30 Paintings - Day 25!

One of the advantages of painting on paper is that you can always cut away the bad part and just end up with a smaller painting. That is what happened with today's piece.

#1090 - Rays - 5 x 7 acrylic on watercolour paper matted to 8 x 10

I used a palette knife to pat on some texture with gesso and let it dry before I started painting. I hoped that the paint would sink into the texture and really make it pop. That didn't happen so I added more gesso - bigger is better, right? Well, not so much! I ended up with a big mess and that is the part I cut off and set aside. A little of touch-up work on the part I kept and I was happy with my work. This piece does have some texture but it is pretty subtle which suits me just fine.

Don't forget to take some time to check out the art on Leslie's Blog

Thanks for visiting!

30 Paintings - Day 12!

Today's painting is another experiment that was going wrong. Fortunately the work was on watercolour paper so I slapped on more paint and cut off the really bad parts.

#1077 - Dark Garden - 7 x 10 acrylic on watercolour paper

I was just going to throw the whole thing away but thought I would try it with a mat first. Who knew? It almost looks like it is worth keeping - lol. I think I will set it aside to grow on me.

Here is the link to Leslie's Blog where you will see close to 200 other artists' work.

Thanks for stopping by - please let me know what you think of today's painting.

30 Paintings - Day 9!

It is so interesting how things can work out. Yesterday, because I was fixing some palettes for my students, I was testing some colours to see how they mixed together. Of course, I ended up with left over paint and just had to use it up - that is how today's painting came about.

#1074 - Mostly Organic - 5 x 7 acrylic on watercolour paper mounted to 8 x 10

I used an old piece of Arches watercolour paper that had already been painted, slapped on the left-over paint from my mixing job and then added some points of interest. I liked the whole thing so much I didn't want to lose anything by matting over it so I mounted it on the mat board instead.

Pop over to Leslie's Blog to see what the other artist are up to.

Thanks for stopping by - comments are appreciated!

2016 Day 17

Well I managed to do something with the second painting I started yesterday. It isn't wonderful but I think it turned out okay considering it was a bit of a mess.

Silent Forest

Before Christmas I bought a bunch of small acrylic 'Folk Art' paints from a box of items donated to the Art Club. Yesterday I decided to try them out. This painting started out with Plum, Rose and White. The intent was for a flowing abstract like the green piece I did, but what I got was purple mud. I sprayed, blotted, sprayed again - nothing seemed to help. Finally I decided to just paint over the whole mess, so I grabbed a deep purple and slathered it on, then scrapped away with my palette knife. Once the whole thing was dry I added some white and a little bit of blue and ended up with Silent Forest. The painting is a 6 x 10 acrylic on mat board.

To enjoy a wide variety of art check out the other artists in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge - http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

2016 Day 16

I think it is interesting how some colors just resonate with me and others don't. This morning I was working on two pieces and the first just seemed to flow.

Wetland Wraiths

The colors worked well together and where it blended the result was very pleasing to my eyes. I was aiming for a free flowing abstract look and think I hit my mark. The problem with abstracts - which way is 'up'?

Weeping Wetlands

I think this piece could be hung either way and I almost wish I had two of them - lol. The painting is a 6 x 11 acrylic on mat board and will probably be mounted on canvas or framed.

I hope you will let me know which format you prefer - landscape or portrait?

As to the other piece I worked on - I hope to be able to do something with it tomorrow but don't hold your breath.

2016 Day15

Today is the halfway point of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge and I can only hope that I manage to finish the rest of the month.

A friend asked me yesterday how I manage to come up with enough ideas for my paintings and I really didn't have an answer. I find that each day brings what it brings: today I was inspired by a frame!

Boat Race

I was looking in my stash for a frame for the Quilled Seahorse I did the other day and came across a little 5 x 10. It is too shallow for the glass and mat that a watercolor needs and has been stacked away for some time. It immediately gave me an idea for today's painting - something tall and skinny.

"Boat Race" is a 5 x 10 acrylic on mat board and is based on a painting I did a few years ago at a workshop with local artist Richard Mitton. It was painted with a palette knife.

