For Sandra and Prabal

For Sandra and Prabal, who very kindly tagged me in a post.
Usually I don't do tag posts or awards, as you may have noticed.
But this one was relating to art and my personal feelings, so I'm having a go!

The questions:

– Your most beautiful post
– Your most popular post
– Your most controversial post
– Your most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised you
– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post that you are most proud of


My most beautiful post is also the one I am most proud of. 
In Immolatum I see the beauty of the sacrifice that Jesus made for me. His face, though in pain, is beautiful to me. 
I am most proud of it, because I wanted to paint Him since first I put brush to paper, some 14 years ago. Only with this post, did I feel ready. Its an achievement and a milestone for me. 

My most popular post is the one where I talked of The Great Scheme of Things and Artistic Ambition
How we progress as artists and yet keep our feet on the ground. And my own artistic ambition. Not letters after my name, nor prize winning paintings... you'll have to read it to see what! 

Most controversial is tricky.  I don't aim to be controversial. I paint with love and feeling. 
Perhaps I shall give the title of this to The Diamond Roxy
Not because of any great controversy, but from the comments. Some of my arty friends showed how I could possibly improve and the owner of the dog leapt to the painting's defense saying she wouldn't change a thing. That's about as controversial as I get :) 

My most helpful post


was a recent one, Its All About Art . I had been to an art event in London and one of the artists there that I was talking to had free online lessons. I posted the link so that all my blogging friends who may not have access to classes could get some tuition online. 

a post who success surprised me was Jellyfish: Black and White
Its had more views in the last month than it had when I posted it! 

a post that didn't get the attention it deserved has to be one from when I first started blogging and I only had a few followers. 
Inspiration.. how Sowing the Seeds came to be

The original posts that Sandra and Prabal tagged me in were posted last week when we were in the throes of the first week of the kitchen rebuild.  I'm late, so I'm not tagging anyone. If you haven't participated and you'd like to look back over your own blog, please do copy the questions and post on your own blog.  Kind regards, Pat xx

Selling Paintings

Sometimes I am asked "Do you sell your paintings?"
The answer to which is yes, sometimes I do.

And sometimes I get a follow up statement " I don't know how you could bear to part with them!"

That one is simple, though sometimes not .
I create a painting and take great joy in doing so.

Some, like Whistle Stop Cafe help a cause which is dear to my heart (auctioned in aid of Battersea Dogs Home) - and the person who now owns it has a painting which means something very special to them. They will enjoy and cherish it. So, we're all happy.

Some, like Sowing the Seeds, I create and it has great meaning.
Then someone comes along and asks could I paint another for them. I don't paint the same picture twice, so I ask what it means to them. And Sowing the Seeds meant so much to its new owner - along the lines of the meaning I had instilled in it - that I was happy to sell it to her. It will be greatly cherished.

Others still, like the one above - Beyond The Door - hold such great and deep personal meaning for me that I will not part with it.
This painting is so full of symbolism in every brush stroke, each one a testament to an event in my life - that it won't ever live in any other home but mine. Its too personal.
That's what artists do, you know - put their life experiences and emotion on canvas. Or watercolour paper, in my case !

Its also a lovely image, so it stays on my website Pat Elliott's Paintings for everyone to enjoy.

Inspiration

Sometimes I am asked, where do you get your inspiration for paintings from?

The answer is - many places.
As with the painting of St Nicholas Church, it was from seeing the thing in front of me and thinking "that'll make a good painting"

In the case of the painting below it was some words from a song.
The song spoke of someone's love slipping through their fingers.
That made me think how can you portray love slipping through someone's fingers?
Suddenly the words to another song popped into my brain.. sowing the seeds of love.

Now it was easy - find a model to hold their hands in a cup shape (my husband was very handy at this point!) and draw from there. The hands were also roughened up a bit to represent a farmer's hands - for who else would be sowing? Add in some seeds and I have a painting.

A painting that speaks of love.
On a few levels...

On one level - that all the time we win, we lose, we are still sowing the seeds of future love.
On another level, it speaks of the love of a farmer for his land, and the love invested in growing for the future.
And on one more level, it speaks of the One Great Farmer, who holds us all in His hands, and the love He sows.

"Sowing the Seeds"