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Thursday, December 31, 2015

My 2015 Best Nine Instagrams....a Revelation!

My Instagram #2015bestnine ...Instagram posts with the most likes

A surprise to end the year!  You may have seen these circulating on Instagram and Facebook. People have been posting their top nine instagram photos of 2015. I was curious about it so I did some research and found the website that calculates the instagram posts that have received the most likes. I have tried to be more active on Instagram this year so I had quite a few photos posted.

What a surprise when my top nine appeared in a photo collage. My top nine photos were my paintings. It was a revelation. I immediately noticed a theme.  I had posted 196 photos...many were photos of my paintings. The paintings that received the most interest were all TREES!


I have been gravitating towards landscapes with trees. I had avoided them for many years. It is gratifying to know that the tree paintings are speaking to viewers. It is said that if you paint what you love it will show. I believe this to be true. In all of the nine paintings in the instagram collage I was moved and excited to paint the scene. I painted them with my heart. This seemingly silly little collage has reinforced the importance of painting our own personal truth.

As the New Year begins I wish you all a very Happy and healthy New Year filled with beauty and love. I wish for you to all discover and continue to paint what speaks loudest to you!

5 comments:

Merrill said...

Happy New Year to you and Heidi! I see her happy tail wagging in your video tutorials and it makes me smile every time.

In any case, I am re-entering the art world, am new to the world of pastels and two-dimensional art in general, and would like your recommendation regarding the pastels themselves. I love Sennelier soft pastels for their incredibly rich color. I want to do some very loose landscape work and will likely utilize the pastels as you do...more with the side rather than the tip of the tool, focusing on color work, composition, contrast and departing further and further from the original inspiration. I will not be focusing on small details.

I'm looking for advice regarding which pastels to use. You mentioned one set that you utilized for landscapes but it didn't sound like your favorite. So...what is your favorite pastel? And, when starting out, would you recommend getting a small sampler pack of the uart pastel paper to determine which grade is preferable or would you, if only working loosely, tend toward a particular grade? Any guidance you could provide regarding start-up materials is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Kelly

Karen said...

Thanks Merrill! I am working on something that will answer all of your questions but the short answer.....Terry Ludwig pastels...any set. Look online at the sets and pick the one that looks like 'your colors'. Paper: Uart, any grade,but get a sample pack and try them all.
Look for more in depth info soon!

Natasha said...

I tried this, but it doesn't look nearly as awesome as yours. Something to strive for next year! I love all of your work!

robertsloan2art said...

They are not only beautiful, they're all different! You find trees with character and paint them so well. Glorious revelation!

ChrisD said...

This is interesting; I've never used Instagram, always thought it was just for photographers....just shows we have to think sideways at times when it comes to putting art out on the Net!
A lovely set of trees, too, you must be delighted with them.