gessoed watercolor plexiglass painting

Petals…or Pedals?

By sbhansen2014 on April 19, 2016

I had so much fun at the Willamette Valley last weekend! After hiking the Silverton Falls (10 falls, 7 miles…we shortened our hike and had 5 falls in 5 miles…gorgeous), we toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gordon House (my favorite architect of all time…what a treat), then managed to fit in a stop at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm before calling it a day…yep, all that in ONE day, and heading back to our VRBO in McMinnville.

I was somewhat amazed (and a little disgusted, frankly) at the commercialism of the Wooden Shoe. I had different visions of a quiet, peaceful field of tulips, but instead, there were inflatable kid toys, bungee jumping, rides through the tulips on a “train”, a hot air balloon, you name it. But for my purposes, we headed straight into the fields, where I managed to shoot about 200 photos of tulips and people in the tulips. It was incredibly beautiful.

You will see several paintings from this trip, but the first one I had to do was this one, a man on a bike, riding through the field. PERFECT! I took several shots of him. He seemed to be leisurely poking along, glancing down at the flowers every now and again, clearly out for a casual ride to see the sights.

First wash of teal and yellow

String, paper squares, produce netting and scribbles dance in the canvas, providing a crazy, fun background for the tulip colors.

Details:

In the background, I suggested trees and a distant field of pink flowers. You can see the squares of paper, produce netting grid, and string

Up close of Mr. Tulip Guy, where there is gridded pattern of netting and paper squares as well as a fruit tree in the background.

Here is a detailed view of the bike, with string, painted grids, and paper collage. As you can see, the flowers are not painted as such, but suggested by mass and color.

Finished original on Plexiglas! One of my favorite areas is the background, where it seems a little surreal, or suggestive of trees, clouds, and haze. This turned out to be a fabulous painting!! It strikes the perfect mood.

Petals, 20x16, $750 original watercolor and mixed media on Plexiglas

Petals, 20×16, $750 original watercolor and mixed media on Plexiglas

The question was…Petals? Or Pedals for my title. After some deliberation, I decided on Petals. Why? Not sure, other than that I just love the flowers.

Cheers!

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This Fox ain’t no Crab Cake

By sbhansen2014 on April 5, 2016

During a recent trip to the Oregon Coast, we popped into Bandon Dunes for a late dinner one evening. Having heard positive reviews on this particular restaurant, our party of 6 sat ourselves down in anticipation of a fantastic meal.

Er…not so much.

Since it was late, I had snacked a little beforehand and wasn’t ravenously hungry. I decided on the spendy crab cakes. Just two, mind you. When they arrived for consumption, I was a little shocked at the size. Maybe a couple of inches in diameter, and not thick; on a bed of…nothing. Okay, there was an artistic swirl of sauce and maybe a sprig of something as a garnish, but…really?

And, yes, I can do the small meal at an inflated price. IF it has a wow punch. Like, I want to eat every last bite even if I am stuffed full to the gills (which I wouldn’t be anyway, in this case). A punch of brilliant flavor. A moan-ful moment.

These cakes? Not only were they super small, they were … meh. I mean, it wasn’t bad? But it sure wasn’t great.

So you are wondering where this is going? I had been working on a fox painting before I left (photo reference from my fabulous photographer friend, Sue Dougherty @offleashphotography…thanks sue! You must check out her photos…gorgeous). When I got home, and looked at my in-process fox painting, I thought: meh. Okay, but not great. This fox was a mediocre crab cake on a bed of nothing.

Here is how it looked when I got home:

Beginning Mr. Fox, with the ocean behind him.

After the fox and the background were almost complete

Fox and sand dunes…BORING

I had changed the background from snow (the original photo) to sand dunes and ocean. A string from produce netting meandered through the gesso base, symbolizing trails the fox travels daily, in search of food or a mate. Produce netting also provided an interesting texture in the background. You can see this in the up-close view of his face, around his ear. The red circle at the top of the painting is a lid from my recycled Costco nut jar that I use for my water container. I place it under the Plexiglas to tilt the surface as I paint. This encourages wet pigment to move and provide interesting patterns.

