My stories

  • Some Imperfections I Love

    Like I said on my last post, my hand feels rusty. But I keep doing what I need to do. And being thankful for the opportunity of celebrating the imperfections that come out of every stroke of my brushes.

    Almost Cherries
    Dripping Peaches

    After all, we’re all here to learn. Live and learn…

    G.

    ,
    ,

  • Bouquet of Hope

    I’ve had the chance to touch my brushes and paint this weekend, and I’ve realized how rusty I am right now… It felt like I was wearing a cast while I was painting. Oh well, it is what it is.

    ‘Bouquet of Hope‘ – inspired by a real bouquet my significant other has given me a week ago. He’d hand picked each one of them and brought them home for me. It made my heart so full of joy. Here’s a picture of it:
    The most wonderful flowers I’ve ever received in my entire life.

    Here’s a picture of the closeup I used as the inspiration of my painting:

    I’ve painted my favorite one by itself:

    ‘Silky Summer’

    I’m not going to be much harder on myself because what’s the point? I’ll keep on painting regardless of how many mistakes I make. Painting adds meaning into my life.

    G.

    ,
    , , ,

  • Friendship Lily

    I have been MIA after going through a big loss. That’s a story for another post. But after months without touching my brushes I was presented with an opportunity to resume my work.

    My mom had asked me to paint a birthday card for one of her best friends who is turning 60 years old. She said her friend’s favorite color is yellow. So I decided to paint a yellow lily.

    You can find more videos of my painting on TikTok: gisele.t_
    ‘Lírio da Amizade’ – by Gisele T.

    I’m happy to be back. Hopefully I’ll be working on some more pieces this week.

    I know, it’s been so long, I feel rusty and have a lot of self-criticism when it comes to this card, but I put a lot of love into it so I’ll just be thankful for what it meant to me and to my mother.

    Have a wonderful day!

    Gisele

    ,
    ,

  • Mother’s Day Card Inspiration

    As Mother’s Day approaches us I thought I’d share a small inspiration I painted a few weeks back.

    I started off with some wet-on-dry shaping the orchids the best I could.
    I added the leaves and some details in yellow.
    Because the idea of a card sometimes makes me think of sparkles, I used some gold paint to add bright points over the leaves and petals.
    With the same gold paint I painted letters and thought the custom word would add a special touch to it.
    ‘Mãe’ means Mom in Portuguese.
    My beautiful and amazing mom and her card! I gave this card to her on her birthday back in February, she said she loved it (…moms gotta be supportive! Lol).

    I hope you all are having an amazing time working on your art. I have had some hiccups in life that sort of made me take a break from painting, but I have some more of my work to share in the upcoming weeks and hopefully will be back to spending time with my brushes soon.

    Sending you positive vibes!

    G.

    ,
    , , ,

  • Carmelitas

    I’ve been insisting on the transparency technique. It’s going to be a long way before my paintings look like what I envision them to be, again, for the simple reason that “less is more” hasn’t yet become a constant for me. But when I look at this, I can see a light shining at the end of the tunnel.

    Carmelitas – original watercolor painting.

    Not much to report on this one other than the fact that the lines are off on purpose and that I love this color combination.

    Life has been hard for me lately. I will share more eventually, just not quite yet. I didn’t think I would be capable of painting at all, but I was wrong, thank goodness. Painting is not, in my opinion, an exercise to be forced to, but it should be used as a life vest as much as needed…

    Hope you have a great weekend,

    G.

    ,
    , ,

  • Tulle

    Perhaps the problem before was that I went for the whole garden when truly I should have started with one single flower.

    Wet on wet freehand watercolor painting. It took me about 30 minutes from beginning to end. Inspired by the blouse I was wearing today. And it put a big smile on my face.

    Note to self: less is more, at least for right now.

    G.

    ,
    , ,

  • “The War of Art”

    Yes, I’m sure most of you artists are familiar with this book, and talking about art failures or creative blocks by bringing Pressfield’s title up would be nothing but a sad cliché. That’s fine. I won’t fight it. I’m not a painter, and I’m not trying to be a writer either. Cliché it is…

    Here’s what happened: I painted an ugly paint. Perhaps none of my work so far would necessarily be considered “pretty”, but I’ve always felt good about each and every one of them, well, except for this one.

    The last time I’ve touched my brushes: March 10th – exactly two weeks ago, I started painting this thing I kind of envisioned, and oh boy…

    I swear I took a picture of the blank page because my expectations for this one were high. Why? I have no idea why.
    The weather outside was nice and I went for the obvious. “Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking.”
    I thought about blue flowers. Again, no idea why.
    I should have stopped here and called it a day, this didn’t look too bad. But no. I was thirsty. I was greedy. I wanted more.
    And that’s what happened. A total disaster.

    I contemplated throwing this painting away many times. I didn’t. I suppose there are a couple drops of sadistic emotions holding me back. Perhaps I’ve been trying to convince myself that I’m not good at all at painting… I have no clue. But whatever it is, I’m putting an end to it, and I’m doing it right now, as I share my failure with the world (*drama queen*).

    That’s all. I’m not looking for comfort or positivity. I’m over this painting. I’m putting it away and take it for what it is: just a piece of paper and some drops of paint.

