Sneak Peek!

In the last couple of days, I've taken some time off from making art to get myself into the Christmas spirit, digging out decorations, putting up the tree and of course indulging myself in some delicious eggnog ;) (One of my favourite things about Christmas! Yum!)

I am however, finally almost done my wee triptych painting I've been working on at night lately.  Right now I am playing with different textures created with a clear gel medium and a blow dryer.  Kinda fun! Here's a lil' peek (at my really messy workspace too =D)

I hope you'll like it, more pics to come! :)

Here's a pic of this years Christmas tree too just for fun!  It's in my studio this year so it's extra warm and cozy looking in here... I'm loving it! :)

Off to try and get some sleep :) Have a great night, thanks for popping by! :)

Productive Insomnia...

I'm not sure why but lately I've been experiencing these wonderful bouts of insomnia. Maybe it's the pending "holiday season", maybe I eat too late at night, I have no idea... the one thing I do know is that my insomnia seems to be accompanied by loads of creativity and I am loving it! (not loving it so much the next morning when I have to go to work... but still loving it none the less) :)

I've been on an abstract kick as of late - there's just something very freeing/therapeutic about simply spreading ink on a canvas and intuitively playing around, totally unafraid of making a mistakes.  I'm very happy to say that I'm on a huge creative learning curve right now!

Below is the latest product of my insomnia (excuse the poor quality photo...I really must take a better one in the daylight as this is my favourite painting so far)

 "Fiery Night"

16"x20"x0.75"

Mixed Media on Canvas

©WhiteVioletArt 2011

"Fiery Night" Detail

16"x20"x0.75"

Mixed Media on Canvas

©WhiteVioletArt 2011

My current late night project is a small triptych, hopefully I will finish it soon and be able to post some pics ;) but at the same time, I really need to get some sleep! :D

Good night everyone!

More Experiementing and Another Finished Painting :)

Hello again! I'm feeling very inspired lately and willing to let loose and experiment so I thought I'd share! :) It feels great to let go of the need to detail the death out of a painting for a change though I'm sure the "detail" will make it's way into this new style of painting at some point ;)

This is the latest finished piece of a series of paintings I am working on...

Untitled

Acrylic on Canvas

16"x20"

©WhiteVioletArt 2011

Detail

This particular piece is already sold but I am looking forward to creating many more incorporating the same style, I hope you enjoy! :)

Finishing Touches :)

Last night I put the finishing touches on my mini ammonite study, it took me a longer than I thought but I learned a few new techniques - like using alcohol with paint and experimenting with a clear gel medium (which didn't agree with my black ink at all for some reason - had to redo it all!) So needless to say, I learned a lot! Here are some pics while I'm waiting for the gel coating to dry...

Above is a view showing the sides, not as visible when it's placed in the wood frame but I thought painting them black would be kinda redundant seeing as the frame is already black!

Above: Side detail

There it is! I'll be putting another coating of gel on after this one is completely dry but this is pretty much the finished product! :) Pretty simple and straight forward, hope you like! ;)

Just a wee update! :)

Hello again Everyone!

I thought I'd make a quick post to show you the progress of my mini painting ;) I've decided to use this piece as an excuse to experiment a bit...I'm using drops of alcohol for the first time in a painting for example...not totally sold on it but I'm learning something new! Yayy! I think I just need to get the hang of it ;) kinda cool!

This weekend I'll get the browns and yellows in and then probably put a thin varnish coating on it or some shine...what do you think? I love the feedback!

Also, I thought I'd mention, my "Ocean Flower" mandala and my Etsy shop were featured yesterday in "Mystic Wynd's" blog here

Pop over and have a peak if you have time! There are many other artists shops featured in this blog post as well! Much love and gratitude to Karen for the kind mention! :)

Off to paint a bit more! Good night and happy creating as always! ;)

Ammonite Inspired Mini Project

After pushing my way through a bit of a creative drought, I've been finding inspiration in the most unexpected places...this time, a used book store in Bragg Creek, AB... I was fortunate enough to find this book amongst the slightly tattered variety in the "Art" section :)

It's full of great photography of amazing works of art that are created naturally all around us (and that I for one have taken for granted as of late!)

This particular image struck a chord with me and I immediately had a little project in mind...

I had bought these two 3"x 3"x 1.5" canvases a while back with no idea what to do with them until now. 

Here's the start of my little project:

Below is the wood frame that's going to cradle it when it's ready to hang :)

Just finished doing a bit of black outlining and I can't wait to start blocking in some colour and shading! I don't expect this project to take me very long as I am really excited to see the end result! Hopefully I'll have the finished product to show you in the next couple of days ;)

That's it for tonight though! Off to sleep, good night everyone! :)

Some iPhone Photos Worth A 2nd Look ;)

I am totally amazed at what you can do with photos on your phone these days! I am loving some of the various artsy photo apps out there, a great way get insprired and be creative when you can't be in the studio :) All the original photos were taken with an iPhone and played with using Adobe Photoshop Express...love it and it's free to boot! :)

Below - a pic a friend took of the wood planks of a deck

Then I made it into my wallpaper for my phone, lol...

