Updateable

It's past the Witching Hour.  Too early to get up for work.  Mind running.  (Yes, I know... I'm supposed to meditate to help with that.  I know.)  Since I'm up, I visit my canvas friends.

Two large canvases that may or may not be companion pieces.  I think they look great together.  The one on the left is black and grey.  The right is Dioxizine Purple and grey.  Each canvas is 24" x 48".

 A shot of the Dioxizine Purple featured on the canvas on the right.  I've had more than one art instructor tell me, "Don't use Dioxizine Purple."  "It's garish."  "It's unnatural."  "It will take over your whole palette."  Don't tell me not to do something.  I'm stubborn.  I'm going to do it just to spite somebody.

I do what I want.

Mixing black from a limited palette.  Alizerin Crimson, Sap Green, and Ultramarine Blue.  This makes a cool (blue-ish) black with a ratio of 3 parts Alizerin, 2 parts Sap, and 6 parts Ultramarine.  This black is also the base for all my greys and it works as a toner when used in small amounts to cut back the brightness of a color.

In other news, I got a new job.  Pretty much the same as the old job, but better.  I have just a couple of weeks left before Summer Break from school, and I'll have news of a gallery show coming soon.

Stealing Moments

I have crept out of my bed and met my lovers in the dark of night.  I am cautious.  My breath stops in my throat at every creak of the floorboards in the bedroom above my studio.  Does my husband sense he is alone?

Sounds like a trashy novel.

Perfect!

My lovers are these:

Adding more color and defining the focal point of the top painting.  The painting with circles gets scales to help suggest motion and to add texture.

Here are the beginnings of each:

The top painting has the focal point pretty near the center and that's generally not where I want it to be.  I will probably make some adjustments later to draw the eye slightly to the right of center.

The scales painting will get a transparent layer of color over the scales outside of the circles so that there is texture there but the eye is not immediately drawn to it.

Day 30 - All the Paintings

The Collection

Some are incomplete but still quite interesting.  Seeing them all together, there is a lot of cohesion because of the repeating colors as well as multiple paintings with drip lines and scales patterns.

Through this month I have learned so much about my preference to work on several pieces at one time.  Being able to set aside a piece and come back to it later helps me to really see the piece better.  Multiple photo images during the process help me see the challenges with a painting and help guide me to the next step.  Taking photos and checking them in black-and-white helps me to see if there is enough contrast for visual interest.

Working on several pieces at one time also reduces the pressure I put on myself to finish a painting before walking away.  I don't feel the need to dedicate several hours at a time in the studio.  I can pop down for 15 minutes and still make progress.

 That was critical for me this month.

My month began very quietly, as January often does.  Then all h#ll broke loose.  It always does.  What is UP with January, anyway?  My time in the studio is limited because of a full time job unrelated to art.  I knew I was starting a new semester at college on the 19th so the paintings needed to be mostly done and posts needed to be mostly written by that time.  My husband got very ill and was in the hospital for 6 days then promptly got the stomach flu when he came home.  My daughter got the stomach bug about a week later.  Both of them are feeling much better now, thank goodness!  But you can see how this impacted my possible time in the studio.

My math professor at college has given us a task of filling out a schedule sheet so she can see exactly how long each day we intend to dedicate to math work.  I am definitely scheduling time for art and plan to sneak in the studio whenever I can.

At the beginning of the month I read a book called, "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert and one of the things she mentions about making time for creativity is treating it like a love affair.  If you were having a love affair, the rest of your life would not stop.  You would find time to sneak away and be with your lover.  Stolen moments, so to speak.  Art is my passion and I need to give it attention.  Sneaking away from the rest of life to be with my art sounds wonderful.  Thinking about it being a secret rendezvous makes it so enticing!

I am so thankful to everyone who visited this month.  Your comments have encouraged me immeasurably.  I hope you will come back and visit from time to time.  I doubt I will continue posting every day but with my new practice of sharing my process, I feel at ease with doing just that, rather than only posting when a painting is finished.  Some of my paintings will be for sale on Etsy and I will post when they are there.  You can also follow me on Instagram.  I'm karimelenartist.

30 in 30 Blog.

Painting Two Needs a Name

Final

I wanted to reveal the final painting near the end of the challenge.  The creature has no visible legs, and we're not quite sure where he ends as he curls around a large, blue egg that could be his sibling.

Mythical creatures have long been a fascination for me and this painting was wonderfully fun to create.  I have more creatures to spur your imagination (nightmares?) coming soon.

30 in 30 Blog.

Painting Twelve -- Tectonic

Part One

Lots of drama with this painting.  I love these deep, rich colors and I intend to keep this one very dark.

Maroon, varying shades of deep turquoise, and black are applied with a palette knife.

Part Two

I kind of knew where I was going with this painting from the beginning but as I went, it really screamed lava meets water and I added bits of steam to accentuate that feeling.

30 in 30 Blog.

