Abstract/Realism
« Previous Entries2D Pine Cone
Monday, April 12th, 2010
2D Pine Cone, diagonal 28 x 28 x 1 inches, acrylics on woven canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted, signed on the back so as not to intrude on the design. This is the 2nd attempt with larger woven canvas strips, hanging diagonally on a superimposed blue background.
More often than not, allowing some imperfections to show through says “a human made this”. Still, quality ought to be the result, and it wasn’t working (see version #1 below). The crooked pattern on the first woven canvas was impossible to correct, which I tried over and over many times. Then I made pine bristles from threads pulled from the sides of the canvas, painted various shades of green: time consuming and experimental, and also not successful, so I started all over with a new rewoven frame, above.
Left, April 8th: 2D Pine Cone, first version
There were second thoughts about opting to go the imperfect route in the weaving process right from the start. The canvas strips are not all the same size, a deliberate choice, and I assumed it wouldn’t matter, but the pattern of scales relied on the woven accuracy. The color combos are interesting, but things should be a bit straighter.
March 6th and 7th: 2D Pinecone, 28 x 28 inches, woven canvas strips, acrylics. Work in progress shows 1) weaving and 2) a very rough paint-sketch on the primed canvas.
Norway Maple: finished, combined posts
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Norway Maple in Madison, Wisconsin, 36 x 48 x 2 inches acrylics and modeling gel on canvas, gallery wrapped sides painted, narrow frame, finished April 9th
March 9th: Subtle changes since last post…have been working more on tones in the background, which weren’t planned initially; I had hoped to use only pure colors without the usual layering, but it’s otherwise too hard to look at. Also am connecting a few shapes horizontally, and it’s almost “there”, but 2D Pinecone was started in the meantime to avoid overworking this.
Merging Visions Exhibition
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Milkweed Melody, 27H x 33W inches framed Oil Pastels on 140 lb cold pressed premium watercolor paper
Partnering with poet Christina Smith and her poem, Earth’s Love Song Milkweed Melody is showing April 1st - 30th at the VAST (Visual Arts Society of Texas) and Denton Poets Assembly collaborative event, Merging Visions Exhibition, with art and poetry at both the Emily Fowler and North Branch Libraries, Denton, Texas. Opening Receptions Saturday, April 17th 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. at Emily Fowler and 1 - 3 p.m. at North Branch
Breathing new life into work
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
At The Alamo, San Antonio, TX 15 x 22 inches watercolors
Left: just started, before drip techniques Above: finished
Rather than continue with an “I’ve scene it all before” approach, the paper was held up straight let drips happen. Blowing through a straw cut in half (less effort than a whole straw to create the effects) the paint was directed around half-planned, half not.
Preliminary value study
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Trumpet Flowers, San Antonio Riverwalk, Texas -12 x 16 inches value study in progress, Tombo pen wash on 140 lb. WC paper.
The Tombo pen is a two-in-one water-soluble marker available in colors as well as black. One tip is medium-fine and the other looks and behaves like a Chinese paintbrush, where thickness of lines can be controlled. What’s more difficult to control is that black once it’s on the page! The edge of the ledges on the bridge here were much brighter, but I couldn’t lighten them without making a mess of the surrounding areas, so they are OK. It’s something to pay attention to when painting the colored version.
Dancing With Trees #02 - WIP
Monday, September 17th, 2007
Dancing With Trees - a work in progress, as most paintings are, even after submitting them in to juried exhibitions! Am still having doubts about the sky; not quite dark enough to contrast with the small amounts of bright coming from sunset and stars; will study that and possibly adjust. Layers of glaze used in the recent stages: Hansa yellow light, Pthalo blue, Pthalo green, Permanent green, thio violet, Mars black, Cadmium red light, Dioxazine violet
Redbuds, misty morning
Saturday, March 17th, 2007
Redbuds, misty morning, 11 x 14 oil pastels, watercolor graphite pencils
This drawing was an experiment with oil pastels and water soluable graphite to see if the two could cooperate vin the same drawing. This post shows the final piece that dulled as improvements progressed, so here it is now, not as nice as a work on paper, butbegging to become a large acrylics painting.
It was about 8 A.M… the sun barely shone through the thick mist this early Spring morning. The surrounding forest was grey, and the brilliant pink blossoms of the Redbud bush pushed through it all, with the only other colors being patches of green grass starting to grow in the feild.
Dancing With Trees #1
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
Dancing With Trees #1, 11 x 14 Oil Pastels
… is a good example of how the right medium makes all the difference; despite a couple of days spent continually working on this one it is almost cartoonish. This subject needs to be painted because, although I do like certain things about the drawing, I’d like to attempt more realistic colors and subtleties of movement with paint.
Speeding By The Poppies
Saturday, September 30th, 2006
Speeding By The Poppies on Hwy 40, Tennessee - 11 x 14 Oil Pastels - framed, available
Critique received that this was not dynamic enough, (below, Sept. 30, 2006 version). The drawing was at a fragile stage where I was 95% happy with it, but still the critique was valid. Above: I carefully scraped a few more lines in and highlighted some that were already there but not as prominent.
Tennessee Poppies
Thursday, September 28th, 2006
Tennessee Poppies Hwy 40- 11 x 14 inches Oil Pastels on paper- framed 23 x 26 inches
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