Mr. Magnificent Fox deserved more. More pop. More drama. More…something! I mean, Good grief. I was not a painter of a crab-cake fox! No more mediocre! No more BORING!

So! I went into the background again with very dark value black and blue. I began by covering up the ocean. Yes, it took a little courage.

Correcting a BORING painting by covering up the ocean and sand background

After painting the top third with a dark value, I broke up the color a bit with neutral and somewhat lighter squares shattering the foreground white.

Working on the foreground.

I adjusted the pattern, then the values, and finished with this:

Detail of fox, showing the poofy tail, string of trails, produce netting texture, and squares

Detail of string at fox’s leg and the produce netting texture.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I changed the painting. No more so-so!

Fox, 20x16, original watercolor, gesso, paper, produce netting, and watercolor pencil on recycled Plexiglas. $550

Fox, 20×16, original watercolor, gesso, paper, produce netting, and watercolor pencil on recycled Plexiglas. $750

Now, the painting has movement, drama, and interest. Dark blues contrast sharply with his magnificent orange coat. There are poofs of splatter paint at his tail, showing softness and the un-boundry of his fur. The layout and placement of dark values draw your eye around the painting. Your imagination can fill in what you see in the background. It holds your attention. It pops! What do you think? Did it change how you feel about the fox? Does it hold your attention more?

Thanks for reading this blog and supporting my passion. Feed the beast!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and follow this blog to be informed of amazing new paintings and deals! Contact me to receive my newsletter so that you see me at showings and receive notifications about SB Hansen Watercolor & Wine Painting Classes. Every one of my paintings is available as a print, and I sell signed greeting cards of all my images.

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Texture and Contrast in Portland

By sbhansen2014 on March 1, 2016

There must be contrast for interest. Really. If life/art/people/etc. were all just the same, we would find ourselves uninspired and bored. Ethnicity, culture, race, skin color, height, houses, food, personalities, paintings; if it were all the same, where would be be? I shudder to think. The blandness of sheer repetition would cause dullness of the senses.

And so it occurred to me this past weekend when I went to Portland with a friend of mine (katherinetaylor.com). We went in search of potential gallery representation, as well as to enjoy Portland’s art scene. I was struck by the need for contrast. Not only concerning styles of paintings, but contrast within a painting. Contrast is an absolute necessity to create compelling interest.

We visited a variety of galleries. There seemed to be a disturbing amount of art that I wouldn’t want in my house. Much of it was seemingly simple, with dark themes, many hung without frames, and at exorbitant prices. Nonetheless, some of it was striking. Of the galleries we visited, a few stood out as representing accomplished artists of a range of styles, all employing the elements and principles of design in a compelling manner. Those galleries were Butters Gallery, Gallery 903, the Augen Gallery, and the Froelick Gallery. Again, we didn’t have time to see them all, but these were the best of those we visited.

Of the most noticeable common themes, texture seemed to be often employed element for many artists. Mixed media, tangible texture, and visual texture abounded. In addition to texture, contrast of value, such as darks against lights created compelling visuals. For instance, in a high-key painting of mostly light values, a shape, or line of black added at a focal point made the work sing. Or, in a mostly black/dark painting of war and oppression, bright spots of flags gave some relief in contrast and made the viewer look closer…longer.

So! To that end, I have come home very inspired to add contrast and increase texture surface to my paintings. As a result, I took one of my photos from my favorite artistic inspiration locale, Pikes Place Market in Seattle, of a flower vendor.

I began with a basic reference photo.

I loved the way the flowers surrounded this girl as she carried a huge bouquet to a customer. In planning my painting, I cropped in closer to the girl and mapped out my values on a small thumbnail sketch. I wanted to produce an edgier painting, so planned a dark mass of value that connected her shirt, hair, and the bouquet to the edge of the painting.

Value study. The arrows indicate visual movement of the dark value moving out of the edge of the painting.

