Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Disaster has struck

Good evening fair friends,

I had hoped to be able to bring back the final of my water painting, only I went and did something called "experimenting" LOL I decided I wanted to put some depth and punch into the water shading, and instead made a bit of a mess.

I find for me there is no quicker way to let go of the rigid "shoulds" and move to the "what ifs" and freestyle (painting without thinking), than to experiment. Often, this happens after I have made a mistake: this time I created one LOL...never fear, I hope the water painting will be back to near completion very soon.

In the name of feeling productive, and since I know I still have my little band of lovely followers checking in on any updates, I thought I would share another painting that is almost finished.

This was painted from a photo taken at Wilpena Pound in Central South Australia. It is painted on a framed stretched canvas in acrylics.

I can promise that, given I have been working on this for ages, I will not be experimenting on this one. There is only a little way to go and it shall be done.


The photo is a bit average, I took it this morning when our family room was full of light, but due to the size of it I do need to stand a fair distance away.

Have a super evening and I hope to be back with you soon!

Cheers

Catherine

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A quick peak

Hello and good evening!!

I spend maybe 2 hours a night in my little studio - after the kids have gone to bed and before I have to go to bed in preparation for my working day.

Tonight I have finally got my latest painting going in the direction I would like...still going, but maybe closer now to complete.


It is a terrible photo, taken by the light of two fairly average lamps with my phone lol. The bottom left is the shadow of my ever faithful cup of coffee - and yes I do drink it cold.

Have a super evening!

Catherine

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Day of wasted teabags



Have you ever had one of those days that you make a cup of tea...then get distracted and your cuppa goes cold? I have had one of those days.

This morning it was overcast, chilly and misty. That's fine when the mist burns off and we have a glorious sunny winters day, where we can work away in the garden - my job of yesterday was pruning roses - but today it has stayed overcast and miserable. This, combined with a not so great sleep as our little chick has gone into a big-girls bed, I am having a tea-drinking day. Coffee is my pleasure, but tea is my soother. :-)

So my day today has been spent playing with my little chicklette - who after a terrible nights sleep since perfectly happy - and trying to make tea.

In a stolen moment, I decided to go in hunt of some inspiration. I seriously want to paint our family room and kitchen, but being Winter it is just too cold right now. So I am stockpiling my inspirational photos...the lovely doesn't know what hits him when I pull my photos out and say "can we do this",...but here comes another batch my dear!

There are a couple of sites that I have discovered in my vast travels around the world, courtesy of the internet, that I just LOVE. One of the sites is a shop in Sweden, http://www.gruvgatan13.se/ You don't need to read Swedish to enjoy the beautiful imagery.

Another gorgeous site is http://nordingarden.blogspot.com/. Sigh.



There really is something about the crisp white, the rustic earthy elements, timber....the list goes on. I just love this style.

And one of my absolute favourite sites at the moment http://mylovelythings.blogspot.com/




We are going to need alot of white...what I would really love to do too, is paint our skirtings and door frames etc white. That is a bigger battle, and perhaps one that can be taken up after the first stage is completed.

Have a great afternoon,

Catherine

Saturday, July 17, 2010

First time abstract

Hello and welcome to Saturday evening!


A couple of posts ago I mentioned the first ever abstract I had completed for my lovely sister-in-law (SIL). Well, yesterday we had the chance to go down Bredbo way for a visit and for the first chance to see the painting at home.

Whilst it isn't hanging up yet the first thing that struck me was how small the painting seemed at her place: now, no question, my studio is tiny by anyone's standards, but I love it as it is all mine and I have never had such a glorious space for my art before. In my studio, the length of the panels on end reached from the base of my stand, to the top of my ceiling: side by side, they took up the length of my "painting wall". Perhaps this will give you an idea of the space in which I work. :-)


Anyway, here is a first view of it - given I was taking the photo against the window light, it was very difficult to get the colour balance correct. I can't wait to take a photo of the painting hanging above the glorious fireplace: SIL assures me it is perfect for the space (phew!!!!)





While we were stopping at the shops on the way to Bredbo I saw these devine roses! I have no idea what they are, but they were the most unusual colour I have ever seen; dusky mauve with a beige base! If anyone has any idea what these are called, I would love to know! I picked the roses up for my SIL - who doesn't love flowers for no reason!!




