Category: paint

I have an appreciation for modern and abstract painting–especially if I try it and it’s harder than it looks (which happens most of the time)! A dear friend introduced me to Heather Brown’s modern Hawaiian art and I love it. I’ve been looking at the piece she gave me for years now and smiling so I thought I’d try one for myself. It didn’t come out exactly the same (much messier too) but I still like what I did and I’m glad I gave it a go.

If you find a piece of art you love–why not give it a try?! If you stink, that will make you appreciate it so much more and if you rock it then you’ll feel proud of yourself, right? Go for it! 🙂

Here’s a piece of her art to give you a taste…check out her website for more.

I am a creature of routine. Like a toddler, I do best when I keep a regular schedule, eat healthy foods, exercise and have play time. When we have moved or taken vacations my routine gets messed up and I find it challenging to slip back into things easily. I begin to make excuses, blow off my workouts, eat junk, and put off my art time. I do the same when we have company–I love hosting friends and family but I let the “rules” slip. I drink more, eat more, workout less and rarely sneak away to do anything as self-indulgent as an art project. I’m trying to come up with other creative outlets while we have company…forcing myself to blog is helping. I decided to research a few videos on You Tube and plan some projects for the weekend. I subscribe to a few but recently came across this one, “Fiona Art” and really love her work. It’s worth a try and thinking about the project gets me excited and wanting to commit a couple hours to playing.

I can’t be alone here–do you ever take time for yourself when you have company? Any advice?

Art has become my therapy. Creating is very satisfying. Today I poured paint and torched it to make this cell effect. I am learning how to execute a technique and recreate it again and again. It’s a learning process for sure. I think a master artist is one who can create something over and over. I’m still a novice with paint but it’s a cool journey.

I painted today. This always makes me smile–in spite of all the wankers who try so hard to ruin my day. Some people jog to clear their heads, I get my hands dirty. Funny enough, my grandmother liked to paint with her hands too but I never once saw her paint. I saw the art on the walls but she never shared that with me…I wonder why? Sharing your art is a gift.

So, back to the fun. I have been thinking about my triptych project and although I’ve been thinking about horizons, I don’t want all 3 pieces to look the same or for the horizons to look uneven or forcibly random (is that a thing?). This is why I practice with small canvases.

Here’s today’s attempt. I created my horizon first and worked from there. I appreciate the layering process so I began by painting the canvas with 2 colors on opposite ends of the color wheel–my favorite combo of red and blue.

Next, I decided to play around with 6 different colors that made me think of a sunset at the ocean. From the bottom up I mixed black, blues, purple, more blue and transitioned to warm yellow hues and back to black/blue. I applied these colors with a small brush and then dabbed a small, round sponge over each color.

While the paint was still wet (but drying fast) I took a wet paper towel and cleaned up the silver line and then pulled the paint from the silver line down to give it some movement. I also took the wet paper towel and dragged it across in a horizontal and vertical pattern to make the “sky” feel more natural but still abstract. Voila! I have my little sample!

What do I like about this? The colors are gorgeous. I like the pull you see in the blues and the gradual fade of the oranges into the black. The texture isn’t captured well here but it is very textural–another thing I enjoy. What do I want to do differently next time? Move the horizontal line away from center–it’s too balanced. I don’t like the 50/50 look here. It’s much more interesting when you view things in thirds vs halves. Next time I will consider elongating the sky and minimizing the sea. Another thing to make your art amazing is to share a story or at least create a head-scratching name for your piece. I call this my sample (because it’s a practice piece) but I could call a final version something much more abstract like “poets dream” or “sadness” or “through the lens.” You get the idea. 🙂 It’s a journey you want to take your viewers on with you or at least make them think you are deep and artsy.