From the Students of Liberated Artist
This blog post is dedicated to my painting workshop Liberated Artist.
Read how the students have experienced the class
and enjoy the wonderful art that they have made during the class!
Make Creativity Bloom!
Christie Thomas says: “Every lesson started with a bit of fear, then once started I found that I often set it aside because I could not move on to the next step. I did not “see” anything. But with Paivi’s patient encouragement on the videos and free flowing hands, I watched, listened, and tried to follow the instruction even if it was completely foreign. I finished the pieces and feel excited about my creativity.”
Move Forward with Painting!
Geraldine Norris says: “The course allowed me to move on in my art practice, by being engaged with a teacher who is inspirational, celebrates diversity, creative expression and artistic self acceptance. I now feel I am able to see a sustainable way of moving forward with my painting by having experienced a clear connection with my intuition through the weekly exercise prompts, rather than always wanting to know what work is going to look like finished. In this course I have felt supported on the journey into the unknown and encouraged to make space for the unexpected.”
See Art with Fresh Eyes!
Deb Weiers says: “The class made me more open to staying in the struggle, to be willing to walk away and come back with fresh eyes, to be able to wait longer for the art to come through. To stay open to the unexpected.”
Express What You See and Feel!
Cheryl Rayner says: This class really helped me to see how I could start from ground zero and express something that was personal. I am even encouraged to start art journaling now, which I had always been turned off to, because it seemed like everyone was just trying to see how much product they could use! Paivi’s approach is far more meaningful.”
Let the Painting Grow into a Story!
Karen Nowviskie says: “I am no longer afraid of using watercolors. Most importantly, I have learned to embrace the unexpected and be open to the story of the painting.”
Bring More Elements into Your Creative Process!
Kathy Lewis says: “I am looking at creating so differently. I don’t even know how to start to describe my excitement for this course. I trust the process so much more and look into the colors to see things that I would never have noticed before. The actual coloring process has also changed. I love mixing watercolor, color pencil, and acrylics! Never thought of some of these techniques before this class. Now I want to go through all the lessons again!”
Compose with Colors!
Mackie d’Arge says: “The class inspired me to search harder for the hidden images that appear on the painted page. I’m looking at the balance of colors now instead of just the balance of images and lines in a composition. This class was a pure joy. It was four weeks of anticipation and struggle and frustration and trying again and again…but oh what fun!”
Take Creative Escapes!
Nea Wiseman says: “It’s a wonderful course. I am starting to free up my control buttons!”
Overcome the Fear of Beginning!
Ulla M. Holm says: “I discovered that I need not be afraid of watercolors, or to start painting. I am beginning to find my own style.”
Express through Painting and Drawing!
Susan Rajkumar says: “Something huge inside of me changed, and then it became much easier to sit down and freely let it flow through me. Suddenly I could draw. Seriously. I don’t think about it much now. This was the best art course online.”
Dive into Art More Often!
Claudia Kern describes: “I expanded my artistic toolbox to include acrylics and pencils which means much more can happen/unfold than working strictly with watercolors. So for me trusting that something as yet unknown to me would emerge and having more tools to use were both liberating. I have learned so much, and the structure of the class has enabled me to make a huge leap forward in making art a part of each day.”
Let Your Thoughts Grow while You Play!
Mary Werner says: “I learned to work in phases both with materials and with slowly completing the painting. I learned to begin with one image without knowing the whole picture allowed a deeper meaning to develop as I was involved with the slow building and thinking of the process. It gave my creativity a chance to play.”
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Painting in Liberated Style
Welcome to my creative space to see how I create this mixed media painting “March Still Life”!
Watch the video and listen to my thoughts about creating and teaching art while I paint in a liberated style.
Liberate Your Art!
The workshop mentioned in the video is currently unavailable
but come and join me on the course that is based on it:
Liberated Artist Revisited – Buy Now!
From Intuitive to Intentional Painting
This is my latest mixed media painting called “The Phantom of the Opera.” Just saw the musical in The Finnish National Opera! I don’t know about you, but when I go to see a performance like that, I know that it will appear in my art one way or another. With this blog post, I want to challenge you to think what is intuitive and what is intentional in art. And – can they be combined?
Day 1 – Watercolors
It was a sunny winter day when I started the painting. A friend from the UK was visiting me, and we were chatting while I painted the first layers. With watercolors, like many times before.