Have a glorious Saturday evening!


Cheers


Catherine

Monday, July 12, 2010

The creative weekend

Wow!! I had a fabulous and creative weekend but as a result, it has taken a little while to come back to you all.

Saturday morning I enjoyed 3 hours with an art lesson group learning about watercolours - something I have never tried before - and then layering the dried image with Pastels!! I loved it!

A pastel drawing/sketch is where the white of the paper still shows through and a pastel painting is where the entire canvas is covered. The idea of applying watercolour as a wash first is to remove the white starkness of the paper and also, the pastel is not required in such a heavy application to create a painted result. Of course then, this becomes a mixed media result.

Whilst the fruits of my labour are clearly not a completed painting, I think it conveys how the two mediums can work together to produce some beautiful results with clean colour. I am really looking forward to having a bit of a play with this in the very near future.

The next creativity for the weekend was to make clay for the kids out of Bicarb of Soda, Cornflour and water. We just popped it on the stovetop over a medium heat until it was like mashed potato, let it cool - then play away. And the really cool thing about this was my kitchen bench and saucepan cleaned up a treat afterwards because of the bi-carb! Love that stuff!!

Whilst the mixture was a little crumbly it gave me a chance to try a few ideas - mostly using the kids playdough cutters and some of the stamps I have. I have some ideas for future projects, so that is something else I am going to tuck away for the future "experiment files" :-)

Add in a bunch of cooking with the kids - Anzac cookies, Poached Pear crumble...yummy....We had a great weekend!

Have a super day!!

Catherine

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Quick snippet

Evening lovely people!

I have finally finished a three panelled "square" for my lovely sister-in-law and family, to go in their recently updated family/kitchen area that has beautiful high ceilings painted white, freshly painted walls in hogs bristle (quarter I think), and a stunning glass double-sided Cheminees Philippe fireplace with a rendered chimney going all the way up to those gorgeous beamed ceilings.

My painting is 1.2m square and will be hung above the fire-place. A real honour!

I have to admit that being abstract in style, this was completely out of my comfort zone. But I admit, once I got the hang of it, I had a blast!! No idea if it is any good, but Sal says she likes it which is the most important thing.

My brief was to do it in mostly beiges and similar tonings (very neutral), with some red to bring colour into the room. Beige....neutral...red. No peachy colours thank you ;-) Oh, and Sal loves a very special tree outside of her kitchen window, so I popped that in somewhere too. I can't take a decent photo of the paintings, despite trying. So no complete photos will be taken until they are finally settled in their chosen hanging space.

Until then, let me tempt you with a teeny snippet of one of the panels.



Trust me when I say that the colours are off - that peachy colour is actually less so...more beige neutral. I hope.

Cheerio!

Catherine




Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Why white?

Many, many years ago I would complain about the boring white/beige/bone/cream colour wall paint selections of my parents. Why couldn't we have peach or pink rooms in our home - it was the 80's after all! The furthest my colourful desires went was being allowed to paint my walls grey and my bedroom cupboard doors hot pink. Nice!! I topped that off with a white cover on my white brass bed, accented with pink pillows!

Come the 90s and the first opportunity I had to decorate our own home: I furiously painted everything in warm yellow with royal red feature walls. By the turn of the century, and whilst waiting for all electronic devices to fail, we painted the walls a desert colour (beige to Mum and Dad) with earthy tuscan red suede effects feature walls. Who doesn't love a good suede effect?!

So why is it now all about the white? I want to paint my walls white and tone everything right back. Perhaps it makes everything look crisp and clean. Perhaps it is about less clutter and better storage solutions; less random knick-knacks (and therefore less dusting) with more considered "groupings" of collectables? Perhaps three young children, two dogs, a cat and my lovely are all the colour I need; by adding colour to the walls combined with all our "stuff", maybe my home feels more like a Salvadore Dali painting and just does my head in!? Perhaps that was the reason my folks were boring "plain-walled" people all those years ago....hmmm, there's something to contemplate over the next coffee.