Once I began painting, the texture came through from all the applications in the base of the gesso. This was a recycled painting, as well. It had a former life of being something else (that clearly didn’t work…). I had covered it and textured it up, but a little remained of the painting beneath, adding further interest.

Plenty of whites were left unpainted here in a detail of the flowers around the vendor’s face

Produce netting was used in various spots to create a honeycomb or a grid-like pattern.

Detail of produce netting pattern

I added many pops of color onto a neutral background of black/grey/and cobalt. Above, the vendor’s shirt takes on many textures. Produce netting squares, small squares of paper, scribbles in the gesso base, and 3D lines were painted into the surface before the paint was applied.

The edge of the bouquet. This detail describes both the netting honeycomb pattern and the painted-in squares of color for interest.

More texture.

Watercolor pencils add a line element

Scribbles and underscoring create complicated patterns in the painting.

And finally, the finished painting:

“Transaction of Color”, 20×16, $550. Original painting. Watercolor on gesso and collage.

This painting has a very fresh, open feel, accomplished both by the texture, the massed values, and the bright areas of color. Hopefully you get a chance to view this painting in person. I will be installing it at Hood Avenue Art as soon as it is sealed and framed. It is very interesting to view the different textures and colors up close. All in all, I believe I captured the contrast I was going after with the almost-blacks, the neutrals with pops of color traveling in pockets throughout the painting, the gestural strokes, patterns, and texture. Look for these qualities to come up in my future work. Expand the mind, people!

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All images and paintings on this site copyrighted by Sarah B Hansen unless otherwise noted.

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Hoppy Bunnytine’s Day!

By sbhansen2014 on February 14, 2016

Okay, okay…it’s a little corny, but I figured, hey, with this spring-like weather on Valentine’s Day? I’m a little cheesy.

As I painted this bunny, I thought about his expression. He is chewing on something. Maybe a thought. Maybe a piece of an herb. Perhaps it is something slightly bitter. He’s mulling it over, as it leaves an strange taste in his mouth. Like an ornery thought, or a wild hare (pun…), it won’t go away. It won’t let him go. He’s planning a crazy move. My kids have looked just that way before they do something naughty.

Watch out. He’s gonna get his funk on.

Bazil, 7×5 original watercolor and gesso on recycled plexiglas. $110

And, as it just so happens, it is my 2-year anniversary on WordPress today.I set up my blog on this day in February, 2014. My very first blog post was March 10th. At that time, it had been 3 years since I stopped painting. I decided to begin again with a blog as inspiration. I had a goal of starting one new painting and finishing a painting every week. I promised myself to blog about the finished painting every Sunday, with a short story about the painting. It would give me a reason to paint, and hold me accountable to produce work that was not only going to be visible to anyone on the internet, but also improve my skills as a painter, by simply painting every week.

To that end, after 2 years and 99 posts, this blog has kept me focused. I still have the goal to start one painting and finish one painting every week. I’ve improved not only my painting skills, but my writing skills as well. My readers have increased in numbers and have kept me busy with their positive likes and comments. I have met many new friends with this blog and other social platforms that have spun out of it. Over the past 2 years, my business as an artist has grown until I am busy enough to have trouble finding time to write! I am selling paintings, prints, and greeting cards, and have added a monthly Watercolor & Wine Class that fills quickly and has been extremely positive and fun. Much of that success has come from right here…

To any of you thinking about starting a blog for your business, hobby, or just for fun, I would say go for it! You don’t have much to loose, and much to gain.

Can’t wait for more to come! Great paintings, an Italy trip, new friends, and more sales!! Thank you all so much for your continued support.

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and follow this blog to be informed of amazing new paintings and deals! Contact me to receive my newsletter so that you see me at showings and receive notifications about SB Hansen Watercolor & Wine Painting Classes.

All images and paintings on this site copyrighted by Sarah B Hansen unless otherwise noted.

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Small painting Thursday

By sbhansen2014 on November 12, 2015

For the upcoming mini show at Hood Avenue Art, a sneak peak of a painting in progress!

