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July 25, 2022

Okay, now this is cool!

By Dan Tanner  |   in art journal  | Tags: art musings , art journal , tamara laporte , Willowing Arts  

How is life in your corner of the world? I hope you’re keeping safe and grounded in these times of turmoil, if you’re struggling; I understand and hold you in my heart. I love you, I’m sorry. It’s hard, I know. Life continues to be difficult for many of us. The only way I know how to deal with things is by making as much positive impact on the things I *can* control in my immediate surroundings and by painting the world colourful again.

I painted this kitty cat for one of my main lessons for Kaleidoscope 2022 the other day and he cheered me up so much. The creative process can be such a wonderfully meditative and supporting process while we’re dealing with all this! I hope you find some creative time to help you ground and heal too!

 

By the way – if you missed the Woman Unleashed Retreat, you can now paint a colourful portrait of an elephant, here on my youtube channel. Enjoy!

SOMETHING REALLY COOL

As I was prepping my other lesson for the next Kaleidoscope 2022 course, I discovered something SUPER COOL on google! Many of you may already be aware, but I only just discovered this a week or so ago!

So for another one of my lessons for Kaleidoscope I’m focusing on another painting by Gustav Klimt (The Kiss) and as I was browsing da interwebs, I suddenly noticed that google offered the image of The Kiss to be viewed in something called ‘google arts and culture’. At first it didn’t thrill me that much as I thought it was just a normal image gallery, but when I clicked on the image; HOLY MOLY; it turns out that this is a SUPER HIGH RESOLUTION of the original painting (not a replica/ not a small jpeg etc) and within the program you can zoom in like to the tiniest of canvas detail!!! As an artist: this is like MY HEAVEN! ha! Add a cheeseboard to it and my life is complete! 😆

For serious everyone: you can see super close up on famous paintings (without losing the quality) that hang in museums! Bonus: if you click ‘street view’ you can “walk” around the museum it’s hanging in!

Go check it out (no affiliation whatsoever!) Be sure to zoom & zoom & zoom & zoom in on the images you google! I just absolutely think this is the coolest thing and a fabulous learning/ study tool to learn from the old masters! 😍😍😍 So, google a famous painting that hangs in a museum, then click on the image that is in the google arts and culture gallery, then zoom! Voila: you can intimately take an amazingly close look at the brush strokes of the masters!!

 

Check out the quality of this super close up detail:

 

And here it’s even closer! You can even see so close up that you can see the crackle of some of the painting starting to crack and the fine details of the gold shimmer!:

 

I can see myself spending a lot of time in these galleries!

Hope this note brought some inspiration.
Have a great week.
Thanks for all your love and support!
Much love, Tam 💕

 

You may also like:

  • I painted another owl!

  • Happy Self Love Valentine ♥️

  • Made of Mermaids – Jane Davenport Unboxing

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Mixed media artist, teacher and author. I don’t see all IG msgs. For enq pls email hello@willowing.org - Join A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales:

Posting this one again now that I`ve properly scanned it! --> I’ve been playing with chiaroscuro lately — that dramatic dance between light and dark you see in old black-and-white portraits. Never painted just in black and white before (well, a little indigo crept in 👀). I love how moody it feels!

Open
Posting this one again now that I've properly scanned it! --> I’ve been playing with chiaroscuro lately — that dramatic dance between light and dark you see in old black-and-white portraits. Never painted just in black and white before (well, a little indigo crept in 👀). I love how moody it feels!

For my next Year of Light lesson we are exploring `chiaroscuro` (which is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition). I`ve always loved the black and white photos of people like Marlene Ditriech and wanted to try achieve that type of effect in a painting! I don`t think I`ve EVER painted just in black and white before, but really loved doing it! (Well, I say black and white, but this also contains indigo blue and paynes gray). 😊 Really pleased with it, it has such a `vibe` (as my teen kids would say haha). ♥️♥️♥️

Open
For my next Year of Light lesson we are exploring 'chiaroscuro' (which is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition). I've always loved the black and white photos of people like Marlene Ditriech and wanted to try achieve that type of effect in a painting! I don't think I've EVER painted just in black and white before, but really loved doing it! (Well, I say black and white, but this also contains indigo blue and paynes gray). 😊 Really pleased with it, it has such a 'vibe' (as my teen kids would say haha). ♥️♥️♥️

The wonderful Jennifer (@therapistsanctuary) and I filmed another episode for our series on the tubes (up soon!). Here are some of the pages that came out of that session for me. 😊 Loved working with fluorescent pink and in the end adding in the teal! 😍😍😍

Open
The wonderful Jennifer (@therapistsanctuary) and I filmed another episode for our series on the tubes (up soon!). Here are some of the pages that came out of that session for me. 😊 Loved working with fluorescent pink and in the end adding in the teal! 😍😍😍

Art Oasis! Another fun free art event!

