My Creative Soul Revival: buildings

Showing posts with label buildings. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Day 26 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Splash"

"Splash" - 40" x 30" acrylic on 1.5" canvas

"Splash" is a multi-colored cityscape with numerous layers of color in the sky and water portion. As usual, the photo doesn't do it justice!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Day 19 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "City Dreams"


"City Dreams" - 20" x 16" acrylic on 1.5" canvas

This painting was done entirely with a palette knife, something I haven't done in years. I like the texture and blended colors you can get with acrylics and a palette knife, and may try to do a similar style piece or two before the challenge is over.

Another cityscape using complementary colors - again a very limited palette. I wanted to do something that looked Mid-Century, but didn't want to do turquoise with orange, so I opted for a creamy soft Light Ultramarine Blue by Golden instead. The building shapes look contemporary to me though - and that worked for me. I had to really hold myself back from trying to add more colors or change the "sky" - and I'm glad I did now. I like the end result and would have lost it entirely had I gone rogue with my earlier desires!

I'm behind again in finishing the paintings (ie signing; wiring; varnishing; finishing the sides), and need to get a jump on that this week. I know - in my spare time :-) But seriously - I need to get those paintings finished so I can show them to another art consultant and her client. Nothing like a little pressure to get this artist busy!

Monday, January 18, 2016

Day 18 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Building Dreams"

"Building Dreams" - 36" x 24" acrylic and graphite on 1.5" canvas

With a strong background in the real estate industry, I have a love for buildings; houses; and dwellings in general. They house our spirits day and night, and I've always been able to "feel" their soul. When I was developing commercial real estate, each building or project that I worked on felt like a child to me, and I would always get excited when the new tenant or owner moved in. True, I had built the structure but the people who moved in were what ultimately made the building come alive.

Inside these structures, the occupants build their dreams. Doesn't matter if it's a home or a building - it's where the creativity begins and life actions take place. It's almost spiritual, hence the desire I had to add the liquid metallic gold at the lower left part of the painting.

Another fun makeover piece - and it can be hung either horizontally (as shown) or vertically with the black circles on the bottom.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Day 12 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Harbor Lights"

"Harbor Lights" - 48" x 24" acrylic on 1.5" thick canvas

Now this painting is bright.....bold and vibrant and more than likely a work-in-progress vs. a completed offering. I really liked the movement I got with the fireworks and various "structures" that were done in a blended minty-blue color - but the indigo blue and light cad red with the cad yellow are screaming "rookie primary colors" to me and need to be toned down.

That said - I had fun making this piece. It was large (48" x 24") so I painted the background inside on my wall (I use a big piece of stretched canvas on my wall as a backdrop and hang the piece I'm working on with a nail). When the background dried, I took the piece outside and placed it on top of a large plastic tarp. Next I grabbed my bottles of Lukas acrylic paints and started squirting them across the canvas. Then I took a credit card and started slicing in my design.

The end result is a city that looks like it's on fire or in the midst of a celebration or perhaps both? I'm thinking of blocking in some more colors with the buildings and toning down the blue and red.

Definitely a far cry from the neutrals I've worked with this past year, right? And a bit shocking for my own eyes, but truth be told, I kind of like it!

Monday, January 11, 2016

Day 11 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Snowdrift"


"Snowdrift" - 30" x 30" acrylic & cardboard on 1.5" canvas

I'm happy with the way this painting finally came together. I covered everything from the previous painting with the exception of the small horizontal white lines at the bottom right side of the piece. For some reason I have been wanting to paint some abstract cityscapes and at the last minute decided to add the little white "snowflakes" with some finger taps across the canvas using some gesso. Not too many dots - just enough to give it a feeling of snow drifting over a city.....

Friday, January 30, 2015

January 30, 2015 - Day 30 of 30 in 30 challenge - "Seeking Balance"


"Seeking Balance" - oil paint on unstretched canvas - 5" x 5" - $45 plus shipping

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

January 28, 2015 - Day 28 of 30 in 30 challenge - "Full Tilt"

When participating in a 30 in 30 challenge, I always try to challenge myself to try something "outside the box." This is my 4th challenge, and I took on oil paints - my frenemy from long, long ago. The challenge is nearly over and I have to say I am actually smitten with this maddening medium! I'm falling hard for the intense color and the depth the oil paints seems to insert into a painting without even trying. The texture and the smell of the paint makes me happy. Who knew this could happen?? I would have laid odds against this......very big odds.

So for these last few paintings I'm challenging myself to use neutral colors - another option I had when choosing my hand for this latest event. So here's the first painting using Torrit Gray (think gunk), white and black oil paint. I'm on a roll for houses all of a sudden.....is a move in my future??