Changing the Shape Can Change Your Life!!

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Square or Rectangle? Portrait or Landscape? 

The usual!  But suddenly a new shape appears and changes everything!!

That's what happened to me.  The Oval arrived!!

A commission came my way involving roses and an oval - working in that shape was a new one for me and as you can imagine a challenge.  They loved my Summer Roses (last post) but wanted them in graphite and in an oval shape.  I started with the usual steps: layout, drew the shape, refined them into flowers and started to work. But whenever I stood back to see how things were going I felt disorientated.  It seems my eye is tuned to the rectangle and I found it very hard to focus on the oval.  It was a very strange feeling, I couldn't really see if things were balanced.  Here is the finished piece, take a look.

IN FULL BLOOM - Graphite - 9 x 14 

Hard to see balance, isn't it?  

The blank areas on the page really throw your eye around, don't they. I fiddled a bit and then came up with my plan:  get the mat cut!  What a difference!  Now when I step back, everything falls into place and makes total sense.  I am really pleased with how it worked out.  

Here is "In Full Bloom" complete with it's mat.   

This was a really interesting project, working with a new shape really does inspire you to step out of the box. Have you ever tried working with unusual shapes? Any challenges with them?   What was your solution?
Have a good day,
Wendy

  

Drama In the Rose Garden!!?? - FINISHED

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

I held my ground!!  No Drama till the End!!

SUMMER ROSES - 11 x 15 - Available

It was a struggle, I must admit.  As I got more of the fellow roses painted I just wanted to "hit my dark and let her rip".  After I painted each of the flowers and leaves I wet my background down and started to lay in my darks.  A mixture of Permanent Rose and Ultramarine Blue.  Of course being cautious and working in the wet, things were not dark enough!!  Once things were dry I added just a touch of my yellow, and went at it again.  I loved that light glow of purple in the top left corner and decided to save some of it so only darken it a bit more.  Then I put a light wash over all the flowers and leaves.  This too needed to be done a second time to really darken some of the areas.  Finally I did some lifting to get a few highlights on the secondary roses. Things were looking pretty good but when I stepped back I could see my main rose was way to light in the front.  Once I put another layer on the bottom left corner, things settled down.  Summer Roses were ready for show!!

The Fuchsias in the Sunshine are up and running, they are now on display for my show May 1-3,  at GardenWorks at Manderville, Burnaby.  This is a very exciting event, my artist partner, Audrey and I will be the featured artists.  We have a full selection of new works to show off.  We are also running a workshop Friday, May 2, 6:30-8:30pm on Travel Journaling.  It is $25 (Pre-registration Required).  We have some great ideas to put excitement in your Journaling and Manderville is kicking in some free refreshments and appies to make it a real fun Art Party!!  A portion of  our Art Sales and Workshop Fees will be going to the Alzheimer's Society of British Columbia.

Have a great Art-filled Day, 

Wendy

Drama In the Rose Garden!!??

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Roses are Wonderful!  Love the colours, fragrances, lines and folds!  So much fun to paint and draw!

But how to make them exciting and new in a painting?  That was my problem.  

I decided to use Drama!!

Summer Roses - Work in Progress - Part 1

I started with my main flower in the corner to give it some importance.  Here was the fun. I love building each petal with glazes, wet on wet and then tossing in some special touches when it is dry.  I like to build each petal individually, it seems to help sculpture the flower and give it more dimension.  

Summer Roses - Work in Progress - Part 2 

Once my main flower was settled, I began to add the friends.  I know there is no drama yet and believe me I wanted to "dig in" and add the darks.  I was really starting to get impatient but I held my ground.  The secondary roses are not as tight, I wanted to give that sense of distance between them.  This is as far as I got today but I will be back at it tonight.  The finish should be ready for you real soon, I hope!

My Summer Roses will be part of my show May 1-3,  at GardenWorks at Manderville, Burnaby.  This is a very exciting event, my artist partner, Audrey and I will be the featured artists.  We have a full selection of new works to show off.  We are also running a workshop Friday, May 2, 6:30-8:30pm on Travel Journaling.  It is $25 (Pre-registration Required).  We have some great ideas to put excitement in your Journaling and Manderville is kicking in some free refreshments and appies to make it a real fun Art Party!!  A portion of  our Art Sales and Workshop Fees will be going to the Alzheimer's Society of British Columbia.  

Have a great Art-filled Day, 

Wendy

One Show finishes and Another is Starting

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Time for the unpacking and getting ready for the next show!!

 Yes, our Show "Value & Colour Comes to Life" is over and so is the Art Studio Tour. It has been a busy month and the last two weekends have been crazy.   With every show I meet lots of new people who experience my art for the first time.  It is great to hear their response.  Here are a few of the comments from the guestbook: Beautiful wet in wet, I love your vibrant colours!; A real eye opener!; and my favourite "Wendy, you have such a great feeling to your watercolours!" 

