Beach Themed Paintings

I'm preparing for a new exhibition at my local gallery, and the theme is our city. The two main attractions of my touristic town are the mountains and the beautiful sea, so I decided to go for a series of beach paintings.
The artworks are small, mostly 10x10 inch and I tried to maintain a clean, almost minimalist style.
Here is the first of them, oil painted on stretched canvas:

beach themed oil painting

The pic is taken while the painting was still wet, therefore the glare. I will take some better shots as soon as they are framed.
And I will give it a name of course.

More Fluid PAintings

Fluid painting - or pouring technique as some call it - can be a very exciting painting adventure. Let me explain.
First, you must know that it requires a lot of color and there will be many tries until you get the knack of it and can achieve some decent results. It's also a very messy business; I usually have to cover everything around my work area in plastic sheets, including myself, and after finishing I still find smudges of paint in the most unexpected places like my hair or on the fridge handle.
And lastly you must do it in a studio or a separate area of your house, because after the paint is settled and you are relatively content with your results the canvas must lay unmoved and untouched until is completely dry, which can take anywhere between 24 to 48 hours, depending on how thick is the paint.

But the bright side of this whole process is the amazing work of the paint itself. You can never predict how the colors will interact, how will they spread around and the fantastic patterns they will make by themselves. Is like watching the birth of a whole universe, without having to do anything. Here is an example:

The whole painting

Zoom in

Of course that things like the colors you pick, the thickness of the fluids, the proportions used or the tilting angles can and will influence the final result, but the moment you finished pouring and tilting the painting around the magic happens by itself. And is indeed so magic and hypnotic that sometimes I cannot stop trying again and again.
I wish I could do a video of this amazing technique, is just too fascinating too watch. Is one of the few things that I enjoy the process more than the final result.
So maybe you could try it too whenever feel like taking a break from the technicalities of painting and just messing around with colors.

Fluid Painting - A New Collection

So here I am with the brand new website address as I promised, hosted by Fine Art Studio Online, shortly FASO. So far I am pleased with it, it seems easy enough to set up a website and the templates are nice and clean.
Also I have a little preview of my latest collection (still working on it) of fluid paintings called "Lost in Colors". Yes, fluid painting; an incredible fascinating and beautiful technique and I'm totally mesmerized by it.

"Rushing to the Shore" acrylic on canvas 20x16 inch

There are more artworks on the website and I will keep adding as fast as they dry (they can take days to completely dry).
So take a look and  check back soon for more fluid paintings.
Laura Green B. Fine Art

Daily Paintings? I Guess Not For Me

I am a person who loves to learn new things all the time.
Ever since I started painting - so many years ago - I've been in a constant state of learning, improving my skill, trying new things. Sometimes it feels challenging, sometimes is deeply satisfying. And some other rare times I learn new things only to realize that I will never use them; they are just not my style.

Well, daily paintings is one of those things that is not for me. I tried it for a few months and I can do it - this blog is the result of it - but I am not liking the results. I'm the kind of person who needs to brood over a painting, to get back with some details, to let it settle for a few days and then return to it. I need time and a specific mood to complete an artwork and be content with it.

So trying to do a painting every day might be productive but the artworks feel superficial, rushed and generally incomplete. When I look back at those works I feel like 90% of them are in need of reworking, more details or even a complete wipe off. Doing a painting in one go is just not my work style.

I admire people who can make a painting every day, and some are doing amazing artworks. But accepting that I'm not one of them is in my opinion an honest acknowledgement of my limitations. It feels a bit like a disappointment but at this point I'm fine with it.

So I regretfully gave up Daily Paintworks website and endeavors, although I truly liked their weekly challenges, and set up my own website. Going my own way is the way! (that came out a bit cheesy but I stand by it.)
A new year, a new website, a new adventure; it feels exciting already. Let me finish some fine tunings and I'll post the link to my new, shinny internet home.
And who says I cannot set my own weekly challenges if I want to?

Another Cow - Oil Painting

It seems that the cows give me inspiration lately because somehow I found myself painting yet another cow in oil  lol.

"Sitting Cow" 8x8 inch oil on canvas

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Milk Cow

Another entry for the DPW Challenge; I might update the pic with a better version as soon as the painting will be dry, but for now I'm just happy to own a second cow :)

The Milk Cow oil on canvas 8x8 inch

DPW Challenge - The Cow

Such a luck with these challenges...I wonder where I would be and how much I would paint without them...
So. This week challenge is "the curious cow". Here is mine, and may I say is my first cow painting ever:

"The Cow" oil on canvas 8x8 inch

Have a great day everyone!

The Last Preparations

Just started a series of woman's body studies. Beautiful, gracious and flexible ballerinas are the obvious choice for this purpose. I intend to pick some sports too to illustrate the female body. I'm looking for a clean, minimalist style with no external noise or details. "Less is more" they say, and I'm starting to agree with this statement more and more.
Here is my first ballerina, and you can find the artwork in my DPW Gallery too.

"The Last Preparations" 12x8 oil on canvas

End of September

I got these sunflowers as a gift and what better way to show my appreciation than painting them? They looked so lovely on my bookshelf, so fit with the last days of September that I had to paint them.
I will probably make some more sunflowers paintings since I took a lot of pictures of them.

