It Isn't Easy Being Green

I've put off painting herbs even though they really interested me. They have been on my bucket list for ever. See, although it seems like a fun little project to paint a plant like basil, the problem is IT'S ALL GREEN. That's a problem when you need the leaves to have some definition. If there's no definition then it'll just look like one green blob, been there, done that.

My worst thing in the past has been not being creative with my greenery. I didn't think bold enough, I didn't add purples or blues into my shadows. I didn't just get creative when something wasn't working. I realize my thought process at the time made sense, I mean the plant IS green so what could be wrong with using all of the different kinds of green? What I had to do is learn to SEE LIKE AN ARTIST. 

I had to paint the basil not like I saw it with my eyes but like I saw it with my heart.

That can be a hard lesson to learn and I still think I'm working on it. I like how my basil turned out but I don't LOVE it. I know I want to be even more creative and not end up frustrated and finally thinking, "oh ya, I can add other colors, not just green!". That's what happened this time. I finally realized I could refresh the painting with pure yellow then mix some deep blue and go to town on the shadows. Yes, it reads as green but believe me, it's NOT. Maybe next time I'll be even more creative and go for some purples and even some turquoise in the lighter areas for character. Live and learn.

My Sweet Basil comes off my
(painting) bucket list

Speaking of colors and loving your own work, I finally broke down and made some more Moo.com cards. I LOVE MOO!!!! Since discovering them, I have gotten all my cards, stickers, pamphlets and postcards from Moo. I can't wait for them to get here. This is the first time I used my newly scanned art instead of photographed art so there'll be no shadows or wrong colors, instead they should be bright and awesome. I'll definitely show you in a week or so when they arrive but until then I thought you guys would like a MOO Coupon. Moo gave me a 10% off coupon code to pass out for anyone who hasn't tried Moo before. So, if you're looking for some cool business cards (or anything else paper related for that matter) and you've never tried Moo then click on this code (https://www.moo.com/share/chgsy5) and save 10% on your first order.

The cool thing about Moo is that you can put different pieces of your art on every card then on the other side you put your particulars. Here's the (really OLD) set I did...

YOUR art on every front

YOUR stats on the back

Anyway, see you soon with new art (I'm thinking cauliflower will challenge me), probably some book reviews and of course, the MOO cards!! Later Gator.

Best,

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