Paintings
Title: My Yellow Dress
Medium: oils
Its story: I have this dress! I got it from this incredible designer called ‘ I love leroy’ at the Old Biscuit Mill. It was a spur-of-the-moment gift from my brother, for no particular occasion at all. I saw it hanging up and just gawked at its beautiful colour and old school fit. I tried it on, Jon and his girlfriend confirmed its magnificence. Jon bought it! Who could ask for a better brother? I had fun with the background and trying to get this scratchy effect, a bit like a rustic frame look. The dress wasn’t meant to be detailed and instead I painted chunky strokes that gave the whole canvas texture. I still have this painting. Although it doesn’t actually go with any decor in my apartment I am still hanging on to it.
Title: Koi
Medium: oils
Its story: This one was for mommy! I wanted to give her something to put up in her lounge. I liked the idea of koi fish, it seems like something homeowners would like to put up in their home. The whole setting was an invented pond scene. I painted the waterlillies at the last minute to try give the dark background more life. As for the fish… I looked up photographs in google, cartoons (yes) and other paintings. I sat for hours just starring at other artists works, at the things I like and other I hated. There are some amazing koi artists out there. They have the patience (and time!) for detailed water scene that look more impressive that pictures my cheap digital camera could take. This is my interpretation of a koi pond, now that I look at it the waterlillies look like a whirlwind shape. I also am particularly proud of the big orange koi at the top. the white tail and fins took my hours, I wanted to get the washed out look just right. Needless to say, my mom loved it!
Title:Moonshine
Medium: oils
Its story: I had fun with this one, the big fat moon reminds me of children’s book illustrations. I sat one Saturday with nothing better to do and an itching to paint something. The desire to paint wasn’t accompanied with patience this time. I didn’t look up a picture, didn’t think for a moment about what I would like the canvas to look like and instead just went for it. It was a rare moment of creativity, I seem to lack the ability to invent images in my mind to paint. It is much easier to do a still life or copy from an image so that details never gets missed. This is my rather bizarre image. I took ages with the nightsky – It is three layers actually. A black, purple and then lighter washout grey. The moon also took a good two hours or so. There are craters on it if you look at the painting close up! So I am rather proud of this one, not for the skill (or beauty) but its sentimental value. It is mine – and it didn’t exist before other than in my imagination.
Title: Roses Are Red
Medium: oils
Its story: This is one of my favourite paintings. It is so much bigger that it appears in this photo! I wish I took the photograph of the roses, but I didn’t. I just love the crinkly petals. After taking about a week on this (during my varsity term) I stepped back at the end only to find that I had gone a bit red with the petals. They were actually a pinker and lighter tone. I blame the dull lights of my bedroom. So in the process of painting this I suspect I invented a new type of rose for the purpose. The rose in the right corner is my favourite. I have no explanation as to why – it just is.
Title: A Basket of Rosas
Medium: oils
Its story: I did this with the intention of selling the painting (it still hasn’t sold). Therefore what better image to capture than tomatoes! I thought it would be a nice addition to a kitchen. I was basically trying to tap into buyer’s psyche. I did the background in really neutral tones. The tomatoes I did have a bit of fun with, the stalks are really overdone in black and white – they look stark and almost ‘pop-arty’. I also love rosa tomatoes… they are prettier than ordinary tomatoes. I rushed the basket a bit, painting details like that can get boring… luckily the one side got much attention and devotion to redeem the whole look.
Title: The tomato half
Medium: acrylics
Its story: This painting was for my dad and his new blue kitchen. I had two canvases so each formed a half of the tomato. I really enjoy painting from life – there so more detail that your eyes capture in reality as appose to looking at a picture. At least – that is my opinion! The tomato was in acrylics and the background was the enamel paint he used to paint the cupboards. I never thought I would say this but the finished product of this blue (smurf blue to be particular) kitchen looked adorable. Wish I had a photo of the whole kitchen to show!
Title: Nude Self Portrait
Medium: mixed
Its story: This is one of three that I did as my first few nudes. I love sketching nudes but painting them seems daunting. There is a tricky skill in making skin look like skin. I gave it a try anyway because I love nudes but the modest types (nothing frontal). I also have this fascination with backs, the muscles and anatomy are a pleasure to draw. This particular painting is from a set of pictures of yours truely. I couldn’t just pick some images off this net so my sister and I began setting up our own. She is amazing behind a camera. So I am proud to announce that it is a debut for me in many regards. I am looking forward to doing more formal nudes, perhaps with more colour, in oils. For this particular painting I used acrylics and pastels. I used a damp cloth to wash out the background. So really- it was a quick experiment. I think she looks a little sunburnt too? The last detail was the hair which I used this fascinating new thing I found called acrylic ink. I am in love with it!
Title: Great White Orchids
Medium: acrylic
Its story: This was a birthday present for a friend. She likes simple colours, metallics, white and black. I know she also likes Orchids (who doesn’t). From what I hear – she loves the painting. So that was a success!
Title: Pink Rose
Medium: oils
Its story: This was a birthday present for a friend. Another 21st gift to one of my darling ones. It’s big! It is also pink and feminine. Exactly what it’s recipient reminds me of. She loves being a ‘mom’ and baking for everyone. She is also beautiful and as an old school elegance about her. So! She knows who she is, this is now in her lounge. I nearly kept it for myself I loved it so much, there is something about pink.
Title: Butterfly Effect
Medium: mixed
Its story: This was an experiment of sorts. It was for my room mate and our new digs. I had a huge canvas (it’s big) and two ideas. One was another oil painting and I wanted to do a African bull or this. It is a collage of lots of butterfly cutouts which I made from cardboard. That part took ages because I wanted them to all be slightly different! Then I prepared the canvas with layers of white acrylic, if you see the painting up close there is a thick texture to the brush strokes. I also debated painting the background a simple colour – like stone/brown. I left it white in the end. There is something simply beautiful about it. It’s above her bed now and during the day the light catches the butterflies and the painting’s shadows are always different depending on the time of day. It’s so cool – didn’t plan that but doing some three dimensional has been on my mind for a while. It’s a bit more like a sculpture.
Title: Ink Paintings
Medium: acrylic
Its story: I did the three little paintings for my bathroom. I used acrylic ink and a very fine brush to make it look like fine-liner drawings in black. The ideas were a mix of things I love and ideas that I mixed together.
Title: Gayle at the Piano
Medium:oils
Its story: This is one of my recent paintings. It was requested my a friend of mine (she is incredible at singing and a gifted pianist) and we took the pictures at Medical School Residence. It is this beautiful old room, with tan leather arm chairs and a high pressed ceiling. The dress was an imaginative invention. I tried a red dress before the yellow and it looked quite shocking! So yellow it became…to see the full post CLICK HERE
