This Hat Needs a Flower

This Hat Needs a Flower
11 x 14 inch oil on canvas panel
SOLD

This painting was done almost entirely with palette knives including her face, although I did use a brush here and there.  I used the fracturing technique I learned from Julie Ford Oliver's class.  My overall goal here was to really loosen up, however as you can see, her facial features are still tight with visible lines.  When I leave out the lines or wipe them away it never looks right to me, so back in they go.  This is my favorite thing about working in oils...it is so easy to redraw or blend away areas.  

Here are a couple of close-up photos so you can see the details a little better.  

Thank you so much for looking!  Have a great day!

Chairs

Chair Number 1
4x6 inch acrylic and oil on paper
SOLD

Months ago, I started collecting images of chairs on my Pinterest with the intention of using them as inspiration for paintings.  However, not one of these came from those images.  They are imaginary chairs.

Chair Number 2
4 x 6 inch acrylic and oil on paper
SOLD

 And in these simple chair paintings I discovered how wonderful it is to put down acrylic color first and then paint with oil.  You get a wonderful vibrant color that comes through.  You can draw the chair by scratching into the paint, or just leave bits of color visible.  These are all listed on Etsy.

Chair Number 3
4 x 6 inch acrylic and oil on paper
SOLD

On a side note, recently I discovered Paul Taggart's YouTube channel with video after video on painting in watercolor, acrylic and oil.  If you are self-taught like me, you will really appreciate these videos.  Check them out.

Relevé

 Relevé

acrylic, papers, gel medium, crackle paste, tea bag, 

oil and cold wax and colored pencil

on 16 x 20 inch panel

Relevé is a ballet term that means to lift up or rise up.  To do this one must be strong and have good balance.   

Here's a little Ballet 101 for you...

stand straight up with your toes slightly turned out...

then lift up on your toes as high as you can keeping your balance...

raise your arms up high parallel along side your ears with fingertips towards the ceiling...

keeping a slight curve in your arms...

keep your abdomen tucked in and shoulders back...

now hold this position, but don't forget to breathe. 

   Do you feel the energy moving through you as your muscles are flexed and stretching? 

 That is relevé.  

You can apply this to life too...rise up above circumstances and you get that same surge of energy...

a head-held-high, confident, undefeated sort of state of mind.  

It's a good place to be.  

However keeping this position is the hard part...

it requires strength and balance. 

 detail

 detail

Happy Weekend to ALL.  Spring is here is full force and I don't want to miss it, so if I disappear or appear less often, you will know why.  I am lurking on blogs...commenting when I can.  You are all awesome and as always, I am so grateful that you keep coming here to visit.  

Rooms Exhibition at City Arts and a Peek at a WIP

Yesterday I delivered nine framed paintings to City Arts for my exhibit there.  I have so many figures in rooms now so Rooms seemed like the perfect title. 

These are all the paintings that went.  You probably recognize some of them.  They don't look so good against that busy rug, but you get the idea.

WIP detail

I started a 16 x 20 inch mixed media painting late last week.  It's very slow-going because there are four figures and a lot of little details.  Hopefully I will finish it this week.  

Hope you're having a great week!

Adeline and Sue on a Thursday in 1935

Adeline and Sue on a Thursday in 1935

Mixed media on 16 x 20 inch cradled panel
click photos to enlarge

As long as this painting took to do it was sheer joy from beginning to end.  I used an old photo of two women and it was dated October 17, 1935, but that is all. So I looked up October 17, 1935, but I couldn't find anything significant about that date other than it was a Thursday, thus the title.  I wonder what the ladies in the photo were doing posing in front of a house on a Thursday.  Having tea? 

As you can see, I did decide to cover up the open area in her dress, but not entirely.  Thank you for your feedback on that.  It really helped.  I added flowers too.

Their faces are painted in oil.  I love doing faces in oil.

I layered and sanded a lot.  You can see some of the scratches from the sanding.  I like that look...kind of aged.

The work is on a cradled 1 1/2 inch deep panel...what a nice substrate to work on.  They are a bit pricey and take up a lot of space to store, so I won't be using them often. 

The art looks so different everywhere you photograph it.  This will be listed on Etsy tomorrow and then I will take it to gallery to hang on my wall there.  I am allowed to do both, which is nice.

Hope you are having an amazing week!

♥ Lisa