I love how well watercolors support intuitive painting. You can just splash here and there and then get inspired by the result. In this phase, I tend to choose the colors quickly, based on what feels good. I would call this phase very intuitive also because I don’t usually have no idea about how the result would look.
After splashing watercolors on the paper, I tried to get something a bit more intentional out of it: distinct shapes, strokes and color areas.
The painting looked like it could be a still life with wine grapes and some fruits. But I did not have more time to continue with the painting, so I saved it in my album. I love to create 12 by 12 paintings as they fit on a regular scrapbooking album. I also love the square shape as it is easy to change the orientation of the picture in the middle of the process.
Day 2 – Acrylic Paints
About a week later I picked out the painting again. This time, I wanted to add some acrylic paint to it. I find the combination of transparent watercolor and non-transparent acrylic paint very attractive. When touching the acrylic paint tubes, I get ideas about color mixes that would work with the watercolor background. I would call this pretty intuitive step too.
As I am a very detail-oriented person when painting, I try to be bold when painting with acrylics. Broad strokes add more interest to detailed paintings.
In the end, the painting still looked like a still life, but I wasn’t quite confident about the orientation of the painting.
Here you can see the difference between the end of day 1 (watercolors) and the end of day 2 (acrylics).
Day 3 – Colored Pencils
Because I love details, I also love to use colored pencils. With colored pencils, it’s easy to add little nuances here and there, and I also like the look of pencil strokes on the painting.
Day 3 was a day after day 2, but it was still before I had seen the musical. When I work with colored pencils, I am often very intentional. First, I had an idea to create wine glasses of the two round elements, but then I changed the orientation of the painting and saw lamps in the ceiling!
Which one do you like the best: the wine glasses or the lamps?
Day 4 – Acrylic Paints + Colored Pencils
Day 4 was after the musical. I got an idea from one of the scenes. The painting continued with acrylics expressing the famous chandelier crash!
So far I had been pretty intentional but then changed to intuitive. I played the music and tried to get into it as much as I could. I used both acrylic paints and colored pencils.
Here’s the result again:
Intuitive Painting – Guess What!
The story doesn’t end here! While photographing the finished painting, I glanced at my feet and saw the same color scheme in my socks! I had just finished them before Day 1 and worn them ever since. So, this painting actually started when I was picked the yarn from my stash for the socks. No, wait – it began when I bought the wool that I spun to the yarn …!
Combining intuitive with intentional is a lot of fun! It’s the best cure for getting rid of stiffness in the result. The intuitive parts allow you to feel free when painting; the intentional parts bring more clarity to the painting.
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Create Flowing Greenery!
Flowing Greenery has just been published as a part of Imagine Monthly, the on-going art journaling class. The two mini-courses are inspired by great artists. January’s mini-course Doodled Luxury was inspired by Alphonse Mucha. Flowing Greenery is inspired by another great artist from the beginning of 20th century: William Morris!
Like the previous one, Flowing Greenery is a technique-heavy course. It has great ideas especially for those who want to combine acrylics and colored pencils on the same page. You can still purchase Imagine Monthly and get immediate access to the two mini-courses already published. Sign up here!
Fun in February
Finland is definitely not full of greenery at the moment. The winter has been cold, occasionally so cold that Stella has had to wear a hand-knit sweater!
But even if I am not very fond of the winter season with cold weather, lots of snow and early darkness, I quite like February. Maybe it’s because February always seems to be full of events. My birthday is in February. I also like Valentine’s day and this year we will also have an old friend from the UK visiting us. (If you hear me pronounce some of the words more with British than Finnish accent, that’s her influence!)
With snow, there’s a lot of white in Finland at the moment. Whether it’s strawberries picked from the freezer or fresh oranges in my art journal, I crave for those colors!
Another February event – and also full of colors: Inspirational Drawing, my “the drawing class”. Whether you want to approach drawing from an artistic angle or learn more about the designer’s mindset, this class will make you enjoy drawing.
New Video Series: 14 Answers about Creating Art
To celebrate Inspirational Drawing, I am publishing a new video every day for the first two weeks of February! These short videos give focused answers to the questions that people usually ask from me. You can follow them via Facebook, via YouTube or by visiting this blog (already published: Question 1, Question 2). Feel free to share the videos and spread the word!