Taxi in the Rain, oil on canvas, 18″ x 24″

Since today is my last day, and since it is also the 31st, I am no longer “30 day” artist–so I thought it would be ok to post this image even though it is of a painting I did earlier this year.  A taxi driving off into the maze of the city seemed a fitting way to say “farewell”.

Before I go, I would like to say a big thanks to Chinyew for inviting me to participate, and to everyone else for their comments and just for listening.  Being 30 day artist made me take a closer look at my work by forcing me to have to not only post it but write about it on a daily basis.  I am not much of a journalist or blogger, I don’t like to say things simply to hear myself talk, so I tried to choose my words carefully and hope I did not bore anyone too much.

I’m looking forward to seeing the work of the next 30 day artist and hope they enjoy the experience as much as I did.  Meanwhile, here’s wishing you all peace, happiness and a wonderful summer!

Cheers, Anne

watercolor and pastel sketch, 9″ x 12″

I have drawn and painted this image many times–it is the view of the tops of some warehouses in Chelsea as seen from a hotel on 25th St. on a freezing cold January morning. There is something I find compelling about the depth of the streets, the repeating rectangles of the buildings and windows, the light and the snow on the rooftops, and the shapes of the water towers.

Here is a very large verison I did in oil about a year ago:

Canyon, 36″ x 48″, oil on canvas

I find doing multiple paintings or studies of the same place or objects interesting, each time I paint them I discover something new about their color, relationships of objects within the comp, etc.  It is more like exploration to me rather than “practice” as some might view it.  I feel that each study is a painting in its own right, even if I do not exhibit them all.

Cheers, Anne

watercolor studies

I did more studies of the flowers in watercolor.  I can’t think of another medium that produces such wonderful transparency, I am enjoying that aspect of these watercolor experiments the most.  In some I have used a small amount of pastel on top of the watercolor for additional texture and depth.  I think I will try a large one sometime soon to really see if I can do anything interesting with watercolor on a bigger scale.

Cheers, Anne

watercolor study, about 9″ x 12″ on acrylic pad (has a bit of a linen-like texture)

details from the main study

Watercolor is not a medium I use very frequently, but I do find working with mediums that are not my natural choice serve a purpose: they make it easier to give myself permission to experiment without high expectations.  In other words, it is ok if I wind up with a real mess as a result of my efforts.  I find that useful in that it is very liberating and enables me to paint without self doubt.

My trouble with water color used to be that I could never get the strong brush strokes, bold colors and natural flow that I admire in a watercolor that is well done. I stopped using them all together for about 10 years–until yesterday when I pulled them out. I wanted to see if 10 more years of painting and increased confidence would have any impact on the results I’d get with a medium that seems the direct opposite of oils. Here’s what I discovered:

• Over the years, I’ve come to feel there is no reason you have to follow the traditional route of working with a given medium–you find what works for you.  In my case, that means starting with medium and dark values, I can’t work from light to dark the way my watercolor instructors always wanted me to, always cautioning “don’t get too dark”, the result was a drab, washed out, weak painting.  So now I start the same as I would in oil, bold strokes in medium values followed by the darks.
• I no longer draw what I am painting first in pencil, another rule from school days that I’ve broken.  I never draw on my canvas before I start an oil painting so I decided not to do it with watercolor either.  I prefer to just start painting, it keeps my hand loose and prevents any tendency to “fuss” with details.
• I’m not afraid to use a lot of paint–the watercolors have been sitting in the closet for 10 years, that’s more wasteful than piling a good amount on my palette to be USED.
• I still don’t like painting “around” the white areas, I guess I could get some of the masking liquid.  If I have to paint around something I have to be careful, in some cases precise, those are not typical characteristics of the way I paint.
• I do like the transparency and wonderful loose brush strokes you can get with watercolor.  I should give up the security of my flat/angled brushes and try a few different shapes.

So I think working with a medium you haven’t used in a long time can be helpful, particularly if you are feeling blocked creatively.  Just play around, be daring, be bold–it is ok to get a mess as a result of your efforts, you can always blame it on the medium.

Cheers, Anne

Jersey Jam, oil on canvas, 9″ x 12″

Yesterday I finally finished this small traffic painting that I started awhile ago. Given that it is Memorial Day weekend here in the US, one of the worst weekends for traffic jams, the subject matter seems fitting.  I’ve always enjoyed painting traffic because of the patterns the cars and trucks make–they are all similar shapes (boxes) and the colors provide the rhythm and variation that create the pattern. In this one, the curves in the road soften the angles and hard edges of the cars and the verticals of the highway lamps.  It’s admittedly an odd little piece.

Cheers, Anne

Iris, oil study on canvas pad about 9″ x 12″

details of the above

I have never been able to successfully paint an abstract that is not at least partially based on an object, landscape or geometric pattern.  I love abstract art when it is done well, but I don’t do it well so I sometimes take paintings that I am not thrilled with as a whole and try to find areas that can become almost abstract.  I look for balance in composition when making these crops just as I would when I start out with a new painting.

I did this plein aire of the irises in our garden yesterday in oil, and I was not entirely pleased with it.  Oil is not my medium of choice for plein aire, even though it is my favorite medium for studio work.  Outdoors I prefer acrylic because it dries faster, which conversely is the reason why I disklike it in the studio. Anyhow, I started playing around in Photoshop with the painting and found the area in the details below the entire painting. I love a square format and in this case the colors just seemed to dance across the composition for me, so since it is on a canvas pad, I might just mat and frame it in one of the ways I have it cropped and keep it my studio in my “almost abstract” collection.

Cheers, Anne

acrylic study, freesia, iris, lilac, daisies, goldenrod, bleeding heart, 9″ x 12″

detail from the above

I seem to be caught up in the desire to paint flowers this week.  As I’ve mentioned before, they are one subject that really enables me to loosen up.  I worked on an urban landscape last night and I could feel the difference working on all these flowers and the plein aire landscapes has had on my brushwork and paint handling.  This always happens and it is a good reminder to me to always paint a variety of subjects. 

I found this particular bunch interesting because of the variety of colors and forms: the yellows and purples, oranges, the solid petals of the iris, the delicate more wispy goldenrod and the casual daisies.  They all play off one another and create interesting designs with the positive and negative spaces.

Cheers, Anne

plein aire study in acrylic, Delaware & Raritan Canal, 9″ x 12″

detail of the above painting

I had the opportunity to teach at a beautiful setting yesterday, Prallsville Mills on the Delaware & Raritan Canal in Stockton, NJ.  Another Teen Arts Festival, smaller this time and much more controlled.  The place was so lovely I set up my demonstration area alongside the canal and painted with the students or answered their questions–it was a really lovely day.

Cheers, Anne

study of irises, about 5″ x 9″, pastel on LaCarte pastel card

detail from study, cropped to a square

or cropped like this…

I often like to find additional paintings within a painting by cropping in.  Particularly if I’m working with just a study or sketch, I like to find the more unusual or abstract qualities of the work and focus on those for the final painting when I do it in oils. Often I’ll find several areas that have possibilities, sometimes enough for a small series.

Cheers, Anne

Plein aire acrylic sketch, with some pastel, about 9″ x 12″

A quick study of the wood’s edge, same spot as posted earlier. Just working out some ideas here.  Tried to focus on the depth of the woods and how the sun manages to get through the trees even in spots where it is quite dense.

Cheers, Anne