Almost looks like there's a bear staring at you now in the bottom right corner... weird! 

 Below: Finished washing dishes and this mischievous face was staring back at me! No kidding! Creepy!

So I had to play around with it - haha!

Below: This is part of the trunk of a 96 year old protected "Heritage Tree" in my neighbourhood - it's HUGE! It's branches span all the way across to the other side of the street... very cool tree...

Love how colourful it turned out...the texture is amazing too! I want to paint it and see what I come up with :)

 

Below: Driving back from out of town and saw a rainbow in the distance - had to take a pic ;)

After some cropping and touch ups - I LOVE it!!

A couple other fave's of mine are "ColorBlast!" and "Instagram" - worth checking out if you have an iPhone ;) They're no replacement for canvas and paint for me but they are a great way to stay creative and keep in touch with other artsy peeps! :)

The Largest Mandala I've Ever Made!

The inspiration for this piece was based on an earlier sketch I had done in my sketch book a while back... I posted it on my Facebook page here and here and after one of my friends saw it, she commissioned me for a VERY large scale version of it spanning 5ft x 5ft for her living room... :)

This is the original sketch....

Below is the beginning of the background

 

The grid and underdrawing - barely visible (some small scale colour comps are taped to the canvas on the left...helped a little but the mandala ended up taking on a mind of it's own as usual anyway!)

Below: painting the underdrawing

Elaborating, thickening of the lines in places

 Adding blue to the "water element"

 Adding moonlight throughout the water and shading

 

At this stage, I was stuck deciding what to do with the remaining "rocks" making up the outer circle... In the original sketch, I had envisioned the outer circle as earth and stones however the person who commissioned me wanted a "fire" element/aspect added to the painting. So while shading the water, I was listening to a documentary on volcanoes and thought why not lava! It's definitely a strong part of the forces of nature and elements of the earth and the colours are amazing!

So...below is the beginning of the lava circle - shading in the "rocks" with a dark grey/charcoal. I actually really love it in this stage - I was tempted to just leave it as was with the yellows and oranges of the background showing through but no...I decided to learn how to paint "lava"! And I'm glad I did!  :D

 Below is the first layer of "lava", just an overall dark red

 

 Then I added some oranges and yellows in between the rocks for a molten effect of sorts...I also added a really dark reddish brown layer over the rocks to make it more realistic and pop a bit more...

 And alas, the finished product... my apologies for the poor quality photo... a better quality shot is to come and I will update this post as well as the Facebook page with it asap! But you get the gist of it... I had to share, this was an amazing learning experience for me, I would not have tackled a 5'x5' mandala out of my own sheer will thats for sure! As intimidating as it was, I'm very happy I did it! :)

 

For now, I think I will move on to something a little smaller again... there's a 3'x1.5' canvas on my easle at the moment so we'll see what transpires! 

 Below: My favourite part of this mandala where the water meets the lava :)

Have a good night everyone and happy creating!

The New Studio Space!

Hello Everyone,

I'm back after seemingly a long break from blogland! I have been keeping busy with moving and setting up my new studio. Also keeping me VERY busy are two new puppies and huge new painting... (process pics to come)

I am loving my new studio, it's quite a bit bigger than my last one as I actually have room to paint my 5'x5' canvases in it now (yay!) It faces south so there's lots of natural light during the day which I love, plus track lighting and cement floors (nice n' easy cleanup! :)) and its in a great location! So far so fun! I do miss my old workspace though, it was nice and cozy and I miss the patio that was just outside the door... so nice and cool in the summer.

Above: My workspace - drawing table and bookshelves (you can see old studio pics in the Facebook album here: http://on.fb.me/lqlbYs)

Above: Where I paint and a sneak peak at the 5'x5' that I'm working on... (plus my multipurpose beer/paint storage fridge - so convenient!  =D)

Below are the newest additions to my studio... "Sunny" and "Midge", male and female long hair Chihuahuas. They are awesome and so much fun... and yes, ridiculously cute in my opinion ;) lol

Above: Always finding a spot in the sun - it could be 30c and they would still choose to lay in the sun! "Midge"on the left

Above: "Sunny" - the male

Below: Sunny again on the left :)

I have so much more to share with you guys but it will have to wait till next time! I promise not to take such a long break in between posts! ;)

Off to go see what the rest of you have been up to out there then off to bed!

Good night! :)
Cindy

Revisiting Old Portrait Work

Hello again Everyone!

Here in Calgary, we are experiencing some lovely, icey, snowy, foggy weather that's not making me want to do much of anything outside my house... lol! Which isn't entirely bad thing as I am getting a lot done!

