Tag: painting

Free Willy!

Free Willy! That was the comment when I said I wanted to paint an orca. I pondered the iconic movie poster as an inspiration but settled for focusing on the orca. Or an orca, as it’s not exactly “Willy” himself.

This was a continuation of the watery challenge mentioned in an earlier post. Still, instead of staying underwater, I went with a creature that stays primarily submerged in water, breaking the surface to breathe, or to have fun. And as I revealed already in the first paragraph, the creature is an orca.

It’s my largest finished painting so far, 65×90 cm

And I really wanted to challenge myself, by using the largest canvas I have. Well, an orca may not be the most difficult subject to paint being black and white, but then again shadows and highlights are essential not to make it look flat.

Blocking in the colours was quick, but then there were the details. While this isn’t a realistic style painting, adding details to the painting still takes time, at least for me. I’m sure it’ll get easier and faster with experience.

When I look at it now, I see all the things I could do differently or better, but I still got nice responses from people who like it. This just goes to show yet again: There’s no one more critical of my work than myself. Maybe this was what Leonardo da Vinci had in mind when he said “A painting is never finished, only abandoned.”

Into Abstract Territory

The time had come for some abstract adventure, a field where I’d failed spectacularly before. Admittedly that was nonfigurative abstractness, but still … when it comes to abstract painting, I’m way out of my comfort zone.

So I had to try, right?

In my mind, I imagined a wonderful, colourful image of a promenade lighted up by street lamps. So colour it was, and bright ones at that.

An abstract evening walk

It certainly didn’t end up looking like I imagined it before I started, but it was a fun experience. And those who have seen it seem to like it, so I might’ve done something right after all. What do you think?

It’s still out of my comfort zone, tho …

Pearly things

During my time as a happy amateur painter, I’ve painted motives from over the water, most of them not including water at all. So, wasn’t it time for a little change, and to get a completely different perspective? Like, painting a motive from under the water’s surface? I thought so.

I had long wanted to paint something like a castle ruin underwater as if the land had sunken or the sea had risen. That would be a detailed painting. Maybe too complex for the time I had for this challenge, at least the digital versions I had been somewhat creative with.

While pondering about this, I also figured I wanted to try painting on a circular canvas. I mean, I had bought a couple, so I had to use them, right? Which also would put some limitations on the motive.

I had an idea. But would it work?

I made a quick sketch in a circle.

I opened my trusty ol… brand-new sketchbook and tested my idea. Yup, it seemed to work for me. A giant pearl in a mussel looked just right. So the next step was to paint it. And paint it I did!

A bit different from the sketch, but I think it works.

I removed some of the objects; some I didn’t paint at all, and some I painted over afterwards because they didn’t really fit in – they removed the focus from the pearl. We can’t have that! But there’s enough variation for the whole image to work.

Paradise calling

I’m SO ready for warmer weather now. This is a small-ish acrylic painting I did some weeks ago when the weather was even colder. That was OK then – it was that time of the year. It was the colours and sunset that inspired me to do this, I love the warmth of it.

Dreaming of a tropical beach

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to dream of some time in a more tropical environment when the winter cold is ruling the outdoors.

Feeling Blue?

Feeling blue?

Briefly inspired by a colourful image that I don’t remember what it looked like, combined with a comment (before I started painting this) that people don’t have blue skin, I decided I wanted to have some fun when taking on this challenge.

It can certainly be better, but I had fun with it! And I still might change it a bit later.

Any comments?

Life is hard

The alternative title for this post could be “The Unfortunate Crow”, for obvious reasons. It’s quite a while since now, that I saw this crow in the snow one winter, trying to eat some snow. Probably the easiest way for it to get something to drink.

My photo of the unfortunate crow

A crow isn’t, I must admit, a bird I pay too much attention to normally. This time, tho, I soon discovered the problem it had to cope with: The broken beak. I quickly turned on the camera on the phone and snapped a few pictures, where it stood just a couple of meters away from me. Maybe three.

Also, instead of being a bird I don’t care much about, this one I felt sorry for. How long had she lived without the beak? How did she break it? How long would she live now? I found myself wanting to give her a beak prosthetic, but two things stopped me: First, I would have to catch her (she ignored me when I asked her to come to me) and second, I would have to make her that prosthetic.

I gave up that thought.

Instead, I toyed with the thought of painting her. Now I’ve finally done it.

My painting of the crow.

I’ve never tried to paint anything photorealistic, and all the details in the feathers scared me away from painting this for some years. But while I may enjoy doing some fiddly details, it’s first now that I’ve painted a few years and learned a bit I found this picture again with the intent to paint it. Faking the details.

