Wondrous magic wands of colour
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Wondrous magic wands of colour
Sure, I’ve used colour pencils before. They were a staple on the back-to-school list way back forever ago … but I am sure the pencils we had back in those days have absolutely no resemblance to the pencils I have recently discovered.
I went to a colour pencil class run by Peta Harvey (via Eckersleys at Milton) and I am a convert! Good quality colour pencils (Prismacolour) and good quality paper (I am currently working my way through a pad of Fabriano Toned Paper (Sand) just make it fun!
I am looking forward to seeing what adventures I can have with pencils and paper …
A kiwi and a kookaburra
I am definitely on a theme at the moment - my two newest paintings are both of birds! A bit of a departure from some of my other paintings - but still in keeping with the animal theme.
Like all my other paintings, I just paint what I "see" in the canvas. No plans to paint anything in particular. I just start painting and see what happens. The only aim I had with these two was to work with colours I don't normally use - heading over more into the greens than I normally do. I rather like the colour combinations - I think I'll do some more experimenting with this palette.
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Hello Kiwi -
Hello Kookaburra
Meet Monty and Montie
I have been struggling for a while to find my painting mojo. I have been looking for inspiration from some amazing artists but all I ended up doing was copying their art and making myself more frustrated. I felt a little like I was going in circles and ending up back where I started ... only a little less confident.
So ... I decided to embrace the way I like to paint and the paintings I like to paint. I like to start with colour and pattern and then "find" the painting wanting to be found.
And so I painted Monty and Montie :-)
I am not sure this is a painting for everyone but I am happy with it. These two were just begging to be painted. Serious men doing a serious job ;-)
Radish the horse
Ah, so good to get back to painting after a few months away. Don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed our summer holidays - it was a great combination of travel, sport and family time. But it is also very pleasing to be back painting.
"Radish" the horse came about as the end product of an exercise in design and colour and exploring the push and pull of a painting. The orange and red colours were being difficult and just not behaving as I expecting. So, rather than give up entirely, I did what any creative soul might do - turn the painting 90 degrees and uncover a horse hiding in the painting ;-)
Ah yes, so good to be back painting again!
Oh Christmas tree!
Ok - so it is probably a little too early to get in the festive spirit - but the Christmas trees just needed to be painted.
We haven't done too much decorating but the table at the entry to our house is always being updated to match the season. With the Halloween decorations put away the table looked a little bare ... so it must be time to move from orange and black to red, white and green!
A simple negative painting of Christmas trees - with some simple decorations - just enough to finish the space I think!
Punk rocker super hero
I think everyone should have a punk rocker super hero in their life ... don't you? I am having so much fun painting my super hero series. There seems to be a new hero to be found in every painting I do!
This guy reminds me of a punk rocker - or maybe just a super dude. At any rate, he is part of the gang of heroes I have been painting. His super power? Something that involves icy coolness I think ... I can't imagine he'd get his hands dirty while fighting crime ;-)
Anyway, I am clearly having a great time with my negative painting exercise - what (or more likely, who) do I see in the canvas? Such fun!
Super penguin!
The super-hero series continues! Today it was super penguin's turn to be painted. ;-)
I am enjoying this series much more than the flower series I was painting earlier this semester. The flowers were interesting and I learned a lot but the super heroes are just plain fun. I must admit I have no idea who or what I am going to paint and that makes the process even more entertaining.
I wonder what super powers our friend the penguin has?
A hippy, kaftan-wearing, super hero duck
I'm not sure what it is about this painting, but it is one of my favourites. I just set out to play with colour. I had three boards and they were all at different stages of painting and all in different colour palettes. So I put them side by side and just played. Bright colours, drips of paint, splashes and splots - anything that made me happy.
From that mish-mash of colour my friend the duck just emerged. In my mind at least, he is a duck in a hippy caftan channelling his super powers ... maybe everyone won't see that though :-)
This painting was fun to paint and makes me happy when I look at it. I don't think I could ask for anything more! Thank you hippy, kaftan wearing, super-hero duck!
An angry painting
Painting is often like mediation for me. I lose myself in the moment and simply enjoy the process of painting. That being said, I don't usually start a painting in a particular frame of mind. I am usually just pleased to find time to paint.
This painting, however, was a product of me being angry. Not calm, not open to seeing flowers for unicorns. Angry. The anger had nothing to do with the painting or even me personally. I was angry on behalf of someone.
Painting helps. My internal conversations become more focused on the painting and the colour choices than on the issue that is eating away at me. No magic cure of course, the issue is still there, but it provides a reprieve from the anger and that helps.
It is definitely not a favourite painting but it is a reminder of the power of meditation (or my version of meditation).
A brilliant magenta unicorn with super powers
After painting flowers for the last 3 months, I was feeling time for a change. I am not sure I set out to paint a brilliant magenta unicorn with super powers - but sometimes a painting just can't be anything else! ;-)
This is my second "superhero" painting. This guy below was the first in the series.
What do you think? I think they make a formidable team! Lucky they are wearing their masks - otherwise you might know who they are ...
So much fun just to paint. No plan. No stress. Just time out for play!