Showing posts with label abstract. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abstract. Show all posts

Monday, May 8, 2017

Evolution of an Abstract Painting

Abstract painting is an interesting thing for me. It requires much more patience than painting an animal or a human portrait. And knowing when it's "done" is a feeling rather than a conscious decision. For me it's the ultimate practice in letting go and surrendering to the process. And it's playful and FUN!
Here's where I started out. I applied light molding paste to the entire surface and then started with three colors plus white.
I could  have stopped there, but it just didn't feel complete. And then I started playing. I wanted more color and more mark making. The following photo shows the "almost finished" stage. I was almost there, but it needed more.
And then I arrived here. This feels balanced to me. I look at it and my eyes roam and observe and don't want more or less. It has depth and light and gorgeous color (much more stunning than the camera was able to capture)!

I wish you a colorful and playful start to your week!!

Silke

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Three Paintings in the Works

I'm always working on more than one painting at a time. Actually that goes for anything, really: knitting, crocheting, reading, etc.

The following painting is one I started a while ago. It's rather large and it has been sitting on my easel waiting for me to finish it. Sometimes I get intimidated at this stage in the painting when it's clear what I want to paint and I don't want to mess it up. One of these days, I'll get going again!
Yesterday, I played with more molding paste applied through a stencil, which turned out so beautifully. I am not quite sure where to go from here, but maybe today that'll become clear.
And here is the third piece in progress. Here I applied light molding paste, which has a more porous quality than the regular molding paste. Again, I'm not sure where this is going to go. Abstract pieces are so much harder than anything representational. At least for me. But also lots of fun because there are no rules.
I hope you will have a beautiful Tuesday!

Silke

Monday, May 1, 2017

Abstract Painting with Texture

I'm still painting in an abstract style and doing a lot of experimenting. Here, I first prepared the canvas with molding paste applied through a stencil.
As you can see, it gave me a lot of raised texture! Once dry, it was really fun to work on with high-flow acrylics.
Again, I limited my palette to three colors: phthalo turquoise, quinacridone magenta, and green gold - probably my three favorite colors! At the end I also added a tiny bit of iridescent pearl in some of the textured areas.
The result is a very vibrant and interesting painting.

I hope your start to the week is beautiful!

Silke

Friday, April 28, 2017

Abstract Acrylics

Lately I've felt in a rut with my art and a little stuck only painting animals and then I realized that I can branch out however I would like to. So I have entered an abstract art phase, where I am free to just follow colors and shapes and experiment.
With these four paintings, I wanted to use a limited color palette: Phthalo Turquoise, Nickel Azo Yellow, Transparent Red Iron Oxide, plus Titanium White.
And I wanted to paint a series of four, working with big brushes and a palette knife.
All similar yet each distinct. I painted over old canvases, which already had texture on them making the paintings even more interesting to me.
Right now I'm working on a new abstract painting that has a lot of texture I created with molding paste and stencils. I'll post it as soon as I finish it.

It's been a while since I posted to Paint Party Friday and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's awesome art. Head on over to check it out!

Silke

Friday, March 4, 2016

One Thing at a Time

What a week it's been! I've been somewhat busy, but mostly I've been busy in my mind. Do you know the feeling? A million and one ideas buzzing about, ready to be started, continued or finished. And all of them want my attention at once.
Sometimes I can't believe that I have to do one thing at a time. Of course I can paint and listen to an audio book at the same time, but I have to work on one painting at a time.
Knit on one piece at a time. Cook one meal at a time. Do everything one at a time.
And sometimes that irritates me because it takes time. And I get the feeling that I won't have enough time for the other things. Until I remind myself that I won't get anything done if I don't just do what's in front of me.
No matter how excited I am about the countless ideas that are coming to me right now.
So, I've been making a list for every day. To help me stay focused. And so I won't forget my many ideas.  It seems to work. I've been able to start paintings, finish paintings, start a knitting project and finish it, make meals, write e-mails, work on our taxes, and do all the other things that need to get done.
Being a woman of a certain age, I am pretty sure that hormone fluctuations play a role in how focused or scattered I feel on any given day and that's ok. It's all part of the journey and so far I'm doing well.
Last weekend, we drove to Charleston to see the Toruk performance of Cirque du Soleil. It was a spectacular display of color and movement. I kept taking photos - not because I wanted to remember the show, but because I wanted color references for my paintings.
All that color was projected on the set they had built. It was amazing! It seemed magical how it changed from desert rocks to growing plants to flowing rivers to hot lava to ocean flooding and twinkling stars.
The story was based on the movie "Avatar," which I loved and now have to watch again.
A few days ago, I walked Winslow into a dark and blustery sky that was suddenly illuminated by the sun behind us. I had to snap a quick photo.  As well as of Peabody climbing our tree. Can you see him? He's pretty well camouflaged.
Besides making lists, the other thing that helps me organize my thoughts is knitting. Especially repeat patterns. So, I knit another dishcloth for our kitchen. It was a simple and soothing pattern. I think I might start another one...
I am linking to the always inspiring Paint Party Friday. Head on over for more amazing art and photos!!

