By Shelley October 14th, 2009, under Art Updates
It isn’t unusual for things to change throughout the painting process…. however, The Midnight Muse seems to have had more changes so far than most. It all started with the background……
Background Take One:
This was the first attempt, and had already been through a few changes in the window design, but I thought I had my background sorted. Then after a day or two, I suddenly detested it to the point of violence and erased the whole lot. It was too contained, too normal and simply didn’t fit the atmosphere I was trying to capture with this piece. So far, the time spent was around 2hrs all up – an hour on the Muse herself and an hour on the background.
Background Take Two:
The new background came to me pretty quickly, and I was so much happier with it that I started painting before remembering to take a photo *grins*. The sketch of the background looks pretty blank/bland, but I had big plans involving dribbling paint and torn bits of paper….. yep, I decided to move into collage territory. I squished out a palette of acrylic and gouache in blues, silvers and blacks and went nuts…… ended up with blue hands and a smile on my face.
Work in Progress:
And this is where The Midnight Muse is at now. The background is almost complete, and the time for painting Her close. This is often when I start to get nervous if I’ve painted the background first…. the figure is generally central to my paintings and the focus, so potential for dissappointment is high. Especially because I struggle with skin tones most of the time…. and hands. I’m not sure how much time the background took to paint, I forgot to check… which is a good sign 
Well, that is a look into the nitty gritty of my painting style… though it seems to change constantly. My fickle Muse is all excited about a new piece, Thorn, which is all sketched and ready to paint. I will try and time the painting, for those who are curious how long the creative process is for me.
I never know how to finish these posts…. erm… the end.
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By Shelley August 22nd, 2009, under Art Updates
Welcome to the first work in progress post. I’ve decided to start right from the very beginning with this one – at the moment The Midnight Muse is simply an idea. Inspiration came from a few places for this, the mythology of the Leanan Sidhe and the dark side of creativity, the creative drive itself, and driven artists who died young or went mad. Think VanGogh and Brett Whiteley…
This is how The Midnight Muse begins, with a little story…
The Midnight Muse
She is the dangerous muse, the one that has you leaping out of bed at strange hours, head full of ideas and an itch to create. She can be intoxicating, and if treated with care and caution can inspire wonders. But beware, for you are her blank canvas as much as she is your muse….. and you don’t want to know what she has planned for you. Sleepless nights over weeks and months, neglecting friends or family or food, forgetting who you are… these are all warning signs that you are in too deep, and need to reconnect with reality and life before you are hers forever.
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By Shelley July 25th, 2009, under Random Rambles
Actually, I don’t often paint on canvas…. acrylics, on canvas at least, and I are yet to have a truly happy relationship. But that aside, there is something both wonderful and terrifying about a blank… piece of watercolour paper.
I generally have a fairly solid idea of what I want to create before I start, right down to the name in most cases. I think I’m going to try and break the latter habit, and see what happens. Anyway, that is the wonderful… the potential of the idea and the image inside my head. The terrifying is the fear of getting it completely wrong, of the painted image looking absolutely nothing like the picture inside my head. Like a lot of artists, I find that the final product is hardly ever 100% like the imagined… but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Paintings evolve and wriggle around under my brush, sometimes because the imagined image has evolved, sometimes because a new technique is discovered and sometimes to cover up a mistake or accident lol. Then there is the occassional heartbreak, the final painting that has none of the emotion and magic of the imagined. Something has gone completely wrong. This is when handy phrases like learning curve, interesting experiment and makes one stronger should be used!
Today I cut down one of my large watercolour sheets into the sizes I like to work with. They are sitting around me, pristine white pieces of watercolour paper, waiting patiently to find out what they will become…… and as the images dance in my head I feel excitement… and fear. But mostly excitement 
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By Shelley July 18th, 2009, under About Shell
Painting is a core part of who I am, something I need to do and also love to do. Art isn’t my main ‘career’ though, which is lucky because breaking through as a fanatasy artist on the internet is really rather difficult. So, what do I do apart from paint and run Mystery and Shadows?
At the moment I am both a poor struggling artist and student lol. But I am truly blessed to be supported by my gorgeous man, my partner of 13 years. We seem to have taken turns to work or study, but when I am finished studying this time…. well, it will be awesome. I am nearly half way through my degree in medicine, it has been a seriously hard slog so far and there are some nasty exams looming on the horizon. I’m trying not to think about them too much, because my brain will seriously explode if I do.
And that is a little bit about me. Painting is my soul, studying medicine and becoming a doctor is my dream. I am truly lucky to be able to incorporate both in my life!
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By Shelley July 17th, 2009, under Random Rambles
Mystery and Shadows has it’s very own blog! Hello!
I have first post nerves…. I guess I will start with what I am working on at the moment
Lady Bones: Lady Bones is a tiny desert faery, reading the future in the tiny bones she collects as she wanders across the red sands surrounding her home. The colours in this piece so far are very rich, dark reds and purples for the desert dunes with a twilight shy. The Lady herself is sitting on the sand in front of the ancient, half-buried human skull that is her home. She has a small bag of bones nearby, and the husk of some strange seed in front of her – it is into this that she castes the bones. Within them she reads the stories of the desert, and the delicate patterns of potential futures.
Selene: Selene is a moon goddess painting, my vision of the many moon goddesses that cast their silver light in mythology. I’ve always been fascinated by moons, and astronomy. There is an infinite universe out there, perhaps more than one – a multiverse – and I sometimes feel drawn to paint within that realm. Etoile and The Traveller are other pieces of mine that definitely have an outer space theme.
I have a list of ideas for new paintings as well – a pixie leading a traveller (the viewer) astray, the midmight muse who can cause sleepless nights full of intense creative energy, another Traveller, and a Glauconer. So, that’s all for now… thanks for reading
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