Sailboats Abstracted

• 

Sometimes, I simply must stretch my artistic legs in another direction!  Like visiting far off lands, I am completely out of my box on this one!  I don't think I've fired on any of these cylinders before - and it feels like total exploration.  I'm using some of my vast supplies of acrylics (which I hardly touch anymore) and canvases for this abstract style.  Mixing in mediums, layering color, dropping into place and cutting in paint with a knife - oh what fun it is to just play in the paint!  I felt rather lost in the process, and wonder if I've lost my mind!  Maybe!  Who knows what I'll do next?  Painting number 2735 in 2735 days. 

Monarch

I totally forgot about tonight's acrylic pour workshop until my phone reminded me 30 minutes prior!  In the zone with my oils, I was in the garden painting hollyhocks at the time.  I packed up without washing my brushes, and rushed to our Tri County Art League's event.  Oh my gosh!  What fun it was to choose colors, layer them, pour them, then use gravity to move the masses to and fro.  A whole new world has just opened up, and I'm standing on the brink of discovery!!  Painting number 2723 in 2723 days.

Tallship Nocturne Batik

Hot wax, ink and watercolor on masa rice paper are my playthings du jour!!  Pushing into the contemporary and abstract, I choose a tallship in the night under the moon and stars!  First, I sketch out the scene with India ink.  Next, I paint my lightest values, letting the dry.  I then come in with a bristle brush and hot wax (I heat in a tiny crock pot), and paint these areas that I want to resist the next layers of color.  Then, I flood in my darks on the fragile masa rice paper, which I set on top of wax paper for full paint absorbency.  I am using my Daniel Smith translucent watercolors for this technique.  Once this dries, I wax the entire painting, allowing it to cool.  Now, this is the scary part.  I wad the painting up into a ball, crunching wax off randomly!  I then come back over this painting with a dark color, working the paint into all this creases I just created.  After this dries, I place the painting between layers of newspaper, and iron until all wax is removed.  I must keep switching out the paper to accomplish this.  The fun part is that this technique creates different results every time, so no two pieces will ever be the same!  This contemporary painting is the 1487th in 1487 days :)

Abstract Moon

This little bit of craziness was SO challenging!  The moon has been out in full force lately, so I've chosen a spot at the pond for an abstract nocturne!  I am SO not abstract by nature!  Pushing the masses into broken spots of color sounded like an easy thing to do....but I had to keep laying paint, overlapping and abstracting the shapes that constantly kept emerging!  This required so much thought, whereas my normal paintings slip off the brush with very little "brain engagement".  I guess this is part of learning, a painful, time consuming part.  I could have painted three paintings in the time it took for this dip into madness!  Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  I did sign this, but nobody will believe I painted it.  I will now return to my sketchbook for a little normally to restore my soul!  This crazy painting is the 1466th in 1466 days.

Acrylic on panel, 9x12
purchase here

Ray

Ray
Oil on gallery wrapped canvas, 12x12

colors in progress...

So, I have probably lost my mind, but I am having great fun with color as I get wild with Ray Charles tonight! What possesses me to go after this portrait in such a way?  Painting daily takes away all fear when it comes to trying new things!  I’m undaunted when I slap down a strong, vivid stroke, the unexpected is just that much more exciting, and most of all - it is sheer, undiluted fun to push those boundaries way, way back!  I chose Ray Charles, because I love the infectious joy that his smile exudes......and it kind of goes with the music theme I had going with a few paintings last week.  I got my new catalysts yesterday, and I have used three new styles on this painting - the square, the arrowhead and the large chisel edge.  I love each of them!  I used the tip of the arrowhead for those little choppy hair curls, and the others throughout.  I probably used the square head most of all!  I think they are SO much better than palette knives, and I may never pick another knife up!  This wild and crazy painting is the 1154th in 1154 days :)

first sketch over old landscape!