I'm moving my studio space at the end of the month so I've got the tunes cranked and I am going through all my old stuff and getting rid of a lot of garbage I just don't need. Feels good! I am also coming across a lot of "stuff" from school, etc. that I had completely forgotten about.  The piece below is a watercolour portrait in that I did in February, 2005.  Such a long time ago! I really REALLY dislike doing portraits (which means I should really do more of them) so when I saw this one today I had to post it.  I don't hate it! I feel inspired to try incorporating portraits into my work again... I'm so glad I came across her!

 "Untitled"

Watercolour

14"x 21.5"

Right now I am resisting the urge to break out my coloured pencils and inks to work in some shading and finish it up a bit. Perhaps I should just leave it as it is and start a new one... what do you think?

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Cindy

Unfinished Business...

The other day I was packing up some of my art stuff and came across this little unfinished piece... it was the second mandala I had ever created.  I got frustrated with it and gave up.  One of the spirals was messed up (reversed from the rest) and the grey "swishy" thingy in the background became a mess that I didn't have a clue what to do with.  So I gave up on it, put it aside and forgot about it.  Well two years later, I am finally inspired to do something with it.  There's potential and I think it can be fixed no that I have a little more "know how" under my belt... it's not so bad!

I hope to show you some progress on this little neglected piece in the near future as I plan on using it to take breaks from the other two LARGE pieces I am working on...I think it might be a little diamond in the rough... you never know, we'll see! ;)

8"x 8"x 1.5"

Acrylic on Canvas

Off to work on the triptych again for a bit and call it a night :)

A Quick Triptych Update...

Thought I'd post an update on the triptych I've been working on since it's been a little while.  Feels like it's taking me forever but I'm enjoying it so far.  The process has been very "meditational" and relaxing :) It's not finished yet but soon enough (in hindsight, I can't believe I thought this one would be finished weeks ago... what was I thinking!? LOL! :D)

Gonna go work on it a bit some more before hitting the sack... aiming to be in bed by midnight, not sure if it'll happen but I'll try! ;) There's always more I want to do!

Thanks for visiting and taking a peek! :)

New Facebook Landing Page...

Tonight I was catching up on some blogging and came across this post by Evelyn McCorristin Peters about her new "Facebook Landing Page" that she made using "Pagelever".  I was inspired to fool around in photoshop and made one of my own. Pagelever made it super easy to do! So, here is my new "Landing Page" for anyone new to White Violet Art on Facebook. It's pretty basic and I'm by no means a designer but it was fun to create.  Let me know what you think of it... still needs work ;) I'm not entirely sure what to think of it myself just yet... cool idea though!

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone! :)

Cindy

Progress of My First Triptych Painting!

I thought I'd stop painting for a bit tonight and show you how my first triptych painting is coming along! This is a less than perfect photo and not the best lighting to show the colour but you can get the just of it.  Much more detailing and shading is still to come but at least I'm blocking in some colour :) This has been quite an interesting experience and I'm learning many lessons in patience for sure... ;)

I hope you like it so far, I'll be posting more throughout the week hopefully. I'd really like to see it finished by this coming weekend... we shall see!

Have a great week guys and thanks for taking a peek! :)

Late Night Painting... Late Night Post...

I've been up late the last 2 nights in a row painting for some reason... I'm so tired but I thought I'd share my progress so far... why not? What's a few more sleepless minutes right? lol

So...by the way... this one is HUGE! I usually shy away from the huge canvases so I am definitely stepping out of my boundaries... which is great... even if it's not so great at first... I have no idea what to do with this one, thought I did but then it just never turns out quite the way I pictured it in my head. I'm sure this one will take me a while to finish so I will keep you posted.  I have another (much smaller) painting I'm starting on as well so I hopefully won't feel so overwhelmed with this one... ;) Can't wait to start slapping in some colour!

Acrylic on Canvas

2.5' x 5' 

Good night everyone! Wish me luck with my insomnia! (or just wish me luck with this painting... :D)

Cindy

One "Hippity Dippity" Mandala ;)

I must say this is definitely the most "hippity dippity" mandala I've ever created! =D  Lots of peace, love and good things happening in there!  Even the lettering took on a sort of 70's feeling - totally unintentional but I liked it. I really wasn't sure about putting words in a mandala but I wanted to convey a positive message ;) I thought a little experimentation couldn't hurt and I think it worked out for the best... :)

My favourite part ended up being the texture created with the little spirals in the red (below). I love the resulting shading effect!

For this piece, I started out with my new watercolour crayons (which I loved but lost their luster on the wood when they dried), then went for my good old reliable FW inks to brighten things up a bit. Over top of that, I blended coloured pencils which gave it a more "folk/rustic" feel (Love that!). I also experimented with a silver gel pen - I will definitely be using them again soon, they're great! Then of course I couldn't resist little rhinestone embellishments ;)

"What Does Your Heart Say"

Mixed Media on Wood

10"x 10"

And voila! The finished piece...I'm now off to start my next painting... not sure what it's gonna be but I'm in the mood to draw "dragons"... we'll see where that takes me! :)

Have a great week everyone!

Cindy