Palette Knife Acrylic

This spring has been the best one I can remember for the flowers in bloom! I have enjoyed the azaleas in full bloom at the beach and then at home in Anderson; this is the first year that I have hit the peak at both places. The colors are all so wonderful that it would be impossible to pick one favorite. I am working on several paintings just concentrating on color and texture. Using a palette knife I have applied many layers of acrylic color on the canvas and played with scratching through the surface. I just keep going until it seems right. It has occured to me that this is basically the same technique I have been using with oil pastels, and I am glad to see some continuity in recent paintings.

Working with Oil Pastel over Acrylic

I am trying layering the oil pastels over bright acrylic underpainting so as not to have to layer so much oil pastel. In this painting I treated the paper with a sand medium and then painted with acrylics for an underpainting. I then add some oil pastels and I could easily scrape back through to colors underneath. I am working on focusing on one or two elements when working with abstractions, and this painting is about color and texture.

Abstract Oil Pastel

I am attaching another small abstract oil pastel. These small paintings are so much fun to do, and I really think doing these is helping me to move into more abstract work. It is also nice to be able to finish some work as I find that working large can take forever!

oil pastel

I am back to using oil pastels and am finding that this medium may be the best for abstracts. I have had fun doing small abstract works; working larger with oil pastels seems really hard for me. There is so much blending to do; maybe I can find an easier way to blend. But for now, the small ones are fun!

Christmas card

I use old paintings (unsuccesful ones) to cut up and make small collages which I call my "Crazy Quilt" cards. Sometimes I do my own Christmas cards, and this year I did a collage and made copies for my Christmas cards. Doing these small collages is fun and makes use of left-over materials!

Another Thin Place

I have still been working on my Thin Places theme. After doing several paintings with almost no color and minimalist design, I am trying to add some color. I want the paintings to be impressionistic and to leave a lot of room for viewer interpretation. My friend from Scotland was here recently, and she is also interested in Thin Places!

Thin Places

Thin places are places that are sacred to the person, a place that feels connected to God or heaven. I am working on a series of thin places that are special to me. I love the beach and wetlands, or places where the water is meeting the land, especially where reeds or grasses emerge from the water. I am following Georgia O'Keefe's exercise in reducing elements down to the minimum, using little color. The attached painting is one of a series of "Changing Tides" which uses little color, some texture to give a feeling of movement of tides - which is symbolic of passing of time.