This is my 150th post and I want to celebrate by thanking all of my visitors and fellow bloggers. It is your ability to share, inspire and empower me that made this a year of growth and happiness for me. This post is later than I planned because I wanted to create a wonderful painting to share. It has been a struggle and because of one of my choices you cannot see the painting in the way that I do. But I jump ahead!
I wanted to make a painting that was full of color and excitement but I did not want the dark drama of some of my recent “splish-splash” paintings. I remembered something I started in 2007 right after I started painting. I was taking a class from Sandy Ezell in Experimental Watercolor. She had us use a large piece of illustration board to which we collaged wet Massa paper for texture. We then dropped in colors to start creating a spring forest scene. I was overwhelmed and didn’t have a clue where I was going or what to do next so I put it away. It has been hidden away for three years but I remembered that it had nice pastel colors and decided that it might provide a good foundation for an abstract painting.
Crescent Illustration Board, Massa Paper and Watercolor
To start my abstract I diluted purple, scarlet, lilac and blue heavy body acrylics so they were transparent and could be poured. This photo was taken after two pours. I poured through napkins, paper towels and kleenex but didn’t get much added texture because the Massa provided so much.
After this I dropped in dark purple and let it run to create a pattern I could use to build an abstract composition. I also did some brush work. You can also see my big mistake. I painted some sections with iridescent pearl acrylic ink! In person this does not look bad and does not stand out. BUT IT REALLY POPS OUT IN THE PHOTOS! Try to imagine….
Collage after Drips
I developed this and finished my abstract but…
Abstract Collage
my husband didn’t like it and I didn’t like the arm/wing-like elements in the top half of the painting. So I looked at the painting for patterns and thought I saw the outline of a headland on the right side of the painting. To make a long story short I used Japanese papers to cover and restructure the composition of the painting. My painting is now finished (are any of my paintings ever finished?). This painting was ultimately inspired by the beautiful structure of a Hawaiian headland, brightened by the sun and colored by the foliage of these gentle, peaceful islands.
Hawaiian Headland Collage
My “just for fun” question for you – which do you like better? Abstract or more realistic painting? More importantly this is my thank you to all of you who have been on this journey with me. On to tomorrow!
Linda Halcomb's Blog 