Rockin' the Shoreline

Rockin' the Shoreline

acrylic paint on wc heavy paper - 8" x 9.75" - $45

This is another small painting started and completed in the 'fast and loose' painting session from yesterday. Each in this group of 6 is quite different from the others, intentionally, as I had a number of ideas that I wanted to try out without a big time and material commitment. This one reminds me of a very large (4'x6') painting hanging in my living room (but is only about 85% complete - yes another  one of those not-quite-finished-paintings  - but at least the group is starting to shrink) in that there are lots of dark outlines around small and large colour patches and when seen together make up this wonderful kaleidoscope of a landscape. Here is the work in progress...

I think this small painting has some potential for being worked up into a larger canvas, and if that happens, I will definitely get the other one done too. There are just so many things to paint!!!! Love the line, shape and pattern here, and of course the palette of pinks and greys. 

Uphill Climb

Uphill Climb

12" x 16" - acrylic and collage on canvas - $100

An abstracted landscape with Asian 'washi' papers.

Day Breaks

Day Breaks

36" x 48" - acrylic on canvas - $700

This was one of those paintings that starts out (as most do) as one thing, going in one direction, and then over a week evolves in a good and creatively satisfying way. I did start with an idea for a large, wide 'landscape', with a high horizon line and small sky that was loosely based on a photo, but quickly put aside.

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I knew that I would not be comfortable with a lot of undefined foreground space, and that became the challenge. Once the colour palette and general value pattern was in place I decided to abstract the foreground or 'land' space into various sized shapes, suggesting landscape elements. I have been experimenting with this in the last few months and wanted to try it on a larger scale.

However, at some stage it seemed a bit boring - so I got out my Derwent inktense coloured pencils and scribbled- drew all over the painting, then with the canvas on the easel, and in a very controlled way sprayed a light mist of water on those lines and watched the intense colours come alive and drip downwards, mopping up the unwanted bits. That was fun! In the photo below you can see some of the smudged lines, that are more visible and interesting in reality.

detail

The finishing was slow and a challenge because at that point I liked so much of the painting and didn't want to loose the great bits. It has been finished for a few weeks and I have to say I am really happy with this one!

Cheerio! 

Shaping Up

Shaping Up

8" x 10" -  acrylic on archival paper - $30

30 in 30 - Day 27 - Farther Afield

Farther Afield

8" x 11" - acrylic & ink tense pencil on canvas paper - SOLD

It's now day 27 in the "30 paintings in 30 days" Challenge and the end is in sight. Not that it hasn't been fun, but I am missing painting big canvases, and taking more time with each work. But,  I also think there is a lot to be said for painting quickly and being more bold which always seems easier on smaller surfaces. So it's back to the easel......

Olive Tree 'Variations' at Oppede le Vieux

Oppede le Vieux  is a beautiful village, slightly off the beaten tourist track, and for that reason alone makes an ideal spot in which to paint. There is a wonderful olive grove below the main part of the village, and that's where I sat for several hours in June, painting one of my favourite subjects. Here are two variations on the theme, with earlier stages too. 

Olive Trees at Oppede le Vieux

14" x 17", acrylic on canvas paper - $75

an earlier stage

Oppede Olive Abstract

14" x 17" - acrylic on canvas - $75

second stage

first stage

'Almost There' - the new name for a 'Landscape'

Almost There (Landscape) 

24" X 30"  - acrylic on canvas - $450

I am so happy to post this painting and show how it evolved from a small watercolour study to the final rectangular version you see above. 

It is based on a very simple scene photographed from my car window (in which I was the passenger of course) several years ago. I liked the vertical dead trees, dark backdrop of woods, long grasses in the foreground and bright spots of colour in the photo and always felt I could do something with it. 

The first rendition was a watercolour study, presented in a square format, and very abstracted, focusing on the far background band of trees and splashy, colourful foreground, connected with some vertical lines suggesting the clump of trees in the photo. 

I really liked this study and used it as the basis for a larger (36"x36") acrylic canvas painting - you can see how similar they were. However, though I loved the abstraction and looseness of the acrylic work, I remained unsure as to next steps. I really wanted to just leave it as it was, but so much of the canvas was not painted and I felt that if I continued to just fill in un-painted areas I would probably lose what I liked. So, after many months I regret to say that I whited it out the painting. Oh well. 

Recently I decided to have another kick at painting this composition and abstracting it using colour and line, but this time changed the format to a horizontal rectangle, something inherently more suggestive of a landscape. This is stage one.

Then using black paint and a brush I made lots of calligraphic marks. Fun.

