This article is written by Gloria Malour-Marsh

I love bright colours, so this is why I chose to paint a field full of blooms with brilliant red poppies as the focus point, and a back drop of cobalt blue. Firstly, I found covering the canvas with cobalt blue enabled this vibrant color to shine through on a maximum level and gave a very contrasting effect.

Red Poppies symbolise renewal and life, blossoming, loyalty, beauty, and courage.

They also signify a promise of resurrection after death.  It also has many medicinal qualities.

The red poppy is an annual herbaceous plant with a straight stem, covered with big hairs.  The red poppy flowers are single with 2 big sepals and 4 big bright red petals.

I painted the whole canvas with cobalt blue. The composition started with finger painting.  I used my thumb, the index finger and the middle finger, to create a raised effect with each petal of the poppy.  You’ll begin to notice the texture is building layers. Something that was very foreign to me.  It took some practice to be confident. As I would finger paint, I’d manipulate my fingers with a twist to form one petal of the poppy, and yet maintained a confident hand.   The finger twist created a raised texture, and this is something new I learned in mixed media.  I needed to build layers and this developed the texture. This gave a vibrancy to the composition and an easy manner of manoeuvring began with my fingers.

The colour red kept me thinking of human life, of blood and of hearts beating.  A feeling of fascination set in for me as I started to apply this new found technique.  I added tiny flower centers and they were done with the head of a cotton bud, and I chose white and yellow. I was still somewhat apprehensive as to the outcome.

But I have learned so much with mixed media, that this form of art is very forgiving and one can make mistakes and rectify them immediately. I still have so much more to learn in this art medium. As I sit and paint, I’m transported to another time in space. At this point, I feel the art medium is a form of meditation. The mind becomes very absorbed in what you are doing and a sense of stillness settles inside. We are learning newfound techniques and are applying them to our lives. Philosophically speaking, we take one step at a time, make mistakes, learn from them, and we develop confidence with the brush and with life. We look on life with a very positive and happy attitude. We take one step forward and two steps backwards, and any mistake is a stepping stone forward and a good teacher.  This is the time to hang in there.

This started me with overcoming the risk factor of making mistakes with the brush and my confidence took a leap. I started to like what came from my imagination. This brought alive one’s freedom and abandon without conforming to structure and build on our childish sense of imagination and fun. This truly frees up one’s rigidity and encourages our creative unique style to flow.  Positive self regard builds one’s self esteem and we start building on our own identity. A sense of trust settles in and we start powering on with the brush with confidence.

I worked hard to maintain a free flowing consistency with my fingers. I know that practice, practice and more practice are the recipe to unleashing the artist within.

Enjoy!

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About the author:

My name is Gloria Malouf-Marsh. I live in Brisbane, Australia, in a suburb called Indooroopilly. I live with my husband Greg and my daughter Salwa.

I have been on a personal journey for over 20 years. I am a very analytical person. I am a Yoga Chi Gung Teacher.  I have been teaching for nearly 5 years. I now have taken up voluntary work in that field. I have been studying Ayurveda and Taoism, and apply the knowledge and benefits to my life.  It’s a life long journey. I enjoy the rhythms of  nature and ground myself when I walk. Among the interests I enjoy are singing, chanting, history and the study of different faiths. I also take time out to meditate, to be mindful and understand the power of the breath. I’m involved in voluntary work in the capacity of newsletter editing and I have a penchant for the love of cooking.

In the last four years, I have taken up drawing, water colour painting, collage, iconography and acrylic medium, which I love so much.  My artwork takes me on a journey with my title.  It could take me 3 months to finish a painting or 6 weeks, depending on what’s going on in my life.  I sometimes have dry patches, and I know that is for a reason.

I’m itching to pick up the brush and discover new horizons in the techniques of mixed media. The best teacher is practice, practice and more practice. I’m trying to organise a special place for my art work. I feel this will give me momentum and more encouragement to continue my journey in this creative medium.

Emails are welcome: gloria@radiantpathways.com.au

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