"Life Is Either A Daring Adventure..."

"Orange"

Oil on canvas, 6" sq., c. Catherine Vines

   

"... or nothing at all." Helen Keller  

This is my daughter's favorite quote, and I feel as if I'm on an adventure lately

Today's fruit is a reworked painting, again using Liquin. I am not happy with how fussy the brushwork looks, but this may be the result of painting over an old canvas.

In fact, there are a lot of problems here: value range, color variation, background. So why am I showing it?

There's something there.

I'll keep hunting.

More Adventures w/ Liquin

"Three Fruits"

Oil on Canvas, 6" sq., c. Catherine Vines

   

I started this painting with very loose brushwork and paint tempered with Liquin medium. I also used colors directly from the tube, something in general I try to avoid.

Gradually I added value changes while trying not to lose the brushwork.

There's a glimmer of something there I want to continue to explore!

Backgrounds Are A Challenge

"Red Background"

Oil on Canvas, 10x8," c. Catherine Vines

   

For me at least.  

So I decided to make a preemptive strike, so to speak. This red background is for a landscape I have planned. My idea to to selectively let some of the red show through.

This is another foray into Color Relationships. In this case, each red is slightly different - not so clear in the photograph.

The next step will be a value study, then on to the painting.

What If?

"Herman"

Acrylic on Masonite, 20x16," c. Catherine Vines

   

I had a mini-revelation about my painting last night. Although I work for the most part in a series, I enjoy switching it up, oils to acrylics to watercolors, small formats to large (even very large), and a whole variety of subject matter. 

To tune into my blog on any given day is a question waiting to be answered. What will it be this time?

I realized I could feature a more consistent style if I were to focus. Even though I am very serious about my painting, for now I am enjoying the question, "What if?" too much to stop exploring.

By the way, the owner of this particular painting lectured me on why ""Herman" should be "Henrietta," but as his mother, I could never quite make the switch.

Daily Paintworks Challenge - Landscape2

"German Landscape"

Oil on canvas, 10x8" c. Catherine Vines

This is my second entry in the Daily Paintworks Weekly Challenge - for the previous week!  

I am still concentrating on my color studies by developing color relationships. There are parts I love in this painting, or at least like: the road, for instance. On the other hand, my Main Squeeze thinks the road looks like a river. He could be right.
Seth Godin writes in "How to Fail" that successful people fail often and learn from it. At least I've got the first part down and I'm working on the second.

Daily Paintworks Challenge

"German Ess Curve"

Oil on Canvas Board, 10x8," c. Catherine Vines

For sometime now I have been wanting to participate in one of the on-line challenges. Being such a slow painter, the sponsors are usually way onto the next challenge, before I am ready to participate. But I finally made it. On the last day.
The site is called "Daily Paintworks." Here is the link to the Challenge where you can see the original photograph and view the other entries.
p.s. It's my birthday! Be happy!

What Comes First?

"Orange Magnolia"
Acrylic on Masonite, 20"x16" c. Catherine Vines

Finally!  I have the answer.  Or Alyson B. Stanfield does: HxWxD. She even has an artist's mnemonic to remember which comes first. Her speciality is "art biz coach" and her advice invaluable. This latest in the Magnolia Series also uses the tar gel I blogged about previously, this time tinted with black. It gives an interesting raised surface to the flower. I even like the irregularity for a more spontaneous look.

Have You Ever Experimented with Tar?

"Yellow Magnolias"

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

Tar Gel, that is. The ultramarine blue outlining the magnolia petals is Golden's "Clean Tar Gel," tinted with acrylic paint.  It is a stringy, colorless (without the paint) gel that dries to glossy finish and allows you to drip paint in a more-or-less controlled fashion. Fun, especially if you like to experiment. I think it will accept any color of acrylic paint, but you should check with the manufacturer for specifics. For some reason this magnolia reminds me of a cactus, but that's me. A fun cactus, mind you.

Tired of Magnolias Yet?

"Pink Magnolias"

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

Because there are still more! I think this painting especially shows how I am cropping my photos to select an extreme close-up view. This gives me the abstract look I am going for without removing all references to my flower.  I prefer to paint from black-and-white photos; I find my color choices are more imaginative. By the way, there is no black in this painting.

Metallic Paints

"Magnolia Metallica"

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

The copper color in this paint is actually metallic paint and in person has a lovely sheen. It's an opaque paint, so it completely covers the colors below, sometimes a disadvantage.  I use a palette knife because I love the way it lets me develop layers of colors.  Working that way can be misleading though if I don't frequently get back from my canvas and look at my painting.  Too many ridges of color can add up to a brown mess because of the way they blend from a distance. I prefer larger areas of overall color complemented with juicy details.

