"The Red Box"

30x48x1.5", acrylic on stretched canvas

Now we're getting somewhere. I've been doing my textured abstracts and figurative abstracts, and wondering if or when I'd combine them. This is a start. I had put a little bit of my texture material on the canvas (the texture material is stuff from the hardware store). I took the built-up canvas to my class with Sefla Joseph and worked on this. Besides painting with a brush, I also put in a lot of the skin tone with palette knife. And I am seeing the mix of figurative plus texture starting to work. I've got one or two more in the works, but it feels pretty good.

And, by the way, one reason I love working with Sefla is that I get surprised, either about things she suggests  or about my results. This is good. If you only heard what you already know, then why study with someone?

"In Your Face"

6x6", oil on canvas board

I painted this one over another painting that I didn't like much. But I enjoyed letting colors from the prior painting show through. It's a cool practice, since you can surprise yourself and end up, say, combining colors that you didn't expect to. Like, I rarely use hot pink. The title was interesting to come up with. The pear looks like it has a big butt, so I almost named it Baby Got Back (that's the song that starts "I like big butts and I cannot lie").

"Brio"

6x6x3/8", oil on textured board

I don't actually remember when I did this. Sometime in the last six months, I would think. But I like it. I'm not sure why. And I think this is why I keep doing abstracts.

Hmm. OK, let's get rational, here. It's mostly low key, but with pops of color. It has a full range of values, including difference values of the same hue. The composition is pretty good. If I were to find fault, it might be that too many of the shapes are the same size, but since it works for me anyway, let's just say it breaks that rule. 

Anyway, I might have trouble selling this one.

"Look Over There"

6x6", oil on canvas board  

It's funny how concepts change. I've been feeling uncomfortable about the bright colors throughout my paintings. Partly, the colors make them look more like decorations and less like statements of how amazing a small household item can be. Partly, the bright backgrounds might steal the show from the main item. So I decided to go more neutral. In this one that red-brown background might not be really neutral, but it's more neutral than many things I've painted recently. Onward!

"Spotlight"

6x6", oil on canvas board

This has a funny composition. I think I was entranced with using colored glass, so that became the focus, particularly the neck of the bottle. Usually the focus is the flowers. In order to get the shadows inside the bottle, I had to arrange the light to shine from almost straight upwards. The yellow behind the flowers is an effect that came about by mistake on a prior painting, but I decided to try it again here, and it does give an ethereal glow. I wonder if this is how haloes came to be? 

"Languid"

6x6", oil on canvas board 

I've been painting but not posting much. Time to catch up. In recent months I've dived back into my skill builders. And they're adorable. Partly they let me work on a skill I want to gain, but also I love how intimate they are. So I have a handful of those lined up to post.

I'm also in a class with Sefla Joseph, who is a wonderfully creative teacher as well as an amazing artist. In those classes I'm working on my figurative abstract work. More on that when the time is right.

"Writhing"

6x6", oil on canvas board

I haven't posted in awhile. You know, summer traveling for family and vacations. This means I did this awhile ago and I might not remember any issues I had. I can see that I ran into the question of what to do when you're  painting something on a reflective white surface: The lightest thing is the reflection, so you have to make the surface kind of grey. I think I tried to work in some yellow to offset that.

Outside of that, I really enjoy having roots or other things stick out past the edge of the bowl and create neat shadows.

"SPAO"

NFS - 24x20x1.5", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

I'm really enjoying using the cardboard. It gives wonderful texture, especially when glued down and then ripped off. Also, sometimes it has a stowaway, such as white paper on the reverse, or tape that's left flapping (which appears in this piece). Mind you, I'm a little cautious of being trite. There are textural effects that are used too commonly, and cardboard might be one. We'll see. Speaking of effects, I do like the one you can see on the right of putting tape down, adding paint, letting it dry, then pulling it up. I don't think I've done that since college.

Compositionally, this was a bit of a conundrum. You can see it if you use your hand to hide the block in the lower right corner. The painting then becomes more amorphous, consisting mostly of dripping colors. The block gives it structure. But after I put it in, it still seemed too obstructive and obdurate. Eventually I added the circles, and that helped. The fact that they're not in a straight line, and, in fact, that they mimic the curve of the cardboard across the top, adds a bit of swirl to the picture.

My husband says his eyes keep returning to the spot of red at the bottom, left of center. I actually like leaving a bit of raw canvas. It seems more honest.

And, FYI, if you're wondering where the name comes from, it's a bit of text in the upper right quadrant (see the picture, below; you might need to click it). I like the name because names are hard. They can limit a picture by telling you what I meant you to see, which forces you to interpret it a certain way. This was just handed to me and leaves it wide open. I hope.

"Erupt"

6x6", oil on canvas board 

So, mostly I do large abstracts and small still lifes. Don't know why. It's what feels right and that's how I've chosen to paint: Doing what feels right. 

But recently I decided to try more small abstracts. I figure I'll still get the benefit of the small still lifes: You do more paintings, and thus get more lessons, in a smaller period of time; and you're not risking much in materials or personal judgment because there's not much investment. But, strangely, I also like them for a couple of other funny reasons: I get to hold the board with one hand and move it around and turn it, and the brush or knife with the other, and they interact like you were putting frosting on a cupcake. It's very satisfying. Also, I use up paint on my palette. I even find that mildly dried-up paint can give good texture.

And this is one such, with wonderful areas of texture: paint, scraping, dragging.

Finally, another thing I like about the small paintings is that I can go overboard on the color. A big painting full of hot colors can be overwhelming. But a 6x6" balances the color with the size. I'm imagining this one at, say, 48x48" and it could take over a room. Of course, maybe that's good...

"Traces"

24x30x1.5", acrylic and mixed media on canvas

So, while I've been working on the small skill-builders, I've also been doing some work on my larger textured abstracts. I don't really know how the two styles relate to each other. I figure that I should do what I feel inclined to do, and that varies. This one has sand or stucco patch, cardboard, and some lines created by putting white glue on the cardboard and using it sort of like a stamp. I think I also used some marble dust to give it that matte look. 

I set this up to be extra large because the texture really is a huge component, and it's harder to see in a photo. Below is a detail from the upper right corner that shows all of the elements. You can click it to see it even bigger.

To be honest, this one sat there in a near-finished state, quite patient, really, until I decided it was time to finish it up. It was fun.