This painting is one of  series I have just completed. It was great fun making them as I just "let go" and revelled in the actual process of creating rather than aiming for a finished product. It employs my favourite set of colours, blue, purple and green. It is a great way for me to work as I am really bad at spoiling my work by fiddling and trying to put too much into a painting. This painting has no right or wrong, no perspective to deal with, no tight and stilted brushwork. 

It also makes me want to look at it because it makes me feel good. That may be because I am unusually pleased with it as a piece I have made, or because it reminds me of how much fun it was or because it contains the colours that please me. However, I think it just hits the right spot for me, the right amount of interest, the right amount of movement, things to follow and discover. 

As someone who is not a fan of action painting this has come as a bit of a shock. 

However you like to create, why not try a bit of "letting go" therapy - you might surprise yourself too :-)

Happy Creating

Janice x

Abstract Seascape

This seascape is one of my latest paintings. It measures 36" x 24" and is in oils on canvas. It is painted over a textured layer which picked up the white paint applied with a pallette knife. This was a joy to paint. If you think you can't paint, this type of work is worth a try.

Here are a few tips for early success .

1. Abstract painting isn't "of" anything. You don't need to include recognisable shapes or forms. 

2. Limit the colours you use. Here I have used 2 blues and violet full srength and with very little mixing. There is also quite a lot of white :-)

3. Start with colours you have a feel for and go with how the colours make you feel.

4. Let your brushes do the work, let go with your head and paint with your heart. Sometimes playing music can help.

5. Enjoy the process. If it doesn't work, let it dry and start right over the top.

Happy Creating :-)

Janice

The Colour Purple.

My favourite colour is purple, even my just turned 2 year old granddaughter knows it :-). So just for fun, here is a collection of purple based paintings.

It is a good exercise to try painting with as few colours as possible and in these I have used only 2.
The July issue of the Artist magazine has a great article by Hazel Soan on using a limited pallette. In fact the magazine is a bumper issue with some great contributions. I love the Ann Blockley one on loosening up your watercolours, much more than just a big brush wet-in-wet article.

These are all available in my Artfinder shop - the link is in the sidebar.

Happy creating, Janice

Get the right Colour

Today I have been uploading more work to Artfinder for which, of course, I have to take reasonably accurate photos. Usually I use my own camera and take a set of shots with different exposures choosing the one which made the whites in the picture look white. Today I used a camera that wasn't set up for bracketed shots and thought I could get away with it. The picture below shows I couldn't.   As you can see, the mount looks grey. In actual fact it was ivory. The camera's white balance was fooled as it read it as a mid tone. In fact it was even worse than this as I had added brightness in my photo editor.
A good way to solve this problem is to photograph against a mid toned background and then crop to your image, This also gives a good margin if you are slightly out setting up your camera and need to straighten before cropping. More on that in another post.

Have fun, keep creating :-)

More Art work in my Artfinder shop

Fun with paint.

Sometimes I read about analyses of different paintings and wonder. Is that what the artist was trying to convey? Do most paintings have a deep and serious meaning? Do I want a picture on my wall that makes me think too much?

Or do I want something that makes me feel good?
I painted this garden scene, which I have called The Great Escape, just because it makes me feel good.
Watching petals being blown on the wind like confetti it suddenly seemed like the flowers were trying to escape the bounds of their garden bed and fly off full of life.

This is a fun painting to do, here's how

You will need good thick watercolour paper and good quality artist's paints.

Soak your paper and stick with gummed tape to a board. Allow to dry.

Wet your paper all over. Using a bright yellow, lay a wash all over the paper. Using a hake or wash brush touch in very strong washes of blue and green at the bottom and sides leaving the central area from the top down to the middle just yellow. Now lift your board and tip to one side to let the washes run and merge, then tip to the other side. Finally raise the top of the board to allow the washes to move downwards. Mop up the excess with kitchen towel as you go.
Lay the board flat and sprinkle salt over the darker areas to create texture.

Leave to dry for a couple of days.

Using small brushes work over the bottom half of the painting using the texture created to inspire the forms to paint. I "took my brush for a walk" letting it lead the way to create random flower like impressions.

In the lighter areas paint loose flowers in the colours you have used. make some seem edge on and some facing away or towards you. Make them smaller and paler as you move up the sheet.

Add any finishing touches that you like to make the picture all yours :-)

I'd love to see the results if you have a go.

Happy Creating

Janice x