Squaresville

Squaresville

16" x 16" - acrylic on paper - SOLD

Playing with arrangements of squares using a warm/hot palette, my antidote for the white winter ahead (and perhaps already present where you are?). Lots of paint layers and hints at what lies beneath each.

Island Sunset

Island Sunset

16" x 16" - acrylic on canvas - $65

Part memory, part imagination, part colour exploration....

 a closer 'detail' look 

Phoenix Rising

Phoenix Rising

30" x 30" - acrylic on canvas - $475

I did not intend to paint a 'bird', even a mythical bird. My intent was to create an active, energetic painting surface with (brush) marks using a red/pink/yellow palette - and beyond that - just see what developed. I think I sometimes have a tendency to 'overpaint', trying to perfect something, when really what I want and love is the spontaneity and energy that appears at the beginning of the painting process. Thus my second intent was to stop early enough and keep the energy visible. I did that here and I am really happy with the final work!

The title literally popped into my head as I studied it. Despite it not being a work based on an identifiable subject, the composition - the arrangement of colours and marks - suggested a surge of upward movement and flight. This particular title has been one used recently in our family as we re-build our summer cabin that burned down last year. It literally is rising from the ashes and with it, a sense of renewal. I am hoping that sense of renewal is felt here too.

Swimming in the Deep End

Swimming in the Deep End
24" x 36" - acrylic on canvas - $400

I have recently taken a major plunge into the deep and scary depths of abstract (non-objective/no subject matter) painting. Over the last year I have stuck my toe into this vast sea with varied results and levels of satisfaction. Those works were on small canvases and larger pieces of paper. I knew that I needed to scale up and work on larger canvases and that was going to require a different level of commitment and bravery. There seemed no other way to get into this water, and so I 'jumped in'.  

This painting is the first larger work that began with some square shapes and a limited palette that I was determined to adhere to. Below are some progress shots that tell the story of how the painting evolved. 

NOTE: The discrepancy between the colour cast of the blues in these photos (warm/teal/turquoise vs cool/cobalt/ultramarine) is due to the effect of different lighting at the time the photo was taken. The final painting is warmer in hue (i.e more 'turquoise') than the photo at the top of the post suggests.

at this stage I was thinking of making some larger colour/shape changes and added coloured papers to the canvas to see how they might look.

and at this point I began to add some circular shapes, lots of them.

I am really happy with how this one turned out and really enjoyed the challenge. I don't intend to give up painting 'abstracted landscapes', but I will continue to pursue this for awhile. 

French Abstracts

Some painterly responses to the Provencal landscape, done in September when I was there.

A Distant View

10" x 11" acrylic on paper

Luberon

11" x 11" - acrylic on paper

The Topiary Trees

Goult Topiary Trees

12" x 12" - acrylic on paper - $45

Goult is a small, charming village in the Luberon Valley in Provence. I have painted there several times over the years and each time have found a view in the local cemetery there where there are the most fabulous topiary trees. The shapes of these trees really lend themselves to abstraction and the simplification of form, so that's what I did. 

Old Olive Tree

Old Olive Tree

acrylic on paper - 11" x 14"

This is another plein air painting I did in Provence in September. Again what I really liked about this one was the painterly looseness of the brush strokes, variety of edges, simplified forms and limited palette suggestive of that place. Restricting my colours but still creating a richly hued was a challenge. Cheers!