Summer of Colour Week 4

This week's colours are two reds and a metalic- very sensual.  I used cad red and crimson red and gold paint (the vertical text). 

I used turquoise underneath as a cool complement to these warm colours and allowed it to show through in the shaped areas.  The painting is collage and acrylic, 10" x 10" on canvas.

I learned a lot with this painting and I felt I had a break-through in my quest to be more painterly and less precise.

New Canvas Works

I am continuing to work on the ideas from my mindfulness sketchbook pages.  I am still working on the boundaries in the landscape subject and the sketchbook pages are an extension of that. 

I am specifically looking at the shapes that fields form, I love how no matter how hard the farmer tries, they are never square due to things like hillocks, burns, buildings, pylons, rocks, uneven ground.  The shapes of the fields are endlessly fascinating to me.

So drawing those shapes and expanding on them became a great exercise in meditation and the results are now creeping into my everyday work.

It is harder to go bigger, so I am doing it gradually, from 6 or 7 inch square in my previous post to one that is 10inches square and one that is 16inches square.  I am challenging myself with the square format to see how the shapes work.  I don't want them plonked in the middle, so I am experimenting with the placement of them as well.  I also want to do some long thin formats too.

More ideas than time, as usual!

The first one is more or less finished, it is 10"x10" and very precise.  I worked in a very strict, planned manner, drawing things out before transferring them to the canvas and keeping the paint as even as I could.

The second one, is still in progress, sorry for the slightly fuzzy photo, even though we have daylight until the wee hours here in Scotland, we do have cloud and that has reduced the light quality. 

Here I have worked in a much more intuitive way, applying paint, oil pastel and charcoal and letting the shapes form themselves.  I am also applying the paint in a more textured manner.  Although much harder to work this way, I do find it more satisfying and more painterly.

I still have a way to go with this, but I like how it is progressing.

Summer of Colour - Wk 1

The colours for this week are two blues and a green.  I was afraid this was a bit unexciting for me, but by mixing my own blues and by making a nice bright green, I felt the colour addict within me was satisfied.

I mixed ultramarine blue with a little paynes grey for the darker blue, then I  mixed cerulean blue with a little white for a contrasting blue.  For the green, I used pthalo turquoise with lemon yellow.

Sketchbook - Finished

I decided to work in my sketchbook and on a small canvas (10" x 15"), the sketchbook is finished, but the canvas has more work to be done on it.

The Canvas - Work in Progress

Boundaries Series - Push it

During my mindfulness sketchbook sessions, I find I spend more time drawing with charcoal on top of previously painted pages.

Liking the results in the sketchbook, I decided to try it out on a prepared canvas (the one in the last post, that looked like a snow scene).

First I painted over the lovely burnt paper effect (it is OK, I now know how to replicate it if or when I need to), with a few layers of acrylic paint.  I always start with darker colours and work towards lighter as I progress.  Well, when I say always, I mean mostly (sometimes I deviate from this).

Now, I rather liked what I had so far and I really didn't want to change it that much, but, you know and I know, that to progress with art, we have to push it - we have to push it real good!

So I pushed it and I am not entirely happy with the result, I overworked it and lost the translucency that I a wanted in the negative space, I was battling with the texture, it was making the drawn and calligraphic lines that I wanted broken and untidy, the tonal contrast is a bit too harsh to my eyes.

But I am happy that I tried and I have pinned this up on the wall, where it will stay with many other experiments until I AM happy with the results!

Zooming in with the Camera

I recently posted this large (24" x 36") completed canvas as part of my boundaries series and I think I mentioned that it has texture that wasn't clearly visible in the photo, so I took the time to get up close and personal with the camera and capture some of those textures.  It helps to get raking light from the side and at certain times of the day, this is possible.

Firstly, this is a shot from the upper central area, and here you can see the raised lettering, raised paint and the surface application of hand-scribing.

Here, from the top right, you can see the detail of the raised handwritten text, layers of paint (including buried raised text) as well as loosely woven fabric (scrim) at the bottom.

A photo taken just below the last one, shows some interesting edges of the fabric and complex colour layering.  The orange shows up beautifully here!

Large Mixed Media Canvas Completed

Photographing this piece has been a challenge, the blue has a more turquoise tinge to it, but if I adjust that, the red colour goes too orangey.  Oh the fun of photographing artwork properly!

This canvas is over 2 feet wide and exactly 3 feet tall.  I used scaled up versions of some of my favourite stencils, including text for texture and I thoroughly enjoyed working larger.

One of my artistic influences is Mark English, in particular, his landscapes.  The tree stencils I use really do remind me of his work and I get a little buzz every time I use them in my own work.

I revisited his website yesterday and began to wonder if I could make my abstracts look more like landscapes and I noodled around with Photoshop, trying out some digital ideas.  This is the result of layering some other paintings in places on this larger canvas.  Now I need to experiment to figure out how to do this for real!

More Juggling

I am still working on the larger abstract and I need to get it further along before I can photograph it properly.  It is stapled to the wall in a recess and a large shadow falls down one side of the painting.  I will be able to remove it when it is very near completion and photograph it then.

On my last post, I talked about the projects I have on the go, but I had managed to "forget" about a commission piece I am working on for a yoga studio.  That also is in progress and the deadline is fast approaching!  What is it Terry Pratchett said about deadlines?  "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."  Well I don't, I am terrible at working under pressure.  Fortunately, most of the work is done and it is just the final layer that needs to be done, but of course, that is the hardest one.

Anyway, because I don't like to post without including a picture (we artists like a visual, don't we?), here is another completed talisman.

