Uncategorized – Page 13

Unleash Your Creativity

January 12, 2014 by alaskanraven

Paintings are fun to look at. They evoke all kinds of emotions and help us see our world in different ways.

A painting can be YOUR inspiration
Be on the lookout for paintings that make you want to do YOUR own art. You might express your creativity in baking, gardening, carpentry or even designing rockets.
Whatever your choice of self expression:
1) find paintings that inspire you to create.
2) buy the painting(s)
and
3) put them in a prominent place in your home or office.

Why?
It will put a smile on your face and enthusiasm in your morning routine. Invest in yourself. That is a good investment. Buy art that you like, don’t let others influence your decision. Choose art that speaks to you.

Would you like other ways to jump start your creativity?
-Stop waiting until you feel inspired
-Everyone is creative. That side often gets shut down early in our life. Bring it back to life.
-Play in the “creative sandbox”. There is no right or wrong way.
-Treat yourself kindly.
-Commit fifteen minutes every day. Or make it five minutes if that seems more doable. The point is to spend a few minutes every day focused on your creative passion. If it evolves into more time, bonus. But five minutes every day will evolve into great achievement. I promise.
-Keep it fun and be open to innovation.
-Keep focused on doing it. That is the accomplishment. Give yourself the freedom to not expect to like the final product.
-Celebrate the fact that you simply played. It gets the mind to work.
-Paint wildly!

Find out more about this painting here

Portraits are a Treasure

December 26, 2013 by alaskanraven

It has been several years since I painted portraits. I chose a subject that I knew very well. I put fresh oil paint on the palette and got to work.

Loose brush strokes
I wanted to achieve a likeness but keep the brush strokes loose and lively. I like loose sketchy lines and open areas of canvas. Being able to see the action of brushstrokes makes it feel more fresh and interesting to me.

Composition considerations
The main emphasis is on her eyes. I spaced the other darks in her hair and background to make the eye flow around the composition. I chose colors that complemented her hair and complexion.

Added meaning
I emphasized the earrings because they hold a special memory from her great grandmother.

9"x12" oil painting, "Darcy" — 9″x12″ oil painting, “Darcy”

I loved being able to give her something special for her birthday. She will be able to hand this down to her children.
Future generations will be able to see her beautiful, warm smile in a way that photos can’t capture.

Happy Birthday to my daughter, Darcy!

The making of a rainy day watercolor

September 14, 2012 by alaskanraven

Downpours of rain formed translucent curtains across the valley.
How could those shapes and colors be expressed in a painting?

Dark blue pigment with a touch of orange, then more blue flowed into the fibers of the paper. The wet fibers expanded but held onto the different pigments. Yellow ochre, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, cadmium orange. More water. Clear water softened the edges. Colors were moved back and forth as the brush searched for the right shape and texture. A dry brush picked up pigment and exposed the white paper. Puddles of paint slid into new areas, mixed, spread and made surprising effects. Some puddles were left untouched to change some more before they dried.

THIS IS THE MAGIC OF WATERCOLOR
Work quickly, go after a plan but be aware of what the paint does on it’s own. Evaluate the surprises. The quick change of direction or too long a hesitation will make or break the success of the painting. Paint changes as it dries on the paper but there is time to alter it while it’s still damp. An intentional brush can make an impact if carefully done.

Put a wash of deep pigment onto the paper that appears too dark so it will dry to the right value. This is a continual challenge. If it dries too light, a second wash of color will darken it but put on too many layers and the wash looks dead and uninteresting.

This time, the colors remained interesting when they dried. The colors worked well together and the tree shapes were formed by the pigments intertwining. I left them alone and gambled that they would look ok when they dried. This time they did.

TIME FOR A BREAK
This is one of the most important parts of the painting process. STOP and LET IT BE. Walk away. Do something else. Do this BEFORE you think it is done. BEFORE you have overworked the painting. I know this only because I have overworked MANY paintings. Soften the edges of the washes before you stop so you can come back later and and add to it.
The following painting was stopped. I took a picture of it and left the room.
When I returned I spent some time thinking about it and decided to add the foreground, darken the clouds and make some other small adjustments.

Is it better? You will have to be the judge of that. I like it better. The contrast of the foreground golden trees complements the cool tones of the valley. The darker clouds appear more ominous and capture more of the mood that I was trying to achieve.

You can see more of my paintings in this gallery.

White nights of summer in Alaska

July 3, 2010 by alaskanraven

8 p.m. Beautiful summer evening.
Warm.
Clouds dance on the horizon between the patches of blue sky.
Cumulonimbus towers above everything else and demands attention.
The mountains peak out occasionally from the curtain of clouds. The blue distant hills stand in front.

10 p.m.The low sun pours warm tones over the valley. The aspen tree trunks show off blue and orange in the night light. The field colors become more and more interesting.

Midnight:
Towering cloud shines a surprisingly bright orange yellow. Dramatic contrast to the purplish dark clouds. The whole valley appears to be washed in a spotlight of orange light. Splashes of alizarin, violet and orange can be seen in the sky, water and on the trees.

No time to sleep. Don’t miss the WHITE NIGHTS of summer

See more paintings in this gallery.

It is Four Below Zero, Time to Think About Warm Ocean Sunsets

March 12, 2010 by alaskanraven

It’s four below zero at my studio. Seems like a good time to be painting an ocean sunset. i’ve been cooking on some painting ideas from what I saw a few weeks ago in Florida. I love sunsets and watching the sun set on the ocean is a wonderful treat. I’ve got photos and images that have been bouncing around in my head. I put on some loud music, wearing several layers of clothes to keep warm and think warm, warm sun, warm ocean.

I’m working on a larger sheet today and a bigger brush. 18″ x 24″ paper and a 14″ Kolinsky sable brush.
Opened up a new Arches paper block. It feels so good to open a new watercolor block. Arches paper is one of the best. I sliced the black sheet off the top with a knife and put it in the drawer to save for my granddaughter. I think she might like to make something out of that beautiful black sheet of paper.

My palette of paint has been soaking up water that i sprayed on fifteen minutes ago. It’s getting nice and gooey. Pulled out my favorite brushes. I won’t talk about how much I spent on these brushes. It’s best to not think about that. Better not to think about the cost of the paper or even the paints at this point. Buy the very best quality. It makes a huge difference. The best quality supplies make it easier to paint well and makes your final painting more permanent and a better investment for your collectors. Invest in quality supplies.

Did a faint pencil drawing of what I thought I might want to do. Worked and thought about the composition and how I was going to use the color. It is very important to not paint the colors and values that you see in the photos. The camera gives you a flat cyclops view of distorted color. It will never have the life or beauty of the real scene. Our eyes are amazing and they capture nuances that the camera can’t see. So, you have to interpret the photos, rely more on the images in your head, your sketches and be very very careful of those photos. Be aware of surprises that appear in the paint on your paper.

I decided on the placement of the sun by thinking about the thirds of the painting. Be aware of the rule of thirds. Divide the paper in 1/3’s vertically and horizontally. It is a good idea to put your center of interest where the lines intersect. It’s a good starting point and you can adjust from there. Pushing it a bit farther in one direction or another adds a bit of ‘stress’ and drama. I do my thinking at this point but when i pull out the brush and load it with color, I try to stop thinking and focus on play and have fun with the pigment exploding into each other, wet areas and dry areas. If I am too careful, that carries through and it isn’t as much fun to look at the painting. Be brave and paint wildly!

Another important thing is to stop before you overwork it! When you think you might have something. Stop, take and break and let it dry. You should start a different painting of the same thing, try and be even more wild the second time and try out some things that you didn’t on the first round. You can move faster the second time.