2017

After many long months I have emerged from my hibernatory period LOL!

Spring is truly such a time of new growth bursting forth and my own creative impulses seem to be following suit. I recently had lunch with my forever painting buddy and was so inspired by her adventures into new areas of art. We started in watercolour together over a decade ago but she has put me to shame with her progress in acrylics and just general overall realization of herself as an artist. I am my own worst critic and obstacle so it's time to get out of my own way!

Abstraction and acrylics, well more mixed media, have been whispering to me for quite some time. I have been perusing various online sources for some tutorials in working in this new arena. Colour is still the first characteristic I respond to then followed by lines/shapes. I can break out into much bolder colours with acrylics and I have so much to learn. I've been working on a piece that is a study of a fantastic Colorado mixed media artist Carol Nelson. Her work makes we want to reach out and touch each piece. I'm trying to figure out her journey via trial and error just from observing a 2 dimensional image of her work. Not ideal but it challenges me and I like that. The point is also not to replicate her work but to discover my own path through the study of hers.

Unfortunately, I didn't scan the beginning stages (bad Nuki) so this is midway through what I think will be the process and the point where I'm at today.

Rock study - interim 

This is done on 8 x 10 inch paper but my next attempt will be on canvas and will be a design of my own.

Some Recent Work

Art has been pretty much on the back burner for the past 6 months. I've been focusing on other long needed lifestyle changes. Plus the summer and fall were particularly lovely this year, sunny and warm. Now that we're moving into the 'dark time' again I plan on kicking my own ass back into gear and get back in the habit.

There has been some movement to put paint to substrate since I last posted, primarily at my first real attempt at abstraction in acrylics. The canvas is 12 x 16 so much too big to scan and frankly I'm feeling lazy at the moment so I'm not even going to take a picture of it at this stage. But it is ongoing and, I have a feeling, going to go through many evolutions before it's complete.

In the meantime, here are a few little projects that I've worked on recently. 

Indian Corn - mixed media

Clay pots - mixed media

Pointsettia - watercolour

Interesting - I have a new scanner and this is the first time I've scanned items at this low resolution. Things look very different than in real life. Will have to play around with the settings I think. I may come back and switch out the images at a later date. For now they can hold their place.

Project Completed

I purchased this really neat picture frame sometime last year and knew I wanted to use it to display my own work. It's a system where 16 8x10 inch frames are joined together to form what looks like a mullioned window. I was just waiting for the right piece to go in it.

Then John Lovett, a brilliant Australian artist whose work I just love, posted a piece of his recently that sang to me and well, I had to attempt a study of my own. My version was painted as a 5 x 7  and then with the magic of technology I was able to scan it, enlarge it and print it out into a 16 8x10 grid. And this is the result. I'm pretty chuffed with the results as it now hangs above the gorgeous table Taylor Made custom made for me earlier.

My study of a John Lovett piece for my own personal use

Notes to self - in case I try this again with another piece, be careful where the centre of interest is placed. Unfortunately under one of the mullion bars is the majority of a brilliant orange red clump of foliage that is stunning with the turquoise of the water. Too bad most of it doesn't show now that it's in the frames. 

Painting With My Left Hand

Spent yesterday at a terrific creative workshop with a local artist, called Tune In, Let Go and Be Bold - painting with your non-dominant hand. Very interesting and intriguing, dealing mainly with making the mind/body/spirit connection. Can highly recommend it.

 (c) Susan Langdon 2016 acrylic on 18 x 24 inch stretched canvas

Painting this size is normally waaay out of my comfort zone and yet I had no trouble filling the space. What made me laugh after I finished. was realizing how big a role yellow played in this piece - not a colour I normally surround myself with LOL. Clearly my inner child is a big fan though!

EDiM days 4 - 7

It's That Time of Year

Once again I am participating in the Every Day in May Challenge. I'm giving myself permission to be a little more relaxed about it though this time around, at least as far as posting my efforts goes. So it'll likely continue to be every few days I throw up what I've done in the interim. Up first Days 1-3. For my own info, I'm using a 6x6 field journal from the hand-book paper co. It's my first time painting on Fluid brand wc paper and so far I'm impressed. 

#1 - a toy. Only cat toys in my house and even though I had lots to choose from, this peacock feather is Touille's current favourite plaything.

#2 - something with folds. Thought about this one for a long time and for some reason ended up with crow's feet. Thankfully mine aren't quite this extreme yet.

#3 - a hammer. Was much more inspired to paint this Hammer than the one in my tool box. 

From the Depths of My Orphan Drawer

This is a project that I started many years ago - painting the lid of a wooden box meant to hold 2 decks of playing cards. I was working in acrylic craft paint and got as far as completing the background and laying my drawing down. And then I stopped.

Until today, when I was in a really pissy mood - something is draining my car battery and I thought I'd figured it out. Apparently not! 

Anyway, I needed to channel all of that negative energy into something much more productive and this is what I picked. For a first layer I'm really pleased with it. I'm at the standing back and making some more decisions stage. I could tidy it up a bit, paint the rest of the box solid black, sign it and seal it. OR I might put some muted poppies in the background. Seeing it here, I'm leaning towards the first. Cleaner that way. 

That's it, I'm Done

Finally, I can lay the bugs colouring page to rest and by that I mean put it in the drawer and forget about it LOL. It has been on my desk for what seems like ages, nagging at me. I even tried putting it away and ignoring it but it seemed to call out to me - finish meeeeee.

Final stage

Stage 1 - initial wash

Stage 2 - some shading

So as tedious as it was to do, it's done. Overall yes, I'm pleased with where I ended up considering I only knew how I wanted to start it. When I look at the 3 digital images of the stages side by side I like how it developed. (Blogger and I are still not formatting friends so if you move counterclockwise from the bottom left you'll see these in order. sigh)

Perhaps one day when I'm doing a collage piece and it just needs that certain something, this will pop out of the drawer and be the answer I was looking for. 

Colourful Bugs part 2

I told myself that after this, I was done with this colouring page but now that I see it here on my monitor I definitely want to go back and make all of the legs black. Plus tidy up a couple of the red beetles. Just not happy with those. 

My faves are the indigo ones but that's a no brainer because in my world indigo sings. 

Okay, it looks like there'll definitely be a part 3 to this post. It's a particularly miserable, rainy, trying to be warm but too damp to get there, kind of day so I my even get it done today. We'll see. Or I may need to go and paint some happy tulips! 

Hoppy Easter

I so love the style of painting very loosely with watercolour, leaving a good bit of the painting up to the viewer to piece together and yet it is so difficult for me to do. I literally have to make myself walk away from a piece to stop myself from filling in 'just a little bit here' which leads to a little bit more over here. That's where it would be wonderful to have a magical undo' switch, sigh. 

Hare (c) Susan Langdon 2016
140 lb CP 5 x 7

This is painted with permission from  Peter Winshaw"s photograph from the Photos for Artists facebook group. It is done in a limited palette of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue. I'm really pleased with his face and ears, which is what drew me to the photo in the first place. 

I'm still working away at the colourful bugs seen in my last post and also have the acrylic piece and another watercolour on the go. So lots to work on at the moment, depending on my mood LOL.