Paint Party Friday: Week 25, Year 2 Check In Featured Artist: Petrea Hansen-Adamidis

image courtesy of Petrea Hansen Adamidis

Welcome to Week 25 of Paint Party Friday (Year 2) and to the next edition of our Featured Artist Series! (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Please click here for details!) This week's featured artist listens to her inner muse and invites us to do the same as she shares her inspiring intuitive paintings each week. Please welcome Petrea Hansen Adamidis!

1. Please tell us a bit about your personal history with painting. (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?) I started painting off and on about 25 years ago. My older sister was a clothing designer and I would join her at her craft shows with my decorative painted pots and boxes. I liked playing with textures and at the time painting marbling effect on walls and other surfaces was quite popular. 

However it wasn’t until I was doing my training as an Art Therapist in 1993- 94 that I began exploring a more intuitive approach to painting. Expressing in my pictures the inner landscapes of my being. (Here is one of my first Intuitive paintings:)

From The Shadows Comes Beauty, Mixed media: chalk pastel, oil pastel, Guache 1994
image courtesy of Petrea Hansen Adamidis   

2. What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings? Recently I have started to do art journaling which I quite enjoy, though because the paper is so much smaller, I paint very differently, a little more planned than usual. Sometimes I will use different objects as stencils (punchinella) or stamps, collage to give texture to the background. I also use mixed media. I love layering paint and taking away paint , or going over it with a wash so under layers show through.

Art Journaling, spontaneous, Acrylic 2012
image courtesy of Petrea Hansen Adamidis   



Art Journaling, response to Shamanic journeying guided meditation, 2012. Acrylic,
punchinella stencils for background
image courtesy of Petrea Hansen Adamidis   

I will say though that my most favorite way of painting is on large paper, using acrylics. Sometimes I will get in there with my fingers to blend or add texture. When I paint this way I generally don’t have in mind what I am going to paint. It is very spontaneous. I find that when I am able to stay true to this process and spontaneity there is vibrancy, which comes through in the finished painting that is quite fulfilling.

3. What is your favorite thing to paint? Why? Although I don’t plan what I am going to paint, my paintings tend to be very nature focused with animals or creatures and organic growth swirled in there. Sometimes I will get an idea of something I want to paint, but often it morphs into something else. I generally love painting with bright colours.

4. What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far? I try not to compare my paintings to each other as I know that for me each one has it’s own significance and place in my life. That being said, the paintings I like the most tend to be the ones I was able to let myself go in, letting the paint brush lead me rather than me paint something preplanned. This owl "came out of nowhere" and I was really pleased with it when I was done because it felt very organic to me. The painting seemed to be a turning point for me in terms of really letting go. I felt like the owl had an important message to tell me.

Liquid Guache/tempera paint on paper 2012
image courtesy of Petrea Hansen Adamidis
  

5. What's next in your painting future? After years of being on “Sabbatical” (I was busy with my kids and my clinical Art Therapy Work) I have finally come back to running my Art Therapy workshops, and have created a new one on Intuitive Process Painting called “Painting With Your Muse”. I held the first workshop in early August here in Toronto after running an e-course version online first! I am thrilled that I will be holding another “live” Painting With Your Muse workshop on October 20th in Toronto. As well on September 22 the 2nd round of Painting With Your Muse online will run for 5 weeks.   

Here’s some other places you can find me:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/DrawingSelfOut

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arttherapist.ca
Blog: http://www.arttherapist.ca/blog
Google+: https://plus.google.com/111997020906848645416/posts
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/DrawingSelfOut

Thank you for sharing your inspiring story with us, Petrea - We look forward to seeing a lot more from your inner muse!

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NOW IT'S YOUR TURN...
WE WANT YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR STORY!

**Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Click here for details!**

Wow! Another beautifully creative and hopping party! Now, here is our check-in for this week's party:

As always, please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Hope you have a great week and if you are in North America a wonderful long Labour Day Weekend!