Abstract on paper series – larger A3 size – 1

“Dune”

Fine sand/grit, bonding agent, acrylics, irridescent medium, gloss medium, various metallics on 140lb A3 size acid free Acrylic paper

Actual size of painting:   14½” x 9¾”

Close ups of texture detail.

There is a slight buckling of the finished work, mainly because it was not completely dry when I took the photos.  I am weighting it under pressure at the moment, so that it cures completely flat.  This is the first time I’ve worked on acrylic paper, I’m not sure about it yet – although I can already tell that it is much stronger than the multi-media paper and I like the fact that it has a linen type grain, which is enjoyable to work on.  I used gesso as primer before starting the work and many layers, using gloss medium and irridescent medium in between to set the layers properly.  I’m not 100% happy with the composition but I didn’t want to overwork it so that the colours remained fresh. I tried to evoke a feeling of lazy, hot sunny days near the sea in summer.

Abstract on paper series – 3

“A little bit of sea”

Fine sand/grit, bonding agent, acrylics, irridescent medium, metallics on watercolour paper 300grams Grain Fin Cold Pressed NOT Acid Free

9¾” x 6¼” (Actual paper size is 11.7″ x 8.3″)

Close up of texture detail.

Abstract on paper series – 2

“the vestry window”

Modelling gel, acrylics, metallics on mixed-media paper (250gm/169lb)

Approximately 12″ x 8″

Close up of texture detail.

One thing I learnt here is that you must use acrylic medium between layers – I don’t have any at the moment, hence my new found knowledge!   Otherwise, the underlying layers become muddy and hard to work on.   So I’m off to get me some new medium just as soon as I can – cos all my other stuff is finished!

Abstract on paper series – 1

Untitled – study.

Acrylics, gel medium, metallics on mixed-media paper (250gm/169lb)

Approximately 12″ x 8″

Close up of texture detail.

I have been watching a lot of videos by the German artist, Gerda Lipski and was inspired by her to try layering with acrylics on paper today.   This is not something I normally do – because I don’t trust the nature of paper to stay strong during the layering process!  Anyway, thanks to some of the tips that Gerda gives on her YouTube channel, I figured it out and now I’m having fun layering on paper for a change!  Need to get some more acrylic medium though, as I’ve run out – so had to use heavy gel medium on this piece, which explains why I ended up with a bit more texture in the middle than I thought I would. 🙂

Again, thanks for stopping by.

New Mixed Media

 

“Mixed Flowers”
20″ x 16″
Watercolour, inks, acrylics, gold outlining medium, on stretched canvas

Mixed media

A new mixed media study:

“

“Field”
16″ x 20″
Watercolour, inks, acrylics on stretched canvas

New practice piece – Watercolour

‘Mare and foal, Perth fly fishing lake, Drakensberg’

Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour paper – 140lbs Cold Pressed/NOT – Grain Fin

12 x 9″

From my own reference photo.

I am trying to do various types of studies at the moment, to practice light on water and light on the ground. I think I achieved that with this little piece – it’s very difficult to restrain yourself from overpainting and overworking the surface when you are using watercolours, after working in the abstract using acrylics and heavy texture for such a long time as I have been doing.  I’ve deliberately left out a lot of detail on this piece (of the horse and baby) but if I painted this on a canvas, I would do much more work on it.

New studies

These were both done using my own reference photos as inspiration.

‘Poppies brightening a fence – Anglian Square car park, Norwich’

12″ x 9″ Watercolour on 140lb NOT (Cold Pressed) paper

‘Tobermory’

12″ x 9″ Watercolour on 140lb NOT (Cold Pressed) paper

More fiddlin’ about

I like working with watercolours and acrylics, in the abstract at least. So here’s a few doodles from this week.  Promise to get better materials for the next attempts and take the pics in good light (I’m lazy, it’s Sunday and it’s not like I’m actually going to sell any of these)

 

All 12″ x 9″, acrylics and watercolours on 300gsm acid free watercolour paper.

 

Slight return

A friend of mine suggested that I do a better job with the images of my work, as this is one of the primary reasons why art doesn’t sell on the internet. I had a look at one painting in specific (Windy Day at Caister on Sea) which has received a lot of likes and so on but no purchase.  The original photos were very dull and in fact, when I checked them out most of them had shadow on and were taken in low light.   I took this painting out into my garden this morning (the sun is particularly bright today) and redid some photos – I didn’t use the tripod but I will for all future photos of work.  I think the difference is quite obvious – any comment from my peers (i.e. you 🙂 ) would be welcome?

 

Old photos of this painting:

Driftwood

Abstract acrylic multi-media painting

“Driftwood”

51cm x 41cm x 2cm

20″ x 16″ x 3/4″  (approx)

This is a heavily textured piece and a lot of reworking went into its creation.  There are many layers of material that I have sculpted.  The layers were made from caulk, modelling paste, fabric, threads (metallic and cotton), sand and paint.   I used acrylics, as well as metal effect paints and the base is a stretched canvas.

This image taken in reflected natural daylight with tripod.

