Help!

I am in a quandary. Since I started doing abstracts I have found that I have no sense of whether my paintings are good or not. I need HELP!

I finished this painting last night and, although I like the colours, I am not sure about the composition. Should I sign it or just paint over the thing? I would really appreciate your opinions.

12 x 16 acrylic

Maybe it is time to put the acrylics away and go back to something I am more comfortable doing - landscapes in watercolour!

I hope you will let me know what you think about this one.

Thanks for visiting!

30 Paintings - Day 3

I am sure 'not sure' about today's painting! I woke up in the middle of the night and started thinking about what I could paint and I think I jinxed myself.

Day 3

Is it good? Is it interesting? This started out as something else, then transitioned to another something and finally end up as you see it. Whatever I had in my mind was obviously confused - lol.

I will have to let this sit a bit before I decide if it is worth keeping or if I should just paint over the whole thing. Good thing it is only an 8 x 10. I haven't even given it a number or a name as I am so unsure about its worth.

I hope you will let me know what you think of this one and whether I should save it.

Remember to pop over to Leslie's Blog to see what the other artists are doing.

2016 Day 8

Here we are a week into the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge and I have already run out of steam. My mind was a complete blank today; not one idea sparked to enable me to do a painting so I just played.

#921

When my grandkids were young, I would sometimes set them to 'playing' in my studio. They would get a piece of mat board, 2 or 3 colors of their choice and a mat board 'stick' to use in place of a brush. I don't know if they were just better instinctively than I am because, I have to say, the pieces they created back then were much better that what I came up with today. First, I used way too much paint. Second,  my 'start' was almost exactly like a piece I did during the summer. Anyway, I just kept working at it until I ended up with the piece above. It feels unfinished but my mind is still a blank so it will have to wait for another day.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be more productive!

Summer of Color #6

I can't say that I was very happy when I saw this week's color choices. Two oranges and a blue? I love this combination - I wear it quite often.

one of my orange & blue ensembles

But, it is not a combination that I would use in a painting. I am not saying that I haven't used it but the subject has to be right, like this painting that I did back in '02.

Orange & Blue 5 x 7 watercolor

At any rate, with nothing coming to mind I decided (once again) to just play and see what happens.

Feathery - 11 x 14 acrylic

Although I have signed the painting, I am not sure if it is finished. I rather like the effect but I think I will have to live with it for a while before I decide if it needs more work.

This has been a very interesting 6 weeks - where has the time gone? - and I have enjoyed the color prompts that Kristin gave us. If you want to see some of the latest submissions check out Kristin's blog - http://twinkletwinklelikeastar.blogspot.ca/

Preparing for Art Shows

During the last two weeks of February I was busy getting some of my paintings ready for an art display at our local Chamber of Commerce. I am sharing the space with 4 other artists but I still needed around 14 pieces to hang.

The first step is to go through some of my unframed work to see if anything strikes me as 'right' for this exhibit. Once I have a selection of paintings I need to find frames and choose mats that compliment the artwork.
I always do my own matting and framing as it helps keep the cost down, for me and for customers.

I don't have a fancy framing set-up but it does the job. One neat thing is the little gizmo in the left photo - the pale blue and Plexiglas item. Although it is hard to see there are holes beside the black squiggles on the Plexiglas. The item is used for marking the 'border' on the mat before cutting . The holes go up by 1/4 " and the device is reversible so I can quickly mark standard mat sizes from 1 1/2 to 4 1/4 inches - a real time saver that my husband made for me.

 I am lucky to have a nice large table where I can work at one end while a work-in-progress takes up the other end.

 I clean glass, put frames together, seal the backs of canvases, add wires and labels to the backs of all of my paintings and, finally, figure out what price to put on the display cards.

Rocks & Icicles

Full Moon

  Here are a few of the paintings I have on display  until the end of April.

Marsh Autumn

Exploring

 This year I will be exhibiting my paintings in a number of shows with other artists. I try to have something different for every display so I will be  doing the whole preparing thing over again at the end of April and again at the end of June.

 I guess I had better get busy and do some more painting!