I have been enjoying a relaxing week but also taking care of my creativity. After the Terranaut I had a short brake to watch Manifest and to do a paint study.
But let's break it into parts...
About Manifest...
I think I never had seen TV for so many hours! I watched 62 episodes (the whole series) in less than 7 days for 2 reasons: I was so immersed to the story and because my streaming service was ready to expire. 😂
I loved the story, it's about impossible things, time travel, chances to change the future, solving problems through clues and all of this thanks to very different and complex characters but my favorite was the one who cries the most: Zeke and his big heart played by Matt Long, his story was my favorite. ❤️
After feeling like part of the show due several hours attached mentally plus how as a HSP this of course affects me, I'm glad also I had the time for creating and work a portrait.
Sometimes when I finish a big project like was Terranauta, I like to keep creating but maybe in a less compromised or planed way, I think it's more to keep me fresh artistically and creatively.
I have many bucket list ideas to paint but what I took randomly first was a male portrait, I don't do many male figures but I enjoy them too.
So I started a sketch on linen paper and I was pleased with it, then I thought to turn him into an Elf to give him a specific personality.
Then I started with oils and I wanted a classical style as I always have been in love with classic, romantic - Pre-Raphaelite styles, but I was not very sure about the result.
At the beginning was ok, but it was turning very different from what I had visualized, and I just remembered how different it's to work with oils where a very small dot can change everything specially if you work all at once instead by dry layers. I think the struggle was to paint when I did't wanted and with very bad light, plus I had a lot of pain on my hand.
Why I painted if I didn’t wanted? well, because my daughter wanted to paint and she never wants to paint with me so I had to take the chance while she was starting a Timothée Chalamet.
Valentina's Timotheè painting in progress
I was not pleased with my Elf and I was not sure if I wanted to start another one as he was almost ready...how to throw away something that has already some life? Im pro art 😂 .
I was kind of lazy to start again all over, but my nonconformity was bigger so I decided to start a second one and keep this one too till finish.
Here the second one:
It looks more like I imagined with more warm colors and more blended details instead vivid brushstrokes, but in some way I like also very much the first one, the expressions are more vivid, he looks with a more raw feeling...I know it sound weird but I can't explain. Seems like According to this post I like the ones with a hard life uh? 😂
In the end, I love them both and they are special, each in their own way, and now the background...
I wanted something simple but with a soft and dreamy atmosphere for the backgrounds.
I have added golden frames as part of them and I really loved the vintage design.
FIRST ELF: Here the first elf you can see the colors and more details from the face. He has a neoclassical look but with more expressive brushstrokes.
The slightly furrowed brow, parted lips, and the distant, reflective eyes suggest he's grappling with some inner struggle or longing. This emotional nuance reminds the ability to convey psychological tension through subtle facial details (more than my second elf even when they are inspired in the same model). I wanted to turn his upper lip with more volume as I have been contemplating sculptures, and he reminds me in some way to a sculpture.
SECOND ELF: He has also the neoclassical and Pre-Raphaelite look with warmer colors, carefully blended, he looks more refined and soft, the eyes are smaller but also expressive like asking for something.
Both elves are depicted recalls the Renaissance or Neoclassical portrait style in terms of lighting, composition, and expression. The elves looks complete with the golden laurel and robe-like garment bridges fantasy with classical mythology. Both appears noble, almost divine, yet humanly uncertain, which deepens the narrative. I see both like victorious as the bay leaves from the wreath represents victory.
Both figures are calm, evoking a sense of divinity and introspection, much like the saints or mythological figures painted by Raphael or Ingres and I love that. The golden laurel crown and draped garment further support this classical feel.
• Romantic Sky and Mood: The softly blended, expressive sky with hues of blue, pink, and gray adds emotional depth. It evokes the Romantic era's fascination with mood and nature, this time with pastels where the environment mirrors the inner world of the subject.
• Subtle Fantasy Element: While the composition and technique are grounded in academic tradition (this was my goal), the elves pointed ears and ethereal expressions lend a quiet fantastical quality—it’s not overtly magical, but it feels otherworldly and not just a simple portrait.
• Painterly Brushwork: Especially in the sky and clothing, retain a loose, textured quality that balances realism with expressive freedom, more notorious in the first one. That gives it a slight Impressionist edge in the background, while the face remains smooth and highly rendered for the second one.
I just love Romantic classicism and subtle fantasy portraiture. The elves appears noble, perhaps touched by destiny, caught in a moment of awe or foreboding—a timeless characters placed between myth, magic and memory.
The Elves "Granted victory for an Elf" are available on my ETSY sold separately.
TO QUOTE: I am still reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" so here what I liked:
-Oh heaven above me, your pure, deep abyss of light! When I contemplate you, I tremble with divine desires.
-Throw me to your heights, that is my depth! Shelter me in your purity, that is my innocence!
-Together we learned everything, together we learned to rise above ourselves and to smile clearly.-\
-There is little male here, that is why their women are masculinized, because only he who is sufficiently male will redeem women.
-For them, virtue is what makes one modest and meek; in this way they have made the wolf a dog and man himself the best domestic animal for man.
-Always love your neighbors, but please be those who love themselves first.
TO LISTEN:"One Day" by The Verve, I always loved this band since I was teenager, the sounds and the lyrics are beautiful, Richard Ashcroft the singer and composer writes very beautiful songs, but this week I was listening repeatedly this one.
