Little Geisha

I remember life before painting ... it wasn't bad, but missing something.  If you fill up a jar with rocks, one might say its full, but if you pour sand into it, the emptiness is filled in. Painting to me is representative of the sand, it supports, cradles, and surrounds all the rocks in my jar.

This is the final painting I did for the "How To Paint a Girl", e-course by Juliette Crane. This is the second class I have taken from her, she does a great job of breaking down the elements so anyone can follow and create art they can be proud of.  If you are a perfectionist like me and felt stuck when creating then you will definitely enjoy her courses. Once I saw the creative process broken down and how it morphs or changes I felt much more at ease. Paint is forgiving ... and once I realized that, my artistic door was open-wide open!

I never knew I could experiment with paint on a canvas, I thought once you were playing with canvas you had better know what you were doing.  NOPE, I play and try things out and I am a MUCH better artist because of it.

This is my Organic Girl, I let the background guide me and take me on her journey. I had not intentionally set out to paint a little Geisha, but that is who she wanted to be. 

The Background definitely changed a lot

But once I found her eyes, I could see where she was 

taking me. The outline for her hair was already in place

painting it black was the next step

I really like the look on her face

I see it as innocent and sweet, but she also

looks like she is trying not to smile when she 

really wants to!

In Japanese culture a girl could start learning to 

be a Geisha as early as age 4. 

Despite the stereotypes Geisha's, 

they are not prostitutes, 

though some were considered as such prior to WWII

The most literal English translation would be 

Artist, Artisan, or Performing Artist 

 as they learn very skilled Dances, 

musical instruments, recite poetry etc. 

 They were/are often hired to 

perform at company functions or high class social 

gatherings. 

Details make a difference. I like to add a 3D

aspect when I can ...toothpicks are great for this. 

Geisha used to be very popular and at one time

80,000 were in abundance. Now days it is estimated 

that there are only 1000-2000 left. 

Its hard to know for sure as they live private

lives in quite areas of the community. 

I had a lot of fun creating her 

and learning a bit more about the lifestyle of the traditional 

Geisha. 

The information was found at:

http://www.japan-zone.com/culture/geisha.shtml

and:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha