Unleashed

Unleashed

OK. So what the heck is this? It's a place that existed only in my imagination before I painted it. My imagination tends toward the fun and foolish. My motto is "If it isn't fun, I ain't doing it!"

What we have here (in case you can't tell) in this mythical place is a calm pool in the background and the water rushing out in the foreground, with wildflowers on the hillsides watching the festivities.  I kinda wonder what else exists behind those wildflower covered hills? I'll bet five bucks there are some teepees back in there.

Walker

Tin Cup Trail - Bitterrot Valley Montana

This past fall Molly and I headed down to Hamilton at the south end of the Bitterroot Valley. The prior spring I had fallen in love with the place but the valley is too long to be conveniently located to all the fabulous trails from one end to the other. So, I had to go back.

Unfortunately, some of the trails were closed due to the summer fires. Fires are a real problem in this valley and they leave the trails too dangerous to walk for fear of getting beaned by  falling trees.

Of the trails I was able to hike, the Tin Cup Trail was by far my favorite. The varied fall colors of the ground cover plus the larch trees really lit my candle. I have been fascinated by larch bark ever since I came to Montana, 15 years ago. The red and black designs knock my socks off. I tried to photograph it but nothing came close to capturing what I was seeing. I was determined to try and paint that bark and so I did!

Tin Cup Trail

Photography no longer holds my interest. Painting is so much more creative. Your subject matter is only limited by your imagination. It's so liberating!

©Walker Barnard

Mistakes Can Give You Courage

As mentioned in my last post, inexpensive way to wall mount canvas boards, I had only one painting I thought was just gawd awful. One of my character flaws is that I am very tight with a dollar. Not only did I disparage the painting but I begrudge the waste of a canvas. To my credit I own my short comings. I can do that because I am a seeker of self-knowledge and I know it's OK to be flawed.

This painting bugged me because not only was it ugly but I had wasted a canvas. Over the weekend I hitched up my boot straps and painted over it.

Chintz - One Way

I first gave the canvas a very light green wash and then I added the pinks. Now I have a painting I actually like. I like it because the colors remind me of chintz drapes in my family home which reminds me of my mother which fills me with love. But, this painting could never have happened if I hadn't screwed up.

Chintz -Another Way

Not only did my original mistake teach me something about painting technique but it also has given me new courage.  Ever since I started my acrylic painting journey back in November 2015 I have been intimidated by a blank canvas. A blank canvas has been a self-doubt delight. I was so afraid I would ruin a perfectly good canvas. Now I know nothing is set in stone. You really can make lemonade out of lemons. My imagination has found new freedom.

I put the painting up two ways. I can't decide which I like better.

©Kinsey Barnard

Floating Flowers

Floating Flowers

Floating Flowers - Framed

I think Floating Flowers may be my new favorite abstract painting. Maybe it's more impressionist, expressionist. Whatever, it was my imagination at play.

I was too lazy to get the photograph right so the brilliant blue is not at all well represented. It's the prettiest blue I ever did see. But, sometimes there is only so much trouble I am willing to bother with. Especially, since I have the real thing to look at.

©Kinsey Barnard

Blue Sampler

Blue Sampler

This morning I finished the painting displayed on my new easel yesterday.

Blue is one of my favorite colors. In this piece I set out to paint different strokes using the same colors. I call it Blue Sampler because that's what it is a sampler of blue designs.  Just an abstract thought I held in my imagination. I'm pleased with it.
 

©Kinsey Barnard

Crossroads

Crossroads

I gotta really laugh at this one. I went way off the reservation. I guess I have to put this in the abstract category, maybe primitive abstract it's kinda mixed up. A lot like my imagination.

I actually had an idea of what I wanted to paint. But then I was interrupted by company for a few days and my ADD must have kicked in. By the time I got back to painting I had totally forgotten what I was thinking of and just started splattering paint on the board. I had no destination in mind which should be fairly apparent.

It looks like something that should have been painted for Easter eggs. I had no choice but to name it Crossroads as that's the only identifiable thing in it. Identifiable to me at least. Imagination is a wonderful thing, mixed up or not!

©Kinsey Barnard

Dome Mountain

Dome Mountain is my sixth effort. There may be a Dome Mountain somewhere but this one came straight out of my paint brush. The inspiration for the snow capped mountains came from the Whitefish Range in Montana and the foreground came from visions of Montana hay and wheat fields. A dome mountain is basically an old volcano. It's the color that makes this painting so pleasing to me. When I look at it I just want to smile. They say "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Simplistic as it may be this beholder sees beauty here. Maybe it more pronounced at the moment because it is winter in Montana and color is not something we get to see much of. All I know is the bright colors brighten my day and make me feel happy.



 © KinseyBarnard