Artistic Urge - Creative Surge - Drought

Anybody ever been here?

The ideas flow and the hand puts brush to paper on a seemingly constant output of art.

T H E N

As suddenly as it starts, the creative energy seems to dry up and nothing happens except good intentions.

I walked past my office the other day and saw my brushes all forlornly standing to attention in the jar that holds them. Paint tubes and the new palette I bought still sit next to them.

Solution/s...?

Volcano and paint

this an image I took from our recent holiday to 'volcano country' in the middle of New Zealand's north island. I think I will enjoy painting it.

Or, anyone want to paint it and send me a pic to appear in the GUEST ARTIST slot...?

On the road to Havelock - South Island, NZ - Acrylic

My latest venture in acrylic landscape from one of my photos.
I thought it would turn into an interesting project - using three canvas panels. This was a decision based on necessity...

1) I didn't have one of those long skinny canvas blocks -
2) the thought of trying to transport it (if I did have one) was not something that appealed to me
3) I DID have one of those cheap 3-packs so decided to use it creatively for one project

Will be back to write details but enjoy the photos in the meantime...

Sketching with violet always works for me.

Looking more like the Antarctic...

Here I used a watery dilution of Blue Lake to "prime' the white background.
There is still some left - I have it in the fridge in a plastic yoghurt container with a cling wrap film for a lid. No kids in our house so no fear of it being drunk by mistake...

Painting some of the fields and hills with lemon yellow, yellow ochre and cool yellow. I did these in thin layers of yellows so the optical mixing of the blue underneath made green...

Then a bit of burnt umber to define the leafless trees and bushes...

Using a few more layers of blue lake to define the sky - I chose to keep the clouds out of the scene, but think they might have to be added at some stage - too BLUE...
More definition to the hills using ready mixed greens with some ochre and white to highlight the ridges.

Now I'm beginning to think this is turning into a "dull" painting, but learning as I go.
My last trip past this spot gave me another opportunity to view the hills at a different time of day, so I'll be able to 'draw' on that when I get to the next step...

Guest Artist - Tero Nurminen

This is from Finnish artist Tero Nurminen based in Helsinki.
Click the link to see more incredible works by Tero.

When I first saw this painting I was amazed and said, "Now that is real art...".
Especially since I have a "thing" for frogs.














Here is some info from the artist himself...
size: of the painting is 150cm x 240cm.

medium: acrylic on canvas.

name: sweaty afternoon.

Look also my art from the Finnish artists union home pages:
www.artists.fi and there is page named: verkkomatrikkeli.
Then search by name: Tero Nurminen.

You can also check Saatchi gallery online, and search by my name.
There are my latest works which are very strong paintings in my opinion.

They are painted by flowing acrylic paint on canvas when painting is laying on the floor. Canvas is cotton duck and its own colour is important element in the finished painting.

best regards

Tero Nurminen

What is this? - Acrylic Ink on Watercolour Paper

acrylic ink

This is a recent painting I did for Painting About Com's July Painting Project.
But before I tell you all more about it, I'd love some comment on what you all think it might be...
Just a little bit of research to see what different views people have of this painting...
Hit the "comments" link below this post to let me know.
Thanks very much...



Well, that was the painting... Now for the inspiration of it...
It was taken from this Google Earth image and from browsing Google Earth of this place in the north west of South Africa.

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Guest Artist - Joan Knoesen (1)

Joan Knoesen - "On the road to Wanaka"

Joan Knoesen - "On the road to Wanaka" - Oil on canvas panel- 8 by 10 inches
Central Otago, south island, New Zealand

This painting is by South African artist Joan Knoesen and was taken from a photo I sent to her a few years ago.
From an early age I remember being captivated by my grandmother's art - her ability to put paint on a canvas and produce an image that evoked emotion and thought is, I'm sure where my love of art grew from.

Whatch this space for more art from Joan Knoesen...


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Ink Flow

Another ink doodle that I like and since some of my other paintings have been relegated to the definition of 'practice runs' - it is here...


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Bright Ink

acrylic ink

wet in wet - acrylic ink

There's something quite therapeutic about swirling pigment around a watery parchment...

No set rules to follow - it evolves naturally and takes on an abstract quality.
I'm amazed how the tiniest drop of coloured ink can expand from deep intensity to bright and even flow of colour. The real excitement for me is when another colour is added and given a slight guiding stroke or three with the tip of my paintbrush - then watching how it all evolves...

Using the three primary colours - this is the result.

