Finding My Home in Acrylics: The Inspirations and Journey Behind Homecoming
Homecoming: This painting is more than just a dragon flying home at night to the castle it guards. It was when painting this piece that I felt like I was coming home, back to painting. I’ve been trying so many different mediums trying to find the one that fit. I never considered acrylic painting. My oil paints have been sitting for years because I didn’t want to have to deal with solvents. I kept trying everything else. It was like a subtle self-sabotage or imposter syndrome. While I have always liked the idea of painting and selling my paintings, for some reason, I never considered I could. It makes no sense, especially when my digital artwork is a form of digital painting.
As I kept searching for this magical medium that would make me feel complete, the universe was slowly guiding me toward where I needed to go. Each class I took with every medium helped me practice my skills and hone in on my creativity, eventually leading me to an acrylic painting class.
Inspiration for Homecoming
Inspiration for Homecoming has come from all of the fantasy books I’ve been reading lately. Dragons from “The Fourth Wing” series by Rebecca Yarros and castles and other realms from Sarah J. Mass book series “A Court of Thorns and Roses” (ACOTAR), “Crescent City,” and “Throne of Glass”. I’ve read and listened to so many books this year. I like to get both audio and physical copies of the ones I get really into. So, while I was painting Homecoming, I was listening to the Throne of Glass series.
The colors used in this painting are the colors I’m always drawn to. I can’t seem to paint without using a shade of pink, purple, or teal.
While painting this, I was not only inspired by the stories I had been listening to, but also I finally felt like I was doing what I was meant to. I never gave landscape painting or fantasy art painting a real shot because I had assumed I would be bad at it and it would take me a long time to get good, which is a ridiculous reason not to try something. I wasn’t painting this for any reason other than I wanted to see it.