Monday, March 25, 2013

Freesias

Here's a small watercolor sketch done on TerraSkin.  I haven't worked on this surface for awhile and am happy to be back to it.  It's such a great paper having a lot of the properties of Yupo but the lifting abilities are a bit different.
This photo doesn't really show the painting off very well.  It is brighter and the flowers aren't washed out like they show here. I used a different camera than usual and it "blahed" everything out a bit.

Freesias
Image size 4.5" x 7.5"
Watercolor on TerraSkin

Monday, March 18, 2013

Banner Design

This scene probably looks familiar to you if you follow this blog.  I did a poured watercolor painting with a similar scene a few weeks ago. This is a small acrylic painting, 4" x 16", that was painted to enter into a contest.  There is a town close to us that is picking artists to paint 4' x 16' banners to hang from light posts during the summer.  If my design is chosen, I will have about 6 weeks to paint that large banner on both sides.  I think it would be such a fun project.  I have no idea what type of design they are looking for or how many people are entering or how many designs they are picking, but I will be keeping my fingers crossed for the next week until I hear whether or not my design is chosen.

I wanted this to look like a wood block print with flat areas of color and black outlines.  If this design is chosen, I will be able to make the shapes where the colors connect be an interesting part of the design.   That wasn't possible in this small painting.

This took a lot longer to paint that I thought it would.  Originally, I wanted to use the colors that were common in the old Japanese wood block prints but it was looking too blah so I re-painted it using brighter colors.  I think these bright colors are a better choice for a banner anyway.

I'll let you know when I find out whether or not I get to work on this project.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Cocos

We just returned from Mexico and while we were there, I painted this one.  Technically, I started it at home a few years ago and never seemed to find the motivation to finish it.  So I decided to take it on a tropical vacation and, while being in the right atmosphere, it seemed to finish itself.

When I look at coco palm trees, I can feel my blood pressure drop and I get a feeling of tranquility.  That's probably because, in my mind, coconut palms and vacation are linked together.

This was painted with acrylics.  I just started using some of the Golden Open acrylics and I'm enjoying them a bit more than regular acrylics.  They stay wet longer so I have more time to blend and play with the paint.  I still fight with this medium more than any other but I am determined to someday finish an acrylic painting without uttering one single swear word.

Cocos
Image Size 14" x 14"
Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas with sides painted

Monday, March 4, 2013

A View From Above - Encaustic

This is the third encaustic that I've done since I took that one day workshop in October and they are so much fun.  This one is the largest one so far.  It is 10" x 10" and my first two were 6" x 6".  I have a few supports that are 18" x 18" so my next ones may be even bigger.

On this one, I used encaustic gesso to prime the wood.  This time, I didn't put a layer of clear wax on first and I was much happier with the result.  When I had the clear layer of wax as my first layer, it made the colors I put on top do weird things.  I had much more control this time.

For me, the fusing is the fun part of encaustics.  Trying to get the wax to level out without moving it where is shouldn't go is a challenge.  On my next one, I think I will pick a subject with more detail to see what I can accomplish.

The finished encaustics have such a wonderful finish.  They can be buffed to a beautiful sheen and have a very unique look.

A View From Above
Image Size 10" x 10"
Encaustic
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