Finishes…

I’ve finished up a few paintings lately and here are two of them beside the previous versions. 

 

I’ve named the abstract above Tempest…  Filters and Frames, below, has changed quite a few times and I’m DONE with it.  Hope you like…

 

Cheers!

Mixed Media Exercises

At our last creative water media class we reviewed the strengths of watercolour, acrylic inks, gouache, as well as watercolour pencils and crayons.  Sharon led us through a few studies.  These two of mine turned out kinda fun.  This ocean sketch was done with ink and watercolour, and… some tiger lilies with ink, watercolour, and gouache. It was a lot of fun to experiment with the three together!  I’m going to miss these classes over the summer, but I’m looking forward incorporating some of these mixed media techniques into my paintings at home.  Cheers!

Connected [acrylic, 18”x14”]

“Up and Away”, which I posted May 14, has morphed into this painting.  I wove a chain of circles and lines linking most of the painting and thus the new name.  Enjoy!

Swing Song moving along…

 

I had to look all the way back to January 15th to see my last post on this painting – time is certainly flying!  I’ve accumulated quite a pile of paintings that I’ve set aside over the past several months.  This one certainly had me stumped.  I had another look at my photo reference and did some research on the ‘net today as I tried to figure out what was bugging me.  The result was a complete remake of the violin and bow as well as her hands.  I’m satisfied for now…  any input greatly appreciated as always! 

Beach Bums [w/c on Yupo, 11”x14”]

I revisited this beach scene from my May 5 post, changing mainly the skin tone on the figures and developing the waves, ocean, and horizon.  I like this so much better now.  It reminds me of that day on the beach in Mexico.  Fun!

Abstract Start

This is another one of these pieces that begin with texture [tar gel and light molding paste] and hopefully progresses through chaos to a cohesive painting.  At this point I’ve just laid down some washes of acrylic over the textured bits to get it started.  I love the colors so far!

Enjoy!

Up and Away [acrylic 18”x14”]

I’ve had this painting sitting up against the wall of my studio for weeks now and I’ve worked it over again today…  I’m hoping this is it but I won’t commit yet.   Enjoy!

Filters & Frames [acrylic on canvas board 14”x18”]

I hadn’t touched this painting since February 25th but took it on again today.  I needed to find a clearer centre of interest.  So, I

1. subdued the large rectangle on the right side
2. created additional highlights on the wine bottle
3. darkened the top left corner
4. made some shadow patterns on the implied tabletop
5. cooled the blue of the bottles down to harmonize better with the near turquoise used in some areas.

I like it much better this way.  You?

The photo below is what it looked like last time I posted it.

Cloud study

This 7.5”x11” study was mostly done in class last Monday.  I laid down a wet wash of watercolor in yellows and orange on most of the page.  While that was still wet I dropped in it’s compliment, purple, mixed with some white gouache for cloud forms.  I also made a mountainous skyline.  When that was dry I added some snowy peaks and cloud shadows on the mountains. 

Playing around with gouache

Monday’s art class was all about creative ways to use gouache [goo-osh] with other water media [acrylic and watercolour].  This little [7 1/2” x 10”] study began with a bright watercolor wash in yellow, orange, & reds over the top 2/3 of the page.  We added a bit of cooler color on the bottom 1/3 of the paper which would later become our land.  After that dried we mixed up white gouache with blue watercolors into a juicy, thick puddle and used it to paint around some tree forms.  What a fun way to paint…  I say that all the time…  ALL painting is fun! 

Westward Flight [watercolour 7.5”x15”]

Just a little study I did last week with watercolor.  So much fun to lay down these weird colors and make a landscape with them.  Enjoy!

More Unsettled [watercolour, 11”x15”]

Lots of interesting skies lately around here.  I watched Eleanor Lowden-Pidgeon paint a demo at Mentor’s day on Saturday and I wanted to give it a try.  The paint is applied with very little water so it doesn’t flow onto the paper, rather it gets pushed and dragged thickly [for watercolor] across the surface.  It takes about ten times the amount of paint but you get very rich darks.  I used some white gouache for the foreground highlights and some cloud forms.  I lifted out the road in the foreground with tissue after wetting the paint and agitating it with the brush.  Enjoy!

Lent Lilies [watercolour on Yupo, 11”x14”]

I enjoyed taking some floral photos on my recent trip to Ontario.  The daffy’s [Lent Lilies in GB] were out en masse and today I painted these on Yupo synthetic paper.  I’m enjoying painting on this surface…  it’s a very nearly out of control feeling.  Except when it’s totally out of control!!!  It’s a fun challenge though.  I laid down a field of yellow, greens [made with two yellows and thalo blue], and a bit of violet.  I lifted out the white flowers once it dried and the Yupo was neatly stained by the thalo blue.  It made for a nice white. 

Tomorrow I’m off to Mentor’s Day at the Leighton Centre.  It should be a fun day of learning.  Cheers!

Yupo Fun

I practiced a bit with watercolour paint on Yupo again today.  First I used Photoshop Elements to select two figures [me and my friend Maureen actually ;-) ], which I combined, printed, and cut out to use as masks.  I used double-sided tape to attach them to the Yupo surface.  I painted the background loosely and used a dry foam roller to blend and flatten the washes.  After I lifted the masks I painted the figures loosely, lifting and blending.  There are a few more details to add…  I’m having a lot of fun with this.  Cheers!

Garden Riot [11”x11”, watercolour on yupo]

It was lovely to get back to painting yesterday.  Sharon reviewed several techniques for watercolour painting on synthetic Yupo paper. 

This piece was painted loosely at the beginning [see above] puddling colors together in a “chaos” approach.  The jewel like colors I used suggest floral shapes.  So, after the initial washes dried I went back in with some darks to define the shapes.  The beauty [and challenge] of Yupo is that it lifts cleanly back to white.  I added a lattice in the background to give the piece some depth.  This is a fun process…. 

Enjoy!