Saturday, April 14, 2012

My First Buddha Painting :)

This is a little painting I did a couple of weeks ago that I posted to the facebook page here. I took some process pics of it though so I thought I'd post them in the blog for those of you who may not have seen it yet :) For those of you who have - here's the process pics! ;)

This piece was done on a left over wood panel that was originally supposed to have a print of mine mounted to it but I messed it up and had to tear it off and mount it to another wood panel :( Luckily I saved the original piece of wood though, I totally forgot I had it!

Below is the beginning of the painting - creating the background - always my favourite part! :) Plus a bit of the under drawing if you can see it...


This is the completed face using watercolour pencil and gold acrylic ink... the next step is the lotus flower...

The lotus flower is done with acrylic ink and grey water colour pencil for some of the shading. I also added a little more detail with the hair - also shaded and outlined with brown water colour pencil...


It's pretty much done in this pic, I added the stem to the lotus (water colour pencil only) and rubbed some burnt umber around the corners and edges with a dry cloth for a slightly worn/vignette look :)


After a lil' more definitive tweaking and shading (hair and facial features mainly), voila! The finished piece... :)


I really enjoyed painting this one, it was such a calming subject to paint and everything went so smoothly, no big mess ups and I was generally satisfied with how the face turned out! One of my fave's for sure! :)


Thursday, April 12, 2012

Experiments With Crackle Paste and Faces

Hello Guys!

It's been a few months since I last posted I know! Time has just flown by!  Though I have definitely neglected my poor blog, I have not neglected my art...(yayy!) I've been experimenting like crazy with different mediums and trying out different styles. One of the things I've been trying to work on is the incorporation of faces into some of my work. I always find this challenging as I've probably mentioned before! Here is a glimpse at some of the awkward stages of one of the recent projects I've been working on :)

Stage one :D
I had a nice little vision in my mind of what this would look like but of course it turned out nothing like I imagined, I almost didn't want to post it because I was so dissatisfied with it!

Acrylic and Watercolour on Wood
Right after this stage, I pretty much plastered the whole thing with Golden's "Crackle Paste" - a white, mousse-like substance that turns very chalky and dusty when dry, I actually had a sneezing fit! This is a totally new medium for me, I have used crackle finishes on wood before but never a "paste". I'll probably finish this jar to add texture to pieces but I can't see myself buying it again any time soon. It is incredibly fragile and almost immediately requires a protective finish to stop it from chipping and crumbling.

Anyhoo, I painted over it non the less, giving up on facial features completely and going back to abstract. This is what I came up with...


You can kinda see some of the "crackle" parts but mainly the medium just gave it some interesting background texture, which I loved. You can still see the flower outlines as well through the paste - more texture - yayy! :) But of course, I wasn't satisfied with this painting either... just wasn't feeling it at all.  Totally at a creative block. So I decided to go back to the original plan of working with facial features again, this time I was inspired by a Buddha face, even though the face itself turned out to look somewhat more "Egyptian" in appearance rather that Buddha-like, I still like how it turned out...much better than the previous two attempts! ;)

In the first pic, you can see some of the cracks a little easier (toward the bottom of the painting, chin area etc.)  You can also see a bit of the dust and chunks of the dried crackle paste scattered around and on the paintbrush to the right... messy stuff! (You can also see how disastrous my work space is - a 3ft x 5ft desk and that's the only open space I have - HAHA! Yikes)


I like that you can still see remnants of the original flower outline, I think it adds a little more to the image. I definitely learned a lot with this little experimental project and I'm glad I'm still pushing myself to incorporate faces even though it is uncomfortable for me. No other way to learn! :) I will most definitely be finishing this piece with a resin coating to seal and protect it. I think it will help bring out the colours a lot more as well. :)

 Mixed Media on Wood
10"x10"x1"

Thanks as always for popping by and having a look at my work :) Always appreciated as well as your comments and feedback!

Good Night Everyone! :)

Monday, January 23, 2012

Reworking An Old Painting

About a month ago, I was playing around with some stamps and FW acrylic inks, just letting the colours blend and flow where ever they wanted and I managed to come up with this total abomination of a painting! Yayy! (in my opinion anyway...lol) I decided it was a disaster and it needed to be put away until my frustration faded.  I wanted to gesso over it and just start from scratch but I'm glad I didn't. I instead used a series of washes with "Prussian Blue" and "Indigo" over top to tame it down a bit and came up with an interesting backdrop for a new painting :)

 Above: The initial painting before 

Progress - adding flowers with gold ink, drops of alcohol, brush pen and a spray bottle

 The finished piece! :)
16"x20"
Mixed Media on Canvas
©WhiteVioletArt 2012

(Detail)

As frustrated as I was with the original painting, I'm glad I decided to rework it instead of starting over from scratch! I'm feeling inspired to start another painting in this style, I'd like to start adding a bit of detail to my work again :) but first, I have to go buy more canvases! ;)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Cosmic Inspiration

I've got a little bit of the January blues today for some reason (despite the awesome weather) and I thought some painting might help take my mind off things and it did...yay! I wasn't sure what to paint at first, then I looked out my front window and saw the full moon.  Whenever I look out at the moon and the stars, I am reminded of all the things they've witnessed on this planet for all these years and my problems all of a sudden seem miniscule and trivial. It inspires me to count my blessings...

So, needless to say, it seemed like the perfect subject matter for me to paint...although it's not turning out quite as I had envisioned. It's taking on a mind of it's own as my paintings seem to do lately, which I am quite enjoying.  Here are a couple of quick snaps to show you where I'm at: (excuse the poor lighting!)

 Untitled
16"x20"x3.75"
Acrylic/Mixed media on Canvas

 Detail (yep, there are a pair of owls in there...;)

The view of the moon out my front window

Time to hit the hay...have a good night!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

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! :)

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

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!

Monday, November 28, 2011

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! :)
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