"End of September" oil on canvas 13x 10 inch

DPW Challenge - Looking Up

"Looking Up" pastel on canvas 12x8 inch

DPW Challenge - Side By Side

For the DPW Weekly Challenge - The Elephant Challenge.
A pastel made on prepared wood board; the colors may vary slightly due to the different monitor temperature. Actually it looks more vibrant in reality.
I like painting animals and I find it easier than many other subjects.
In this piece I wonder If I could have worked more on details.The fact is that I love the simplicity of it and didn't want to lose that with too much information.

"Side By Side" 18x14 inch pastel on prepared wooden board

 More animal pastels:

"Going Home" 18x14 inch - Sold

"Old Friends" 13x14 inch - pastel on brown paper

Please be free to leave a comment bellow; I would love to hear your opinion.

The Sunny Pond

Today I found a new way to prime my boards for pastel in a way that is very similar with the well known sanded paper. The texture also is almost the same; this mean that the surface will hold few layers of pastel without a problem AND being wood is water resistant, which my latest very expensive sanded paper wasn't.

As a test I did this painting on a piece measuring 9x12 inch and I am very happy with the results. I must admit I abused the surface quite a bit but it held the pastel wonderfully.

"The Sunny Pond" pastel on bord 9x12

This priming method will reduce my paper expenses for more than half, not to mention that the board is much more resistant than the paper.
All in all a good and productive day. If you like the painting you can find it for purchase in my gallery.

DPW Challenge - And Some Boats

This week DPW Challenge is about boats.
So I pulled myself out of my creative procrastination and made a pastel, this time a bit bigger than the usual daily paintworks.

"Nightfall" pastel on paper 15x12 inch

I love the final result, and the bigger size of the paper allowed me to get more feeling into the sky.
This is not my first boat painting but I wanted to follow the spirit of the challenge and make a painting especially for it.
Here are some more boats I painted ( including the last one) and you can find them for purchase on my DPW Gallery:

The Creative Process

So it happens that I took myself a day off from painting. Procrastination, indecision, lack of inspiration or all of the above. Fact is I have nothing done today and no real excuse.

But...randomly surfing the internet I found this little treasure so now I feel much better with myself.

Because according to this chart I had a very successful day of creative thinking.
Now back to real work!

Blending or Not Blending?

I got stumped over this painterly approach to oil painting. About showing the brushwork and never ever blending. So I started a second entry for the DPW Challenge in oil this time, and a sky painted without blending is really a challenge to me.

The problem is that hunting for that artistic brushwork I somehow miss the important elements of the painting itself; I mix the values or I overstep the original shapes I draw. At some point I cannot see lights and shadows and shapes anymore, only a bunch of brush marks.
Of course I end up frustrated beyond words after I agonized half day over a simple sky with nothing to show for. For the sea I haven't had any patience left so I just put some colors in there and finished with it.

And since the painting is meant to be wiped anyway I started blending here and there, then some more until I was sort of satisfied with it.
Here are the both versions of it so you can see the difference (only the sky is modified):

The blended one                  The raw version

Since my problem is that I don't like the un-blended  version, maybe I should understand that painterly approach is not my cup of tea? Or maybe I should keep trying?
Or... maybe I should stick with pastels?

A lot to think about. I would love to hear about your struggles with "painterly' method, if you have any. Or any opinion in general, and of course which version of this painting do you prefer.
Have a great day and a lot of inspiration!

Edit: in the end I decided to post it on my gallery after all; I'm curious to see the reactions.
You can find it here if you are interested.

DPW The Colorful Light Challenge - My Entry

My entry for this week DPW Challenge is a pastel because I just love painting the sky with pastels. Somehow in reality the colors are more vibrant and alive than in picture; but such is the nature of reality :)

"Last Lights" pastel on sanded paper 10x13 inch

Yellow Oil Paint

When out of inspiration for painting ideas there is always your work space, always full with colorful, messy things. Like this for example:

"Yellow" oil on canvas 8x8 inch

 My yellow paint although almost empty is now a superstar, and so my dirty palette knife. And I really enjoyed making this painting.
Have a great day everyone!

Still Life With Jars

I found it very hard to keep a loose brushwork because I love blending so much. Let me say that again: I just love blending colors.
So I tried this still life with some glass reflections thinking it will be easier. Occasionally I pulled some of my hair out and resisted about three attempts to wipe it out in frustration. In the end I'm quite happy with it.
As about the brushwork this is the best I can do so far. I'll look back at this painting after some hundred paintings down the road and decide how good it is.

Still Life With Jars oil 8x8 inch

There is a bit of glare in the photo since the painting is still wet but you get the idea.
I would love to hear your opinions or even some constructive critique so please don't hesitate to comment bellow.
Have a great weekend!

Already September

A small oil painting I started yesterday but only today I managed to finish. I named it "Already September" as the perfect remainder that summer is already gone.
The reference photo was provided by Viacheslav from PMP site.

"Already September" 12x9 inch oil on gessobord

DPW Challenge - Second Entry

For the same DPW Wheels Challenge I felt inspired to make another painting. The pastels were still all over my workplace anyway so this is the result:

"Joyride" pastel 12x9 inch

Now is time to return the pastels to their box and try some oil for a change.
See you next post with a new painting!