In the Studio - Sweetness to the Soul

When I'm creating, I like to pay close attention to what is going on internally for me, especially when I'm really deep into it, so I can better understand my own process and what motivates me to work.  So often though, it's completely out of my control.

Last week I had bees on my mind.  Bees and honey and honeycomb.  And it wasn't so much that I was thinking about bees, as feeling them.  How do I describe this?  It was something in my blood and my breath making me need to work with bees.  Does that happen to you?  Do you sometimes get a feeling inside yourself driving you to create based on a certain subject matter or color or play of light?

I began last week by embroidering on linen.  I thought I'd make some more coasters for my shop.  Stitching the bees made me think about drawing bees and playing with paint.

So, yesterday, I started working on another ground.  I knew I wanted to work much the same way as I do my bird paintings, building up and distressing the ground.

I wanted honeycomb showing through, and on top of that I'll put drawings of bees on the left.  On the right I'll paint some hollyhocks.

A part of me was tempted to rush through to the bees and flowers part, so I would have more to show you today.

But I realized that I was just so content to build layer upon layer of honeycomb and paint, drawing, painting over it, sanding it down, scratching out more honeycomb with a sharp pointy thing, and adding yet more paint, really enjoying the process.  So this is where I am with it.  I'm very happy with the way the different colors and layers of paint are showing through down on the bottom right.

What are you working on this week?