What I'm Working On: May 2015 Edition

"Untitled" (In progress) Oil on canvas ©Tabetha Hastings

Here is a sneak preview of my latest painting. This is a slightly cropped version, and still very much in progress. (Not ready for the world to see that nose yet!)

This is the second painting in a series of intimate portraits. I'm compelled by the lines of the human body, as well as the interesting colors and textures of the skin that we're all wrapped up in.

My focus is largely on the female form; I want to express beauty in what is often overlooked. Sensuality above sexuality.

If interested, you can check out more of my work at http://tabethalandt.com

Happiness Project Day 98: Artistic Breakthrough

Okay, artistic breakthrough may be pushing it slightly... it smacks of a broad-reaching breakthrough. This was more like a breakthrough that I made on this particular painting.

This painting, "I Stand Alone" (the latest working title), is one I started a few years ago. Once or twice a year I pull it out and look at it, and sometimes work on it. It hasn't quite known what it wants to be, and consequently has gone through several stages over the years. There are many layers of paint on this one. And I keep thinking that it is just about finished but... the painting has a mind of it's own. (And even as I look at it now I see something I want to work on.)

Anyway, the breakthrough came when I added another little hill to the middle ground on each side of the painting. Actually I more discovered it than created it. It was kind of a happy accident. Artistic accidents are pretty much par for the course, and I consider them a part of the creative process. The key is to recognize and work with them, which involves letting go of control of what you wanted it to look like. Just like life, right? Things may not turn out the way you envisioned, but they work out. And sometimes much better than what you pictured.

In the case of my painting, I think the extra hill adds depth and interest to those sections, and the overall composition. I was quite happy to discover that hill!

And here is what I was listening to...

New portraits in progress: Marilyn Monroe and self-portrait

I'm working on two new paintings right now - oil dries so slowly it's good to have more than one going at any given time (and that fits right in with my ADD...) Both of these are nearly finished:

Marilyn: she's the first in my Hollywood series.

I'm still looking for a title for this self-portrait...ideas?