Tangled up in Blue

"Tangle up in Blue" oil on 16 x16 gallery wrap canvas

This painting will be featured at the 910 Arts "Spirits Bright" Show Nov. 30-Jan. 7

Happy Fall Friday all!  For my “Tangled up In Blue” oil painting, I abstracted this close up photo I took look down at the pathway in Wash Park near my studio. (One of the things I miss most as my broken toe recovers is taking pics in the park as the season changes.)  Natural elements likes leaves, pebbles, twigs, etc.  provide me with all sorts of shape, color and texture inspiration for abstract paintings like this.

This might make a good painting...

My other inspiration for this painting was exploring a range of blues which I used to balance the primarily warmer leaves.  For me, I find I can get the blue range I want (in oil paint) with just 2 key blues: Ultramarine (which tends to lean blue violet) and Pthalo (or Thalo ) blue which tends to lean to the blue green.


The good news about these two "workhorse" blues as many of you know is that they are quite affordable pigments compared to genuine cobalt or cerulean. Also, while I usually use the standard 37ml size tubes, for larger paintings I don't mind using big tubes (200ml vs. 37 ml.) of student grade ultramarine and thalo (Winton, Dalery Rowney, Gamblin Sketch). The large student tubes of these 2 blues are usually still single pigments so I find they compare quite favorably to the pro lines. Briefly, here's a short article about pro vs. student paints. 

Note you would likely see a difference with student grade cobalt or cerulean. These are usually hues" or "mixes" of several pigments such as ultramarine and white to keep the cost lower. And because they are often multiple pigments they can cause mixing headaches so I tend to avoid them.

Speaking of thalo, we’ve all heard the caveat about thalo taking over a painting, your palette, your clothes, your home…At this point, I’m sometimes asked why use thalo at at all? Simply, because I love teals, turquoise, emeralds, mint, limes—And I need thalo for those mixes. Here’s painter Kathleen Hebert’s  view on why she loves thalo.

Before I go I wanted to give a shout out to any of my East Coast readers and followers who may be dealing with the storm this week. For those of you who’d like to help out with Hurricane relief DPW is generously hosting a Hurricane Sandy art fundraiser where you may donate a painting or buy a wonderful piece of art,  You don’t need to be a DPW member to participate. Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!

Tangerine Dreams 48x48 Oil on Gallery Canvas

Each year, as some of you may know, the color industry leaders over at Pantone select a color that they think is making it's move in fashion, design, art, etc.  This large square oil abstract was inspired by the "2012 Pantone Color of the Year"--Tangerine Tango. Over at Daily Paintworks they are celebrating Tangerine Tango with this week's painting challenge!  FYI, for this painting, I mixed an approximation of the Tangerine Tango using Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Yellow Light.

I was thrilled to see this "sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive" hue selected because I often include red orange in my paintings. Personally (and what's more personal in art than color?) I was less enamored the 2011 color of the year--Honeysuckle. Kind of a cool midtone pink. 

I just finished up packing up all my art supplies in preparation for my Marco Island (yes it's a bit warmer there) painting workshop with Dreama Tolle Perry. I've been looking forward to this workshop for ages. I look forward to telling you all about it when I return.

For those of you thinking about workshop travel this year, I decided to mail myself in advance an insured large "flat rate" no weight limit box (less than $20) that I crammed full of supplies such as expensive paint, walnut oil, painting knives, linen panels, etc. to avoid any airport hassle--plus if you've packed up art supplies you know they how heavy they can be.
 
Finally, I want to give a warm winter welcome and high fives to all my many new 2012 students. Thanks so much for starting out your art year with me in the studio. It's been a pleasure meeting all of you. If you are interested in painting classes in February/March I have a few spots left (not many) but feel free to email me for more info.

A Not So Still Life

Still of the Night-Oil on Canvas-16x16

"I never wanted color to be color. I never wanted texture to be texture, or images to become shapes. I wanted them all to fuse together into a living spirit."  Clyfford Still

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Last Friday marked the long-awaited opening of the Clyfford Still Museum. As some of you may know, Still was an American Abstract Expressionist whose contemporaries included Pollock, Motherwell, and DeKooning.

Clyfford Still Museum-Denver, CO

Still is also classified as a “color field” painter as many of his works contain impasto (thickly painted) bold shapes of blacks, yellows, reds, and whites. Whether you are fan of this movement or not, I think it would be hard to ignore its influence on many contemporary American artists and collectors.

When Still died in 1980 he left over 2,400 works (many of which were never seen in public) to a city willing to create a museum dedicated solely to the artist. In 2004, Denver won the bid for the museum. Like many art lovers in town, I’ve been looking forward to the museum unveiling ever since. I hope to have time this holiday week to visit the collection. In the meantime I’m posting an oil abstract that I painted in honor of such an important part of American art history taking place right in my backyard.  

Finally, big congratulations to my students who were juried into some of our local fall art exhibits--One of whom won not only their first show ribbon but the Commissioner's Choice for a lovely landscape. I’m so proud!  Also, there's still time to win a free fine art print (see previous posting for details)--just comment on any post to be entered until November 30. (I've only got 2 entrants so far, so your odds of winning are pretty good!)

