Summer of Color week 5 !

Yes, this week I'm participating in the Summer of Color again! Two shades of green and one shade of pink.Very interesting colour combination, and one that I hardly ever use. So I made another doodle and painted it in a darker green (emerald green), a light green (brilliant green) and a pink (quinacridone rose light). I kinda like this colourcombination, might use it more in future projects :-)

I scanned it but the colours look much darker than in reality. Somehow my scanner always has trouble with pink. I changed the colours a bit in Photoshop, but still, the original painting is much brighter. And the light green looks more green instead of the yellowish it looks in this picture. But well, you get the idea ....

Didn't have time to work on my furniture anymore, but I did manage to do some work on my intuitive painting. It's been so long since I painted a large intuitive painting, last one was somewhere in May last year I think, and it felt so good to be doing it again. Looking for figures and creatures in all the layers.....

This is what I showed you last week:

Asking you whether you could see the figure in there with outstretched arms ....

I outlined in white what I saw, but there are so many lines on there that it's not easy to see....

This is where I am now:

Not sure whether I'll have much time to work on it in the coming weeks. We'll be holidaying with the family, so I'll take a blog break for the next few weeks. When we were living in Australia this time of year it was winter and we didn't have holidays. So it was always easy for me to do the Summer of Color challenge. Now that we're back living in Europe the summer holidays are around the same time as the challenge, and I won't be able to finish it this time. But I'm happy I participated for 4 weeks :-)
I enjoyed it although not as much as other years. I like it better when there are 3 colours to use. I'm a colour junkie, I know.....

Last but not least: I listed a few of my doodles as instantly downloadable colouring sheets in my Etsyshop. For now there are only three, but I might list some more in the future. For those of you who like to colour: give it a go! It's a perfect way to de-stress and relax. You can find them here.

Anyway, thanks so much for visiting me here and leaving those lovely comments! I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday, to Summer of Color and to Show your Face. So much wonderful art everywhere, I'm getting a bit frustrated that I don't have the time to see every single entry...

Ending this post with another funny:

oooppss .... busted ! :-)

Well, I hope you are having a fantastic day, and that the weekend will be even better! See you in a couple of weeks! Take care ♥ ♥ ♥

Summer of Color week 3

Every year for the Summer of Color challenge I choose a theme in which I want to do all my paintings. The first year I chose intuitive paintings, the second year I chose coloured doodles, and last year I chose negative space painting. This year I wanted to do intuitive painting again, but alas, for this week I couldn't.... Why not?

Well, you see, the colors this week are: two shades of purple and one shade of yellow. Purple and yellow are complementary colours, meaning they're opposite eachother on the color wheel. And complementary colors, when mixed together, create mud. Hmmm, not a "colour" that makes me happy...

Since the backgrounds for my intuitive paintings are the three shades mixed and mingled and dripped together, I couldn't do that for these colours. So I decided to do a coloured doodle. Here it is:

I had an old wooden painting with a kids' scene on there, that was in my children's bedroom when they were little. Since they are teenagers now, they don't want that kids' stuff anymore, so I sanded it, put some gesso on there and then painted my doodle in two shades of purple and one shade of yellow.

I must admit I find it a bit hard this year to work with only three shades. Before I usually used more shades of the colour prescribed, and I like that more. I am getting curious about the colours next week though. Hope they're not complementary colours again ... (hint!)

I also worked at my sidetables, and they are almost finished. Still some more work to do on the sides, and then they need to get some layers of varnish. But most of the work is done!

Here they are all three together:

This is the smallest one:

The middle one:

And the largest:

I love running my fingers over them, the texture feels so lovely. Here you can see a bit how the dots are raised:

LOVE doing this. I already sanded the new ones, tomorrow hopefully when I find the time I will do the base colour, and then it's playtime again :-)

I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday, to Summer of Color and to Show you Face. Lovely work to see over at those sites, have a look!

Here's my funny for this week:

hahaha! Sorry if I offend anyone with this, but jeesh, aren't these hairless cats ugly? Who ever got the crazy idea that a cat without hair would look nice? It would scare the hell out of me if it crossed my way in the hallway at night ....

