Tuesday, February 9, 2010

DAY 184 Toon Tuesday & the Missing Files

Hi Journal & Friends,


Yippee ki yoo! It's Toon Tuesday, my favorite day of the week. :-D


I am so excited. Last week on Toon Tuesday I wrote about the painting that I now want to finish (here is that post).  How NOT finishing it had been all tied up with how I felt about not being able to accomplish this weight loss journey in the past. How I found the message of the painting too upsetting, so I avoided it. And how NOW, I am excited to go ahead and finish it.

After living in our new home for 15 months, yesterday I FINALLY unpacked the last of my studio boxes (did I mention yesterday I was working on Time Management?!). And guess what I found?? The missing reference files for that very painting! This must be a "sign", right? LOL.

So I thought I would post some of them, and at the end explain why, to me, this corresponds to my weight loss journey (you can click pics to enlarge).

This first is a Value Study. If it looks decently balanced in terms of black and white, you have a much better chance of ending up with a successful color painting. It's helpful to keep it simple in the beginning stages... you don't have to mess with color, just the basics. Not everyone does this... and I don't even do it every time. But this was a large and complex composition, and I didn't want to put months into it, only to realize it was a dud design. ;-)


Now for the Color Cartoon. This is just a rough color study, to see if I like the color palette I chose. I did about 3 of these, but this is the one I liked the best.


The rest are just Studies for some of the elements in the painting.  The idea is not perfection, but familiarization. I now know all about a South American Capybara. Yep, I love doing the research part for a painting! I probably spend way too much time on it, just because I find it fascinating and fun. :-D











When I see the preparations for this painting, I think of the effort I had to do in order to succeed on this journey. In the beginning, it was black and white simple. The basics. And no matter what else I later added, that foundation is always there, solid and true. 

If we want to be successful, we MUST be willing to do the work. Physical, mental, spiritual, emotional. It takes effort. I am not one of those that will tell you "oh, it's easy."  For me, it has not been. Maybe it's because I am older, and working on changing a lifetime of deeply ingrained thinking and habits.

But I am willing to do whatever it takes. If it gets easier... yippee! If it never gets easy, I am STILL going to succeed. I may need to make adjustments here and there, just as I adjusted the colors in my painting. I may need to correct mistakes now and then, just as for my painting. 

Sometimes we take new ideas for a test run... do a "sketch" to familiarize us with the idea, see if we like it and how it works for us.  Like my sketches of the different elements for a painting. Some I try out, and discard... others work well, and I keep.

And sometimes, when I am in the middle of a painting, my husband will walk into the room and look at it with a fresh eye. He is honest, and doesn't "flatter me". He gives me the respect of telling me the truth. Sometimes he'll see something I missed, and will point it out. THEN I see it, and can correct it.

The same is true on this journey. We help each other by being honest, and we learn from one another. That is a treasure!!

I hope you find all these little sketches interesting. 

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta
=^..^=



12 comments:

antgirl said...

Beautiful work, Loretta.

This journey is like doing a painting. Lots of prep and study before we get it in a place that works for us.

Anonymous said...

Wow. What a collection of wonderful little art projects in themselves. And to compare this weight loss endeavor to the painting process makes it much more appealing. Especially now that I have the visual of your painting in my mind. :) Thanks. Deb

P.S. And thanks for the comment on my blog. So far today, so good!

Deb

financecupcake said...

Love it! I love getting a peek at the process behind your beautiful work! Good comparison to the journey, too.

Kristina said...

Beautiful art work.......

PJ Geek said...

I love looking at your reference materials. I noticed before the different flowers and colors you try. It reminds me of Audubon prints. Beautiful.

And I appreciate your saying it isn't easy. We are trying to undo neural pathways in our brains that formed when we ate food in response to feelings and learned that it was a way to feel good when we had an "owie" emotionally or phsyically. Not easy stuff at all.

Kat said...

Thank you for sharing these. You are very talented and you have some very wise insights. I love your commitment to your process!

Diana said...

Wow! You're an incredible artist. Your sketches are just beautiful.

I like the idea that if this gets easier, that's great. If it doesn't, well, it doesn't matter because still going to do it. Great attitude!

karen@fitnessjourney said...

What a great analogy. Becoming the healthiest person you can be is a work in progress and fine tuning will always be necessary. Like you said, it isn't always easy and we have to be willing to do the work.

Unknown said...

You are such a talented artist! Thank you for sharing your work as well as your journey!

Retta said...

Thank you all so much for the nice comments!! I appreciate them so much. :-)
Loretta
=^..^=

Nancy said...

Beautiful and inspiring work! Where did you study? You have moved me to pick up my paints. We could be twins in our self searching and collecting sayings all our lives!
N~

Retta said...

NANCY: Thank you, Nancy, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I studied at the International School of Hard Knocks.... LOL!

Really, I never went to "art school". I was an art major in high school, took some correspondence courses, have spent a small fortune over the years on art books, attended a couple of workshops... I think I learned the most during the semesters I taught art to kids in a small private school!

If you post some of your art, say for your own Toon Tuesday or whatever, let me know and I'd love to link to it.

Loretta
=^..^=

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