So the camera batteries got charged, the sky held off on the rain long enough for me to take pictures in the garden and I miraculously managed to work out how to crop the pictures before uploading them (normally this results in tantrums that only my IT expert husband can solve) and, just like that, my 2 new pieces were finished and up for sale! I thought I'd tell you about them here...comments, as always, much appreciated!
The first piece, on the left, is called Eighty Three. I called it that because, once it was finished, the colours just made me think of the eighties....eighty three just seemed right! I'm a big fan of naming pieces when they're finished because things often seem to evolve during the painting process. Anyway....I used a cool, new palette knife to apply the paint after mixing it with Liquitex Thickening Gel. This stuff is becoming a big favourite with me, it gives the acrylic so much texture and works beautifully with the palette knife. I finished it off with some gloss varnish (another thing I'm totally in love with right now!) and it was done. Part of my reason for doing this piece was based on the commission I've been asked to paint. The client really liked the texture of Rain Over Singapore so before I got onto painting the commission I wanted to have a little practice. I'm so glad I did it....this piece has really come to life for me and using the new palette knife just rocked so much. I'm so comfortable with this technique now and I cant wait to do more!
The second piece, on the right, is my first oil painting!! I've always been scared of oils...they always seemed so...almost, grown up?? Things that "real" artists use.....not me! But then I decided to get over myself and just give them a go. Nobody wants to just do the same thing over and over right? And part of this whole thing is learning to be an artist, improving myself and my skills so I did it.....and I loved it! I decided to go for a very basic shape and use contrasting colours. I worked out the scumbling that is the background after disliking my first effort and now I'm a bit obsessed with it - it looks great! My next oil piece will definitely have this too. The foreground was using my trusty new palette knife and, again, covered up my first attempt that just didn't work for me.
I feel like I learnt so much doing this and I'm no longer scared of oils...in fact I really like them. I've called this piece Icon 1 as I plan on it being part of a series...Icon 2 is already under construction....who knows what that'll teach me??
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