In the meantime, I hope you will have a beautiful weekend and a wonderful week ahead.

With love, joy and many lists,


Silke

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The Art of the Summer

Our summer was busy. Fun and busy. Relaxing and busy. I thought I'd do a whole lot more painting, but somehow I didn't have the peace of mind to sit in my studio much. But I did manage to finish a few paintings and one big commission I worked on for a long time.
This beautiful Ganesha painting below was a commission I finished this summer. I learned so much painting it and I am immensely grateful for the experience!!  






The two abstract pieces came together while we were doing renovations on the house and had to live in our guest room for two weeks. Doing a little art helped me manage to stay relatively relaxed while all was chaos around me... (Those two abstracts might become part of an animal painting.

The elephant below also was to be an abstract piece, but I saw the elephant in it and here it is.
Now my studio is almost put together again after painting it and putting in laminate flooring and I can't wait to paint, paint, paint!!

I hope you all are doing well! We are waiting for fall here, but so far it's still warm and very humid and mostly overcast and often rainy. Not the best weather, but we are hopeful that soon it will cool down!!

Silke

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Playing with Paint

Dear friends, I have been so sparse in blogland. I haven't written or visited your blogs. I'm barely keeping pace with my life and the creative explosion I seem to be experiencing lately. At the same time I have this yearning to connect with you again, to write about all that's going on and to show you some of the things that excite me at the moment. 
When I have been here at home, I've been painting every day and usually finishing a small painting every day.
I've painted those without preconceived plans of what I wanted to paint, just being guided by colors and shapes - a truly exciting way to paint.
Some came out bright and clear, others more dramatic and even moody.
All of them spoke to me and reflected my feelings at the moment. And I realized that most of all, I like to paint how I feel rather than what I see. A still life might be a nice exercise I could enjoy, what really gets me excited is when my paintings convey emotion. Even with my portraits. I am much more interested in making sure they are expressive rather than painted in detail. I haven't figured out why that is, but maybe that's not important.
Ok, I have more to show you in my next blog post - a couple of portraits I finished recently. Plus jewelry and a few sewing projects. Lots has been going on!

But for now, I am signing off and am going to visit some of your blogs before I do anything else!

And after a long hiatus, I'm linking this to the awesome Paint Party Friday.

With lots of love!

Silke

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Of Dreams and Magic

Do you dream at night? I do. A lot! I always have. It's my own personal movie theater. Mostly it's just entertaining, but sometimes my dreams have special meaning to me and a few times they've been predictive about people I know.
I've been feeling the need to get away from making "serious" art for a bit to revive the fun factor. And  so I've been rather playful with my art and having such a good time!
Last night I had a wonderful dream where I was in a boat on the ocean and was accompanied by hundreds of dolphins. I felt such joy! To me, dolphins are a strong metaphor for play and it reaffirmed to just continue on the path I'm on with my art.
Magic
acrylic and charcoal on 5 x 7" clay board
Available in my Etsy Shop.

This was a really fun piece. I just played with shapes and colors and suddenly I saw that beautiful tall figure with the half moon. It felt magical to me and I decided to leave it as is.

With lots of love and magic,

Silke

Friday, May 24, 2013

Silent is the Night - New Painting

Dear friends, it seems as though life is moving at warp speed right now. It was just Monday and now it's Friday again. How does that happen?!?
My days have been busy and good and I've even spent some time at the easel playing with paint on some canvases that are a little larger than I am used to.
I lost count at how many layers I put on this painting and it just wouldn't come together. I still have this weird notion that after every layer it should look perfect - and that's not the case. Some layers leave it looking rather awful to me, but then - at some point I can't predict - it all comes together.
That's when the painting suddenly feels like it's own entity, separate from me, and I know it's done.
Silent is the Night
16 x 20 inch acrylic painting on canvas
Available here.

I'm submitting this to Paint Party Friday, where you can see lots of fabulous art! 

We are expecting a perfect warm spring weekend and are planning to spend a lot of time outside in our garden. Everything is blooming so beautifully. I'll have to share some more garden photos soon.

Wishing you a wonderfully warm, sunny and relaxed weekend!!

Silke

Friday, May 17, 2013

Another Color...

... I can't seem to get enough of is turquoise in all shades and values - as you can see in another long-armed, wide-eyed self-portrait from this morning.
And you can see it in this painting I finished a couple of weeks ago and totally neglected to show you!
It has layers on layers of texture and transparent color washes.
At the very end I splashed some acrylic magenta ink in one spot and that pulled it all together for me. The colors are way more beautiful "in person" than my camera allowed me to capture here.  And the texture - simply yummy!!
Life gets Messy
12 x 24 inch acrylic painting
Available here.
It's a good day today - sunny and warm outside and quite relaxed inside. I'm off to paint some more.

But before that, a big thank you for your visits and comments. That's what I love about blogging - as soon as I start writing about the thoughts swirling around in my head and reading your comments, it all starts to sort itself out and I start feeling better and better. The trick is to keep writing ... and I will!

Silke