A Painting I did today

[WaveyDL]

Got a little inspired today. I'm no shameless self promoter but I thought someone here may be able to identify with this painting. I guess it's a self portrait so I hope you like it.
Anixety<- full version



I'm feeling kinda low after painting this but then it is representing anxiety so feeling cheery doesn't make sence

[Nick]

That is fantastic!  I can identify with it, wanting to curl up into a ball at times - usually under my duvet! 

I'm guessing the red represents internal pain?   I love your style - thick brush strokes, in an impressionistic style. 

You're a very talented guy!

Nick.

[Noisy]

That's incredible work David. It's well painted, insightful and you're obviously a talented guy but......

What strikes me most is how it's so very sad and yet so very beautiful. 

[WaveyDL]

I'm guessing the red represents internal pain?

Indeed pain and rage. All the negative things I keep inside so others don't see. The sickly yellow/green is the outside shell that I feel others see. I love colours and "getting them wrong".

I love your style - thick brush strokes, in an impressionistic style.

It's a style I've not tried very much. The "messyness" of it irks me and I want to neaten it up but it can convey feelings very well.
I love renaissance and in total opposition expressionist and surrealism though I'm not clever enough for that

What strikes me most is how it's so very sad and yet so very beautiful

Thank you. That's about what I was aiming for

I hope to be able to use hard media more in the future. Though I love working digitally I'll never be able to hang this on a wall or display it properly without some expensive printing. About the only thing I do involving other people is sketching and that I do by stealth.

[Alexandra]

Wow that's amazing!! 

[WaveyDL]

 Thanks

[Nick]

Hey WaveyDL,  did you say you produced this digitally?  If so, I'd never have of guessed and I'm usually good at spotting these things!  What did you use?

Btw, I love the lose style because it's so emotionally expressive.   

[WaveyDL]

Painter 11 and a Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet. It's a good match to hard media though not as expressive.

Dam site cheaper though (after the set-up cost) and the results can be amazing. Ryan Church uses Painter and is absolutely amazing. I'm not quite there yet though.

I love using the computer as it's faster and easy to produce something from many media forms. I still sketch and I used to paint but space and cost limit me to the computer for anything else atm.

Roll on that lottery win! 

[Nick]

I've just tried a "demo" (cough cough) of Painter 10 with my much underused wacom tablet.  I'm really impressed!  I love the ability to mix paints in a palette and merge (splurge!) them on the page.  It's just like real paint, but without the worry about getting it on your cream carpet and what the land lord will say lol. 

I painted a little impressionist version of the coffee cup on my desk.  Didn't look great (my bad), but it did look like real paint! I may have to reconsider selling my tablet after all. It's great fun.

[Noisy]

I can't draw for toffee but I'll try painter and see how it goes. I too rarely use my graphics tablet and it sounds like fun. I've heard of many people who've benefitted from using art as part of their recovery but I guess we shouldn't mention Charles Manson! 

UPDATE: Thanks David. I quickly tried painter 11 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Just having a bit of trouble setting up the pressure levels on the Wacom tablet but I'm sure it'll come together when I get a bit more time to play. 

[sue]

A really great picture. Im slowly learning to draw plus am really getting into creative writing. I find creative arts can really give a bit of a lift out of the depression that results from having an anxiety problem.
Im sure a lot of us can relate to that painting. Youre very talented.

[WaveyDL]

Just having a bit of trouble setting up the pressure levels on the Wacom tablet but I'm sure it'll come together when I get a bit more time to play.

Edit>Prefrences>Brush Tracking or press Ctrl+Shift+K (Cmd+Shift+K if your on a Mac) I tend to change this lots while working depending on what I'm doing. If you do a long light stroke on the tablet and try to get used to working on it lightly you'll save a fortune in nibs. ?10 for 5 

I find creative arts can really give a bit of a lift out of the depression that results from having an anxiety problem.

I find it amazingly good for my mood. I've taken to taking a small sketch book and walking around town and drawing people (60 second sketch) without them knowing. I've so far only had one person even notice I was drawing them and they just smiled and carried on like I wasn't there.

The drawings I end up with are usually awful but they are getting better the more I do. I find sitting in a coffee shop the best for it as people sitting down don't move as much. Needless to say I do it in the order of Medication>Walk>Draw 

[WaveyDL]

Here are some I've have uploaded. I've done maybe 20 more but no chance anyone else gets to see them :p

It's cheaper than a life model and I find it a useful excuse to leave the house.

[interloper]

I keep coming back to this in the hope that I'll be able to articulate exactly why I like it so much. But I can't. I'll just add that I think it's a perfect expression and the colours are truly rich with emotion. Excellent.

Though my talents don't extend to drawing, you can count me as a potential Painter convert too.

[WaveyDL]

Thank you.

I was feeling quite low at the time and as usual I'll either take a pill or two or draw/paint something.

I don't like looking at it that much TBH as it reminds me of how I felt at the time though I do "like" it. Go figure o.O


BTW anyone can draw it's just something that needs to be learnt. I can recommend the Riven Phoenix DVD's. Though they are expensive there are <cough>other ways<cough> to get them that are free. Either that or the Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain books are meant to be very good.

It's to do with not symbolising things and actually drawing what you can see. Once you have the nack you may not be good but you will be able to draw. The rest is practice.

It's something I was very into when I was 15-16. I did A-Level art and was planning to go to uni to study. Then life happened and I proceeded to waste the intervening years and have only just recently decided to start again. It's amzing how much I have forgotten 

It's my only form of therapy ATM and I love doing it.