Finally a Valley View done in Acrylic which makes me happy. Tho the textures are more subtle than with oils they are still visible in the many layers of paints. This painting gives me direction and enthusiasm for where I can go with this process!

20" x 16" acrylic on canvas

Sometimes I begin a painting with great enthusiasm and then must put it aside as other works such as commissions come up...this painting began that way. It sat for at least a year, with me pulling it out of my canvas closet occasionally, but the momentum had been lost...

So several months ago as I began exploring various ways of using acrylics towards the Aerial/Valley Views I pulled this canvas out and said why not (!) and totally re-painted it. The under textures from the originally intended painting are still there but now has many layers of paint on top.... I spent days adding and subtracting from the composition as I looked for ways to capture the feel of what I loved about my work in oils...but in acrylic.

This is a painting of learning for me; one of those paintings where I let it take me where it wants me to go and not just where I demanded it. Even adding the "veils" of color is a revisit to aspects of my days with the "Serenity" Series... as then; here it brings to my mind the passage of time...as day flows to night and night flows to day.




A View From Above (series) (image shown) 38" x 49" Acrylic on canvas

(has extended painting to be gallery wrapped (total 52" x 42" plus 1" all around)).

This Valley View oil on paper (over gesso) painting sold 2 weeks after letting it go to market. It has at least 5 layers of paint tho large areas have a smooth and blended surface that accentuate the heavily textured areas. I loved the intense colors and dramatic composition in this painting.

This painting (18 x 18") was done on paper with oils (over gesso). It has numerous layers of paint and various levels of textures all playing with each other and it took over a month to complete. It also sold 2 weeks after putting it out for sale....which makes it hard to keep a consistent amount of paintings available to my agents and galleries to choose from!
I love the play of composition and pattern that this series allows me.

It's been awhile since my last posting; a lot has been happening. Out of state family visiting (with the new babies playing a prominent role) as well as getting my new vegetable garden planted and then rabbit proofed.

My agent has asked for new works based on the Aerial/Valley Views which have been loved by so many since I began development of them just over a year ago. I had been using oils to paint them which with the multiple layers of paints; building the colors and surface up it could take a month or more to finish off a painting (what with drying time between layers). So for the past few months I've put a concerted effort towards finding a comparable approach using acrylics.

I absolutely love working in oils, the lush and juicy abilities of the paint, the ease of mixing color and building texture as I paint, the ability of changing things as I go so easily, such as softening edges or blending. Yet the drying time can cause me to loose some of my focus (unless I make notes to myself) and the vapors from the mediums can be harmful...

Acrylics have their own pluses and negatives. I love how easily and quickly numerous layers of glazes can be built with a great deal of control over the tinting. But building up of the textures with acrylic has presented me with challenges! The paint shrinks so very much as it dries...working in wet paint I get where I just love the depth of texture but then come back after it's dried only to be disappointed. Now I haven't tried out all of the Heavy Body acrylics that are on the market (that can get VERY expensive to do...) so how to achieve a comparable "look" from the oils but with acrylics?...In a process that I can control and repeat as needed...?

This 16" x 20" View From Above acrylic on canvas is the first painting that came close to what I've been striving for. Multiple layers of paints and those paints ranging from thin glazes to very thick (heavy body) texture paints combined with a bold and simplified composition works for me. Now...will it work for my agent and his clients?

The Valley View concept is proving harder to achieve but I've made some break through this week...see some of the up coming posting here for my progress.

I've posted so many landscapes!

Yet I have been working on some abstracts as well. This acrylic on canvas is one I'm particularly fond of. The color and balance with an underlying sense of architecture and garden worked well. I did a series of similar explorations on paper and those are available through Progressive Editions. The canvas shown here is available through WildeMeyer Gallery in Scottsdale AZ.

This painting is of the view up river from my backyard. We've had a warm and dry winter here in New Mexico. I painted a small en-plein-air painting during one of the rare overcast days...decided to paint it again larger...took the canvas out to do a brush/sketch and finished it in the studio.

20" x 20" oil on canvas Winter View Up River