Lots of little trials

Yesterday I spent a few hours doing more than a dozen 16×10cm tests on Bockford paper using fluid acrylics, pencil, pen, oil pastels, pastels and Indian Ink. As usually happens, I started off quite tight, drawing what I could see. Then, as I got used to the image and the shapes, the works got looser. There are a couple that are heading in the direction I want – both have at least some of the hazy, layered quality I am looking for.

These were all based on just one of the photos so there are more samples to come before I get to a stage where I am heady to bring out the canvases. Not that the paintings will be based on the test runs, but these wee works will certainly inform what I do, and help get my brain and hand familiar with the subject matter.

Old house – latest Art Guild challenge

You might remember that a few posts back I showed you the reference photo for the latest NZ Art Guild Challenge. At the time, I was sure it was the colours that would inspire me – and I was right. I tackled the subject twice today; once in acrylics and once with ink, oil pastels, soft pastels and acrylics. Neither are an accurate representation of the image and in one I have moved windows, resized some parts, generally messed with it a bit. In the second I was thinkng mainly about colour blocks, the Impressionists, ghosts (don’t ask!) and light.

For me the NZ Art Guild challenges are a great opportunity to tackle a subject, style or material/s I might not normally go for; a chance to have a creative play with no real pressure. So here are my two most recent entries:

68_365 : playing with oil pastels

I quite like the feel of oil pastels – they glide on, and can be blended with your fingertips. They give a nice sense of light too.

41_365 : trying out ideas

This is an idea I have tried before, and have come back to for a second look. I have painted with liquid acrylics, then worked over the surface with oil sticks, then wrapped the whole thing in crinkled waxed paper to give it a hazy surface.

9_365 : playing with abstraction

A few weeks ago now there was this weird story in the news about a woman in a sight-seeing boat who was badly hurt when a dolphin landed on her – weird but true.

This small piece, done in fluid acrylics and oil stick, was inspired by that story. No, it’s not a painting of a dolphin — but for me it represents the idea of the dolphin and all the blood, hence the red oil stick.

Not for sale.

Back to the paint brushes!

Well, Meg is doing amazingly well on chemo. No side effects, no sickness, no lumps and no cancer cells in the blood tests Long may it last … thanks for all the kind messages we’ve received wishing her well.

So, I’m back to painting – with mixed results!! I’ve been playing with different materials – including water soluble oil paint, and oil sticks. In the portrait I was really only interested in capturing this young girl’s amazing hair, not her facial features.

The landscape is one of the on-going series of abstracted landscapes. I’ve sold a couple of these now and have also listed with www.artfind.co.nz – so we’ll see what happens.



Whether they sell or not, I‘m having fun and that’s the main reason I paint.

Mixed Media

This is a scene I saw in a magazine and liked. I used acrylics on stretched paper, then once it was dry worked into it with oil sticks.
I really like the texture and flow of oil sticks, and they smell good too! Using oil sticks over the top stops me fiddling around with it too much…