The Coastal Route

It's taken almost the whole month for me to get around to painting something to submit to the Virtual Paintout blog.  This month's location is the French Riviera.  I was attracted to the interesting shapes of these cliffs leading into the ocean and the bushes in the foreground.  This is a watercolor and I tried to paint it in a loose manner.

The Coastal Route
Image size 12" x 16"
Watercolor
Unframed

Lost Canyon II - Oil Painting

I know this will surprise you but I actually did what I said I would do this week.  I always have good intentions but am easily distracted by new ideas and projects.  This is my oil painting version of last weeks' abstract.  Of course, it looks nothing like the first version but I like it for different reasons.  First, it is BIG -  30" x 40"!  I really like working large but this is really big for me since I usually work with watercolor and a full size sheet of watercolor paper is 22" x 30"
This painting has a drippier look where last week's painting had a more subtle, diffused look.  I like both but being a watercolorist, I probably would choose the watercolor because I love that look I can get as the paints mingle before they dry.  This painting has a more graphic look I think, which works with it's larger size.
I painted this with very thinned oil paints which feels more natural to me having worked with water-based mediums for so long.  I really don't like the feel of thick oil paints unless I'm doing a palette knife painting.  It feels like I'm fighting the paint when it's thick.  I'm sure it's just lack of experience with oils but the fluidity of thin paint just feels better to me.
What do you think?  The oil or the watercolor?  Which do you prefer?

Lost Canyon II
Image Size 30" x 40"
Oil
Unframed - gallery wrapped canvas painted on sides, no frame needed

Lost Canyon - Watercolor

I felt like doing an abstract this week.  I'm really happy with the colors and textures I achieved with this one.  I think I might try to get a similer look in oils on a large canvas.  To me, abstracts are much more impressive when they are really large.  I think if I work the oils with a lot of turpentine I can get the look of a watercolor.  It will be a fun experiment.

As an update, (July 2011) this painting received an honorable mention in watercolor at the Orange County Fair.

Lost Canyon
Image Size 15" x 22"
Watercolor

Great News

I forgot to mention that I received 2nd place in the professional division at the "Scenes of Tustin" juried competition at Chemers Gallery.  I found out Saturday night at the reception but forgot to post the results.  It was for this painting.

I think this is my favorite silk painting that I've done so it was really nice to be recognized for it.

Tropical Fragrance - Watercolor

This was such a fun painting.  I love these flowers.  I know I say that about almost every flower but I am a gardener so that's to be expected.  Plumeria are such fragrant beauties.  They remind me of my first trip to Hawaii and bring back wonderful memories.  I painted this on Ampersand's Aquabord which I love.  I also really like this 6" x 6" format.  When they are framed in the drop-in frames, they look stunning and none of the painting is hidden behind the frame.  You can see what I mean below:

Tropical Fragrance
Image Size 6" x 6"
Watercolor

Cabernet

This has been a busy week so I've only done a small palette knife painting this week.  I am going to be at an art show on Thursday and I've been trying to get a bunch of silk paintings framed.  If you are in So Cal and would like to spend a relaxing day watching about 20 artists painting and displaying their art in a beautiful park, come on by.  The art show is a part of the annual Tustin Garden Tour.  If you are interested in coming to the art show, it is free.  If you want to attend the garden tour, the cost is $30.00 and you can buy tickets that day.  There are 3 gardens on the tour and they are all really beautiful.  One of the gardens is across the street from the park where the art show is being held and you can buy tickets there.  The park is on Lower Lake Drive, North Tustin, CA so just go maps.google.com and input that and it will show you the spot.  It doesn't work in mapquest for me.  The event will be held from 10:00 - 3:00.

Cabernet
Image Size 6" x 6"
Oil
Sold

Fanciful Fish

This looks like a silk painting, doesn't it?  Well, it's not.  It's actually a watercolor that I did a long time ago.  This was way before I'd ever even heard about silk painting but I guess even then I liked the effect of the white lines and graphic quality this technique gives.  This was done without any resist.  I painted around all of the white lines which are about 1/16" wide.  I don't think I could do that now.  My eyes aren't as good as they used to be nor do I have the patience anymore.  I should try this design in silk and see how different it looks.

Mt. Fuji From the Golf Course

Here is a small palette knife painting that I did to submit to the Virtual Paintout challenge.  This month's location is Japan.  I found this beautiful view of Mt. Fuji from a golf course (hence the name) .  Can you imagine golfing in such a beautiful spot?  It would be like you were walking around in a post card.

All of the palette knife paintings that I've done so far have been 6" x 6" as is this one.  I am currently working on a 16" x 20" and it's really fun to be painting one so much larger.  I'm still using the same size palette knife which is only about an inch long.  I should probably switch to a larger on but I feel really comfortable with the small one therefore it's taking quite a long time to finish the painting.  It's also hard to get used to mixing so much paint.  It's amazing how much paint it takes when using the palette knife.

I've been thinking about cake a lot this week as I'm "frosting" my canvases.  I thought I'd gotten away from having that image in my head when I use the palette knife but it's returned with a vengeance this week.  I need to be sure that I'm not hungry when I'm painting or I might end up at the local bakery.

Mt. Fuji From the Golf Course
Image Size 6" x 6"
Oil
Unframed

Peter's Canyon - Silk Painting

I'm going to enter this silk painting in a local juried show in a couple of weeks.  If it gets selected, it will hang in Chemers Gallery in Tustin for two weeks.  If you are an artist living around Orange County, CA, you still have time to enter the competition.  Go to tustinart.blogspot.com to get the information and entry form.  The painting has to be a scene from Tustin, North Tustin or Peter's Canyon to be eligible.  The entry form and fees are due April 16th and the artwork is to be delivered between April 20th to 23rd for judging.  How it is framed is very important.  It needs to be a plain black or dark stained color frame.  If you have any doubts, take the frame into the gallery for an okay.

I have one more painting I want to do for this show so hopefully it will be done by next week.  It will probably be an oil painting but might be another silk painting.  I like to enter silks into this show because the judging is separated between amateur and professional rather than by medium.  Nobody ever knows into which category the silk paintings belong.  They usually get put into general (if there is that category) or mixed media ( which it's not).  To me, it seems like they belong in the watercolor/water media category because the dyes are water soluble but I've never had anyone agree with me on that.  What do you think?

Peter's Canyon

Image Size 21.5" x 31"

Silk dyes on silk

Galactic Litter Redone

This may look familiar to you.  Above is a re-worked painting that I originally painted about 6 months ago but there were parts of it that I didn't like - to the point that it almost made me shudder when I looked at it.  I loved the background but the shapes in the foreground looked like internal organs to me.  Yuck!!!
Below is the original:

The picture of the re-done painting (at the top of this post) is actually brighter but it isn't coming across very well on the computer.  I didn't change the background except to add a little bit of red to lead the viewer's eyes around.  While I like the colors better in the new version and the loss of the body parts, I miss the strong sense of depth that the painting had because now it no longer has the strong value contrast that I originally created.  It no longer looks like "Galactic Litter" to me.  Now it looks like an underwater scene.  Or maybe it's some of the litter that we've dumped in our oceans that's floating on top.  What do you think?  Do I need a new title?  Also, I would love comments (positive or negative) on what I've done.  If you like the original better, too bad!  It's gone forever. : )  I can sleep better now knowing that I won't ever have to look at those internal organs again.
One of the things that I really like about abstract paintings is how everyone sees something different in them but once I saw those original shapes as internal organs, I couldn't see them as anything else.