Venerable 2

I have been having fun playing with texture and color. I just layer and layer color untill I see something I like. This is the second canvas called venerable. I will have to explain the title maybe in another post sometime. This is an acrylic mixed media painting on gallery wrapped canvas At this time I am intrigued with the colors  turquois and azu nickel. Several of my previous paintings were done in these colors.

blue iris

I have been working on a series of abstract paintings and today I chose to paint a familiar subject.
I needed to get away from the abstract for awhile  Irises grow in my garden  and I have painted them so many times in oil paints and acrylics I guess you could say I can paint them with my eyes closed as I have studied them closely. Tomorrow I   intend  to get back to painting the abstracts. 2014 has been a good year for me to paint. So far I have been able to paint 3 or 4 days in the week. I try to do a little bit every day. An hour of 2 in the evenings on the off days. But to paint all day as I sometimes do is a dream come true.

Spring flowers

Spring flowers are a little slow in blooming  this year. Years ago I painted these that were growing on our deck outdoors. There was an area where I could plant bulbs and seeds among rocks that I had placed around because I love rocks. These bloomed among the rocks and I sat down on the deck and painted them as I saw them. I like to paint flowers the way they  grow instead of in a vase. But sometimes I will paint them as a still life. Painting this way perhaps goes back to the time of early art classes. My teacher insisted that whatever we painted we had to observe. She did not let us use  copies of photographs or magazine pictures. We could use our own sketch of a subject.

spiraling

Having fun today painting with the painting knife. Color here and maybe more over there. Layering and layering looking for just the right color combinations and design. Thick juicy  paint with lots of texture.  A little collage with several layers of colors, turquois,, burnt sienna, aztec  gold. Just playing watching the colors combine. So here it is and I may still eventually pick at it again.

Elliot Ness telephone painting

My Elliot Ness telephone painting won 2nd place at Trinity Art Guild in their Winter Challenge juried   show. This is acrylic / Collage on gallery wrap canvas. Size 14" X 11". Very thankful