Painting Seven Changes

Part Three

Adding some drama and mystery to this painting, I have painted black and maroon around the edges to help reveal and fade out the edges of the Serpent.  I have a few more adjustments to this one before it's complete, but it's very close now.

Several thin layers of black and maroon are added with a dry brush technique.  This adds texture and visual depth.

Previous posts of this painting are here and here.

Part One:

 Part Two:

30 in 30 Blog.

Painting Eight - Love You FIVE-ever

Part Three

My daughter uses the expression "five-ever" to mean even more than forever.

The last touch ups here are the addition of some bold maroon at left, a wash of very light black at the center (black vs. grey here because the white is opaque and will totally cover over the detail underneath), a small amount of gold paint at the top and right and white to emphasize the main 5.


30 in 30 Blog.

Painting Ten - Diamondback

Part Two

Nearing the end of the challenge so I'm trying to finish up as many paintings as possible.  This painting is part of the Serpent series.

The previous version of this was very light and I wanted to really add some drama with lots of maroon and a few touches of gold and darker purple.

Not a lot of changes here, just a few small touch ups with black paint marker and a bit of splashed paint for interest.

Because the difference is so dramatic, I thought I'd show Part One of this painting.
See the beginning of this painting here.

The more I watched the video and looked at the beginning stages of this painting, the more I liked it in the earlier stages.  I still love the drama of it with maroon but the lightness of this earlier version is also lovely.  I decided to do another painting with a similar beginning stage and keep it in the lighter tones.  Look for that soon.






30 in 30 Blog.

Painting Eight Continues

Part Two

This painting needs a more defined focal point so that will be the next step.  I don't want to lose all of the bold lines but I will have to decide how to draw the eye to one area more than the others.  I have a good start with the transparent red and gold.

Crimson is mixed with Burnt Umber and lots of water.  No Matte Medium is used here so the paint stays transparent.  Cadmium Yellow Medium is mixed with Burnt Umber, again without Matte Medium.

See the beginning of this painting here.

30 in 30 Blog.

Painting Six -- Fascinator

Part Three

I wanted to keep this a monochrome painting and I'm happy with this result.  I didn't add a lot from the previous painting.

Liquid white and liquid black (black that I mixed from Ultramarine Blue, Sap Green, and Crimson, blended with Matte Medium and water) were splattered on with various palette knives.

See The beginning of this painting here, and the mid-stage here.


30 in 30 Blog.

Beginning Eight

Part One

Sometimes an artist uses art to work through a problem she is having with some other part of her life.  The number 5 and I have a love-hate relationship.  I won't get too existential talking about my relationship with numbers.  The shape of the number 5 just doesn't always compute in my brain.  A bit of dyslexia with that particular number, I guess.  I just have to stop and think before I write it,,, every time!  That is why the 5s here are all directions, swirling around with lots of confusion.

I started with a large black paint marker for hand writing the marks and some of the 5s.  I also used several stencils with paint, and a gold paint marker.  After all the marks were dry, I sprayed the painting with a clear coat to set everything because I was afraid that subsequent paint would lift off the markers and make mud.  It may not, but I didn't want to take the risk of losing all the bold lines.


30 in 30 Blog.

Painting Six Continues

Part Two

Half way!  I can't believe I am half way through this challenge.  This is the furthest I have made it in the challenge for some time.  Life just always seems to get in the way and I feel a lot of pressure to complete a painting each day.  Giving myself the freedom to just work on art and share my process has made this challenge work much better for me.  A friend asked me what I wanted to accomplish through the challenge and my answer was simply to paint more.  I actually did very few paintings last year and maybe that was because I felt too much pressure to complete... but completing wasn't actually the issue.  The issue was not starting.

Liquid white and liquid black are added for interest.  I was thinking I wanted a bit of a monochrome painting this time and I like the lightness of the background but I may have to visit this painting one more time before it is complete.

I haven't talked much about the sizes of the paintings I have been working on this month but all of them have been either 24" x 24" or 18" x 24".  Large paintings compared to those I have done during previous challenges and I have enjoyed these larger works, however I'm running out of storage space for these guys!  Ha!


See the beginning of this painting here.

30 in 30 Blog.

Beginning Six

Part One

Pretty soon it will be no secret how much I like turquoise and grey.

I started with a very light wash of warm grey around the edges and in the darkest area and then allowed that to dry.
Light grey, black, and turquoise are applied in patches with a palette knife and blended with a dry brush.


30 in 30 Blog.

Spring Breeze

Spring Breeze

A slightly abstracted floral.

I have lots of flowers all over my yard.  Some are cultivated and some grow wild.  The white flowers in this painting are the flowers from wild blackberries.  They are full of thorns and the petals are so delicate they fall off with the slightest touch.  They say an artist has to suffer for their art well I certainly did with plenty of pokes from these flowers.


"Spring Breeze"
9" x 12" oil on gessobord, unframed
This painting is available through Daily Paintworks Auction.