Black is the new White....

So  I asked myself what would the painting turn out if I put black gesso on before layering???

And as I woke up this morning sneezing, runny nose, headache and really tired (can't take cold tablets due to high blood pressure) I decided to paint...any excuse and a little time will do....

After painting the black gesso on I added a layer using a brayer roller...

Then I added a bit of colour...

And it wasn't really the affect I was looking for but I went along with it and added a bit more..

Both need more work done to them so I'll let you know later how they turn out...

I started another one which shows the black background coming through,  I just did some stamping on it, not too sure where I'll go next as I'm making it up as I go along, and this time I limited my colour palette as I have trouble with that and I found that my Love Blooms painting I really like as I had decided beforehand what the colour palette would be......

So, what new arty things have you tried lately?



Triplets Plus One...

I just had a seriously bad choking and coughing fit...where are my boys when I need a good slap on the back...

Tonight is the Art Awards Opening Ceremony night.....

Here are my finished vase/pot and flower paintings....

Love Blooms (Sold - Wedding present)  27th May 2011  Acrylic Painting 51cm x 76cm

Love Blossoms (an engagement present for a friend)  27th May 2011  Acrylic Painting 51cm x 76cm

Peacock Feathers  27th May 2011  Acrylic Painting 51cm x 76cm

Terracotta Pot 27th May 2011  Acrylic Painting 51cm x 76cm

 

Triplets are nearly finished....

Here's an update on the triplets....I'm going to leave them for a little while whilst I decide if they are finished or not.

More Progress on the Triplets

Mondays are art group day, so I did some work on my Triplets...more layers and more layers required.

One is going to be an engagement present...maybe I need a poll and let people decide....

Peacock Feathers continued...

I have continued working on my peacock feathers painting...not too sure about it though...lot of things I wish I'd done differently.....and still more work to do on the right hand side...

Peacock Feathers

I worked on the Peacock Feather today...adding more layers and changing colours...still needs another layer to make the right colour and the feathers need work too....

Took my Funky Town painting to the Art Awards this morning.....nervous....

Triple the Fun Part 2

Gloomy and rainy today so I spent it painting.  :D  Here's what's happening with the triplets...

 

Sadly I had to continue...

 

I should probably pack it all away now and tidy up my studio aka the kitchen!! 

Have a great weekend.

Triple the Fun

FUN FUN FUN

Since I started the last blog (this morning) with FIRE FIRE FIRE I thought I'd start this one with triple the fun. (Another edit....I just checked out the site and the Art Awards are going ahead as the exhibition area was unaffected!!! )

I went shopping this morning  :D sorry bank account....hahahaha and bought 'some' canvasses and started painting three at once, a recommendation in Pam Carriker's book Art At The Speed of Life, and something that makes practical sense - well sort of.  Now I need to to find a place to store them as my room is shrinking.  I'd post a pic of my art/junk room but I can't get in there.  Well, I lie, I can get in there, one step in and twirl on the spot and that's about it.  Hubby needs to put some more nails in the walls so I can hang the finished paintings up.  Enough of that, here are the triplets, not really a triptych as that presumes that the paintings all make one painting and should be sold together and who knows what these will be...

So for the second layer I thought I would do each one differently.  I thought that if I do three paintings at the same time whilst in the same mood they could turn out all the same, which is not possible with Flora's layering/intuitive technique. 

Painting 1 - I just used the foam brushes to cover up the background layer.

Painting 2 - I closed my eyes and had some fun and afterwards I grabbed the Tupperware Cake Decorator that you would normally run through icing and ran it through the paint.

Painting 3 - I used no foam brushes and just did a lot stamping and patterning which was fun.

Painting 1 should be dry now so I'll go and pop another layer on that....

A couple of hours later...

City of Melville Fire

FIRE FIRE FIRE

Yesterday there was a fire at the City of Melville Civic Centre where the Art Awards were meant to be held.  Two floors were damaged with fire, smoke and flooding.  I haven't heard yet what will be happening to the art awards whether they will be postponed, cancelled till next year or if a different venue will be found.

I'm very disappointed to say the least but actually very grateful that it did not happen whilst all our paintings were there.  Oh well, there will always be another time...

Art Awards Acceptance

My Funky Town painting has been accepted into the City of Melville Art Awards!!!  It was just a numbers game but it's a great chance to get my painting seen and to sell it.  So excited...will update you in a couple of weeks as to whether it sells.

At the end of July our community will be holding a Truffle Festival.  About 20,000 people will come up into the Perth hills to go to the Truffle Festival so the community centre I go to each week to co-ordinate the art group will be holding an art and craft fair and one of my paintings will be on the brochure of that as an example of modern art you can buy there.  So I get the chance to sell 6 or more paintings...so I better get painting.  Did I tell you that the art shop wants some of my paintings to sell that weekend too....I've completed two - the butterfly and the dragonfly and will do another animal one - an elephant, whales and fish...I'll ask the painting.  :D

Here's the Upside Down Town painting that's completed:

At the community centre I'm working on two layered paintings at once.  One is large and the other is a square painting for the art shop.  I completed another painting over the weekend which is at the community centre right now so I only have this photo I took yesterday in bad light....

My parent's asked me to do a painting for them to give to their friend's daughter as a wedding gift.  The groom is from India so I used colours I associate with India.  I will do a similiar one for a friend as an engagement/wedding present and one to sell at the community centre.

Upside Down Miss Jane...

"Upside down Miss Jane, upside down"  was the catch phrase of a tv puppet Mr Squiggle back in the '70's. 

My latest painting which is nearly finished has two sets of houses, the top one is upside down.  The idea came from my son and suited the painting.  I plan to set the hanging cord in the middle of the painting thereby allowing the owner to decide which way round they prefer to hang the painting.

I still need to do a few final touches on it...

In my next blog I'll post it both ways round and you can decide for your self which way round you think it should go.



Dragonfly Painting

My Dragonfly painting is finished for now.  I did a bit more outlining and added some different flowers.  It will be on sale at the local art shop over the weekend of the Mundaring Truffle Festival at the end of July.

Dragonfly
Acrylic on Canvas 61cm x 61cm

Here are the previous stages:



Progress made on my Dragonfly painting...

More progress has been made on the previous painting...I've turned it into a dragonfly in the style of my dragonfly paintings back in 2001.  I would have really loved to have the background one colour and with no brush lines showing but I'm trying to give up my need for perfection and go with interesting. I need to finish it off with some outlining and more decorations.

http://aussiesheila.deviantart.com/art/West-Coast-Dragonflies-119747288