Quail in progress, 5x7 original watercolor on Plexiglas

Quail in progress, 5×7 original watercolor on Plexiglas

These little quail are usually clucking through our back yard, on their way to some important task. The male always perches on a rock or stump and surveys the progress of his harem moving through the grass. Love these quail.

I’m not sure what I will name this little gem. Comment if you have ideas on a title!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and follow this blog to be informed of amazing new paintings and deals! Contact me to receive my newsletter so that you see me at showings and receive notifications about SB Hansen Watercolor & Wine Painting Classes.

Keep creating to Feed the Beast! Support each other, people!:)

All images and paintings on this site copyrighted by Sarah B Hansen unless otherwise noted.

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Ducks in a Row

By sbhansen2014 on July 5, 2015

Mama duck gestured to the partially submerged log with her bill and nodded slightly to her many ducklings. “Hop up, youngsters, dry off, and practice your yoga stances.”

I was on my kayak at Hosmer and had been trailing her at a distance for a time, clicking off photos with my Canon SX50 Ultrazoom. I hoped there might be a hidden treasure in the photos when I viewed them at home. So I just kept snapping pics. The little ducklings stopped at a bank and fluffed their fluffy down feathers, organizing and preening themselves duckily.

It was by sheer luck, and much to my amazement, when the mother called to them and organized her little balls of fluff on the log, just for my photos. I was very close in the kayak, making slow, measured movements and holding my breath. After she gestured, they all hopped up. I sat, mesmerized, clicking off pics, and marveled at how perfectly cute they all were.

I had taken about 20 photos before moving off and giving them their peace. When I got home, I combined the pics by selecting poses from each and aligning them just so for the painting. A little guy who had stretched out his leg became my focal point.

Photo reference, one of many, for Ducks in a Row

I painted the first wash quickly, deciding to use purple and quinocridone burnt orange as my two main colors, creating a somewhat neutral color palate with a strong horizontal line of dark value behind the ducklings. Since I wanted the small duck with his foot outstretched to be the focal point, I removed a chick to the immediate left to give him a little space. I had used liquid mask on all the areas of their highlighted downy feathers, to keep it sparkling white in the end.

After the first wash of purple and quinocridone burnt orange

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the background yet, other than keeping it loose and letting it fade away. I stepped away from it and allowed it to dry, knowing I would relish adding detail to the little ducklings. While it sat, I ran across an article in a magazine illustrating little dots in the background. I knew it would work for this painting.

In order to finish it for my First Friday showing at Desperado, I quickly began working on it the morning of the show.

After I had painted the background and the general shadows on the ducklings, I removed the mask

Once I had removed the liquid mask, I worked on each little duckling. I paid close attention to detail and softened the edges so that their down appeared fluffy.

Duckling detail. I kept all the whites as pure background and painted the shadow area only

I concentrated on keeping the downy feathers very soft.

I saved the last little duckling to the end, using intense color and fine detail in his form. I made sure to keep the background as dark as I could behind him and accent his little stretched out foot with a vivid orange hue.

Focal point

The painting has rhythm, which I enhanced by keeping all their legs and feet very bright with an orange and red mixture, their colors about the same, and the top of the log completely white to connect them all together. The mother duck looks over at them, bringing our view right back to the small guy with the outstretched foot.

Detail of dot squares and texture in background

After the ducklings and their mother were finished, I addressed the background with the squares of dots I mentioned earlier. You can see in the photo below how textural this painting is, with the collaged squares of paper and the scribbles of gesso. I love the dot effect, which further illustrates the organization of the little ducklings.

Ducks in a Row, $450 original watercolor and collage on Plexiglas

Ducks in a Row, 16×20 $450 original watercolor and collage on Plexiglas

Early in the afternoon, I felt I had work still to do on the painting, but took it to the show anyway. It received much praise and commentary. There was plenty of discussion on the conversation of the ducklings and their mother. So funny! After looking at it all evening, I decided to leave well enough alone and announce it finished.