    I will be back soon.

    G.

    ,

  • Buck At Dusk

    Tomorrow is the birthday of my other half, so it was a great opportunity to work on something completely new and challenging to me. He is a nature lover, so the options were endless…

    Yes. The options were endless. It took me some time to decided what I wanted to do.
    I knew I wanted to paint the skies, so I envisioned a beautiful sunset. I don’t usually take advantage of my flat large brush, but I did use it quite a bit on this one.
    As I was working on the colors I thought many times that it would not turn out okay. Insecurities… am I the only one? But I kept on going. I used the flat brush horizontally for the skies and vertically for the field.
    It was also the first time I used some help to speed up the process! No, that’s not cheating…Definitely not…!
    Black paint for the silhouette – I love it!
    Okay, time to paint the silhouette of the buck. I got super nervous, I knew I had close to zero room to make mistakes here. So I picked my 00 brush and began to outline it as slowly as possible.
    At this point I was very happy about how its body turned out to the point I asked myself if it would be okay to just leave it headless haha!
    Well, he isn’t headless. He even has points and everything. Oh.. And a tail!
    After finishing the buck I felt like adding another pine tree, and that was it. Singed it, done!
    ‘Buck At Dusk’ – original, watercolor
    There’s something special about handmade birthday cards, right? This one does not fold, I have a handwritten message for him on the back. I hope he likes it.

    Have a wonderful evening,

    Gisele

    ,
    , , , ,

  • Carnavale di Venezia

    I’ve been missing home, as I mentioned on my last post. This time of the year, for the last fifteen years, is always hard for me for two specific reasons. First being how cold and snowy it usually is. Second being… well, it’s Carnaval. Although I was never the one into all of the heavy partying situation while I was still living back home, I always enjoyed the days off (nobody works or goes to school for about a week during the celebration), summer, the beach, hanging out with my family and friends, all of those sweet moments I could never forget.

    I was never into the parades, but I have always been intrigued by the other rituals that happen to celebrate carnival in other parts of the world. Most catholic countries have some variation of carnival. And this year my dear father reminded me of probably the most ludic party of all, the Venetian Carnival. We are Italian by blood, and that inspired me for today’s painting. ‘Carnavale di Venezia’.

    The mask, the face. I was not totally sure how this one would turn out.
    What I knew for sure was that no carnival happens without feathers.
    Lots of feathers…
    …seriously, LOTS of feathers!
    Painting a face is very difficult for me, so I figured going for a profile would reduce the challenge at least…50%. It was a very good idea since I was freehand painting. Otherwise I would have outlined the picture first.
    When I first started watercolor painting I didn’t think I’d enjoy using metallic paint. Well, I found out I actually LOVE it. So painting the details of the mask was super relaxing and enjoyable!
    I also absolutely love using the black paint. It’s so pure, and it dries beautifully.
    More golden details on the mask, and then I decided to use it to also highlight the feathers.
    I love the effect of the highlights depending on the angle you look at it. It’s mesmerizing.
    I am so absolutely in love with this piece! Don’t mind me tooting my own horn, I’m never this confident about my art, put I am proud of this one. I even put it up on my refrigerator (no joke!). I also think the solid bright colors on the background look so festive!

    So that’s it for my carnival 2022. I hope you are having a great one too!

    Gisele

    ,
    , , , ,

  • Brazilian Toucan – ‘Tucano Tupiniquim’

    I have been missing home very much lately. It’s been almost three years since I last visited my home country. So I decided to start a new series of paintings that remind me of it, and that make me feel closer to it.

    Here’s my inspiration, a picture off the internet.

    One of the exercises I’ve been doing is to watch and replicate. The very first paintings I have done required outlines as step one. I was not confident enough to freely strike the brush onto paper. I needed some sort of assurance that the work would be “under control”. Eventually, I learned different techniques of watercolor painting and I’ve been able to freehand paint ever since.

    I started by painting the toucan’s chest – wet on dry. Always start with the lightest areas of your paint, if needed use the paper as your white. I love using white paint because of its texture and finish. Art is all about personal preference.
    As I waited for the chest to dry out I began painting its beak. Honestly, it was my favorite part. I love the yellow and orange combination.
    As the other parts were still drying I worked on the branch that my toucan would sit on. (The weather has been nicer here in the Midwest, one of the signs of it is the paint taking longer to dry – it means the humidity levels have gone up! Thank goodness!)
    Then it’s time to work with the black paint. I started off with the smaller details on its beak, eye and then body. I purposely left some areas unpainted and used the paper as my white for some highlighted points, dimensions and texture.
    Painting the foliage around the toucan was fun and so relaxing. It was the step that didn’t require much precision. All I needed was my carefree imagination and a combination of greens and yellows that felt good – that was easy, green and yellow are the National colors of my home country. I just painted the leaves away…
    ‘Tucano Tupiniquim’

    “Tupiniquim” is the name of one of our tribes. We often refer to ourselves, our culture, and anything we love and enjoy from our country as tupiniquins. It’s a culture for us. So, there it is! My Tupiniquim Toucan, a little bit fluffy, but a very happy one!

    I hope you enjoyed it!

    Gisele

    ,
    , , , ,