Saturday 29 April 2017

Spring greens ( 4 )

So today I was wanting to pare the work down, remove some of the clutter or fullness....less is more kind of thing...include less....edit more ....

Perhaps just create a part of a landscape or a feeling of a landscape more than a literal landscape. Still feels that these paintings come under the heading of , ' Spring greens.'

I want the opposite of fuss !

Backwards and forwards on hy his one....lots of glazes and washes and paint overs. 52 cm sq, acrylic on board.

Feels more like a tonalist painting but still too much of a literal sky and landscape.

Much less literal. Lots of glazes and washes. 52 cm sq.

Reworking an old one. 52 cm sq.

These were the four re painted ones from today plus two that I hadn't painted over ( seem to be going through a phase of painting over them all ! ) I don't mind them individually but collectively they look very serious. Generally the cooler colours look more serious. Mmmm will see what tomorrow brings....

Saturday 22 April 2017

Spring greens ( 3 )

Trying to change direction on the paint....more difficult than I thought, because I paint intuitively, the paintings come out as they do, rather than me deciding which direction to go in. It's fine, I think that the only way is to paint a lot and try to nudge it somewhere else, not that I know which direction I want to go in...research what I like in other people's paintings.

These are today's ( and yesterday's )paint overs, 33 inches square.I wanted greens, I wanted warmth. Maybe I have produced another two paintings that will be destined for the paint over pile !

Acrylic, 33 inches sq. ' the colours of my landscape,'
What do I like.....that it's different than the others gone before....the richness....some of huge textures made by scraping the paint.... It's important for me that I live with it for a few days.....


This was today's acrylic, 33 inches sq.working title,' not my landscape,' .....what did I like...the richness...the textures...the warmth of the creamy/ grey colour....not sure it is a cohesive painting...live with it...


Just explaining that my studio chair, a comfortable black office armchair , with arms,is also my easel .  I prop the paintings up on the chair and have put grey parcel tape on huge arms to stop the paintings slipping. I much prefer this to the easel. It works for me !

Sunday 16 April 2017

Spring greens (2)

Having a major block with the paintings, nothing working, don't like anything etc. etc. etc. well, is it a block when actually you don't want to paint ? Or is it just that you need time out to reflect on your work in order to affect change ? Possibly that is the case, however, often you just need the discipline of going into the studio to do something.....this is today's something....

I tidied up in the studio, often a catalyst for new work. I looked at my paints and thought ..
I want green
I want texture
Maybe I want prettiness
If I look out of the window ,  I see so many different greens....
The textures were  accidental
How do you make a landscape painting out of texture ? Research it.... Off the top of my head I think Lewis Noble, Nicki Heenan
I used masks
I wanted to use splatters but in end didn't
I need to mix some greens

This was the painting, ' A green day, ' for the moment, I like it. I like...
The balance of tones
The small flecks of colour ( I used oil pastel )
The scratching texture ( I used my trusty printing tool )
The greens with the pink
I like that the ochre got into the pink and turned it salmons pink ( research pinks )

Saturday 1 April 2017

Spring greens

In a lull with the painting at the moment. Nothing feel like it's working. He ho. When I read all the information about maintaining your practice , it tells me that I should aim for 2 to 3 paintings per week. That's ok. I have slowed down but sometimes you need to in order to give thought to what it is you want.

So to the paint. I wanted a combination of pink and green. Still not resolved that interest. I like a salmons pink, not a sugary pink. These were the words of the painting...
Love the combination of pink and green
Love the pink
Hate the green ( light olive green ...too bright )
Wanted ochre
Wanted something dark ( paynes grey...didn't work)
Ugh
Need some different tones
Just keep putting the paint down
Feel the angst  /flux
Trying to alter the square space from it's predictability....use diagonals...not just ups and downs....probably paint over this one....leave It to breathe overnight....