But like all good things it must come to an end and now I am onto bigger and better things.  Tomorrow we will be hanging a show for my art club "Symphony of Colours & Imagination" at the Semiahmoo Arts in the Park Gallery.  My award winning picture  "Romancing the Rose" and "Poppies in the Springtime" will be in that show.  Both pictures are the result of my adventures into using molding paste with watercolour.  I must admit I haven't had time to do any others with this technique but once things slow down I have a few more projects in mind.

Romancing the Rose - 12 x 16 Framed $310

 Poppies in the Springtime - 20 x 24 - Framed $800
Have a great day and here is a summary of the show information for those local readers.

 

Summary of Show Information:

Symphony of Colours & Imagination - Surrey's Artswest Fall Show.  semiahmoo Arts in the Park Gallery , 146   North Bluff Rd., White Rock.  Viewing Hrs. Mon - Thurs. 10-4pm.

 



HOT OFF THE PRESS - ROMANCING THE ROSE IS A WINNER!!

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

That's me with my Rose!!

 

 Romancing the Rose has gained a new audience, her dramatic look and inspirational colours have caught the eye of the jurers at the ARTS 2013 juried show at the Surrey Arts Center.  I was thrilled to win Honarable Mention in the Painting on Paper Category for the show.  It is a really tough show to get in with all of their entries so needless to say I am THRILLED!!  The show opened last night and will run til Aug 31 so when you are in the area check it out. 
Romancing the Rose was the second piece I have tried with the texturing paste and since then I completed a larger piece Poppies in the Spring which also turned a few heads at its debut two weeks ago.  I must say I love the textured look of the palette knife but yet the magic of watercolour is still very much there.  Enjoy the works and enjoy the lovely long weekend, HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

Little Rosebud - Hints of life to come!!

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Little Rosebud - 3.5 x 2.5 - Watercolour  Framed: $115
MINIATURE ART

Are you ready for summer?

The grass is growing, the barbeque is warm and the flowers are out.  This little rosebud is ready to unfold into a lovely flower.  Yes, my roses are starting to flower and I find I am always torn.  I do love the flowers in full bloom but there is something about the rosebud that attracts me; their variation in colour, their promise of beauty and their simple lines and folds.  This little bud is from one of my roses in the garden, enjoying the last rays of sun in the late afternoon.  Soon it will be open and then gone but for now, the promise of things to come!  Enjoy.

As always, cards and prints are available for all of my pictures, starting at $3.50 for cards.

Romancing the Rose

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

ROMANCING THE ROSE - 7.5 x 10 -  Watercolour - $300 Framed

Are roses one of your favourite flowers?  They are mine; peach, red, pink, white or yellow, they all have their own special look.  They are so much fun to draw and paint because of their lovely contrast of billowing folds and sharp lines.  And of course no two are the same. 

 

My rose, is one inspired by the roses in my garden, no I don’t have an amazing rose garden, just a few roses that have learned to live with me.  We do well together.  Take a closer look at my flower, it will fool you.  It has the look of an impasto oil put it is watercolour!!  Enjoy.

As always cards and prints are available for all my pictures starting at $3.50 for cards.

Rosebud

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

ROSEBUD - 2.25 X 3 inches ($90 unframed)

Flowers are definitely on my mind right now.  I have been saying good bye to all the plants in my flower beds as I dig them up and plant my spring bulbs.  It is so hard to do when they are still in bloom and the sun is shining but it is going down to -2 tonight so I know it is time. 
One of the blogs that has been of interest to me lately is Jacqueline Gnott’s. http://jacquelinegnott.blogspot.ca  Her flower pictures have a sense of simplicity but yet the detail is there(you know how I love detail!) and there is lots of drama. All of this interests me a lot.  I wanted to see if I could create my own dramatic flower art only in miniature.  A timely gift of a miniature rose bush from a friend gave me my model and I was off and running.  Rosebud is my first endeavor and to my surprise my husband, Steve likes it.  I think that is a good sign.

Rosebud is off today to the Positively Petit Show at the Place des Arts in Coquitlam.  The show runs Nov. 15 to Dec 21 with the reception on Thursday, Nov. 15, 7-9pm.  I will see you there.

As always, cards and prints are available for all my work starting at $3.50.

THREE IN A ROW

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

THREE IN A ROW - 14 X 20 - $450 framed

Roses are red, violets are blue; how can summer be nearly through?  I think I was feeling the change in weather and wanted to slow it down.  As a result I dropped my pencils and grabbed for summer colour.  These lovely roses were from a bouquet Steve gave me earlier this year to celebrate our anniversary.  I loved the colours and took numerous pictures of them.  When I was trying to choose one flower to focus on I realized I loved all three.  Reminiscences to lady luck I felt that “Three In A Row” were winners for me.

The roses were done in time to enter the Autumn Salon Juried Show at the Federation of Canadian Artists Gallery in Vancouver. They were picked to show and so will be in the gallery Sept 25-Oct 7. Check out the show if you are in the area.

As always matted prints and cards are available for all my work for as low as $3.50 plus postage.