What as I Thinking?

"Blue Magnolia"

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

I'm sure there's a reason I included so much red in this painting.  It must have seemed a good choice at the time! In person, the blues I used are stronger and balance the reds somewhat better. I am learning that it gives me another perspective on my paintings when I see them posted, not always a pleasant experience. Looking back at my photos of the magnolias makes me think about an all-white painting - now that would be a challenge.

What if Your Painting Wanted to be Bigger?

Magnolia Triptych

Acrylic on Masonite, 34" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

Then you would have to paint a triptych, especially since I have already done the hard work and learned how to spell "triptych." This painting has the clear, bright colors I love. And the palette knife is such a great tool for building broken color patches. Each time I paint a Magnolia in this Series, I can picture something else I want to try, the perfect definition of a series. If there ever was a case of a painting saying it wanted to be bigger, just try and imagine this one with only the center panel. Can you even picture it?

Purple and Yellow Make....

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

A complementary color scheme. This is another in the Magnolia Series, again done with a palette knife. The texture of this painting is a luscious element in its own right.  Claudia, a friend from Seattle, got me started on the palette knife when she talked about her mother using it as a painting tool. It turned out to be a wonderful suggestion. I am currently finishing up a small portrait using the same color scheme but as neutrals.

What's Wrong with Pretty?

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

When I look at a pretty painting like this  latest in the Magnolia Series, I wonder what it is that makes me want something different. Two answers come to mind, both weaknesses when it comes to my color choices.  1. I typically use one of two color schemes: analogous (side-by-side on the color wheel) or complementary (opposite on the color wheel).  2. I don't take advantage of neutrals to accentuate my colors. Both of which explain my current emphasis on color relationships. Still, pretty has its place, and this is even better in person.

What if Your Hair Turned Green?

Oil on canvas, 6" sq.,  c. Catherine Vines

Then you might look like this! This portrait resulted from more leftover paint on my palette, plenty of greens from yesterday's work on color relationships. She became a color study in her own right, if of color in the extreme.  Still I think I was able to establish a certain harmony in my choices.  It's a good thing that as artists we are never satisfied.  That's where the next painting comes from.

When Composition Falters

Oil on canvas, 8x10" c. Catherine Vines

I can't think how I came to pick this photo to paint, but obviously I didn't follow any 'rule of thirds' or focal point advice.  My intent was to work on color, more specifically, relationships between colors. For a woman who is not fond of the color green, I certainly am painting it a lot lately, perhaps because I have the most to learn about using it successfully.

Working from Photographs

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

From my flower series, done with a palette knife. This entire series was based on a group of photos I took at the capitol in Charleston, WV, waiting to catch a plane.  The flowers are actually magnolias, though only the first in the series (not yet posted) looks relatively true. This always seems to be the case.  I start mostly realistic, and as the series grows, become more and more abstract until even I am surprised.

Never on Sunday

Acrylic on Masonite, 16" x 20," c. Catherine Vines

Today's painting is another from the flower series in acrylics. This too was painted using the palette knife.
On the blogging front, I have decided to take a break from postings just on Sundays.  After all, I will still be painting! I am one of those people who never wrote in a diary beyond January 3rd, but I have found I enjoy blogging - probably because it's about my favorite subject: painting. On the painting front, I have narrowed my next painting to 3 possibilities so I am making progress. Sometimes I have to actually start a painting to realize that's not what I want to do right now. Fortunately, these false starts make good backgrounds for something else.

Art in the Movies

Acrylic on masonite, 16x20"  c. Catherine Vines

How cool. A producer from Universal is coming to the house to look at my paintings (he's already seen some pics) for a show he's working on. It will just be background stuff, but I can still claim bragging rights!
This is among the ones I sent him. The flower is from a series I painted using the palette knife. The colors are even prettier in person. I will post more from this series as I work - in my own slow way - on a new painting.

Paint Relationships

Oil on canvas, detail, 48" sq.,  c. Catherine Vines

I started this current group of photographs based on the idea of light, capturing those clear luminous patches of light within the landscape. The series "Trees as Sculpture" was created with the intent of trying to portray that light.  But then, as always, I fell in love with color and my focus switched to using color schemes to paint from. With this latest tree - nearly finished, yea! - I have concentrated on developing relationships between colors, working my way up and down the value scale. As Ken Kewley says, "The life of a painter is a life of exploring."