One For Fun

Kurious Koi

Believe it or not, I'm still working in acrylics and just took this off the easel today.  Of course, like all my paintings, I'm putting it aside to "marinate" and see if anything else needs to be done with it.

This is painted on an all wet-media canvas sheet that I affixed to a prepared piece of hardboard with acrylic medium.  It's a painting surface that I really, really like and may be the reason I'm still using acrylic paints.  For some reason, they tend to go on smoother and handle better on this surface.

I'll try gouache with it next and see how that does and how it works with it.  I have a feeling it will do well but we'll see. 

Still have several paintings either in the works or in my head but have to admit, I'm finally running out of steam!  lol

You'll just have to watch this blog to see what else, if anything, I come up with!

Another Double Exposure

"Our Mother's Legacy" -  acrylic

A couple of years ago, I participated in a joint collaboration with our local camera club and area artists for what they called a Double Exposure Exhibit.  The artists selected photos from the camera club and painted their version of the photo they chose.  Then both the photos and the paintings were exhibited in the camera club gallery.

This time I'm not painting from the camera club photos but one from my professional photographer sister and we'll both show the results at an art show in her home town in Colorado in July.

We chose this photo because it has meaning for both of us.  Our mother was an avid gardener and had a green thumb that wouldn't quit!  After she died, my sister tried to rescue as many of her flowers as possible as my dad is sort of the type to mow the lawn in a straight line whether there are plants in the way or not!  (I do have to say that he's done a really good job of taking care of her remaining flowers though). 

This beautiful clematis bloom is the result of the rescue of a start from Mom's original plant.  The photo of the bloom is lovely with its glowing back-lit petals and it was a challenge to capture that glow. 

You may not be able to tell, but this is painted on hardboard with another, smaller board glued on top.  After everything was completely dry, the whole board was prepped with a primer and several coats of gesso. 

The painting is acrylic (yeah, yeah, I know, not usually my medium of choice!) and is titled "Our Mother's Legacy".

A Put Off Painting!

I honestly don't know how long I've been "working" on this - several years I'm sure.  It's one of those paintings that I really want to finish but nothing seems to go right with it.

For one thing, it's being painted in acrylics which is my nemesis.  And for another thing, it's all dark, creepy and green except for the egret.  Of course, all the swamps I've been in were dark, creepy and slimy green so I guess it's pretty authentic!

I guess I don't mind the green so much and I actually like the background of trees although there's still a little bit more to do there.  The thing with slimy green swamps is the green on the surface is sometimes kind of phosphorescent and I'd like to portray that but it's escaping me.  The foreground, and of course the bird,  need a lot of work and I'm just not sure where to go with them.

The composition is a mix of many reference photos and my own memories of camping in the swamps of Mississippi back in the late 60's.  I guess I want to capture the feel of the swamp rather than the actual look of it and it's proving a very elusive thing to do! It's too bad one can't paint in the sound of a bobcat's cry in the middle of the night.  I'm sure that would certainly complete the picture of the very essence of the swamp!