Hello my friends! Exciting news!

I know we’ve literally just finished the tasters for A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales but I wanted to let you know about another amazing free art event I’m sure you’d love to join and it’s starting in only 2 days! 😊

So, I’m super excited to let you know that I am part of Art Oasis, a FREE online creative retreat starting October 18 2025. Yay! 🥳🎉🎊 (organised by the amazing Jessica Swift).

For 7 days, artists (including me!) will be sharing lessons, stories, and creative inspiration to help you slow down, refill your creative well, and remember how good it feels to make art just for YOU.

Here’s what you can expect each day:

💕 Fresh, inspiring art lessons (all levels welcome)
💕 Cozy Conversations – real, heartfelt chats with artists about our creative journeys
💕 Daily creative prompts to keep your ideas flowing
💕A friendly, global, online community of fellow creatives

How It Works

🎨 Watch online – anytime, anywhere, at your own pace. Watch one lesson or all of them – there are no rules and no risk. It’s completely FREE!
🎨 Fit it into your schedule however works best for you!
🎨 Grab inspiring free gifts from the featured artists.
🎨 Want to extend your stay in the Oasis? Grab the VIP Pass!

I’ll be teaching a session on ‘play and the inner child’! Attached is the painting you`ll make with me (or something like it) 😊

… and I’d love for you to join me! ♥️

To join click here:

https://bit.ly/ArtOasisTamx (or find link in story/ bio/ linktree)

This event is all about permission; to play, to explore, to create without pressure. If you’re craving that kind of creative joy, I hope I’ll see you inside the Oasis!

Much Love,

Tam 💕

PS – After you sign up, you’ll have the option to upgrade to the VIP Pass – this gives you forever access to every lesson (including mine!) and some incredible bonus content. If you grab it during registration, you’ll get the lowest price.

Open
Art Oasis! Another fun free art event! 

Hello my friends! Exciting news! 

I know we’ve literally just finished the tasters for A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales but I wanted to let you know about another amazing free art event I’m sure you’d love to join and it’s starting in only 2 days! 😊

So, I’m super excited to let you know that I am part of Art Oasis, a FREE online creative retreat starting October 18 2025. Yay! 🥳🎉🎊 (organised by the amazing Jessica Swift). 

For 7 days, artists (including me!) will be sharing lessons, stories, and creative inspiration to help you slow down, refill your creative well, and remember how good it feels to make art just for YOU.

Here’s what you can expect each day:

💕 Fresh, inspiring art lessons (all levels welcome)
💕 Cozy Conversations – real, heartfelt chats with artists about our creative journeys
💕 Daily creative prompts to keep your ideas flowing
💕A friendly, global, online community of fellow creatives

How It Works

🎨 Watch online – anytime, anywhere, at your own pace. Watch one lesson or all of them – there are no rules and no risk. It’s completely FREE!
🎨 Fit it into your schedule however works best for you!
🎨 Grab inspiring free gifts from the featured artists.
🎨 Want to extend your stay in the Oasis? Grab the VIP Pass!

I’ll be teaching a session on ‘play and the inner child’! Attached is the painting you'll make with me (or something like it) 😊 

… and I’d love for you to join me! ♥️

To join click here: 

https://bit.ly/ArtOasisTamx (or find link in story/ bio/ linktree) 

This event is all about permission; to play, to explore, to create without pressure. If you’re craving that kind of creative joy, I hope I’ll see you inside the Oasis!

Much Love,

Tam 💕 

PS – After you sign up, you’ll have the option to upgrade to the VIP Pass – this gives you forever access to every lesson (including mine!) and some incredible bonus content. If you grab it during registration, you’ll get the lowest price.

Haven’t done any abstract in a while and it called me this evening! I’m loving the combination of red and teal! 😍😍😍

Open
Haven’t done any abstract in a while and it called me this evening! I’m loving the combination of red and teal! 😍😍😍
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