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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 💕

 

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Tamara Laporte

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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:

I sold the previous version of this painting already but filmed a lesson for creating cuties for it so I have another version of this cute doggo visited by a butterfly. It’s for sale too. Original painting by me! 😊 Email me on hello@willowing.org if interested xxx ♥️♥️♥️ 🐶

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I sold the previous version of this painting already but filmed a lesson for creating cuties for it so I have another version of this cute doggo visited by a butterfly. It’s for sale too. Original painting by me! 😊 Email me on hello@willowing.org if interested xxx ♥️♥️♥️ 🐶

Great glittering goblins! The first 1000 places have already sold out! Thank you for all your love, enthusiasm and excitement in response to this magical new course!! I’m befuddled with joy and thrilled to have such an amazing response!
Now, if you had hoped to join for the lowest price ever, then don’t worry; we have opened up another 500 spaces at the super low price of £109 GBP. So please get in there quickly if you want to grab A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales at this hugely discounted price, as spaces are selling fast!

Do not dilly dally, my dear, adventure favours the nimble-footed!
A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales
is waiting for you!
🧚✨🦄
JOIN ‘A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales ’ NOW!:
https://bit.ly/AYOM-Tam

Open
Great glittering goblins! The first 1000 places have already sold out!  Thank you for all your love, enthusiasm and excitement in response to this magical new course!! I’m befuddled with joy and thrilled to have such an amazing response! 
Now, if you had hoped to join for the lowest price ever, then don’t worry; we have opened up another 500 spaces at the super low price of £109 GBP. So please get in there quickly if you want to grab A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales at this hugely discounted price, as spaces are selling fast!

Do not dilly dally, my dear, adventure favours the nimble-footed!
A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales
is waiting for you!
🧚✨🦄 
JOIN ‘A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales ’ NOW!: 
https://bit.ly/AYOM-Tam

✨ The Magic Begins! ✨

Friends, I am SO THRILLED! We’re finally opening the enchanted gates to a new amazing creative experience! ✨🙌✨

A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales is here! For a limited time, the first 1000 magical souls can join for just £109 (normally £179). Crazy good deal!! ♥️♥️♥️ Hurry though, these spaces usually go fast!!

Explore over 65+ mixed media art lessons, dive into fairy tales, myth, folklore and every day magic! Paint dragons, castles, and everyday enchantment; all with the support of 30+ beloved artists and a kind-hearted community.

Secure your spot and let’s create a year of magic & wonder together!

See you there!!

(Link in comments)

#AYearOfMagic #MixedMediaArt #ArtClass #EarlyBird

Open
✨ The Magic Begins! ✨ 

Friends, I am SO THRILLED! We’re finally opening the enchanted gates to a new amazing creative experience! ✨🙌✨ 

A Year of Magic & Fairy Tales is here! For a limited time, the first 1000 magical souls can join for just £109 (normally £179). Crazy good deal!! ♥️♥️♥️ Hurry though, these spaces usually go fast!! 

Explore over 65+ mixed media art lessons, dive into fairy tales, myth, folklore and every day magic! Paint dragons, castles, and everyday enchantment; all with the support of 30+ beloved artists and a kind-hearted community.

Secure your spot and let’s create a year of magic & wonder together!

See you there!! 

(Link in comments) 

#AYearOfMagic #MixedMediaArt #ArtClass #EarlyBird

Black. 🖤

After I finished Senior School, I went to an Art Academy in Amsterdam for a year. I was massively proud to have been accepted into two art academies in Holland because it was pretty hard to get into them, only about 30/ 40 people got selected out of 100nds of applicants each year. To be accepted into two Art Academies was a huge deal. Sadly the experience was not one I enjoyed much at all.

Coming from a vibrant, colourful senior school where art classes were uplifting and fun, I was shocked to discover that at the academy, it almost seemed sport to the teachers to ‘break down their students emotionally’, supposedly to make us better artists. Even the building itself was grey, devoid of any joy or colour. It was baffling; a place meant for creativity felt so grim and dark. 😔

The professors, too, each had their own peculiar ‘rules’. I remember being told things like, “Never use black in your paintings, it’s not a colour,” or, “Don’t use purple, I hate purple.” Looking back now, it’s almost comical; if every teacher had a forbidden colour, soon we’d be left with none! The arbitrary rules piled up, until it seemed like you could break one just by picking up a brush.

But the ‘never use black’ rule really stuck with me for years. I avoided it religiously, until this painting.

Yes, black can be a tricky colour. It’s bold, sometimes harsh, and can easily overpower a piece. But, when used with intention, I think black adds a beautiful sense of depth, contrast, and harmony. In this painting, I love how the black brings weight and grounding, making the other colours sing even brighter. ✨🙌✨

I remember painting this piece in 2016 and feeling a sense of freedom. I let myself be looser and wilder; not only did I dare to bring in black, I also used fluorescent pinks, which can be just as challenging! Suddenly, all those ‘forbidden’ elements became a celebration.

I left the Art Academy after a year, feeling confused and a bit lost. For a while, they made me believe maybe art wasn’t for me after all. How sad, isn’t it, when a place meant to nurture creativity ends up clipping your wings? ... (continues in comments)

Open
Black. 🖤

After I finished Senior School, I went to an Art Academy in Amsterdam for a year. I was massively proud to have been accepted into two art academies in Holland because it was pretty hard to get into them, only about 30/ 40 people got selected out of 100nds of applicants each year. To be accepted into two Art Academies was a huge deal. Sadly the experience was not one I enjoyed much at all. 

Coming from a vibrant, colourful senior school where art classes were uplifting and fun, I was shocked to discover that at the academy, it almost seemed sport to the teachers to ‘break down their students emotionally’, supposedly to make us better artists. Even the building itself was grey, devoid of any joy or colour. It was baffling; a place meant for creativity felt so grim and dark. 😔 

The professors, too, each had their own peculiar ‘rules’. I remember being told things like, “Never use black in your paintings, it’s not a colour,” or, “Don’t use purple, I hate purple.” Looking back now, it’s almost comical; if every teacher had a forbidden colour, soon we’d be left with none! The arbitrary rules piled up, until it seemed like you could break one just by picking up a brush.

But the ‘never use black’ rule really stuck with me for years. I avoided it religiously, until this painting.

Yes, black can be a tricky colour. It’s bold, sometimes harsh, and can easily overpower a piece. But, when used with intention, I think black adds a beautiful sense of depth, contrast, and harmony. In this painting, I love how the black brings weight and grounding, making the other colours sing even brighter. ✨🙌✨ 

I remember painting this piece in 2016 and feeling a sense of freedom. I let myself be looser and wilder; not only did I dare to bring in black, I also used fluorescent pinks, which can be just as challenging! Suddenly, all those ‘forbidden’ elements became a celebration.

I left the Art Academy after a year, feeling confused and a bit lost. For a while, they made me believe maybe art wasn’t for me after all. How sad, isn’t it, when a place meant to nurture creativity ends up clipping your wings? ... (continues in comments)

In and amongst all the admin work and all the prep there is little to no time for art but managed to grab a small hour to create a quick sweet thing. 😊 🐱 🐈‍⬛ 😍😍😍

Open
In and amongst all the admin work and all the prep there is little to no time for art but managed to grab a small hour to create a quick sweet thing. 😊 🐱 🐈‍⬛ 😍😍😍
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