Yesterday I was surfing YouTube for a new painting project. I happened upon one that involved painting roses in oil with a palette knife by Ahuva Shweiki. Since the palette knife on my ArtRage app was still beyond my understanding, I decided that was a good place to start.
You know those "duh" moments? The kind where you can't believe you didn't know something? I'm famous for those. I had live GPS with voice street by street directions on my phone for 8 months and never knew it. I was driving all over the cape, reading the directions and watching the little ball move on the map, until one day, quite by accident, I pressed the start button that I never noticed before and the screen flipped to a GPS and Siri started talking the directions. I was excited, but at the same time – duh? The same thing happened with the palette knife. For days I was changing every control possible, but when I brushed the screen – nothing.
Watching this rose video, the first thing the artist said was to load up the knife with paint. Ah..ha. The light went on. I first had to use the paint tube and squirt paint out on the screen – then maneuver it around with the knife tool. Again – duh.
Once I figured out how to actually paint with the knife, I followed the video of how to make this beautiful lavender rose. I did most of it with a hard out smudge, trying to imitate the artist in the video exactly. I was frustrated because I couldn't get the blending exactly like hers. My cuts were too deep and I couldn't get that beautiful blend like she did when she swiped her knife over the paint. Then I changed to a "hard out smear". The paint softened and began to swirl around and blend, and pretty soon I had a rose that I really liked, even though it was no where near hers in the video. (Link to hers, below so you can compare.)
I sat back and really liked mine. I realized that I let her teach me the basic technique of how and where to even start to paint a rose, but then my own style took over. I'm discovering that my art is following the same path as my writing. I find role models, try to imitate, learn the basics, and then I'm off into my own voice and style.
It was great session. Sometimes we have to take a hard knife and cut away what's not needed. Only then we can see what's been exposed. What is real. Once we know what we're dealing with, we take a soft knife and smooth out the rough edges, blend what's left, and end up with something beautiful – and like it because it's uniquely ours.
And so, as another day goes by, I'm learning to wield the knife, and….I have written.
Here is my creation….and the link to hers is:Artist Ahuva Shweiki – rose
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