Artist Renee Mak

Happy Thursday Bloggers!  About this time  two years ago I had just begun my painting adventure with artist   Flora Bowley   and her  Bloom True Workshop .   I absolutely love the experience I had and still use it for inspiration today!  If you have a chance to take this workshop or get her book, Brave Intuitive Painting , (available in my Awesome Books bookshop to the right--->) I highly recommend it.  Now, in the tradition of #throwbackthursday,  here is my post from the second week of  the Bloom True Workshop (originally posted 2/11/12)...  with the addition of my finished paintings! I had a fabulous paint day in the studio today!  I began my second assignment (first lesson  here ) in the  Bloom True Workshop  by Flora Bowley  and love what happened. The colors really pop!  The lesson was about getting to know my tools... the brushes... and whatever e...

Happy Saturday everyone!   I spent the day today painting in my studio...  and I think I'll say this one is DONE! This is my first canvas from the fabulous Flora Bowley eCourse called Bloom True .  It's been such a great journey and I love all the new techniques  I've learned.  This is how it  started... I don't think any of this first layer shows in the final piece but I like knowing that it's there!  The class was five weeks long {posts start to finish  here } and I can't even tell you how many layers of  paint this finished painting has.   I tried my best to use the techniques that were taught... but use them "my style"!  This wasn't always easy because I had to wait until the next lesson to learn what to do next. But of course, that is exactly what I was supposed to  do!  That's how I learned to listen to my  own intuition and trust it and let go and be brave! This course has completely changed the way I pai...

Week Four was all about being BRAVE!  Read Part one here ... And so... after a complete act of bravery that equalled pouring paint all over my work and letting it drip down randomly, I began doodling and trying to find the life of the painting. I found some wonderful circular shapes and then my painting absolutely blossomed... literally! I then came back and started blocking some color! And discovered I really liked using my cobalt teal against the warm background colors! I also began using a tiny bit of violet... And that's as far as I got on this one! Below is a sneak peek at my studio and my "in progress" paintings! I'm very excited to begin the fifth and final week of the  fabulous Flora Bowley's    Bloom True eCourse and to finish up what we've started!  As always, you are invited to follow along with my progress and comment anytime! You are greatly appreciated here... happy painting! xoxo

Bloom True Workshop... Happy Paint Party Friday and  Friday Sneak Peek Can I just say again... I LOVE  the BLOOM TRUE workshop I am blessed to be  a part of! Week four is all about being BRAVE. I really appreciate the fact that many artists hold on to this mantra...and teach about it...  because creating from inner passion always requires a great amount of bravery! I feel like I became a little stuck in my paintings for the class and didn't quite know how to get unstuck!  The painting above, while I like it, just isn't me. It's too tight!  So I was thrilled when our new lesson demonstrated doing something totally brave with a painting and just pouring paint over it! That was all I needed to dive in head first... Pouring, dripping, wiping and smearing... the result is exactly what I needed to get back to that place of freedom in my work!  Many times, art imitates life. This week was no exception.  There are things from my pa...

As you most of you know, I'm taking part in Flora Bowley 's Bloom True Intuitive Painting workshop.   I just  love everything I've learned so far about color and layering and even how to just let go and make marks without thinking of the end result! I'm actually about a week behind but that's what I can do ... so that's what I do! After adding dark and light values, which you can see here ... I added bright, translucent color washes of orange, yellow and fushia.   I was thrilled to get back to a color scheme I was more comfortable with! I took a lot of pictures because it will soon be covered... ...covered with the next lesson and the next layer of paint!  And I really like it how it is now. But as much as I like how it looks now, that's o.k.... because this painting is just technique~learning marks  on a canvas and lessons put into practice!  Undoubtedly  many paintings will follow. Below is the large piece that these detailed shots cam...

Happy Friday everyone...  and a special welcome to all of my  Paint Party Friday and Sneak Peek Friday friends!  You are deeply appreciated here! What a busy week I've had... I only got to paint twice! But I'm heading to the studio soon, will paint the day away  and post my  Bloom True   progress tomorrow, so stay tuned! {read tomorrows post here!} All week I've been posting about what inspires me and asking the same questions of you.   I posted about inspirations  outside , with nature, and about  the "pops" of color I found  inside  my home.  I celebrated another fabulous Birthday... and posted my  Birthday Bash Giveaway ...  in case you missed that post, you can read all about it here ! To celebrate my Birthday week  I'm giving away three original pendant necklaces that I've created... {It's not too late to enter!} My grandmother always told me to  count my blessings one by one.  This week h...

Happy Paint Party Friday! and  Sneak Peak Friday! Painting by my daughter Monet! This week has been really busy but I'm thrilled to be taking part in the BLOOM TRUE workshop by artist Flora Bowley and would love to share my  progress with you! This week was all about letting go of all inhibitions and covering the canvas with paint! I learned two techniques... My first canvas is 36" x 36" and has warm colors mixed with water! I'm always amazed by how the paint flows... where is decides to go and where it avoids going! For the second technique I decided to tack primed canvas to the wall of my studio! I put on some music, a blind fold and painted with my hands . . . per Flora's instructions! Here's a short video clip (unedited!!!) This was really fun to do... like finger painting back in preschool!   I again chose to work with bright, warm colors and will probably have this canvas stretched before ...