ART from Norfolk
We are settling into our new home and I’m beginning to find more space and time to paint. This week I completed two pieces, this is the first to get up on a wall:
Image cropped :
“Gold”
Acrylics, sand texture, gels and inks on stretched canvas.
Size: 70cm x 60cm x 2cm (approx) or 27½” x 23½” x 1″
Well, we have at last settled into our new house. My painting space is very limited but I’m managing to scrape a hole big enough for myself and the paints … the large one below [abstract seascape) was painted mostly outdoors, great fun that was in 32 degrees C, trying to keep the acrylics wet!
The others were kinda commissions – Bay scene (Devon) was requested by the lady of our house and is now enconced in our seascape themed downstairs bathroom. Photo is crap, ‘cos there’s not enough room to stand back and get it in the camera frame properly. Never mind. The poppies was requested by a friend of mine, hope she likes it.
‘Seascape with sand texture’
Acrylics, inks and texture paste (sand) on stretched canvas.
120cm x 100cm x 4cm
‘Bay- Devon’
Acrylics and inks on stretched canvas 100cm x 39cm
‘Poppies and wheat’
Acrylics and inks, gel pastes, structure pastes on stretched canvas. 45cm x 35cm
View below is minus the reflection.
There are many things influencing my outlook on life at the moment – some very positive (like moving to our own house very soon – yay, no more renting!) and others not quite as positive (like waiting to find out if we will be able to permanently care for my baby granddaughter – we will only know the answer to that one at end of July). My youngest son is also now seriously making plans to move over to the UK to be with us all – so that thought is very much at top of mind all the time and I was thinking about that a lot when I started painting this abstract. It was great to get back to canvas and something larger than the work I’ve been doing lately.
I used a lot of layers in this work, using inks mixed with structure gel and acrylics mixed with gloss gels and other medium. It was a cathartic experience, no matter what happens in life, family are the most important – at least they are to me. And sometimes family comprise people who are not your blood relatives. I hold them all close to my heart, they give me light …
‘DIVE’
Acrylics, inks, gels, structure gel on stretched canvas.
69cm x 59cm or 27″ x 23″
View of the work on one of my easels:
Texture close ups (lots of texture!):
This work is available to purchase.
‘Oil Poppies’
Approx. 12″ x 8″
Underpainting of alcohol inks, added area of gold metal effect medium, then overpainted with oils (not artist quality) on canvas board.
I didn’t have any linseed oil or other mediums, as well as cleaning solvents, so was hesitant to try out these oils but then discovered that I could use Baby oil to dilute the paint and to clean the brushes, also much better on the skin! So far the baby oil doesn’t appear to have created any dull patches – the paint is still wet, I expect it will only be dry and fully cured in a month’s time. The oils and canvas board came with the set I describe below.
Soft pastel studies – my first attempts using this medium:
‘Dartmoor landscape’ from reference photo in a book.
Approx. 11″ x 7″
Soft pastels (not artist quality) on cheap scrapbooking type project paper (blue).
‘Orange landscape’
Approx. 5½” x 7″
Soft pastels (not artist quality) on cheap scrapbooking type project paper (blue).
Footnote:
I was given a compact artist’s kit comprising oils, acrylics and watercolour materials, plus palette and sample canvas boards, sketching pads, brushes, painting knives etc. etc. for a Christmas present. These sample paintings are the results of playing about with the stuff in the kit.
I have never used soft pastels (chalk pastels) before and am finding them really fun to work with. I enjoy the way I can layer over the colours and blend to get quite interesting effects. This has inspired me to try and purchase better quality soft pastels as soon as I can, as well as some good quality paper – I’d like to turn out more impressive work in the future – so watch this space!
I hope everyone who visits this page had a lovely Christmas and everything of the very best fo 2017 – let’s hope it’s a positive year for all of us!
“Rocks”
Acrylics, inks, thick bonding agent (sort of like grout), gels on A3 acid free paper.
Some close ups of texture:
I may have finished this series of abstract on paper paintings for now, as I would like to get back to using a more robust support, like canvas or board. This particular piece has not yet cured, so it is still a bit rippled and wrinkly, it will settle down eventually and be completely flat. However, I need to start preparing a body of work that I hope to exhibit and hopefully sell 🙂 in the spring/summer (not sure where yet).
I would just like to say thank you to everyone who visits this blog and ‘likes’ or comments on my work, it is very much appreciated and if I don’t automatically go to your blog and like your work it’s not because I’m a cow, it’s perhaps because I got a bit busy and didn’t have time. I look at all the blogs by the authors who visit this site and all of them are spectacular. I feel really privileged to have such a strong, experienced and talented ‘peer group’ of people who regularly make the effort to pop by here and look at my work – thank you all very much!
This was a commission. (Not my usual style!)
“Cosmos”
Acrylic, putty, iridescent paints on stretched canvas
30″ x 24″
Texture detail
“Rapeseed under a Norfolk sky” (Study for larger work-in-progress)
19½” x 15¾” (49.5cm x 50cm)
Acrylics, contractor’s caulk on stretched canvas.
Close up detail:
‘Windy day at Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk’
Acrylics, collage (silk material), effect paints on stretched canvas.
24″ x 18″
Some close ups to show textural detail:
Janice Heather Scott 