Morning Digital Art Warm up

Cityscape – Digital Painting – Soft Charcoal, Soft Pastel, Dirty Marker Pen & Gritty Charcoal Variant of Charcoal -5 x 5 inches

This morning I grabbed a cup of tea and sat down at my computer and began painting. I used  Painter 7 along with my walcom tablet and pen.

The inspiration for this painting was a cityscape. I started with the dirty pen variant of felt pens, then I applied rich layers of color using the soft charcoal variant of charcoal and the gritty charcoal variant, lastly I added more texture with the dirty pen variant.

My daily morning warm ups  gives me the opportunity to play, explore and try new techniques, mediums and ideas with wild abandon. No worries about wasted paint or canvasses. If I decide I don’t like what I’ve done,  I just hit the delete button. No fuss, no mess!

The abstract painting above is my interpretation of  what a city looks and feels like.

“All that a city will ever allow you is an angle on it — an oblique, indirect sample of what it contains, or what passes through it; a point of view.”
– Peter Conrad

The Heart of Gaia

The Heart of Gaia – Digital Painting – Soft pastel variant of pastels & Soft charcoal variant of charcoal – 8 x 8.5 inches

I started this painting a couple of weeks ago and finally finished it yesterday.

The painting is about touching the earth, listening to her heartbeat and being filled by the mysteriousness of all life. Gaia whispers, Heaven is right here. Can’t you see it?”

During my walks down by the creek near our home I am always filled with wonder and love for all the beautiful flowers and creatures which inhabit the area.  There are oak trees, willow trees, alder trees, blackberry bushes and wild flowers along the dirt trail near the creek. Everywhere you look Mother Nature has touched the Earth with her paint brush.

Last week I watched a Snowy Egret bathing in the creek. It was so beautiful with it’s  fine delicate feathers glowing and shimmering in the reflected sunlight. It was such a magical moment I added an Egret to the painting as a symbol of resurrection, regeneration and renewal.

Within the heart area of the painting, the Goddess Gaia watches over a Snowy Egret. She is the primal Mother Goddess of the Earth, complete in herself.

The Snowy Egret which is a small white Heron is said to be a Spirit Guide. The Heron was considered to be sacred by the Greeks and was believed to be one of Athena’s divine messengers. In China, the Heron stands for strength, purity, patience and longevity. In Egypt the Heron is a symbol of creation.