Sweet Spot IV

Sweet Spot IV

7"x7" - acrylic on paper - $30

The last of four paintings done at the same time.

Now, just need to scale up - and that's when it gets scary, as in scary fun, lol.

Sweet Spot III

Sweet Spot III

7"' x 7" - acrylic on paper - $30

Number three of four small paintings done together.

Sweet Spot II

Sweet Spot II

7" x 7" - acrylic on paper - $30

This is the second of the four small paintings created at one go, on one piece of paper divided into four sections. No subject here - just intuitive painting.

Sweet Spot I

Sweet Spot I

7" x 7" - acrylic on paper - $30

A few days ago I masked off four more or less equal sections of a large piece of paper designed for acrylic paint, thinking I would paint four small works, at once. I didn't have any particular idea or subject in mind, I just wanted to play with composition, colour and marks and thus painted intuitively as much as possible. 

Below is what the larger paper looked like when done. 

I wanted to stick to 'the less is more' mantra, and believe I stopped at the right moment. I have to say that I love the resulting four small paintings, the first of which is above. 

Summer Sizzle

Summer Sizzle

12"x12" - acrylic on canvas - $45

     This one is all about line, shape and colour - and you can probably tell what is what in this little stylized landscape. 

    Hope wherever you are, your summer is turning out to 

be a good one.

Wind in Her Sails

Wind in Her Sails

12" x 16" - acrylic on paper - $75

This stand of trees has been an inspiration for many past paintings and perhaps because I am staying on Redstone Lake in Haliburton, it's summer and I am in close proximity to the little island on which the trees sit, it spoke to me once more - or maybe I just returned to tried and true imagery - and had some painting fun once again. 

Harlequin Reverie

Harlequin Reverie

24" x 30" - acrylic on canvas - $450

This is my new favourite painting, but I do have to say that several recent works are also in this category LOL! That's a good thing, yes? This one in fact falls into the re-done category. 

Several years ago I painted this work....

.....and was happy with it at the time. I particularly loved the lower half of the composition, its abstract nature and of course the pink- hued palette. However, it did not sell, and was moved around my house, my studio and finally into a dark corner. 

Recently I took another look at it after painting 'Playing with Blocks' (another one I love) and saw how I could keep some of the lower bits, maintain the palette, and re-work the top half into something far more interesting

 

I started by basically blotting out the blue trees, then drew overtop of the composition with a pastel to creating varied tonal/dark and light shapes that implied space, and finally just started painting. 

After about a week of looking at it and really liking it, I realized that it reminded me of the work of Joan Miro, the Spanish surrealist painter whose work you can see here. It wasn't until I had been away for a couple of weeks and then saw it with refreshed eyes that the word 'harlequin' popped into my head and I realized that it was Harlequins Carnival I was connecting to. There is much joy to be found in Miro's famous painting, and I feel the same happiness when I look at mine. In case you are wondering, my harlequins are the round striped shapes moving in a dream-like landscape. They are more abstract rather than anthropomorphic. 'Reverie' means a state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts; a daydream. 
Hence the title. Enjoy!

BTW - the colour you see in the painting posted is almost perfect - but reds are difficult to capture exactly, so please know that the work is more red than orange, and much better in life.