I'm having fun with ink and water at the moment - building up to gaining confidence to tackle a large watercolour landscape.


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Here's lookin' at ya...

red eyed tree frog - acrylic on canvas

In the interests of keeping my blog active by posting to it on a regular basis - I thought this pic would be amusing...
It came up on my screensaver the other night and "spoke" to me.

This photo was taken during my developmental series (so it is not part of the photos I have of the finished painting) and was shot up close and at an angle.

Hope to be back soon with the latest painting stages...


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Rusty Talent...

limited colours

It's been a good few months since I spent some time with watercolour paints and my first foray into the medium after this results in this pic. Putting it in a frame thankfully detracts from the 'schoolboy' art of the painting...

I used only a few 'basic' colours to keep things simple and it was a fun little experiment.


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"Callie's Fluke" - final - framed

CALLIE'S FLUKE - acrylic on watercolour board - 225mm x 305mm - May 2007.

And here it is, the final painting for Callie - 'rescued' as a potential flop and now as a gift to a friend from cyberspace.
Many thin layers of paint have been glazed over to give the sky an almost photographic clarity.
It is one of those paintings best viewed from a distance to impart the full effect.

To view the process of this painting, please scroll down to the next post...


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How to Ruin a Painting - 101

Ok, so the title is a li'l over damatic, but I'm going to show you step by step how to ruin a painting...
All was going well until STEP: #5 onwards...

So,
STEP # 1:

painting of a whale - process

Take a spare watercolour board and draw the picture, sketching with the paint to show definition... Got it?

STEP # 2:

Decide on some bright colours to use and continue building up layers of brightness.
Remember your motto, "Expressing life through colour..."



STEP # 3:

Continue with layers of bright and vivid sunset colours.
This painting now takes shape and is working out rather well...
This would have been a good place to stop and reconsider
the options.


STEP # 4:

Going gangbusters - the whole painting is coming together nicely. Then, this is probably where you should stop and call it quits by doing nothing more on the background... If you've been fortunate enough to get some honest feedback, you probably would have been told to concentrate just on getting the whale defined...


STEP # 5:
This is where it all goes horribly wrong...
Know when to stop! Don't think by adding some more red colour to the sunset sky that it will liven things up more.
And, PLEASE, if you're using vivid transparent colours - don't go randomly using pastel and opaque - (colours that cover up the areas already painted)




STEP #6:

Perhaps this should come under the title " How to rescue a ruined painting"..?
So this is where I am up to on this and totally stuck... I've painted over the lighter colours with mixes of paynes gray, permanent purple madder, quinacridone red violet. Repainted the sea and sky with yellow to diffuse the intense red "hit" of the previous pic but I'm no longer enjoying the process. I'll give it one more go and then decide if what I've done has worked. Otherwise I'll start another whale picture on actual acrylic board instead of watercolour board.
Thanks for your patience Callie - one of these months, you'll have a whale from New Zealand hangin on your wall...



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Red Eyed Tree Frog - 5 -

Red Eyed Tree Frog - 5 - Part 8

"Consummatum est"

I'm not doing anymore on <-- this frog. At some point one has to declare, "IT IS FINISHED!" And in comparison to the other frog paintings already declared consummatum est - this one joins them... All these tree frog paintings you see here are on 100cm by 80cm stretched canvas.

I'm taking a well deserved break from frogs for the time being (even though my focus remains on completing my series...) but I am keen to get back to doing a few more watercolour landscapes.
Watch this space...



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Red Eyed Tree Frog - 5 - Part 7

Well, I've dealt to the rather blue background leaf and this is the result.
Yesterday I bit the bullet and decided it would either work or totally ruin the painting.
Instead I've landed up in no-man's land. It isn't ruined but it certainly isn't fixed.

I used Light Green to paint over the obvious blue areas of the leaf - blending that into the rest of the painting. Then I spent the whole day glazing over the background with diluted layers of Light Green. Waiting for it to dry before applying the next layer and the next - and so on.
Lesson/s learnt?: Viridian Hue is a lovely colour - BUT - only in the right context. I should have been brave enough to mix my own dark green from the start...



So my thoughts at the moment are:

• that the background has lost some of it's solidness

• the frog looks like it's hovering on the leaf rather than sitting on it

• the luminosity of the frog body is lost in the optical mixing of the background

etc, etc, etc

My solution:
to put the painting back in the office and get on with other unfinished paintings until my mind has time to 'come up with the answer' or a friendly comment is left with helpful suggestion/s



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