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Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
Kookaburras, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on the wall or display on a flat surface. Most of the Magic Square series are signed on the side so as not to impose on the composition. Seen here, the signature is added digitally on the front.
March 13th, 2009 work progress blog post: This painting could have been left at phase 3, but the decision to give the birds more definition and sense of realism created a whole new set of problems. For example, the composition, which was unbalanced from the start, is now exaggerated and more noticeable, so a third element needs to be added in the upper left corner. Not necessarily another object but color or shape that would shift the weight and attention away from the lower left areas.
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There is a work phase where, once details are added or changes made to one area, every other thing in the picture needs to be brought to the same level of quality: quality meaning style and feeling of the features. I don’t regret proceeding, but it does mean extra effort to solve all the new challenges, and usually while attempting to solve those new ones arise. Other professionals would say this is overworking, but it really depends on what your intentions are as an Artist, and what motivates the work. If risks are not taken sometimes, a painting may never be all that it could be. Phrases we tend to cling to like “less is more” are not written in stone; sometimes more is more…learning is a good thing!
In landscapes details are best left for the imagination, whereas painting animals, birds or other creatures, a purpose needs to be clearer. Is the intention to portray character through shape and silhouette? other traits? specific markings? Is it the main focus or only a part of the whole? Computer tools are also useful in playing with colors and other possibilities.
The perfect place for masking fluid
Monday, April 13th, 2009
Flowering Shavingbrush Tree, April 11th above: details of 85H x 45W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas,wrapped sides painted, trim frame. Still in progress, but the rubberized mask was removed in order to see exactly what stage things are at before continuing. The painting overall still has a few areas to open up; very little work tomorrow should finish it. Shortly after starting the painting I turned it upside down and applied the masking fluid with a toothpick and let it drip. Gravity can be used as a tool!
April 13th, Left: The top third will still leave as much of the primed canvas as possible; a gradation of unfinished space toward more finished at the bottom. I was hoping to leave it as seen here giving an airy illusion, but it does need to develop along with the rest of it…still not as much, but enough to show the main flower better. This means I’ll be once again dripping masking fluid on the piece upside down to preserve the interesting marks that occurred from the 1st application, and also create some new ones with any further work. For previous posts on earliest progress of this painting click here.
Iguana and Strangler Fig
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
Iguana and Strangler Fig, Costa Rica, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface.
The Strangler Fig is a parasite. Seeds sprout in moss or decaying matter among the branches of rain forest canopies. Roots gradually extend downward and over time completely surround the host tree, which dies while nourishing the Strangler Fig growing in its place.
March 14th, March 13: Phases 1, 2 and 3 earlier progress in thumbnails below. Today layering thin washes of pale yellow, placing the iguana more into the background. Some of the details of the Strangler Fig growth that are now covered up might be brought back into focus since this is more about the tree than the iguana. Posting the painting on the blog is helpful because it’s viewed differently than while painting or studying it. It’s somehow easier to see areas that still need change when looking at it on-screen.
Chapala Wind
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
Chapala Wind – Lake Chapala, Mexico, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Frame unnecessary. Hang on a wall or display on a flat surface. Signed on the side so as not to impose on the composition.
Sold but a similar piece can be recreated upon request. Please allow 7 days to paint before shipping.
Sprayed alcohol loosened the paint and I was able to scratch it, at first with my nails and then a pottery tool. Thanks to Karen Xarchos for all the feedback and additional information. We worked together painting murals in Ottawa for a couple of years. Karen has done extensive work in restaurants and homes in the Ottawa area.Thumbnails: phase 1 and 2 in progress.
Decaying Ceiba Leaves
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
Decaying Ceiba Leaves, Lake Cote Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas, wrapped sides painted. Sold.
On Cloud Nine
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
On Cloud Nine Left: The view from the road to the Giant Redwoods in the John Muir National Forest, western coast CA. Right: A forest fire still smouldering in October 2008, Mariposa Grove, Sequoia National Forest, central California.
Some new photos of the Giant Sequoias have been posted on majestyoftrees.com
Road Trip!
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
This photo was taken just outside of Nashville where we stopped to take photos of the trees draped with vines, naturally occurring topiary, amazing – looking like animals and people turned into forest. Those were cool enough, and the tire skid marks were an extra unexpected find. The photo has been turned into a black and white, then a colored portion from the bottom was superimposed on top of that…my favorite digital trick. Now one last trip for this year, driving to California and the Giant Redwoods – back on the 13th.
Details
Monday, September 29th, 2008
The Fourth of July, past the point of no return. Making one small change affects the whole piece. Rather than post another image of the painting as a whole, because there are already enough pictures of it, here are some details of changes made in the past few days from the lower central portion of the painting. To be continued…
The Fourth of July work in progress
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
The Fourth of July work in progress, 36H x 48W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas, custom built stretcher frame, wrapped sides painted.
June 22, 23, Sept 23, 24: Adding mid-tones. The addition of a blue-white haze gel wash lightens areas that need to be rebuilt with brighter colors; in attempts to create contrasts, many areas have become too dark. Paintings always swing back and forth from too light to too dark or too defined to not defined enough, and just like a pendulum eventually come to rest between the two. I hope to bring the painting back toward the energy and explosive colors that it had after only one hour of work. Only the foreground flowers will have some detail; the rest will remain impressionistic in style.
Riders on the Storm
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
I’m very excited to start painting again this week. Before two weeks off travelling from Texas to North Carolina I started organizing my FlickR photostream. Now there are about one thousand new photos to sort through, and the ones I’m most excited about are the set of the 1500 year old Angel Oak in South Carolina (now that’s a tree!) – plus a creepy-cool old steel playground beside a gross, moldy, condemned Family Inns Motel, a real treasure! The tree and playground collections are uploaded in FlickR.
There’s also a short photo editorial of our encounters with many of the electric company truck convoys travelling south from Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, and Kansas to restore electricity to 90,000 homes and businesses along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Gustav. Here are a few of those photos from that set, which we were about to post on CNN’s weather.com when I inadvertently killed my husband’s laptop by plugging a cable in the wrong place. An expensive proposition, and I didn’t even get to send them in. I just found out that fortunately all the travel photos were retrieved, but the laptop is dead. Oops!
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