Anyway, hope you like.
Textural detail:

 

 

 

 

New mixed-media painting

“Field”

Substrate of acrylics and metallic paints, collage scraps of silk fabric; overlayed with oils, various nail varnishes, glitter – on stretched box style canvas

10″ x 8″ x 1½”

26cm x 21cm x 4cm

 

Natural light

Some News and a little painting

My phone made a bleep at around midnight last night and of course I was awake, so had to check it.  The message was from a gallery in New York who wanted to know if I would be interested in exploring representation through them.  I am not going to break out the champagne just yet as I need to know more and what is involved – but it is a personal victory and I’m proud that I have received some recognition from a major gallery.

 

“Silver Sea”‘

 

14″ x 11″ x 3/4″

Multi-media – featuring scraps of silver fabric, acrylics, glues and effect paints on stretched canvas.

Texture detail:

 

New painting

Been having something of a hiatus of late … too boring to go into the reasons why.   Anyway, I got stuck into the oils AND acrylics today and the result is this one:

 

“View from Seletwane, Drakensberg”

30cm x 30cm x 3.5cm deep

Acrylics and oils combined (yes, they do mix)

Silk fabric scraps (collage), pastes and gels on stretched canvas – gallery wrap style.

Unvarnished.

Photo taken with smart phone – better quality image will be uploaded when I have a bit more time.

 

More art from club duvet

Well I started some lickle pieces this weekend …

Art from club duvet – canvasses ready for some texture

And these are the results of some of them:

 

 

“The Old Barn”

Acrylics, collage, pre-treated silk fabric, metallic painted silk fabric scraps, glue and paper on stretched canvas – gallery wrap style.

11 ¾” x 11¾” x 1½”

 

“Hedgerow and cloud”

Acrylics, collage,  mixed media, cotton wool shreds, shredded paper on stretched canvas – gallery wrap style.

11 ¾” x 11¾” x 1½”

Texture detail

“Untitled”

Acrylics, collage, mixed media, pre-treated silk fabric, metallic painted silk fabric scraps, glue and paper on stretched canvas – gallery wrap style.

11 ¾” x 11¾” x 1½

 

“Asgeir”

Acrylics, collage, mixed media, pre-treated silk fabric, glue and paper on stretched canvas – gallery wrap style.

11 ¾” x 11¾” x 1½

Texture detail:

 

Re-worked work.

“Lost at the mall”

24″ x 18″

Reworked old canvas.  Acrylics, glues, fabric, hand-dyed silk, caulk and gels.

Trying some new colour combos out today.   Don’t know as I like this one yet.  Might chuck it 🙂

There is a little back story behind this one, though.  Many years ago, I lost my youngest daughter, who was about four at the time, when we were shopping in a busy department store.  My eldest daughter (who was also with me) and I, spent a frantic fifteen or twenty minutes running backwards and forwards trying to find her.   The horrible thing, for me, was that I’d had a particularly vivid nightmare the night before and in it I was hysterically running through what appeared to be train carriages (also brightly lit and full of people staring at me) searching anxiously for something  or someone … all the time I was looking for my little girl, I was trying to remember how the dream ended but I couldn’t! I think these kinds of dreams are called prescience … don’t know much about that.  In any case, my heart was in my mouth as we ran through the garishly lit and noisy mall trying to find my baby – there had been a spate of child abductions in the area where we lived during that time, which made things even more scary.   People watched me running past, screaming for my child, shaking their heads and looking worried but nobody actually did anything to try and help.  We eventually discovered that she’d gone back to the parking area and was patiently sitting on the pavement by the front wheels of my car, waiting for us to come and fetch her.

 

Texture detail.

New work

Mixed media collage with silk hand dyed fabric, heavy pastes and acrylics on boxed canvas.

“Summer Norwich Cathedral”

21cm x 26cm x 4cm deep

 

 

Beachcomber

Hi everyone, hope your 2015 has started very well.   I am going to try and post one painting a month from now on …  ‘try’ being the operative word.

This one I finished today and am pleased with it, so will sign it later.   For some reason, I seem to be veering towards pink in this work, a complete change for me. I was thinking about the sea, flotsam and jetsam on the beach, when I was making this picture – hence the title.

Hope you like – I would really appreciate some comments if you have time, or the inclination!

 

 

“Beachcomber”

47″ x 39″

Mixed media (including pastes and heavy gels) on stretched box canvas (ready to hang)

This picture taken indoors with reflected sunlight.  The picture below is taken outdoors in natural light

 

Close ups of texture

New work

I’m trying to generate work that resonates with my impressions of the Norfolk countryside … particularly during the spring/summer months and when the rape seed is flowering.    This is a latest study:

“Abstract Field”

61cm x 61cm

Acrylic and contractor’s caulk on stretched canvas.

Texture detail:

 

On the 6th December we are having a village fair held at our local church and I’m exhibiting 7 pieces there.  I’ve chosen 7 paintings, including the above new one and these others:

Just spent this morning edging them all properly, putting labels on the back, varnishing etc. etc. … so I hope I can sell something!

New poured paintings

Poured Acrylic paintings on stretched canvas.  Both are 61cm x 46cm x 2cm deep.

I built up substrate first with all sorts of things – like paper pulp, card, caulk, modelling paste, grit and found things.  Then poured and dripped acrylic paints, solvents and rubbing alcohol on the top.  I’m in the process of varnishing with gloss coating.

“Poured – Fire”

Detail

 

 

“Poured – Green”

 

Detail