Then, added more paint and colour and finally finished the painting.

A great painting experience and i think, a successful result.

Cheers!

Dreaming in Colour Landscape

Dreaming in Colour

22" x 30" - watercolour on Arches paper - $300

Since the end of the 'challenge' I have been working steadily, trying to finish three larger paintings. I had forgotten how much time they take after the daily small works, but am delighted to post this one, completed today, yeah!  It is based on a photo that I have used for inspiration several times in the past, because as I work, I find that I keep thinking of different ways I could approach the subject, hence the return and riff. 

     

 For a change I worked in transparent watercolour on a beautiful piece of Arches deckle-edge paper. The colours you see are quite true - it's very colourful and the whites are the white of the paper. I have another piece of Arches and have another planned watercolour, but that's for later in the spring. 

30 in 30: Day 29 - Yellow Field

Yellow Field

10" x 10" - acrylic on canvas - $50

This painting is based on a photo I took last October, on our drive home from the cottage, north of Toronto. I particularly liked the composition with its verticals and varying horizontal divisions of fore, middle and background space, all of which seemed to make for good compositional elements.

 In fact I have tried to paint this several times, but did not like any of the results until today. Maybe third time lucky, or a better palette choice, or painting with the palette knife allowed me to achieve the texture that I couldn't seem to get with the brush. Anyway, here is #29 in the 30 in 30 challenge. One more to go..... 

30 in 30: Day Six - Nightfall

Day Six - Nightfall

9" x 9" - acrylic and pencil on paper - $30

A visual riff on Day Four's composition (see that here). Trying to be loose and pushing the tree shapes to their abstract limit. Would love to try this on a big canvas......

30 on 30:: day five

Day Five - Lakeside

6" x 7" - water colour - $30

More watercolour play - inspired by a photo of Guelph Lake from a photo taken a few years ago.  

30 in 30: Day Four - Woodland

Woodland

20" x 24" - acrylic on canvas -  $400

This painting was inspired by the photo below, which I took last October. 
At that time I used it as a basis for a painting I titled Autumn Colours. 

I really liked the photo and my first painting, but wanted to do another version, abstracting the subject further and using a different palette. The DPW challenge this week was to work with complementary colours, something I tend to do anyway, so I chose a blue and orange palette, and started working on it yesterday. I finished it today and have to say I am really pleased with the result. And it is my fourth painting in the 30 in 30 challenge.

Theme and Variation: Rockwood 3

Rockwood 3

48" x 36"  -  acrylic on canvas  - SOLD

At the end of the summer I wrote a post about creating several paintings using one image, essentially theme and variation. This is the third painting in that series. After a good start in August, I had some interruptions and then challenges with the palette, the composition and how to paint the foliage. However I kept painting, and had a chance  to take a visual break from it while in France. When I returned, and saw it again with fresh eyes, I was very happy with the painting. Finished.   Here is the original inspiration and a few shots showing how it progressed.

At this point I didn't like the placement of the trees, especially the one in the middle!!! I blacked them out and started again, then I began to section or block in the spaces between the trees, and kept painting.

                                  

Lollipop Trees

Lollipop Trees 

  10" x 20"  -  acrylic on canvas  - SOLD

This little painting is based on a detail from another painting I did in May (or June?). I particularly liked the top part of that painting and the orange trees set against the blue sky. As this one evolved it became more whimsical....and the trees reminded me of lollipops. 

One Fine Day, Indeed

One Fine Day
36" x 36"  -  acrylic on canvas  - $600

I have several - well actually 4 - paintings in various stages of completion - and this is the first to reach that stage. Yeah! I will be travelling to and around Scotland in the next week, so needed to clear some things off my easel before I go.  I am quite happy with how this painting came together and am very happy with the fact that I am continuing to keep brushwork and forms 'loose', and here, less geometric - which feels perfect for suggesting spring flowers in a field.   Have a great weekend!

Tangled Garden Abstraction

Tangled Garden

9" x 10" - watercolour on arches paper - $25

The more watery paint that I added, the more abstract and looser my forms became. I think it works!

The Wild West

The Wild West
24" x 30" - acrylic on canvas  SOLD

I decided to work again with the west coast landscape photo I posted the other day - and after two days of painting, this is the result. If you compare them you will see that the photo provided the structure and the tree-reflection shapes, but the colour was my own exuberant invention. It was fun to paint and gave me the boost I needed as I prepare for my upcoming painting trip at the end of the month. 

I actually worked on a second painting while busy with this one. Going back and forth between two (or more) helps to stop me from getting too obsessive, and tight. Will show you that one tomorrow.