Anyway, that's it for this week! Thanks for visiting! Hope your next days will be wonderful and full of everything that you need :-) See you next week ♥ ♥ ♥

Summer of Color week 2

This week's colors are pink-pink-orange, which means 2 shades of pink and one shade of orange. And although these are some of my favorite colours, especially the orange, I didn't really enjoy using them in this piece. Mostly because they are too much alike, and I always love the contrast of these bright colors with blues and greens. And I couldn't use those .... That's the challenge of course, but still... Not so happy with this week's piece as a result. This is the background I started from:

It was the result of putting some layers of 2 pinks and one orange (sorry, no idea which colours I used ☺) on a canvas, and then putting plastic wrap on top. After it dried I took it back off and it left these lines in there, which I really like. Such an easy way to mix some colours :-)

I saw two birds and that was it. And then I saw an eye. And the painting was born ...

In the end I had to use more shades of pink to get some contrast and make some shadows, but I think it's still okay for the challenge. Seems like I got a bird theme going again this year ;-)

The rest of the week I have mostly been working on my side-tables. Oh, it's addicting, it really is. I had forgotten how much fun it is to make dots, how a piece can transform before your eyes with each new line of dots. They are nearing completion, but I'll show them completely when they're all finished. Here's the biggest one :-)

I already went back to the recycling-store and bought three more tables. It's just so much fun to do in between other things.

That's it for this week. Linking this to Paint Party Friday, to Summer of Color and to Show your Face.
I hope I can find the time this weekend to look at all the art on all these sites, it's so interesting to see what everyone has been doing.

I'll end with my funny of the week:

hahaha! Love that dry British humour :-)

That you so much for visiting! Hope you're having fun today, and let the weekend be all that you need it to be! See you next week ♥ ♥ ♥

Summer of Color week 1

Yes, the Summer of Color has started! I decided to do some small intuitive paintings for this series, because I still don't see very much in the background of my new canvas, and I know it's just a practice thing. The colours for this week are blue-blue-green, meaning I can choose whichever 2 blues I want mixed with one green. I decided to use these colours:

I can't say which shades these are, because I mixed them myself, and I always keep mixing until I like the colour. Which of course makes it difficult to reproduce exactly the same tints.

And this is the background I ended up with, after dripping and spraying and splashing paint on :-)

I had a hard time finding something, but when I put the canvas in this direction I could see the beak of a bird and its tail (or how do you call that...). As well as an eye and a strange-shaped face.....

So this is what came out of it:

I can clearly see a bird hugging the girls' head, but I have no idea whether other people see it that way. Maybe some people see her as a strange kind of Santa Claus with a weird beard ;-)

I'm still wondering whether I should put a quote on there, but for now I leave it as it is.

I have also been putting some more layers of paint on my side-tables:

It's going to be another sunny day today, so I will start the fun part this afternoon. There'll be lots more different colours on here before I'm finished.

I'm also still doodling, and have several ones in progress. Here's one:

And last but not least: remember the painting I finished 2 weeks ago? This one?

It's sold and on its way to Puerto Rico! It's the first time I've sold a painting before it was even finished. Someone saw it on Facebook when I had just started painting the figures and contacted me. Luckely I had some time to figure out how to do the shipping, because I've never shipped a big painting like that. Most of my bigger works I sell during shows or in the gallery. So I'm quite nervous now and hope it arrives well and in time! Thanks Patricia ♥


That's it for this week. I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday, to Summer of Color and to Show your Face. Click on the links if you want to get inspired by some gorgeous art!

And my funny for this week:

hahahaha, I can relate to her ;-D

Thanks so much for your visit and your lovely comments! Hope you have a lovely day and a weekend full of things you love! See you next week ♥ ♥ ♥

Everything comes to an end ....

and yes, also Summer of Color ... Doing a challenge like this makes you realize how fast 6 weeks are over and done with. I really enjoyed experimenting with my "negative" painting, and all the different colours. Thanks Kristin, for another fun SOC!