Sneak Previews

I have some small pieces that are going to be more elaborate with more 3D elements, but I shall not say too much, just leave this picture here as a hint of things to come.

Scribble Sunday

10"x10" on Canvas

I love the scribble on this painting, it was my handwriting, gone over the top several times, within a masked area, which forced it to be confined within specific boundaries.

Stencil Sunday

One of my favourite ways to include mark-making is to use my own home-made stencils.  They remind me of screen-printing and I love how I can reuse them again and again.

I use a hot stylus to burn the design and as it is held like a pen or pencil, my own hand is evident in the finished stencil.

Today's new stencil is on the top left of this painting, the interlocking squares.  This is a negative image, the stencil blocks out the paint, whereas other stencils, like the chevron to the right of it, uses the positive image.

I am still working on the theme of boundaries, so all my stencils reflect that subject in some way and this design is based on field shapes.

Fearless Friday

Well, I really liked my sewn painting from earlier this week, but I knew in my heart it wasn't finished.

It needed something to unify all the jumble of paint colours and to give the texture the opportunity to shine.

I nearly didn't do it, I was really rather scared of spoiling a piece of work that I was very fond of, but the idea of brushing paint all the way down it wouldn't leave me.

So here is the result.  Sometimes it is worth messing something up in order to make it even better.

Mixed Media Monday

Sewn Paper on Canvas 8"x10"

Okay, I know it is Tuesday, really, but I intend to do a mixed media Monday post every week, where I try out a new technique.

All throughout the January challenge, I had been wanting to sew a lot of strips of painted paper together to make a whole piece and I also wanted to burn some Tyvek!

So, I decided to combine the two techniques and this is the result.  I am not sure I consider it a finished piece yet, I may end up cutting the sheet up and using it in something else.

Day 31 - All Thirty Paintings Together

Today is the last day of January and here are all thirty paintings together.  In reality, they aren't all evenly sized (or shaped), some were larger and some were smaller, some are parts of a larger painting and some have even been worked into since posting.

This has been a very fruitful exercise, I have so many ideas for future paintings and so many more techniques under my belt as well as more to try.

Day 30 - The Finish

This is the last painting in the 30 in 30 days challenge - Day 31 will be a composite of all of them together.

I have learned a lot while doing this challenge, I have worked hard, often rising early and/or working late to get many pieces finished.  I did extra at the weekends in an attempt to get a head start for the coming week.  I found that having several on the go at once to be very fruitful, it stopped me worrying about each one individually, if I struggled with one, I could put it aside, while I worked on another.

I intended to stick with 6"x6" at the beginning, but soon found myself  working larger and this has encouraged me to think about working on even bigger canvases in the future.

The list of mixed media techniques that I began with have mostly been tried out, apart from wax, so that is something I shall be trying at my own leisure in future.

Thanks everyone for coming to visit my blog and for leaving such encouraging comments, it has helped me to keep going, even when it was tough.

Day 29 - Hints of Turquoise

I am getting excited for the end of the 30 in 30 day challenge.  I am looking forward to getting a full night's sleep and having a bit of time for normal day-to-day activities at last!

On the other hand, I will also be sad that it is over, because I have really enjoyed seeing everyone's work every day and getting to know so many nice arty bloggers. 

Today's painting is on canvas, I hand-stitched a spiral before applying texture and gesso, followed by many paint layers, I love that little bit of turquoise just below the top.

Day 28

I spent a little time cutting some more stencils.  I now have a compass rose and some other boundary-related symbols, although none are used in today's painting.

I tried to make my own modeling paste, using talc, PVA glue and matt medium. It has created some lovely texture (the circles), but doesn't retain it's form as well as Golden modeling medium, which has marble in it.

It also doesn't store very well, I made this a couple of weeks ago and it is hardening in the jar I keep it in.

The script in the top left-hand corner is in silver acrylic pen, from some angles it looks darker and other angles it is almost white. 

Day 27 - Tyvek

This is my first attempt at using Tyvek (bottom left) in a painting.  First of all I painted it and then I ironed it to get the "bubble" effect and then I attached it to the substrate with the first layers of texture.

After several layers of painting, I decided it wasn't integrating enough into the rest of the work, so I glued a large sheet of tissue, before applying more paint.

If I had applied the Tyvek further on in the painting, on top of complex layers of paint, it would have been very interesting to burn it with a heat gun to reveal those layers.  Unfortunately, it was just white substrate underneath in this instance.  Something to try again, I think!

Day 26 - Colours that Sing

10"x10" on Canvas

We are in the final few days now of the 30 in 30 days challenge, hosted by Leslie Saeta on her blog. 

Much to my surprise, I have managed to keep up, even if it has meant I have to get up early or work late on some days.

Today's painting was begun alongside yesterday's neutral colour painting and the muted palette has influenced it a little, but I think it helps the vibrant colours to sing a bit more.

Day 25 - Neutral Colours

8"x8" on 300gsm Watercolour Paper

I did it!  Yes, I can paint in neutral colours if I try.

Colours used were Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Paynes Gray (with a very tiny touch of Cyan) and White.

I never normally use tube blacks or greys, preferring to mix my own, but I am very pleased with how nice the Paynes Gray is, especially when added to other colours.  It tints beautifully too and makes lovely soft greys.

In 50 Years - let us begin

I have blocked in my next painting in the theme of "In 50 Years" - it is a local view that one day in the distant future may be developed with housing and/or windfarms.


It is another 3 foot wide painting, and I have just put in the larger blocks of colour for now.  Can hardly wait to develop it some more (although, oddly, I rather like it at this flat stage).