Sunday, January 8, 2017

Daily Creative: Collaborative Painting

Creating daily is one challenge, getting my creations posted is another. 


This is a collaborative canvas that I started many moons ago with my friend Shannon Crandall. We worked on it together during a mini-painting retreat that we held in Baldwinsville, NY and I was charged with finishing it. I have not yet finished it.


I've painted over this many times but the spirit of Shannon are still underneath the layers. The upside down tree in the top left is hers.


Here is a closer view of it:

  
There is still a blue space at the bottom of the canvas that is waiting for something to arise. It has been a bird and a branch and one day it will become something else entirely. I may just give it back to Shannon to work her magic on.

Working with someone on a painting is a different kind of challenge. The first time I tried this was in Sedona, during my teacher training, where I painted with Kim aka: The Dutchess of Orange.  

At first I was really nervous because I was not confident in my painting skills, but she quickly put me at ease by painting in all kinds of creatures that I could paint around. I think I may have even worked up the courage to add a creature of my own. 

Working together with someone on a painting is a very personal and communal thing. It's a way of connecting that doesn't typically happen in the normal course of a day.

For me collaborative painting is kind of like a call and response. Shannon added something, I added something in response. (Mostly I tried not to wreck what she had added, but in the end, I painted over almost all of it, except her tree.)

I often ask students in my classes to add something to someone elses painting. It gets covered up, but it's a little hidden memory layered in. It makes them nervous at first, but then they start to really get into it.



Hope you are out there making delightful things and if you get stuck, maybe invite someone to come and co-create with you? You never know what might happen.

~Happy Creating!~  

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