Here's my last piece: colours are raspberry and tangerine with a touch of lemon.

In reality the colours are less reddish, but somehow my scanner makes it darker. My orange is darker than the tangerine, because I only saw that it had to be light tangerine after I painted the background. Oh well, it's as close as I could get it anyway :-) And I had to use a strong bright orange to make up for all those weeks without it ;-)

And just for the fun of it: here are all my SOC-pieces since I started playing with the challenge (which was 3 years ago...)! Every year I choose a certain technique that I stick to for all 6 paintings.

2014: negative painting

2013: coloured doodles

2012: intuitive painting

So much fun to see them all again!

I will probably put them up for sale in my Etsyshop some time next week. They are all made on canvasboard size 20x25cm (8"x10").

In the meantime, I'm having fun putting new layers on my next canvas. Here are a few detailpictures:

That's it for this week. I'm still looking for some people who want to participate in an artsy bloghop with me (see previous post). All you have to do is answer 4 questions about your art, and link to 3 other bloggers who answer the same questions. I've read some really interesting answers already, so if you want to be a part of it, let me know and I'll link to your blog next Monday/Tuesday.

Linking this for the last time to Summer of Color, and of course to Paint Party Friday.
Thanks so much for visiting, I wish you lots of love today, and a wonderful fun-filled weekend! ♥ ♥ ♥

yes, yes, YES! Finally ....

Orange! And pink! If that isn't summer I don't know what is :-)

I've had to wait until the very last week of Summer of Color before my favorite colour finally came. This is this weeks' combination:

Raspberry and tangerine with a smudge of lemon .... Aaaah, just working with these colours makes me happy :-)

This is my first layer:

Oops .... Now that I see it like this my orange might be a tad too orange ..... I just had a need for these strong colours I guess, after waiting all those weeks ☺

Today I forced myself to leave administration and internet alone and go DO something. And I did. I painted a second and third layer on my new canvas:

 just some random marks

  fun with stencils ...

Do you see that lacy-ish print? That's not a stencil, but a piece of plastic tablecovering that was sold by the metre. I almost squealed when I saw it in the shop. This is the first time I've used it and I love how it looks! Lovelovelove it! There was another similar one like that, might have to get that one too ...

I also made new mosaic pieces:

 

Worked a bit in my journal, and painted the base for 3 new mosaics. All in all a very productive day. Good thing too, because I was getting frustrated by my lack of progress, and tomorrow I have to work so no time for play ...

And finally: Angelique from Angelic Art and Craft invited me to take part in an artsy bloghop. She answered 4 questions about her art, and linked to a few other artists, who will answer the same questions next Monday. So one of those artists is moi :-)  Next week Monday (or maybe Tuesday since Monday might be a bit difficult for me, and in Australia we are way ahead of everybody else in time, so in other parts of the world it'll still be Monday) I'll post my answers to these questions, and link to other bloggers who want to participate. If you're interested in participating, just let me know, through the comments or via email, and I'll link to your blog next week. If you want to know more about it, visit Angelique's blog here, and read her very interesting answers to these questions. Thought-provoking and informative, definitely worth a read!

That's it for now, time for bed! Thanks so much for visiting, and I'll be back on Friday, with my last piece for Summer of Color! I know I keep repeating myself but I can't believe how fast time flies ....

Summer of Color week 5

I have been offline for a week, enjoying the nature and the company of my little family in beautiful Rainbow Beach a few hours north of where we live. And although I took my sketchbooks, the days went by so fast that I didn't get anything done.

So when we got back last night I didn't even know the colours for this week's Summer of Color! Must admit I was a tad disappointed seeing that there was again no orange. For me, orange is the symbol of summer and sun and warmth. Plus it is my all-time favorite colour. Let's hope for the last week I can finally get my oranges out!

The colours this week are red, royal blue and a smudge of light blue:

I don't have a picture of my first layer, since I had to work fast this time :-)
But seeing it now makes it look very similar to the colours of week 2 .... The blue I used was royal blue, but looks different to the blue in the sample picture. Oh well ....