My lovely and I enjoyed our gorgeous wedding recently and spent our honeymoon in Fiji. One early evening I sat on the little lagoon beach, that was freshly raked each morning (I know!!), with my feet in the beautiful clear water and waited for the sun to set behind the palm trees for a couple of cliche photos. While I waited, little fish kept swimming near my toes and, thinking this was as cool as the setting sun, I started taking photos of the little fish too. Indeed, I managed to capture some very lovely cliche photos of the sun setting. However I didn't manage to capture the little fish; what I did capture was beautiful striations of colour in the water. There was my inspiration for a painting for our family room and kitchen; but not only that, it gave me the complete inspiration for our decor, starting with painting the walls white.

On research for the look I was after I discovered Marley and Lockyer. Ness has the most beautiful site and I have spent hours on there being inspired by her words, imagery and her beautiful wares.




Look at that stove! But I adore all the light and the white of the cupboards...



Beautiful windows, lots of light, gorgeous tonings...devine!


Ness had a guest blogger stop in: Christina Strutt from Cabbages and Roses who gave some tips on decorating and included this beautiful shot (amongst others).

If only my random collection of pencils and brushes looked this pretty!


Pretty and practical. Love it.


So go on over to Marley & Lockyer, take a look around and be inspired just like me to paint it white!

Good night!

Catherine
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Monday, July 5, 2010

Full-colour seeing

Welcome back to my small band of followers - you know who you are and I am pleased to see you back for post number 2 ;-)

Have you ever had the chance to stand up close to an artwork of an artist you admire?  If so, did you get right up (security permitting) and look at the strokes; wonder how the colours were put down and in what order?  I love the notion that the artist also stood that close to create that individual stroke, and each other one to create the whole.  It is amazing to think that, in essence, you could be standing in their feet.   Do that with one of the greats, like Monet! Wow!

I bought a really great book by the Founder of the School of Light & Color, Susan Sarback, titled "Capturing Radiant Light and Color, in oils and soft pastels".  I can certainly say that this book has changed the way I see colour when I paint.  "Full-color seeing is the vision of Impressionism" - love it! 

I am also a huge lover of Monet, whose painitings were often studies of objects at different times of the day, in different weather conditions and different seasons.  Monet's paintings are a colour feast for the eyes.  So when a friend saw a study that I had done, based upon the full-colour - I will save that for a different post -  she asked me to do a painting for her home.  She loves Impressionism, beautiful greens and blues with water reflections: kinda points to Monet, don't you think?!  She did initially present me with a newspaper clipping of Gustav Klimt's "Church at Cassone sul Garda", to which I kindly said I don't think so!! no. When I suggested instead the Waterlilies (or a representation thereof), she was just as happy.



I am very proud to say that she loves it - and I am pretty happy with the results, although have already started thinking upon improvements for the next time I do something similar.

Bye for now, I'm off for a coffee.

Catherine

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Starting on a White Canvas

You really would think that by starting a blog I would have something inspirational to share: something that would stir you from within and launch you onto a great moment of creativity. Maybe not immediately, but perhaps over time as we get to know one another.


Let's just say for now that this blog will be an avenue by which I will pour a little of my creative juices and perhaps inspire myself :-)


Well, what have I got to share? My paintings. I dabble in most things involving colour and mess - pastels, oils, pencils, ink but my big thing at present is acrylics. I am loving these right now as they force me to work fast, and think less. Thinking about what I am doing is just a great way of making me stop :-) But as soon as I stop thinking and just "feel" my way,...ahh, step back, have a cup of coffee and then look at what I did. Sometimes I even amaze myself :-)


My experience: I have been drawing and painting with passion for the past 20 years. I have attended various classes over time, both private for a couple of years and at Art Schools. I have purchased and commissioned works held in private collections. I have lots more stored in my own home. :-D


So, the aim for my blog is to post completed paintings on here as I go along, either as "Works in Progress"




Or as the completed piece:

And maybe if I get really clever, I will see if anyone is interested in a few lessons on how to do stuff. We'll see. :-)

In addition, I will bore you with inspirational images, some that may have nothing to do with painting but they will tick the "lovely!!" box for me.

OK, this is coffee. Coffee inspires me. Alot.... However, this photo also says winter, warm, crackling fires, rain on a tin roof...I don't know how red wine came into a photo of coffee...but anything that makes me remember those really cosy, comforting moments....they are my bliss.

So, thanks for stopping in...let's see if we can get some colour down on this white canvas.

Cheers

Catherine










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