Monday, March 5, 2012

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:
and:










6 comments:

  1. Hi Julie
    Thanks for the lovely comment you left on my blog. You did great on your painting. Blessings Niki x

    ReplyDelete
  2. i just loved how she turned out...those eyes are so dreamy :)

    -juliette

    ReplyDelete
  3. just Gorgeous ! the colours are just beautiful.i agree love her eyes........Im still waiting on my stuff to arrive with the floods over east their has been a delay ...at least i have started a background.

    oh and you little elephant is nearly finished eek excited
    Hugs
    xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm nearly finished with your painting too! I'm really excited! And thank you for the comments :)

      Delete
  4. She beautiful, love the bright colours. Fantastic job... :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. She is lovely. I also took the How to Paint a Girl course and I'm going to sign up for How to Paint an Owl. I learned about it all from you! Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

Penny for your thoughts ... leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!