This is one of my favorite paintings. I love these little ducklings and feel it is a strong conversational piece. I’m happy with the suggestion of a background and the neutral color of the overall painting. Hope it puts a smile on your face as it did to the many people who saw it at the First Friday show.

To purchase, send me an comment. I accept PayPal and will email a PayPal invoice. Shipping extra. Prints available, sizes starting at 8×8 for $25.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and follow this blog to be informed of amazing new paintings and deals! Contact me to receive my newsletter so that you see me at showings and receive notifications about painting classes.

Keep creating to Feed the Beast! Support each other, people!:)

All images and paintings on this site copyrighted by Sarah B Hansen unless otherwise noted.

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Musicians and Memories

By sbhansen2014 on January 19, 2015

I didn’t expect to be flung back into my teenage self when I went to Portland Saturday Market last year. Yet that’s exactly what happened as I rounded a corner and witnessed a small band of three guys, dressed in depression-era clothing, playing music.

I immediately felt the wheeze of air and the rounded chord buttons beneath my fingers from my old accordion. I heard my brother plunking out a rousting rhythm on the banjo and we were both singing our hearts out. I could smell smoke from the wood fireplace and Mom’s homemade bread in the oven. “Mr. Bo Jangles” was our song of choice when we jammed, played over and over again with what seemed like amazing finesse. As a gangly, freckled 14-year-old girl playing the accordion, I was under no illusion that I could be considered cool. Or interesting. Uhmmm…this was the 80’s, people. No one “cool” even TOUCHED an accordion. But when my then-24-year-old brother played his banjo and I sang along and played the accordion? I actually felt cool. Really.

The three twenty-something guys at Portland Saturday Market WERE cool. They had a Portland retro-urban-folksy thing going on in a big way. When I snapped a photo of them, I wanted to paint my memories, infuse them with the vibe of these guys, and capture the surrounding organized chaos of Saturday Market.

I began by layering in collaged strips, along with randomly placed squares of sheet music, symbolizing their songs permeating through the market. Shiny areas shown below are dried liquid mask, protecting the whites of the gessoed plexiglass. I also used 3-D fabric paint to scribble on the surface, further illustrating the rhythm of the music and chaos of colors, smells, and sounds.

Detail of the drawing with strips of sheet music and liquid mask

Now I could fling paint without worrying about saving whites. I used a neutral green color scheme with areas of Daniel Smith’s Quinocridone Burnt Scarlet as my red accents. When I paint a large wash like this, I change colors on my brush often and let them mingle on the palette. Following my value plan, I washed in mid- to light-neutrals in a “T” shape composition, with the most intense green and red on the central figure. I tilted the plexi at a sharp angle to induce drips and splatters into the white foreground.

First wash using a “T” composition

After the first wash dried (I usually help it along with a blow dryer), I went into the figures and deepened value, intensified color, and added detail.

Second wash, enhancing values, saturation, and detail

I struggled to get the value deep enough, so went with a darker paint, Daniel Smith’s Sodalite Genuine, adding it to all the dark areas.

Darker values added using Sodalite Genuine

I didn’t like how the Sodalite muddied up most of the colors. It is better used with cool tones. Since this painting is mostly warm, the paints didn’t play nicely with one another. I removed most of the Sodalite with a wet brush and went back into the painting using Ultramarine Blue as my dark receding values.

After wiping out all the Sodalite Genuine, I painted Ultramarine Blue in its place

Below, I replaced the Sodalite with Ultramarine Blue in the background trees. Plastic wrap protects the musicians from getting water drops on them.

Using Ultramarine Blue for the background trees.

Much better! Brighter, and not so dreary:

Detail of musicians with Ultramarine blue in background

Especially the difference in the guitar case:

Final painting, Musicians at the Market, 16×12, watercolor and collage on recycled plexiglass

Musicians at the Market reminds me of both the Saturday Market and the times I had playing music with my brother. The music I heard at the market, though, triggered the memory. What music triggers an immediate response from you? Is there a song that transports you to a different time or place? It’s weird how music does that. Maybe more than any other trigger. What do you think? Comment and let me know. 🙂

To purchase, send me an comment. I accept PayPal and will email a PayPal invoice.

