New Soft Pastel Painting; Did I Hit It Or Swing And Miss??????

Hello Everyone;
I need your help on this one.  Just as my title asks, did I hit it or a big swing and miss?  This is the essence of art my friends.  Take chances.  I had this image in my head on my way home from work this afternoon and decided to put it on paper.  The concept is correct, I am just not sure if the execution works.  It is a bit more abstract then I imagined, but the colors seem to work.
Regardless of what becomes of this piece, I will keep it.  I may not list it on my Etsy site, but I will keep to refer back to.  One of the best teachers we have is our own mistakes.  The more mistakes you make, the better your art becomes.  I really do believe that.  Once we get into a comfort zone with our art, it always becomes a bit stale.  It makes no sense.  If we do the same thing over and over we should get better, right?????
Think about it this way.  If you lift weights, the only way to progress is to consistently try and lift more weight.  If we lift 100 lbs only, we actually become weaker.  So, it stands to reason that we should apply that same logic to our art.  We do not have to change who we are as artists.  We do not have to change our style.  We do however, need to challenge ourselves within our style, within our own soul.  Those challenges are not clearly evident to a casual observer of our art, but they do make a profound impact on how we see our art, and most times, how we see ourselves as people.  Striving to be better, leaving that protective box as it were is a bit scary.  To some, down right terrifying.  Our growth as people depends on our willingness to step out in faith and be prepared to conquer whatever is in our way and at the same time accept that defeat is a real possibility.  Never do something or not do something because of fear.  Accept defeat as a learning experience and accept success as a step closer to your goals.  Keep it in perspective and watch yourself grow.
Have a Blessed day my friends.

New Oil Painting; Pallet Knife Try

Hello Everyone;
I was not really sure of what to paint today, but I knew I wanted to paint.  I have two plastic pallet knives I bought at Hobby Lobby awhile ago and use them primarily to clean off my pallet when I am finished painting for the day.  Since I had nothing special in mind, I decided to use them to paint a picture.  This is an 11" X 14" oil painting completed 100% with two plastic pallet knives.  I actually don't hate it.  As a matter of fact, it is growing on me a bit.  No lie, they are really tough to get used to, but I do like the different textures and effects i was able to get with them.  I am not sure if I will try this again, but it is tempting.  I did not waste anywhere near the paint I thought I would, and point of fact, it was a whole lot of fun.  I know I will go through all of the YouTube videos tonight on knife painting to see all of the little tips and tricks needed to paint with this equipment.  I don't know, maybe I have found something else to add to my art.  Please believe me when I say, NEVER EVER be afraid to fail.  Always try new things and always think outside of your comfort zone.  When you challenge yourself mentally, you find things about yourself you never thought possible.  New ideas, thoughts, likes and skills.  We can not grow unless we fail and we can not fail if we don't try.  Always try.
Have a blessed and safe Good Friday my friends.

Original Watercolor Painting; What Is This All About?????

Here is an original 4" X 6" abstract landscape watercolor painting.  Say that fast five times.  For most of my life, I did not like abstract art.  I didn't get it, I didn't want to get it.  It looked like a mess of colors with no purpose.  Then I started to create art.  Once I started to create my own art, some abstract art started to make a little more sense to me.  This painting here for example.  This is obviously a landscape painting.  What I did for this look was to paint the whole piece wet into wet.  I wanted blurry edges in some places and hard lines in others.  I wanted soft light in one area and deep color in others.  I wanted to exaggerate nature.  To me, abstract art is taking something and exaggerating its characteristics.  The degree of exaggeration is completely up to the artist, but make no mistake about it, there will be exaggeration.  In this painting, I wanted the colors to define the different elements, not the shapes.  Yes, depending on where one color starts and stops defines a shape, but that is the job of color in this instance, not the shapes themselves.  Ironically, I find that abstract paintings take less time to paint, but more time to plan.  They really are not as spontaneous as they may appear.  If you miss a little on a realistic painting, chances are you can save it.  Miss a little with an abstract painting and it throws everything off.  I still paint abstracts less then any other type of paintings I create, but lets just say, I have found a whole new level of respect for the artists that produce abstract art.

Original Abstract Watercolor Painting

This is an original watercolor abstract landscape painting.  Watercolors really lends itself to creating some fun and very interesting paintings.  Landscapes are ideal for abstract painting in watercolors because nature itself does not have straight lines or perfect edges or perfectly focused elements depending on your vantage point.  This particular painting was done wet into wet.  Simply put, I wet the paper first, then added a wet brush with the colors needed.  When you use wet into wet, it can be difficult to control.  The paint travels wherever the paper is wet.  Word of caution, never try to control watercolors completely.  Part of their beauty is their unexpected runs, or blobs of paint or bleeding into each other.  Really, if you look at it, the unexpected travels of the colors does mirror real nature to a degree.  Point of fact, we really can not control nature completely anyway.  We simply allow it to do what it does and marvel in its beauty.  I would recommend painting smaller sizes if you want to experiment with wet into wet.  Maybe 8" X 10".  Smaller pieces are easier to control a bit and the blank page does not seem as daunting.  Give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised.