A LOT of paintings for me this year! Quite a nice
steady flow of them.
I managed to create fourteen oil paintings in total
in 2013 so yes this will be a fairly long entry. Feel free to skip past the
text and just look at the pictures if it pleases you :)
The first two I made were created early on in
January and March while the rest were completed later in the year.
Sunlit Woods – 8 x 10” Oil on stretched canvas.
First painting made in January this year - the
above was created on a gifted canvas that already had yellow and copper streaks
painted on it as a background when I received it. Since the background was set I
tried to imagine what kind of subject would sit well on top. I rarely paint
impressionistic landscapes but decided to let the brush strokes speak for me;
bending loose trees, plant dots and dappled shadows seemed fitting.
It turned into an interested piece that has an iridescent sheen in all the
right places when the light hits it. Of course it is nigh impossible to scan or
capture iridescent reflections in a photograph. Still it was a good experiment
that got me out of my comfort zone.
Red Lion Fish - 8 x 10” Oil on cradle board
Call this experiment number two for this year. Not
very much iridescent so this one doesn’t shimmer in any light but instead is
translucence in places. I created the blue background first using thin layers
of oil to allow some of the wood grain to show through and create natural
patterning. Painting the fish turned out to be a rather delicate procedure of
layering very thin washes. Now I work flat and in thin layers to begin with so
trying to make those layers even thinner to make translucency was no easy task!
Still I think I achieved my goal in capturing the ghost-like appearance of a
see-through fish.
Cherry Blossom - 8 x 10” Oil on stretched canvas.
The above was an unusual and
specific commission that took longer than I expected. I walked the buyer
through every stage of the painting to ask what they wanted. They sent me several
random photographs of blossom and we outsourced what type of bench should be
presented. I sent the composition before paint was applied and then kept them
up to date until we reached a point we were both happy with. It certainly
taught me a few things! I think it turned out rather lovely even though this
isn’t an atypical subject for me to paint. The best news is that it was a gift
for someone other than my client and the report back was that the new owner
loved it :D
Young Snow Leopard – 16 x 18” Oil on stretched
canvas
Well the beauty above spent many years as a WIP
waiting in the wings. I started this painting in 2011 and by 2013 I pulled the
confidence to finish. Yes, that’s quite a long time to leave a piece sitting
unfinished, it even travelled all the way from England to Canada in its raw
unfinished state! Still it ended up being a great finish. I guess good things
are worth waiting for after all.
As always there are many things I want to change but I was so relieved I
managed to get it down and that the cool colour balance I planned from the start
actually worked!
I put the green plant on last and I recall I was so afraid I might mess up
those slender lines and have to try and fix the background my hand was
shaking!! Painted those plant lines about three times to try and shade them and
phew what a relief I didn’t have to correct any shaky hand errors. ^_^
For comparison below is a blurry photograph of the
2011 version I worked into for those of you who like WIPs (stop giggling at the
pun you!!)
Next up in order of creation date we have a piece I
titled Courage.
Courage – 12 x 9” Oil on canvas board
The above is one piece of art I love and hate
simultaneously. If 2013 taught me anything it is that I really dislike working
on canvas boards and that purple is the worst colour to try and mix from your
basic set of colours. I painted the rocks here with relative ease but that
pretty flower took more than a few re-paintings and I ended up having to borrow
a purple from someone else because I just couldn’t get the shade I wanted from
mixing.
I have since purchased Dioxazine purple for my paint set and even named a
purple-haired character Dioxa in honour of my struggle.
On the plus my persistence paid off since many
people seem to really enjoy this image and I was personally pleased with the
final too. This painting has also served me well in various print formats so I’d
call that a big win :)
Below is another example of me not quite learning
my lesson when it comes to canvas boards and flowers.
Valentines in October – 12 x 9” Oil on canvas
board.
This was a hugely experimental piece for me and
aptly named because I literally painted the dead flowers that my husband gave
me in February in October. I seem to have a thing for dead flowers, I really
love the way they curl up and preserve. Those interesting shapes were the
reason I kept the flowers for so long and why I wanted to try and paint them.
