"The Night The Northern Lights Surrounded Us"

"The Night The Northern Lights Surrounded Us"
Acrylics and Mixed media on Canvas
16" X 20"

I did this painting after a Hoar Frost settled into my world the other day.

Every blade of dried grass, every branch every electrical wire was covered in a delicate Hoar Frost.

When this happens and we are lucky enough to have no wind, the frost will stay on everything until the sun shines. Fortunate for us the day was overcast, so we had this beauty all day.

The following evening was  magical, one one in which the Northern Lights danced in just a glorious display.

They were so bright that the trees covered in delicate frost shone in the dark contrast to the sky in all its magnificent colour.

Hopefully I have somewhat captured this magic on my Canvas.

Detail;
This photo actually shows the true colours of this painting.

I hope You can see the Magic in this painting, it seems touched with electricity and just gleams.

~~Kathleen

"Sunset at September Lake"

"Sunset at September Lake"
Acrylics/mixed media on Canvas
16" X 20"

Every once in a while something good comes from a disaster.
The other day I was going through my 

"Paper53" app on my IPad and I was checking out my doodles.
(Things I have composed while watching TV )

I really liked the effect that the colours made when I would go to the next line down and continue a sky line.
The tone on tone created a wonderful effect, and I wondered if I could translate this 

small work to Acrylics on canvas.
I mixed up a watery (watercolour style) blue green for my sky and started.

needless to say I failed miserably!

So, here I was with a canvas covered in blue/white cloud like lines that did not work.
 I did what any well intentioned Artist does in this situation, I grabbed a bottle of Fluid Acrylic

("Goldens Yellow Oxide")
and poured it over the canvas atop the blue/green mess!
and then I smoothed it over the canvas with a fine wide brush.

and
VOILA!
I had the most gorgeous canvas in various hues of yellows and reds, and greens!
Now this was a canvas I could work with, and in colours I liked.

I decided that somehow the sky would be of a Sunset.

So I needed a tree line.
And 

then
I remembered

that

I had just stocked up on Metal leaf.

Not just the regular Gold/Silver/Bronze leaf

but a new hue 

that was

a Variegated Black.
I had never worked with it and needless to say, I was itching to work with this new colour.

It is a product  put out by a company called

La D'ORE

and just gleamed.

So, instead of highlighting a painted tree,
I got the bright idea to paint the trees in with sizing and just use the leaf.
Different and kinda hairy because once dry, I would not be able to see what I had painted.
But, I persisted and ended up with this;

 

Yes, that is metal leaf, 

just photographed so as not to see the glare from the sheen.
And, I liked the results tremendously.
while I liked it, there was nothing defining the trees, so

again, I decided to draw trees "ATOP" the trees already there.

(again blind.)

I let this sizing dry and then layered Gold Leaf atop the black metal leaf and they looked wonderful.

Basically, not a good photograph, but this one shows the great difference between both colours of

the metal leaf.
I had depth.
And the contrast between the two colours was so pleasing.

A detail shot to show the leafing.

I had a hard time deciding to do the lake in the front of the tree line.
would the sunset be behind the trees or in front?

Because the colour was so vibrant, I decided that the Sun would be behind the viewer.
The whole effect would be balanced with the reflection of the Sunset on the water.

so how to do that?

More metal leaf of course!
And that my friends

is how a disaster can actually turn out to be a pretty pleasing Painting!
Thanks for being here, I appreciate you taking the time to

read and view my blog so much!
~~Kathleen

The Basics and the beginnings of an artist.

"Calla from the top"
(SOLD)

When I began painting a few years back, as is with everyone

I started with a theme.
I had no idea about what I was good at, and had very little
Self-expression show in my paintings.

I think for any beginner this is the case.
We see a scene, a flower, a sky

and think 

"I would love to paint that."
We have no idea about mixing colours, perspective or shadowing.
We just know we want to translate it onto canvas.

"Dandelions"

One of the first flowers I ever painted was
"Dandelions"
(Sold)
A little canvas celebrating the first bouquet that a child presents to their
Mother with much love, and showing what this gift looked like  to the Mother.


After that I proceeded to venture into different shapes and colours

"Dogwood Blossoms"
SOLD
My first serious foray into shape, form and shading.

"Botanical"
SOLD

This one started my love of the background.

After that I explored colour shape and style.
backgrounds and sizes.
You can see here that I did not allow myself adequate room for the roots coming from the bulb.


"The Wedding is Off!"
A whimsical Painting.
Mr. Froggy is keeping out of the rain.
No Wedding for him today.
This (I think) is the only painting in which I attempted to actually do Rain.
It can be scary, you complete  (at that time)
a perfect painting and you just know
That the first stroke signifying rain has to be perfect
or the whole thing is lost.
I lucked our on this one.

"Cassa"
SOLD
An art Challenge from
a participating forum on "Wet Canvas"
One of my all time favorite florals.
My favorite part is actually the way I painted the
stucco wall.

"Lily"
SOLD
Ruffled Asian Lily
I worked very hard to get depth in this painting.
At the time I thought I had it.
But looking closely, I achieved a good depth on only one Petal.

"Lily2"
SOLD
An all time favorite of mine.
Simple lines portraying elegance.

"Daisy"
There is much beauty in the simplest of flowers.

"Poppies"
SOLD
Again, here I worked on shading and tonal values.

Here I attempted to do a "Red" painting.

While Not specifically a Floral, this painting
is the first that I achieved pleasing results with
a collection of plants.
SOLD

"White Flower"
SOLD
I liked the background of this one very much.

Every step I have taken in teaching myself how to paint

has gone through phases.
And with each painting I learned.
I perfected a certain style and method of application.
I have had many many canvas that I have painted over
(Or as my friend Diane calls them "Wall leaners")
....put in a corner on the floor, leaning on the wall

to be forgotten or painted over.

But with every painting I have completed I have taken away something new.
I have learned when to put my brush down
and
"Leave it alone"

What colours make each other Pop!
How to load a brush with paint

and countless other things.

One fact that I learned very quickly was that I
had no propensity to paint people/faces or animals.
I do not enjoy painting these subjects.
The one exception to this rule was the painting I did of a couple of Pelicans
(But then again birds are not people or animals)

"Pelicans"
(SOLD)

Actually, any attempt in that genre has resulted in frustration, anger
and a feeling of hopelessness.
So I just do not even try them. LOL

I think these things have made me a better Artist.
And hopefully I will continue to enjoy the learning process
of creating art.
~~Kathleen