Landscape Theme and Variation 1, 2 &3

I spent most of July at a cottage 'up north'. I only had minimal art supplies because I knew that I wouldn't really have anywhere to set up an easel and spread out, as I am want to do. I have already posted some abstracts that I painted then but I also did these 'variations on a landscape theme'. I was really happy with the way they turned out and the range of interpretation. Two of them have found their forever homes, however #1 is still available! Cheers.

#1 - 11" x 11" - acrylic on paper - $45

#2 - 11" x 11" acrylic on paper - SOLD

#3 - 11" X 11" acrylic on paper - SOLD

French Cows are so Chic

French Cows are so Chic (my working title for now)

30" x 40" - acrylic on canvas - $600

A number of years ago I painted the landscape below and at the time I was quite happy with it. Over the years, however, I kept looking at those fleshy-coloured trees and wondered if I could improve upon their colour. I loved the lower half of the painting, basically a blue-purple abstract. But not those trees.

Try as I might, I could not come up with a better colour for those trees and a month ago I decide to just paint them out, and then see what happens......

The trees are gone, and colour has been intensified. Is this going to be a big non-objective painting, or an abstracted landscape? 

Not sure, kept painting.

Created some larger shapes. Still liking lots of different areas, but still unsure where it was going.

At this point I considered turning the whole composition into a highly stylized and abstracted 'still life', or 'figure', or 'animal',  by drawing their outline on the surface of the canvas and then painting out the negative space (which would then produce the positive shape). 

Thinking about animals, I thought of cows (which I have painted in the past) and found a great photo, taken on a trip to Brittany in 2017, of a group of curious holsteins. At the time these gals saw me at a distance and marched over to where the car was parked next to on the side of a country road. Fortunately there was also a fence separating us.  

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Why not create a cow painting.....and that idea led to this, and finally the finished painting at the top of the post.

Good decision I think, all around, good challenge and fun painting 

Hollyhock Garden 'Flower Children'

Flower Children

36" x 36" - acrylic on canvas - SOLD

I actually painted this work over a month ago - I was on a bit of a roll then - but needed to let it rest for a while to make sure that no further work was necessary.

When I looked at it two weeks ago, I knew it was done, yeah! However I have been so busy painting other things  that I haven't found the time to write and post. 

I hate to admit this, but Instagram is faster.

BTW - you can find me on IG - patriciamacdonaldart

Anyway, this was a really fun one to paint and best of all I stayed loose and painterly. It's inspired by a photo of a hollyhock garden which I have painted other variations of, but this was the biggest and most expressive. I was really happy with the palette, the brushstrokes, the marks and the stylization.

It's now on its way to a new home in Nova Scotia. 

Thank you Maryl!