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Keep creating to Feed the Beast! Support each other, people!:)

All images and paintings on this site copyrighted by Sarah B Hansen.

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Moonlight Wishes

By sbhansen2014 on July 21, 2014

Challenge…accepted. As I walked past a salsify plant, I asked myself, “Could you paint that, Sarah? How? What would it look like?” And so the challenge was made and accepted. First step, let’s take a quick photo with my IPhone and print the photo in the detective lab, do some DNA testing and see where we’re at (just kidding…too many detective shows for me).

Salsify plant for reference

How the heck am I going to do this?! But, since I had accepted my own challenge, there would be no going back. I call this plant a “wish” plant (maybe, as in, I wish I could paint it?). Which, if you were a tiny fly buzzing around my childhood, you would have known that we would blow on the plant and make a wish as the little poofy seed-heads floated off on the breeze. Don’t ask me why or how, but the wish was supposed to come true if all the seed heads came off during the lung-induced gale. Maybe that’s why I never got my pink mustang? You know, the car? Or…maybe it was my breath? Oh, but I do digress.

So, as I was contemplating how on earth I would try to convey the airy-ness, the shadows and highlights, the seed heads, and still convey the wishy-wish aspect of the plant, I had a brain storm.

Ooooo! Insert SEED HEADS!! Since the plant was still somewhat intact when I began this painting, I was able to go outside and gather the little buggers. You got it…the painting has seed heads from the wish plant IN THE GESSO! I love it!

Seed heads in the gesso

I carefully chose perfect little seed heads, but when I put them into the wet gesso, they mushed together and didn’t spread out like I wanted them too. Since the little seed part was too pronounced, I plucked the seed and the stem off, and used just the “parachute” part. I also worked on keeping the individual parachute parts spread out. If some weren’t perfect, that was fine. In fact, preferred. I let it dry.

Now, I just needed to transfer my image onto the prepared Plexiglass.Here it is:

Drawing on prepared plexiglass

Up close and personal:

Seed head detail

Seed head detail

You can see from the photos above that the seed heads retain their original color. Even after the gesso covered them completely, once it dried, the yellow tint remained true.

Then, I went to Colorado with my prepared Plexiglass. Read: Painting BONANZA!!

At home, I had used my 1.5 circular die cut press to create some circles out of paper and had placed them around the painting. Now, when I began to paint, I used Daniel Smith’s Cobalt Violet, Cobalt Teal, Quinacridone Burnt Orange to establish the circular wishy-shape plant. When I went into the upper LH corner with some of the deeper, darker color, the circular shapes reminded me of moonlight. Hence the title.

Finished. Moonlight Wishes. 11x14 Watercolor on Plexiglass

Finished. Moonlight Wishes. 11×14 Watercolor on Plexiglass $250

What do ya’ll think? I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. I was aiming for explosive poofs everywhere, and like the background color. Overall it’s pretty fun.

Want it? Let me know. And follow my blog (scroll down and click follow) and my Facebook page to keep up to date on all the happenings. Take care everyone. Feed the beast!

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Colorado Artistic Retreat

By sbhansen2014 on July 14, 2014

Think unplugged. Quiet. Peace. Unscheduled days. Time to paint. Colorado.

View from Art Studio

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? I spent the first week in July this year in Colorado, near where I grew up. It was a place of rejuvenation and feeding my beast. No Wi-Fi! Being unplugged, I spent a good amount of time walking, painting, and reading. The views were open and unhindered by other homes. I could see the San Juan Range to the South, and Grand Mesa to the North. In between lay the area in which I grew up. These were my stomping grounds! My parent’s place is amazingly quiet. At night, all I could hear was the occasional cricket. Maybe a coyote or two. Seriously! Nothing. The silence whooshes in the ears like a pulse. I LOVE it. I crave it every year.

Painting in the Colorado Studio

I usually take some painting projects when I go, and this year was no exception. I had prepared many drawings on plexiglass and paper, which, along with photos, provided hours of work in the lazy, hot afternoons.