Found in Translation

Found in Translation--24 x 24 Mixed Media Collage on Gallery Wrap Canvas

Happy Friday everyone! Another busy spring working on several different pieces this week in the studio. First, in my Abstract Class on Monday with Homare Ikeda, I worked on a relatively large (36 x 36) acrylic and oil abstract I've tentatively titled Escapade--Below is a detail.

This week, I wanted to push toward a different palette and ended up using (as you can see) some warm yellows and oranges and then balancing those with some cooler neutralized blues and grays. And while I've used many circular symbols, as I often do, I really enjoyed searching for other interesting shapes such as figures. 

Yesterday turned up the jazz station and really enjoyed creating a big square collage on stretched canvas using Thai papers, vintage European postage stamps, and Jane Eyre in Chinese (which I found in a used bookstore). I'm calling this piece Found in Translation because of all the bits of different languages (there's French, Swedish, Russian, Greek, etc.) found on the envelopes and stamps.

Interestingly, in one of the envelopes, I found a torn part of an old typed letter that seems to be about a death, marriage, and some kind of immigration. I just wish I had the entire letter. Anyway, I had to use that in the piece. To apply and seal the collage materials I used a matte finish acrylic gel (in this case Liquitex brand).  To all my painters out there, collage is a great way to strengthen your composition skills.

Quick note to my students, thanks for sharing all your new spring projects with me--great work this week!
Finally thank you to Sarah for your high bid on my Help Japan Challenge watercolor painting on Daily Paintworks!  

The Compassed Window

The Compassed Window--18 x 24

Happy Tuesday everyone! Lately, Monday has been my day to take a break from the representational painting and work on my abstracts. Really enjoyed working on this yesterday. A process I often use for this type of  painting is to do a loose, washy acrylic under painting (which in theory could stand on it's own as an abstract work) with fluid Golden acrylics using a variety of cool and warm colors.

That then helps give me a further direction to work with the "over" painting in relatively thin oils, still playing with the warm and cool balance. To me the initial acrylic layers lent themselves to the feeling of looking down on maps (grids) and through windows, thus my painting title.

Are we there yet?
Often when I paint abstractly (i.e. without a strong end goal) am often faced with the when to stop or "is this done??" question. Some artists, I think Picasso was one, assert that they are finished with a work of art when it's sold. Picasso has a good point, but before it goes out to the client we still need to set our brushes down and sign our name. Which brings me back to when is a painting finished? Understanding that the answer is personal to each artist, here are just a few quick thoughts I found regarding the  subject of painting completion:

Artist M.E. Baily says in his post: Isn’t that really the reason we paint? . . .to capture a spirit? A feeling? A mood? I suppose the painting is finished when we look at the painting and can feel that spirit.
Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn offers a more tactical approach with a checklist that includes a thoughtful review of your color, composition, and craftsmanship.
Artist Isle Hable suggests simply: A painting can be considered finished when no additional time spent working on it will improve it.

Finally, here's an interesting article by art critic James Elkins regarding famous "unfinished" paintings and the fascinating Google Art Project  which allows you to explore paintings around the world on a macro level. As always thanks for stopping by--see you in the studio!

Ampersands of Time

Happy Monday everyone! Lately, I felt it was time to push myself to do a larger, more expressive and graphic non-representational painting. So over the weekend I bought a 3 foot by 4 foot gallery wrap canvas and which lurked liked a big white wall for a few hours. For me the best way to get started is to just dive in and start making marks--working with line and mass (more sold shapes).  I also used acrylic paint here so I could quickly stamp into areas, collage, etc.

Painting Detail

I always enjoy incorporating symbols, gylphs, words, letters, numbers, etc. into my art. In this piece, I wanted to include two of my favorite symbols: the ampersand and asterisk (which derives from the Latin for little star).
I read that asterisks where originally used to denote birth dates in family trees and the ampersand is an ancient symbol dating back to the first century.  It represents the written Latin "et" meaning "and" as you might have guessed. 

Since I was thinking about words and how they relate to art, I thought it would be fun to write a haiku (a traditional Japanese poetry form that follows the 5/7/5 syllable format) about painting abstractly. (I'm a former English major, but my poetry writing is a bit rusty, but here goes...)

Paint marks on canvas
Letters value hue collide
Whatever you have


White wall towers empty
Brushes tell a story
Colors sing in harmony


Colors swim below
Shapes emerge born of shadow
Brushes reach the sky

For those of you who paint on large surfaces you know how freeing this can be.  While I think I've still got a few adjustments to make, this was one of the most enjoyable pieces I've worked on recently.  Quick welcome and thanks to my new March students, as always I look forward to helping you reach your art goals while enjoying the process along the way!

Abstract Tuesday

First welcome to my new visitors from around the world, thanks for stopping by!

Here's the abstract mixed-media painting ("The Invention of Color") I posted yesterday on Daily Painters Abstract Gallery. This is one of those paintings where I just set out to explore and don't really have a plan of action.

I used gessosed illustration board (so it would take the paint better) and applied many different layers of transparent Golden acrylics, pastels, graphite, collage tissue paper, and then stamping at the end to add even more depth. These kind of paintings may take you on long journey but they are worth it.

One of my favorite art books for mixed media exercises like this is Celebrate your Creative Self by Mary Todd Beam. For more information about my mixed media or acrylic painting classes, please write to me at the studio: ScarletOwl@hotmail.com.