Alberta
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Monday, November 26th, 2007
First Snow, 36 x 24 Acrylics on canvas, crackle glaze. This is the main painting to be set into a ”box frame”, adding 3″ width and length. Painting will extend out onto the frame…will post when finished, probably tomorrow.
Gold In The Mountains #1
Sunday, November 4th, 2007
Gold In The Mountains #1, finished - 20 x 16 x 1 inches Acrylics on stretched canvas. Mounted on a box-frame, extending out 2 extra inches on canvas-covered background, with rustic barn-wood finished edges.
This is one of those paintings that never felt truly finished until this week. Started late in 2005, it has evolved through many changes. The first thumbnail shows the painting at a stage where I thought it finished and entered it into Artjury.com’s 2006 Spring/Summer online exhibition, and it was accept ed. At the time I liked the larger areas of flat orange-gold, but about six months later after it had been stored out of sight I felt that the work needed more depth, so began a long process of repainting, scrubbing off, build-up, scraping, etc. The painting reached a few different stages where it could have been called finished, but I was not entirely pleased, so continued.
One never knows beginning any painting, how long it will take.. The image above shows the painting as it is today, now well and truly finished! Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge and view a few stages in the life of Gold In The Mountains #1.
Polypore Fungi painting update
Thursday, November 1st, 2007
Polypore Fungi finished – 58 x 41 x 1.5 inches,acrylics, modeling paste, plaster on canvas
One of the goals for this painting was to see if a composition could remain balanced with the main subject offset to the right. With Petra’s suggestion there is more contrast..also scrubbed some paint away for more background to show through.
Considered smoothing out and the fungi with more plaster and sanding, decided against, and painted illusion instead. I like the rougher hand-made look of the fungi, and think it can’t venture too far from the blurry background (style balance). Painting finished, but open to critique.
Polypore Fungi * are lesser appreciated life forms that help maintain the healthy life cycles of forests by aiding the decay and conversion of plant and animal matter into nutrient-rich soil. {*and mushrooms, bacteria, molds, lichen and other non-flowering plants}
Polypore Fungi (WIP)
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
The 3D fungi idea was fun to try. I ended up carving the modeling paste and plaster after it dried because the paste was too goopy and hard to manage while it was wet. The paste was applied then built gradually, letting it dry before applying more…then carved. Commercial Modeling paste does not sand well at all, so I finally applied a bit of drywall compound to help tidy it.
Polypore Fungi – WIP
Monday, October 22nd, 2007
Polipore Fungi – 59 H x 41 W x 2 D Phase 3
(Work In Progress)
Acrylics painting started in June, hung and studied in the loose-phase state; cautious about overworking it. Plans this week: most everything will stay out of focus, with details only on the fungi (starting that next), using a little modeling paste to sculpt the fungi.
Oct. 22: top photo Oct.23: Above, modeling paste applied in layers, drying in between - applying too thick creates cracks and unstable structures. This needs to be permanent and adhered well to the canvas.
Two drawings
Friday, September 21st, 2007
Trying to decide which pieces to enter one of the juried exhibitions, I came across two drawings started in March. Not confident with either one the way they were, I did some more work on each and am now satisfied to call them finished. One of of a Poplar forest in Banff, Alberta, called Northern Delights. The other: Redbuds on a foggy Spring morning in Coppell, Texas, called Rebirth.
Details: 14 x 11 and 11 x 14 Oil pastels, pencil, water-wash graphite, colored pencils, eraser. Both were drawn using these materials, more or less materials in one than the other, but lots of scraping, redrawing, and using the eraser over pastels to good effect; very experimental re: oil pastels and the paintable water-wash graphite pencil. Learned a lot with these two! That’s the way it is: some drawings and paintings need to hang around for a while in order to know for sure they are finished, or to see what else can be tried. Others are finished without a doubt.
Rude Awakening
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
Three quaint old apartment buildings on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton were demolished to make way for a large condominium complex — a shame, considering all the new windows that were just replaced a few years ago. To remove them beforehand would not be financially viable for the new builder. (more…)
Damselflies
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
… just returned from Alberta, where this summer’s hot temperatures have maintained high numbers of dragonflies and damselflies. These ones will have offspring born in Airdrie, just outside of Calgary.
All photographs printed on 11 x 17 100 lb. Satin finish cardstock high quality photographs are one of a kind, signed, most with white mat and a 3″ wide black frame. Please contact nikki_coulombe@hotmail.com for details about this or any Artwork you wish to purchase. (thanks!)
Aspen, Banff AB – 3 stages
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
Mixed media: Water-wash pencils, Oil Pastels and eraser on 14 x 11 paper
Small drawings solve a lot of issues and make it easier to make decisions when doing larger work with more expensive materials. 1st day: There is a nice breezy feeling in the first image, at which point I had stopped drawing and considered it finished. Next day: I felt that the trees were not strong enough in character, because this species of Aspen have black areas of bark, particularly on the bottom half of the trunk. – also wanted to take advantage of my new water-wash pencils, experiment and see if oil and water might be able to cooperate for a change! Final day: I might have left well enough alone, but how do we expect to learn new things if we don’t go out of our way and look for them? The final drawing has good traits as much as the first version, it’s just darker. This piece has been taken to the max with these materials; the water-wash pencils do not take much “abuse”, in fact hardly any. Once water has been applied, after the paper dries it becomes slippery. More drawing on top and more painting are less effective…not helped along by the eraser which actually uncovered a few secrets for future drawings. Erasers on top of oil pastels do neat things, and if pushed “beyond” will tear a top layer of paper off along with it. This can be used to advantage because it opened up some space in the treetops where it was getting too crowded and overworked. I’m happy with the end result.
Aspen, Banff National Park
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
Protected Bison reserve, Banff National Park, Alberta – 14 x 11 Water-wash Pencils, Oil Pastels and eraser on paper
As with the Redbuds drawing before it, this was an attempt to see what oil and water could do in one place. One great thing I learned from trying this combination is how using the eraser to create spaces between the leaves removed portions of paper. I like the effect, and will use it somewhere else in future works. As opposed to oil pastel alone, the paper cannot be reworked for long though, something I enjoy pushing; it warps and the texture changes unfavorably. Additional marks with the pencils do nothing to improve the slippery texture once water is brushed on, and they don’t erase well then either. Interesting!
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