My painting desk inside the Art Studio in Colorado

This was no luxury retreat. We are talking bare-bones, back-to-the-basics stuff here. In fact, as hot as it was in the studio in the afternoon, I perched the door open to establish a (hot) cross breeze every day. I did not, however, invite the lizard in to run across my feet. Eeek! I love lizards, but COME ON! No running across the flip-flop feet!! I guess he wanted to take a peek at the paintings and offer up a critique? How ’bout a glass of iced tea, Mr. Lizard?

Anyway, as you can see in the studio photo, I worked hard at a few small paintings and a couple of 11×14 paintings on plexiglass. When I took a break, driving around the country inspired me to take photos of…mailboxes! Future painting alert! Do you realize how utterly beautiful rural mailboxes are? Seriously, they are amazing and poetic in all their rural-ness. When I lived here, I didn’t appreciate the simple beauty that surrounded me.

Artistic Retreat Studio

My mom and I also took a drive down to a friend/neighbor who owns Mattics Orchards. They were generous enough to allow me to walk their orchards (a guided tour by their two young sons, who ended up shoving each other into the sprinklers) and take photos of pears, apples, crab apples, and apricots, as well as some zucchini, cabbage, and peppers. I am SO EXCITED to begin some amazing paintings from all the photos taken during my retreat. Such inspiring, nostalgic photos. Check my blog again soon (or better yet, follow me!) to see my Colorado work.

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Squished Pears

By sbhansen2014 on June 16, 2014

If I had to do it all over again, I would have done it differently. What, you ask? No, not my first boyfriend, though that experience probably would benefit from some improvement if I could re-write it! Wait…do I even remember it correctly?!

I do digress…If I had to do it all over again, I would have thrown out the pear. The offending fruit squished and exploded slime all over when I reached for it. Now, to clarify, I LOVE pears. But exploding pears? Not so much. And my freshly mopped floor? Not so clean anymore. So this painting reminds me of my volcanic pear incident. As I’m painting it, though, I’m thinking smell and taste, and all this I love. But I wouldn’t have grabbed the super-ripe pear, had I known. This painting, however, has been a bit of a bear…er…pear problem. How to make fruit colorful when in a shadow? It’s tough. Here’s the process: My photo reference is from Portland Saturday Market (LOVE this place). It seemed out of season for the spring(?), but a few pears were there in all their glory. Sunlight sang through and spotlit a group in front of the rest. Detail, below, of their container:

Detail area of pears in cardboard box

The painting has been a struggle. Mostly because of the shadow areas in the back. I want to spotlight the foremost pears by “killing” the back pears. A recessive wash seems to deaden the whole area. Also, in the handle area of the box, pears poke through visually. Maybe a little too much?

Pears mid-way through

Kind of cool, this photo above. Galleries and exhibition foundations remind artists to crop and clean up our photos. This one is out on my patio and shows pavers, chairs, table, and hence, the scale of my painting. I’m keeping the crop out! BAN THE CROP. Just kidding. Only for now. Okay, after re-working, here is the final photo of my painting. I have a critique-group meeting this week, in which I’ll present the painting and probably result in a change…a bit…but for now, here’s the finished piece. 🙂

Sunshine in a Box. 22×30. Watercolor on plexiglass.

So here’s to you, you pears! Ban the squishy pears (which these weren’t) and ban the crop(ha!). It’s been fun. I love the cut-open pear and the brightness of all the pears in the sunshine(hence the title). In person, those front pears SING in the painting. And, of course, I love the container. I’m a big container-person. This one, this cardboard container with fake wood painting is wonderful. As for the reason I’d do it over? Never grab an over-ripe pears with freshly-mopped floors.

Follow me on Facebook for FANTASTIC OFFERS! 🙂 And check out my store for prices and print sales. Take care, everyone, and have a wonderful week!

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Art Adventures

Posts tagged ‘gessoed watercolor plexiglass painting’

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Squished Pears

Posts tagged ‘gessoed watercolor plexiglass painting’

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