I'm running a competition through my facebook page as a thankyou for all the support I have received lately since going more public with sharing my Art.

Make sure you have a look and enter in for a chance to win one of the two canvas prints below.


https://www.facebook.com/ErinDockingART

Work in progress........

I thought I would show you the picture progress of my latest completed piece. With these pictures you can see how I move from one step to the next, and that although at the beginning it really doesn't look like much, the concept is there. Then through a little patience and time, it comes to be close to what I had pictured in my mind. 

You can see with this first picture that it really isn't all that much apart from a bit of colour blocking. I remember thinking at this point, would this even turn out how I want it, need it to be? It certainly here, looked nothing how I had imagined this wave to be. The basic shape was kind of there but the colour was all wrong.

The next week when I sat down to paint things took a turn for the better and I could feel it when I was bringing the brush to the canvas that I was starting to get the concept and that maybe it would turn out to something I could be proud of. The colour still wasn't right but it was getting closer.

Here with the finished picture the colour is almost how I wanted it to be... I thought maybe I could keep going to try and get it perfect but then would it ever really be perfect to me? I'm someone who will keep going and going and going, and before I know it, I've gone too far and I'm beginning to lose the essence of the idea. So I decided it was pretty close to how I had imagined it in my mind and that was good enough today. 

I guess what I wanted to do with this post is show my thought process and give a little understanding into what goes on with me when I start a piece. Sometimes after I have spent a few hours starting a piece I feel a little despondent that it doesn't start out looking like a finished product. I find that I really have to remind myself at times to take each piece step by step and not give up on it, because by persevering through something amazing can happen.

Colours Of The Ocean

I recently just finished probably what is now probably my favourite piece, a beautiful blue wave. 

Ever since I was little the ocean has always intrigued, frightened and excited me. 

Intrigued me because I could never fully comprehend the magnitude of life under the sea, frightened for the very same reason (and the idea of being eaten by a shark never helped..) and it has always excited me because of the incredible ever changing beauty. The way a wave crashes into shore, the beautiful array of colours on the fish and the way a sunset reflects on the water creating a small moment of perfection. 

I called it "Colours Of The Ocean"

I was so happy with this piece, which believe me doesn't happen often, so I entered it into my first art competition. I would love it if you like the piece if you could click on the link below and like the picture on the website.

http://faso.com/boldbrush/painting/73147

Business Cards!!

So exciting my very first lot of business cards arrived and I love them so much!! My talented friend Lauren helped me with them, and I truly appreciate her honesty as I was going to use a since charcoal sketch on them but she suggested my mermaid painting as the colours would pop more. She was right!! So special thanks to her and www.moo.com where we ordered them from.

Now I have to just start selling more work so I can give my cards out.....

Mermaids.........

Ever since I was a little girl I have always had this thing about mermaids. The little mermaid was my favourite movie and I wanted to be just like Ariel and have long red hair and a tail to swim in the ocean. My imagination was endless and when I closed my eyes and really thought about transforming into a mermaid I would almost make myself believe it was possible.

It was this love of mermaids that once again unlocked my imagination and inspired my latest painting. This time though I wanted to paint something with meaning and not to just a paint a pretty picture because I had drawn and painted mermaids before. I got the idea of darkness and light and incorporating a sense of hope. I know from my own life experiences that the expectations of society, and your very own insecurities and self doubt can keep you locked down and fighting for acceptance and the hope that things will one day be better.

My mermaid encompasses these struggles that we want to break free from and the need reach for something better. She wants so much to come out of the darkness and surround herself with the light of the world and everything good that it has to offer. She is about breaking those chains and striving for better. Recognising that we will fall from time to time but having the hope of getting up and trying again, constantly reaching for the light.

I hope you like her. She means a lot to me.

Commissioned Piece

I delivered my first commissioned piece this last week while traveling in New Zealand. It may have been an old friend that requested it but now I can say that I have my artwork hanging on someone's wall outside of Australia, which is such a big accomplishment for me. 

Obviously next time I'd love for it to be for a complete stranger... But I'm working on getting better so other people want my work..

Charcoal is my Poison.........

For as long as I can remember I have always enjoyed being creative. Drawing, scrapbooking, painting, the whole lot, I loved it. But I have always had this extra inclination to charcoal and sketching. I like the idea of being able to make a mistake and use that to make my drawing more authentic to who I am and perhaps to who I want to become.

Today was the first time I have picked up my charcoal pencil in so long, and yet it felt...... perfect. I have been trying to increase my skills in painting that my sketches for the last 6 months have fallen to the side. Today it felt like me again. I love paining too, but I truly feel at home with myself when putting charcoal to paper.

Todays sketch was not perfect, far from it. It was messy and full of mistakes and when I look at it now thats it's finished I want to change so much of it. But I won't, because to me its not about having a perfectly structured piece with all the proportions right and the shading spot on. Its about losing myself in it for the hour or so that it takes to do the piece. I always find I have a greater perspective after I have relaxed and let go.

And I did that today.

What Inspires me...........

I don't claim to be an amazing artist or even a good one. Pure and simple, Art is an outlet for me. Sometimes I don't paint or draw for weeks, I have tried in the past to sketch something or start a painting when my mind is full but I havent been able too; the end product has never looked good. For me my best work comes when I am free of my thoughts and feeling inspiration.


One thing I like to do when I am feeling all bottled up with the struggles of everyday life is go for a walk. Its amazing the clarity and inspiration that can come from being with nature. Just experiencing how the breeze blows against your face and the total calmness just breathing brings to my muddled up thoughts. I always find that when I get back from a walk my mind is cleared and I can suddenly see and feel my emotions clearer and then when I pick up some charcoal or a paint brush everything feels just right.


I like to look at other peoples work, and by that I don't necessarily mean the classics from Van Gogh - although that can be inspirational too - I actually like to search for work by people who are less well known. So many of my favourite pieces are from people with whom I don't even know there real name. Instagram, Youtube and Twitter are just a few places where I found pieces that have tugged on my emotional and creative side. Sometimes even more inspirational to me is when people put up a half done piece. You can see the work that they need to do to finish but more importantly you can see the work they've done, and the thought and the process they've gone through and that at times makes me feel more than looking at a finished piece.


One of my favourite quotes is by Duane Hanson:

"Art doesn't have to be pretty; it just has to be meaningful"

I agree with that wholeheartedly. Although I think that not every piece that I do is going to relate to everyone I hope that with each piece a person looking at it would be able to derive some sort of emotion from it.


Let me know what your thoughts are....