Adding my new knowledge of translucency, I thought I could apply it to the
glass vase and the faded flowers.
As usual I made the background first and was enamored with the idea of the dripping paint look. Sadly, I forgot to realise
than chucking a whole lot of water onto something that is essentially cardboard
beneath the canvas might have a negative outcome. So yes the board warped under
the amount of water I used to get the stressed drippy background – gah!
Some acid free paper (to protect the art) a heavy book and a wet cloth are
required to unwarp it.
I was aiming for delicate again but different and
decided to have the vase ‘float’ rather than have a hard surface for it to sit
on. I also wanted to aim for a watercolour look.
As read I probably should have known better, last time I tried to paint dead
daffodils I ended up with two perspectives in one image – now that is a feat I
couldn’t do again if I tried!
Moving onward then, I had several of those canvas
boards left that I wanted to put to use.
A glutton for punishment maybe but I had also been
working on some ACEOs (small art cards 2.5 x 3.5” for those that don’t know –
and yes that will be my next blog post shhh don’t tell) based on a starlight
theme. Since I enjoyed doing the smaller set of star-scapes I decided to create
larger versions.
Orion – 9 x 12” Oil on canvas board
Orion will always be my favourite go-to choice of
constellation. It reminds me of home because in a soft romantic Disney-esq type
of storytelling ‘I can always look up and know that my friends and family can
see the same constellation, no matter how far apart we might be.’
It’s a very easily recognised constellation that
also happened to be the one I could see from my bedroom window as a child.
Well of course I had to attempt this in oils. I
used a wet-on-wet technique for the darker foreground and again tried to let my
brushes make the marks of the silhouetted trees.
The next two I will put in tandem follow this theme
of star-scapes.
Northern Starlight – 9 x 12” Oil on canvas board
I love the idea of the aurora and made a pretty
good smaller piece based on this.
I don’t personally think the above painting
captured what I wanted to show but I’m glad I tried and it also shows my love
of reflections. Reflections or mirrors in still water is a theme I am still
working on. Speaking of reflections in still water:
Another Starry Night – 12 x 9” Oil on canvas board
The third in this set was just that; a mirror of
sky and silhouette.
After such a foray into landscapes and sky I
decided I should do a little fantasy.
Serv Eye – 6 x 6” Oil on cradle board
The above piece sold – woo – hoo! It is named ‘Serv
Eye’ because this is one breed of dragon in….yeah you guessed it, my story. I
based this painting on earlier drawings of one dragon in particular. This
wonderful and huge dragon was named Fao. Write his name backwards and be amazed
at my literary skills when it comes to names :P
Back again then to more ‘serious’ paintings I give
you my second large piece of the year.
First Autumn – 16 x 20” Oil on stretched canvas
This was difficult in terms of pose and colour. It’s
much easier to work in one colour theme and much harder trying to make those
complimentary shades match. Also pointillism isn’t a technique I was familiar with
so it took me a long time to try and ‘pointillism’ the grass backdrop with my
brush.
A much smaller piece below that involved ink and
paint.
Ivory – 3 x 4” Oil and ink on cradle board
I’d call this one a study. It also involves those
reflections I seem to be inclined toward.
I stained the wood block using ink and then added
the painted skull and candles. It was interesting to see how the two mediums
worked together. Also without sounding too morbid I really enjoy
sketching/painting animal skulls.
Last two oils for this year were both animals.
Autumn Wolf – 10 x 8” Oil on stretched canvas
This was
great because I got to throw ‘all the colours’ at the backdrop and then make
them muddy. I also very much enjoyed making a different type of grey for those
rocks. I should have written down the combination I used to make that one.
Tiger Eye – 8 x 6” Oil on stretched canvas
The above tiger eye is another piece that found
itself a new home – hooray!
The best part about this one for me was the unusual
cropping. Seems I really do like cutting my pieces in odd ways. I guess if it
works then don’t knock it!
Well that's all for this round. Catch you on the next post ^_^
