image

Tussinee - Two (The 4th Attempt!!)

 

Still not quite what I wanted... In many ways, more scary than my "Manic-Depressive" version of this painting in Tussinee - One!! Still... I feel myself getting back into the mood to paint - which has to be a good thing. At least, it has to be more healthy than sitting in front of a computer screen the WHOLE day?!!

 

 

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Images

  1. Resley 2nd attempt 001
  2. Mother and Child - Anna and Princess
  3. Brenda
  4. Millie EBT 12 Baldwin Mikado - Steam Train in the Snow
  5. Freshly Ails Franklyn - 2nd attempt
  6. Awit Alegre
  7. Princess Serrano
  8. Vang Vieng Girl In her early twenties!
  9. Demi Lovato
  10. Teresa
  11. The Victoria Rose Inn
  12. Amanda - One
  13. Mita Rani Das - Beautiful girl from Bangladesh
  14. Canadian Pacific Railway CP 8856 Powering through Early Snow
  15. Jarah
  16. Feathery Head Dress - Final Version
  17. Feathery Head Dress
  18. Girl with Cellphone
  19. Two Dogs and a Boy
  20. Portrait of Shy - (my first attempt)
View the entire Some more recent pastel paintings album
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Angel312

Hi smb! I just wanted to let you know that we kind of have some similar experiences..just different circumstances. Anyway, what i got from your first attempt at your painting(I apologize..I don't remember the name)of the female portrait is actually quite interesting to me. It represents your expression of emotions and marks a point in the timeline of your life. I find that my struggle is I go through phases where my work is flowing smoothly and then all of a sudden BAM! I run into a block where I cannot do anything..nothing. So, I have to learn to recognize these blocks and possibly examine what happened previously or after my attempt and try to correct the problem next time. Currently, I have no real definitive answers, but I keep trudging along instead of throwing my hands up in the air! Don't think of the attempts that you consider failure...well a failure, think of them as an experience and they represent a point in your life--so you're expressing that in your art! I like the first portraiture, I think it could be an abstract and repesent a dark place in your life, JMHO. Good luck, but don't give up. :D

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smb
  • Root Admin
Good luck, but don't give up. :D

Hi! Thanks for your comments. I must admit, I also prefer "Tussinee - One (The Manic-Depressive Art Version!)" to

"Tussinee - Two (The 4th Attempt!!)"

I think version "Two" is a little bit scary!!

Yeah... It's a difficult one, that - trying to paint when you are really not in the mood... When I am on leave from my job as a seaman, I tend to spend a lot of time sitting at my computers, working on websites and stuff. (I usually have two computers on the go; both using different networks, in order to be able to cope with slow and unreliable connections in the Philippines.) Anyway, sometimes I spend too much time at my computers and it wears me down. So then I take to doing a bit of painting in order to relax myself. Sometimes I find the creative process a wonderful tonic. Other times I just can't get my self in the mood and I end-up wasting a lot of expensive art materials...

This can be a real dilemma... I want to paint, in order to get myself back into good spirits - but I CAN'T paint because I am feeling down!???!!

I guess I should try some form of exercise or doing something totally different, in order to get me back into the right mood for painting?

I might give that one a try, next time I run up against a brick wall!

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