A-Z Challenge: U is for Unique

I find myself surprisingly curious to explore the art of abstract painting, but I do still feel really self-conscious about it – but then again, I suppose everything feels a bit strange to start with, it always takes time for me to become comfortable with new things. I love the idea of painting what you feel, expressing yourself visually but in an entirely unique way – using your own internal inspiration only.

With this acrylic painting I was drawn to creating dripping rivers of colour on the canvas with the addition of a series of short linear marks (made by the edge of my palette knife) deliberately placed to try to keep a balanced composition. So I had a basic idea, but no clear vision in my mind when I started painting as to exactly how it would turn out, but at one point early on my husband mentioned the fluid colours looked a bit like ghostly people.

His comment really sparked my imagination so I realised it could be an abstract city scape – it reminds me of when I was commuting daily to and from work in London, where I lived for nearly 20 years, so that’s what I’ve called it – Rush Hour. I’ve really enjoyed this internal process of creating, and it feels a bit as if I’m somehow painting out the inner landscape of my subconscious mind…

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

Advertisement

A-Z Challenge: T is for Texture

One of the biggest draws for me in learning to use acrylics was the potential for creating really dense solid texture in my paintings, so I’ve recently got hold of a small basic pack of six ‘dimensional’ acrylics to try.

They looked deliciously thick and viscous for applying liberally with a painting knife and I was really looking forward to being able to recreate the wonderful textured ‘impasto’ effect I love to see in other people’s work.

Except I’ve found I really don’t enjoy using them as much as I’d thought I would! To me they actually feel a bit too thick and solid and I found they are surprisingly difficult to work with on a palette as they don’t really mix together very easily and dry out far too quickly for my liking.

Anyway, I decided to create a simply-stylised cottage garden border, painting the background with standard acrylics before adding the vibrant flower heads with the stiffer, thicker paints pretty much straight from the tube.

The end result looks bright and colourful enough, I suppose, and the paint texture is definitely visible, but I’m really not sold on my little impasto flower painting, I’m not sure that particular style is really ‘me’ after all…   

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

A-Z Challenge: S is for Simplified and Stylised

There are some famous paintings from the past I’ve always loved, and Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ is one of them – I used to have a big poster of it up in my bedroom, above my bed. It’s a fascinating painting that always spoke to me as I was growing up, I could feel the deep emotion of both the landscape and the central figure.

Although the original from 1893 was done in oils it’s inspired me to try to create my own smaller version in acrylics, simplified and stylised even more to give me some practice in blending the bold, flowing colours more effectively. I’ve left out the shadowy figures and the little boats in the background, and I’ve reinterpreted some of the colours in my own way, but I have to say I’m really happy with how it’s turned out…

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

A-Z Challenge: R is for Reference and Realism

One of the many things I’m finding a bit easier now I’ve been painting for a few months is getting the hang of how best to interpret and represent a subject more effectively using a photograph as a reference.

To begin with I think I was trying too hard to put in too much detail far too faithfully, just because it was there on the image, and was failing dismally. But I soon realised that for me taking that kind of perfectionist approach doesn’t help me express myself, it just clogs up my brain and seizes me up.

Even when I’m painting something with an intentional nod to of realism, like with this old abandoned barn on my father-in-law’s property in Louisiana, I still have to remind myself I’m trying to paint a painting, not recreate an exact facsimile of a photograph.

So now instead of fretting about capturing every single detail of a scene I’m learning to concentrate on basic shape and form and line and colour to create a simplified composition that has enough room around it to breathe, and take it from there…

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

A-Z Challenge: Q is for Quantity

I do realise that the only way I’m ever going to get any better at painting is by painting more and more, so here is a small selection of some of my favourite paintings done over the last nine months. And I’m finding the more I paint, the more normal it feels and the easier it becomes to do.

When I don’t have to think so much about the physical process of painting I find I can concentrate more on the creative side. My confidence in handling paint is growing, my hand-eye co-ordination is improving, and my brushwork is getting better…. Well, sometimes! I suppose eventually muscle memory kicks in somewhere along the line and it all just starts to flow more fluidly…

I know I’ve still got a long way to go to get to where I want to be but, as time passes, apart from the odd blip here and there every now and again I find I’m really enjoying being immersed in the whole learning process a lot more…

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

A-Z Challenge: P is for Painting

Something I’m finding a lot easier now is just painting naturally as it comes without trying so hard to create in a certain style.

To begin with I got all tied up in knots trying to force myself to paint particular things in a particular way I admired and aspired to rather than just letting my own style develop naturally as I go along.

These three paintings are all the same scene but one is done in watercolour, one in acrylics, and one in gouache.

And although the practical application of each medium necessarily lends itself to a different approach, all three paintings do seem to have enough of an underlying similarity of style and colour palette to recognisably belong to the same painter, which I’m really happy about…

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

A-Z Challenge: O is for Options

One of the things I’m starting to play about with more confidently in my painting is my use of colour.

Instead of being focused on achieving accuracy of colour I realise I always have the option to be a bit more imaginative in my expression by either exaggerating colours a bit more, or even changing them almost completely, just for fun, especially in more stylised paintings.

So here I have taken that idea and run with it, painting three crazy-looking orange daffodils in some purple grass. The end result is maybe not exactly what I’d hoped for, but it’s certainly different, and I really like it…

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

A-Z Challenge: N is for Not

‘Not’ is the common name for the type of watercolour paper I use, and apparently it is shorthand for ‘not hot pressed’, in other words cold pressed? I’ve no idea why it’s named that way, but all I can say is it has a nice rough tooth to it, which gives a bit of underlying texture to what would otherwise be a completely smooth painting…

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

A-Z Challenge: M is for Metallic

I’d never used metallic paints before, but wondered if they might make an interesting addition to bring a bit of bling to an otherwise boring brown and green woodland scene – and I’ve found the answer is… not really!

I bought some gold and silver and bronze acrylic paints on a whim, thinking it would be a nice idea to add some subtle highlights to some of my landscape paintings, but to be fair I’m not sure that’s necessarily the best use for them. I’d initially put some liberal touches of silver and gold and bronze on the tree trunks to try to let the light catch them, and the same on the pathway, but once it dried there was absolutely nothing subtle about it, and it looked way more weird than wonderful. Disappointed, I painted over it again with ordinary non-metallic paint which has improved the painting no end but is also why you can’t really see any metallic sheen any more. Oh well!

Anyway, I think perhaps I need to try out the metallic paints again with something different. Maybe I could experiment with them in an abstract painting at some point to see if that works any better…?   

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂

A-Z Challenge: L is for Landscape

I really love landscapes in all shapes and sizes, and wherever I am I’m always capturing photographs of the scenery around me so it makes perfect sense that I enjoy painting them, too. Luckily a photographic archive built up over time means I have a ready supply of landscape reference pics to choose from, although for now I tend to find some favourite views feature more than once (probably because they are easier to paint), and sometimes multiple variants even turn up in more than one medium…

For this year’s April Blogging through A-Z Challenge I’ve decided to follow the art-inspired theme of me, now in my 60^th year, exploring and experimenting with how to paint using acrylics, gouache and watercolours. After a couple of false starts this is a relatively recent journey I began in earnest a few months ago. So far it’s been an even split between fun and frustration, getting to grips with all these new painting skills, but I’m determined to keep going with it this year and see where it takes me… 🙂