In the process, I noticed for the first time that the crow isn’t just pure black and grey – there’s also some brown in there. I do notice more details when I study something to paint than I used to. Cool!

So, how should I paint it? Photorealistic is out of the question. The details is way too finicky for my abilities. Maybe one day, if I want to spend ages on one painting, but for now I had to simplify, a lot. Some lines to indicate the direction of the feathers are what I went with.

Currently, I’m very happy with what I’ve managed.

Pop Poppies Popping out

In painting class this time, I chose to paint a vase of poppies – inspired by one of the pictures presented to us. Many of us did paint this one, and it turned out in just as many variations as we were artists. (Yes, we’re artists, right? Just not professionals who do it for a living.)

The original painting was in a loose style, not too detailed, but still giving the impression of details. It spoke to me, so I decided to paint it. In my style.

Or at least, in my current style? One of my styles? As I’m still learning different methods all that will develop until I settle on what I feel most comfortable with and prefer. Probably.

Popular poppies popping out from the canvas

I’m still exploring those rough, loose brush strokes. There are not really any details, just big, rough areas in the background, and some vague, flower-like shapes for the poppies. The colour variations give it a 3D look, and some smaller strokes, dots and areas give the impression of more detail than what’s actually there.

Could I’ve done more with this? Absolutely! But – I didn’t want to. Had I done much more, the painting would’ve changed completely, possibly ruined. And, I was happy with the current result, so why would I even try?

An apple a day …

A little week ago, I got the challenge to paint an apple. And why not? I’ve painted an apple before, but at that time it was a digital painting and a realistic painting. Of an apple. Not so this time. I wanted to challenge myself and paint in a style I usually don’t try …

This is not an apple. It’s a painting of one.

I want to be able to paint looser, with rough brush strokes. Much like I did with my autumn-painting, but even rougher, using larger brushes. Trying it with an apple, well, that seemed easy enough. Not that much that can go wrong 😉

So, first, a thin brush, to make the black outline. Or well, first covering the canvas in a light brown colour, and then the outline. The next step was to find the main colours and drop them in, not worrying too much about getting it exactly right. Add some variations here and there.

Pink, yellow, orange, brown and red. That makes it a perfect red apple, right? And some dabs of different colours make the green leaves look a lot more detailed than what I painted.

I’m happy with it. I think I succeeded in what I set out to do.

Lighthouse in stormy weather

I wanted to paint a lighthouse in stormy weather, and with the help of AI I made some images that I used for inspiration

It’s been way too long since I’ve updated this blog now. Shame on me. Admittedly, I did post my lighthouse painting on Instagram, but I never got as far as writing about it here. So, time to do something about that.

A lighthouse in stormy weather

I painted this between Christmas and New Year, and was joined by mother who got inspired and wanted to paint a specific lighthouse on the Norwegian coast. One known as the most beautiful lighthouse in Norway. For me, it started with an idea: I wanted to paint a lighthouse, and I wanted it to be in stormy weather.

To achieve that I needed some reference pictures, but instead of searching for photos that I could use, I used one of the AI art generators to give me suggestions. A few tries and I got a few results that inspired me.

I mixed the ideas as I painted on the canvas; the sky from one image, the lighthouse and environment from another, and the waves varied a bit. The resulting picture is different from all of them, but I got the inspiration I wanted, and since the motive is imaginary in any case, I could easily take my artistic liberties and not make the lighthouse exactly as the picture. Although it mostly is. ????

There are still things I should practise, just to be able to paint better. There’s always something new to learn. Still, while I see the things I could do better, I’m still happy with what I made.

It’s Autumn

The topic: Trees. Theme: Autumn. At least, it was autumn for my part. And yes, this was a new challenge in the painting class, where we after an introduction to how different painters painted trees, and how their expressions changed during their lives, could either copy one of them, in our own styles or be inspired by them.

And there were many styles to choose from, too—anything from serene, naturalistic scenes to completely abstract, from many colours to few colours. Personally, I fell for a forest scene, with only trees. And painted in black and white (well, greys) except for one tree, with its leaves in full autumn colours. And a couple more.

That’s what I was inspired by. Except, I didn’t want a forest scene, I wanted something more urban. A little glimpse of the urban, but not any too straight lines. And, the result?

A glimpse of autumn in a grey town?

A few lines and squares in the background give the impression of buildings and windows. A car and a few streetlights make the impression stronger, and then the trees are in the foreground. Grey, except for the largest one in the middle, which is where all the golden autumn colours are concentrated. Spots of colours represent the leaves, both on the tree itself and fallen down on the ground.

All of this was done with loose brush strokes, much looser than the painting that inspired me, but – I’m happy with the result. It’s the first time I’ve tried something like that, so it was a win for me, all done in a short evening.