Summer of Color #4

I made it! I really didn't think that I would be able to find the time this week to do a piece for the SOC #4 but I managed to find a few minutes here and there in the last two days and was able to complete a mixed media painting on a 7 x 14 gallery wrap canvas.

Red & Gold

The colors for this week were two reds and a metallic. The reds were no problem, of course, I used Cadmium Red Medium and Alizarin Crimson, standard colors in most painters' boxes. The metallic was a bit more challenging. I hunted through my stash of mixed media materials and came up with a few things that I thought would work together. The butterflies are from a gossamer thin napkin so I stuck them to a piece of gold paper and cut them out. The cross was a gift from a friend: it is made out of thin wood and I painted it with some gold gesso. I added some branches and leaves painted with the gold and voilà!

Here's another photo that makes the gold look a little more gold. As Kristin mentioned in our instructions part of the challenge would be to show the metallic quality of the art in a photo. I am not sure how well I accomplished this but I tried - lol.

If you want to check out some of the other art in this challenge, here is the link to Kristin's blog - http://www.twinkletwinklelikeastar.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-summer-of-color-5-week-four.html

DAY 17 - Leftovers? Garbage?

During my first workshop with local artist Win Dinn (check out her blog here - http://windinnart.blogspot.ca/) I discovered that leftovers and garbage are really just supplies for more mixed media art.

Buttons and Butterflies

When I finished painting "Tulips" the other day, I had way too much paint left over. So, I took some leftover mat board and started applying some of the paint, blotting runs and overages with paper towel. I left the mat to dry and the paper towel in a loose bail on my table. Last night, I had a look at the painted mat thinking I would use it for a background for a new painting but it didn't 'speak' to me.

However, the paper towel (once I opened it up) really caught my fancy and I immediately stuck it on an 8 x 10 canvas using gloss medium and wrapping it around the edges for a finished look. Then I started cutting up the mat board using moon shapes - I have way too many of these so I see another project in the future.

Once my canvas was dry I began to add some of the moon shapes, some leftover buttons and some of my crocheted butterflies and, voilà a finished painting!

For more art check out http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.ca/ and then go and vote at - http://paintamasterpiece.blogspot.ca/

The Matting and Framing Challenge

For an artist, the work isn't over when the painting is finished. The art has to be framed or otherwise fixed for hanging. Some methods are easier than others.

A gallery wrapped canvas mostly just needs a dust cover for the back and a wire for hanging.

Spring Poppies & the Valley

Simply painting the sides of the canvas is all that is necessary. Of course, many people want a frame on their painting but that is something that can be left to the purchaser.




More complicated to frame are artworks done on paper. My primary medium is watercolor and watercolors need mats, glass and frame unless they are finished with a varnish sealer. An established artist displaying in a high end gallery might be able to leave the matting and framing to the gallery or to a professional framer but many of us can't afford that option and do our own framing. The challenge is in the matting. Do you pick an off white as many galleries prefer or do you choose something that matches the painting? Do you double mat or single mat? I will often double mat so I can kill two birds with one stone: an inner mat that I think works well with the painting and an outer mat in a white tone.

Solitary #1

   Does one choose for subtlety or drama? I don't think that a painting or the framing materials have to match the decor but I do think that a mat can make a painting POP or it can swallow it.




I think my biggest challenges in framing have been my mixed media pieces. Many of them are done on mat board and have additions that preclude framing behind glass. I have tried a number of methods: adding matting that has been sealed so no glass is needed, framing without matting, and attaching a mixed media painting to a painted gallery wrap canvas.

Paper Flowers in Purple

Exploded

  
There are so many options and, of course, one never knows what will work best for potential buyers. I don't usually think too much about buyers when I am painting or when I am framing: I just do what I think works.

Autumn Colors #2

The finishing touch is the frame. I prefer thin frames, either metal or wood, that do not overwhelm the paintings. Others prefer ornate frames that make a statement.

Like so much in life it is really 'in the eye of the beholder' and in art there are few wrong choices.