Finally April and here has been full of showers, living un the midwest it's always tricky with the weather specially because tornadoes, Im not sure when is tornado season anymore as I remember the alerts happening not only in spring or summer but also autumn and winter, so I hope only for April showers for May flowers.
In a more artistic note and speaking of flowers, Im the happies one with my newest painting! I have finished the Terranaut and this painting name is "THE BLOOM OF A STAR-SEED".
It took me about 2 months, many hours of painting and many songs. Painting this was more easier than I thought but the flowers were challenging as many of them were not in my main design, my main design had the flowers out of focus and they were just like blurry images of colors. After I had to paint the bottom I changed my mind and I wanted vivid shapes, so I started to play organically without a solid composition but at the end everything ended perfect.
I will not upload old photos of my work in progress because you have seen al those already in previous post, so here only the sketch pictures and the new pictures, but I want to share what was my first idea and how it was conceived.
This was my first idea, I was to paint a portrait of myself, I made first my digital painting before putting it on the canvas, so I was to follow as it looks here:
But then I changed my mind and I thought "I know Im not the only one feeling out of this world" so I covered the face...and here I am with my final sketch ready as a projection to be traced on my cotton canvas, and you can see how the flowers were at the beginning.
I thought about the word TERRANAUT many years ago, as I was looking for a word for someone who are in this planet earth as a visitor. When someone goes to space, the word used is ASTRONAUT, because travels into astros (stars), so if we are here in earth as visitors then we are TERRA (earth, or land) NAUTA (voyagers) but theres is a much more deeper meaning about it:
About my painting
Terranaut is a vibrant, thought-provoking acrylic painting that merges the cosmic with the terrestrial, inviting viewers to reflect on humanity's role as inhabitants of Earth.
More than an astrounaut, this is a Terranaut, I gave it this name as I think many of us have come to this planet to sow and harvest but we are also the seed.
Surrounding the Terranaut is a lush, blooming garden of flowers in full splendor, with petals in vivid pinks, oranges, whites, and purples, representing the beauty and potential of human actions to nurture and heal the planet. The flowers, dripping with expressive paint strokes, seem to grow directly from the Terranauta, symbolizing how each of us, as “star seeds,” can cultivate a better world through our deeds.
We are here to bloom with our actions and by making the best of our lives bringing beauty to this world to make it better, it can be with our actions, our mission or purpose or just the most simple things like a smile or an action of kindness. This Terranaut, it's me and it's you.
On thr sleeeve it carries a flag with the symbol of the seed of life or the flower of life, and actually, this is the flag that represents Planet Earth. THIS IS US!
The background is a swirling cosmic expanse of deep blues, teals, and purples, dotted with stars and a glowing halo-like ring, evoking the mysteries of the universe. This celestial backdrop contrasts with the earthy warmth of the flowers, creating a dynamic interplay between the infinite possibilities of space and the grounded reality of life on Earth. The Terranaut’s helmet reflects a spectrum of iridescent colors—blues, greens, and pinks—adding a dreamlike quality that bridges the two realms.
The sleeve becomes water at the bottom where a white lotus rests.
This painting is very special to me, as I always have this feeling of not belonging and that there is much more beyond our understanding, but as I am here, I am the Terranaut sowing the seeds and enjoying the flowers that I keep growing to make this world better.
The mood of Terranaut is both hopeful and introspective, blending a sense of wonder at the vastness of the cosmos with an urgent call to action for humanity to bloom and thrive on our home planet. The style is a fusion of surrealism and expressionism, with bold, fluid brushstrokes and a vivid color palette that captures the eye and stirs the imagination.
Also I have prints available but only under request.
I did a video talking about this painting and where you can see how I've painted it from beginning to end, you can watch on my Youtube channel.
This week was full of rest after finish the painting but also a bit of stress with the massive tornadoes, I am so grateful for having a roof over my head, my heath and my family safe thanks to God and Gaia.
TO LISTEN:There were many songs that I was listening while I was doing this painting, it was kind of hard to choose the music for my video but at the end I ended with LET THERE BE LIGHT by Mike Oldfield which I love! but the version from Tubular beats (which I love too). Now that I think, WHAT A SYNCO! I listened this song almost when I was finishing my painting! and why a synco? well, if you listen the lyrics of the song you will discover it, PLUS! there is an extract spoken by Lunar Module Pilot Wiiliam Anders, from the Apollo 8 crew live television broadcast, made when the first manned mission to the moon entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1968.
TO QUOTE: I am still reading "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" so here what I liked:
-"I am from today and from another time, but there is something of me that is from tomorrow and from the day after tomorrow and from what will be".
-"The greatest events are not our loudest moments but our quietest moments".
-"Punishment, in effect, is what revenge calls itself"
-"And you, wise and enlightened, would escape the ardor of the sun and wisdom in which the superman bathes his nakedness with pleasure".
-"Your fruits are ripe but you are not ripe for your fruits, so you have to return to solitude to become soft".
TO WATCH: Ok, Im guilty! I don't watch TV often but this time after finishing the painting, the tornado alerts, I just wanted to put my mind in pause, I have to confess that every time that I sit and try to find something on TV while I'm having something for lunch, I end scrolling all the shows and movies and my food gets cold because there is nothing that I fancy to watch, then I saw a promo of a show called MANIFESTand I stoped there but then I turned off the tv.
Days later I ended watching that show and now I can't stop watching! This show is about a grupo of passenger who landed 5 years later from their time, so this is a show about fantasy, many many many clues to follow and I think those are my ingredients to keep me there.
And now, another weekend to enjoy, stay creative!❤️