Still glad I got it ready in time :-)

And when we arrived here last night there was a surprise waiting for me in the mailbox! I had won a giveaway on Siggadis' blog! Look what I got:

I seem to be winning a lot lately, isn't that great!? There are 2 cute mini-cards, and a lovely little notebook. I so enjoy seeing what other artists create. It just makes the world nicer being surrounded by things that other people made with love. Thank you so much Siggadis ♥

In my Society6-shop they recently introduced biker tanks, and now there is a promotion of 5$ off when you buy one. On top of that there is free shipping on almost all products in my shop. But only if you use this link. I added some more shirts, and will be adding more in the coming weeks. Here are some examples:

The promo will end 13th of July at midnight.

And lastly, since I couldn't use orange in my SOC-piece, I want to share with you some pictures of beautiful Rainbow Beach, and the colours of the rocks there ....

The reason for the name is probably obvious. There are as many as 72 different coloured sands! The sand dunes have all these amazing colours because of the different minerals in the sand. At least: that's the scientific explanation. I like the aboriginal legend better, which is this:


"Way back in dream-time, there lived on the banks of the Noosa River a beautiful black maiden called Murrawar who fell in love with the Rainbow, which came to visit her here every morning. She would clap her hands and sing to this lovely rainbow.
One day the Burwilla, a very bad man from a distant tribe, stole Murrawar for his slave wife, beating her cruelly and making her do all his work, while he sat in the shade admiring his terrible killing boomerang. This boomerang was bigger than the biggest tree and full of evil spirit.
One day Murrawar ran away and as she hurried along the beach, which was all flat in those days, she looked back and saw Burwilla's boomerang coming to kill her. Calling out for help, she fell to the ground too frightened to run.
Suddenly she heard a loud noise in the sky and saw her faithful Rainbow racing towards her across the sea. The wicked boomerang attacked the brave Rainbow and they met with a roar like thunder, killing the boomerang instantly and shattering the Rainbow into many small pieces.
Alas, the poor sick and shattered Rainbow lay on the beach to die and is still there with all its colours, forming the hills along the beach."

 Look at that sky .....

I just couldn't stop taking pictures. So glad I was surrounded with these beautiful colours all week.

Okay, that's it for now. Better get this post out there before the weekend is over.

Thanks so much for visiting. I'll catch up with your blogs this weekend! I'm linking this again with Summer of Color and of course Paint Party Friday.

Take care, hope you have a beautiful weekend with luscious colours ♥ ♥ ♥

Summer of Color week 4

The colours this week are so summer-y, I really enjoyed seeing all the art that was created by the Summer of Color-participants. Still, I'm longing so much to use my absolute favorite colours like yellows and oranges. Maybe next week ....

As I showed before, this is what my first layer looked like:

This was the colour-combination for this week: pink, apple green, and a touch of dark green:

And this is the result: some happy girls enjoying life. I guess the colours brought that out :-)

This week we had such beautiful weather. Winter has started here, but we had clear blue skies and sun the whole day. So I could finally paint outside (in summer it's usually way too hot). Took advantage to start 2 new canvases with a lot of dripping.

This is the first one:

This'll be another one like "Connections", so the background will change a lot before I start drawing the figures.

And this one I started a long time ago, but didn't get further than the first few layers. I decided to start adding some contrast with black & white, but when I brought it back inside, I saw that it was a bit crooked. I hate is when that happens! Lately I´ve taken the habit of only using box-canvases, but this one was an old one that was laying around. I really don´t know what to do now: continue or throw it in the bin ... ?

There are a lot of layers on there already, so I would hate to throw it away. What do you do in a situation like that? I have thought about using some MDF to glue it on, but it's 50x70cm (19.7x27.6inches) so that would make it really heavy. I'll just leave it like this for now ....

Well, that's it for now! Thanks so much for visiting! I'll be linking this to Paint Party Friday and to Summer of Color. Go have a look over there, and join in if you want!

Hope you have a nice day, and for my American visitors: happy 4th of July!