Healing Trauma

"Trauma is usually about a victim trying to make amends for the perpetrator. The most important thing is forgiveness of yourself for having been as vulnerable, as scared, as angry, as frozen as you were. And forgive yourself for all the ways you have tried to survive ...  so just take care of that. Take care of yourself. Learn to forgive yourself for all the things you have done in order to survive. That's  a big job."

-"Cracked Up: The Darrell Hammond Story" movie

#trauma #healing #therapy #selfcare #selfworth

Building An Oil Painting

"Service Club Park"

Venice, Florida

9"x12" oil on archival canvas panel

painted by Cindy Mott McGarry

"Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known."

- Oscar Wilde

First, let me say that I hope each and every person who reads this blog knows that I wish you and your families the best of health and wellness throughout this COVID-19 pandemic. This is such a sad, frightening and trying time for our country and our world. Art making can be very healing and create a sense of calm. It can relieve stress and aid in grounding/centering us so we can move forward with more clear, creative thinking and new problem solving skills. Many blessings to you all.

"How do you build an oil painting?" This is a question every artist must ask every time they paint because each painting is unique with unique challenges and problems to solve. "Where do I begin?"

Taking the time to produce a well thought out design as the first step will save so much time and frustration later. Even a small black, white and gray value design will give you a good reference/reminder of what you saw initially that inspired you. Some artists do this in a notebook using graphite pencils, some create their design in an earthy thin oil color such as burnt sienna right on the canvas and some artists paint large blocks of darker cooler colors as their underpainting. 

When I painted this high key painting of a beach pathway in the above painting, "Service Club Park," I wanted to express the intensity of the sun on the sand and grasses. I also wanted to use different types of colors using darker or lighter values - darker values in the foreground and gradually lightening the values as I painted the middle and distant areas. My design and underpainting were very simplified. The shapes started out deeper and darker in order to build up layers with medium to light values of color on top to really give the painting great texture and allow layered colors play off of one another.

My design and underpainting for "Service Club Park"

My easel setup and first steps of building "Service Club Park"

After this initial design I put in thick strokes of medium and light colors on top. The final steps of laying on thick reds, oranges and yellows is my favorite part of painting! This is how I built this painting. My palette was titanium white, cadmium yellow light, yellow ochre, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, manganese, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

I hope this was an enjoyable and helpful post for you.

Please like and comment or ask questions below.

Have fun painting!

Cindy

Cindy Mott McGarry

Artist and Blogger

My Website

Follow me on Instagram @cindymottmcgarry  😀

#artlearning #BoldBrush #artlessons #oilpainting #impressionism #maritimeart #beachart #beach #sand #floridabeaches #landscapes #seascapes #enpleinair #ArtfinitySRQ #Richesonpaints #EasyL  #artsupplies #lightchaserspleinair #florida #floridabeaches #artistandblogger #bloggerforart

Plein Air Intensity

"Manasota Beach Seagrape Trees"

12"x16" oil on canvas board

by Cindy Mott McGarry

"Trees are like poems that the earth writes upon the sky."

-Khalil Gibran

My love of trees began at a very young age, let's say four or five years of age. Each tree so unique and longing to grow and reach up to the sky. It is quite enjoyable to get creative and paint them using different colors to express textures and curves.

Seagrape trees here in Florida are some of the most visually absorbing trees I have encountered. Their trunks twist and squiggle drawing lines upon their backdrop. The textures are lumpy, rough and condensed which gives the viewer a sense of a very substantial and strong foundation. The leaves are thick, smooth and have beautifully rounded heart-like shapes with red veins running through them ... displaying a map of their life-blood.

As I searched for inspiration one morning at Manasota Beach in Venice, Florida, the trees in the painting above, "Manasota Beach Seagrape Trees," were being flooded with sunlight. The trunks were being bathed so intensely and the shadows were very dark and long. The grasses behind them were also lit and blowing with the wind. The leaves had an orange glow on them in certain spots. I worked with a limited palette and repeated colors throughout the painting.

A 12"x16" canvas is a large size for a plein air painting, so I needed to return to the site a second time and then finished it in my studio. The true intensity of light and abundance of color could not have been seen in a photograph. Only the plein air experience can reveal the many, many dimensions of nature.

Enjoy painting!

All the very best,

Cindy

www.facebook.com/cindymcgarryart

Instagram: @cindymottmcgarry