and another tiny canvas

Winter Morning, acrylic on deep gallery wrap canvas, 4 inches square, Vivien Blackburn

Another of the series of mini canvasses destined for my Etsy shop. A windy morning with the surf crashing on the sand and pools reflecting the sky.


The sides are painted to match the painting so that framing isn't necessary.

Comments

D'Rimba said…
Wow so perfect...........
2:27 pm
vivien said…
thank you D'Rimba - I don't know if you are an interior designer? but there are some beautiful rooms on your blog - which I can't read!
5:15 pm
Becky Mairi Farrell said…
Just been catching up on weeks of your blog! I love the small canvases and it's interesting to see how your style translates to the small scale. I also really enjoyed your still life and comments on it a few posts back. Love the vibrant colours and the looseness of your brushwork which conveys such vitality.
10:31 pm
Lindsay said…
What a wonderful idea and a beautiful series. You really pack so much visual information into such a tiny format! Nice satisfying size too!
7:43 pm
Lindsay said…
Forgot to say, nobody does "blue" like you! How many blues do you use?
7:44 pm
vivien said…
Thanks Becky :>)

thanks Lindsay - mmm I'm not a limited palette person! As a colourist I like to have a wide range of reds, yellows and blues

... so cobalt, ultramarine, cerulean, indigo, pthalo, plus some other gorgeous ones that 'visit' and sometimes stay as favourites like process cyan in acrylics. And magenta is a must for giving lovely glows to clouds etc Viridian is also a must to tip the blues to that beautiful translucent green you get in Cornish seas.
7:58 am
Lindsay said…
Thanks Vivien. I knew you liked colors so this give me an idea of what you like to use. Packing for plein air must be painful...tubes left behind due to weight considerations.
11:37 am
vivien said…
Leave Colours Behind ?????????? :>0


NO!

actually I seriously don't! I can't stand not to have my range of blues,reds and yellows with a variety of others. I have no talent for travelling light!

so - understandably I love it if I can park near where I'm painting!

My watercolour box that I take isn't too big but holds 24 colours - plus at least half a dozen more I've stuck into the brush section!

and I take not many less tubes if I'm oil painting! I have got the turps/cleaning up down to a minimum though :>)
3:01 pm
Lindsay said…
I knew you were a color gourmand! Now you are making me reconsider my oil tubes for this summers plein air pack.

I'm going to try a mix of veridian with an ultra and a tad of burnt umber to try for a river color.
11:53 pm
vivien said…
I confess ......... I am! if you have a wide range of primaries it gives you a huge subtle range of colour mixes with the addition of the earth colours

That mix sounds good - the viridian will keep a glow whilst getting that muddiness - and here sometimes ochre for the sunlit bits were muddy water turns golden colours
5:40 pm
John DeMint said…
so amazing.
6:18 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Eye, Urban/Rural exhibition

Image
Vivien Blackburn's work in the Urban/Rural show We've just hung a group show at the The Eye Project, Urban/Rural show.  If you want to come and see it it's on for a month - well worth seeing, 11 lovely artists and some fabulous work. Those large canvasses are 40 inches square. There are rural landscapes, flowerscapes, intriguing textile work including a large knitted building, abstracts .... something for everyone. It's in the gallery below the cafe in the Adult Education Centre at the top of Wellington street, Leicester, opposite Fenwicks.  Meet the Arttists day is Saturday 1st April 10-2.  Come and have a chat with us?
Read more

Hedges silhouetted agains the snow, winter light: watercolour and Derwent tinted charcoal pencils in Stillmand and Birn Beta Hardback sketchbook

Image
 Detail  I have always liked the calligraphic tangle of the hedges when they are sihouetted against the sky.   Recent snowfall meant even more opportunities with amazing light and the landscape simplified and hidden by the snow, throwing hedges into relief. Above is a detail of a double page sketch in the lovely Stillman and Birn Beta A4 hardback sketchbook.  This paper is so forgiving and the watercolour works beautifully with it.  It allowed me to work through wet washes with charcoal pencil - something that tears many papers, leaving holes.  Some of the hedge is paint, some tinted charcoal. First snow, more on the way, winter light: silhouetted hedges in watercolour and Derwent tinted charcoal in a Stillman and Birn A4 beta hardback sketchbook The earlier warm golden glow of the low sun is covered by clouds, threatening more snow to come.   The spiky calligraphic marks of the hedge and the underlying form of the bank, with some of the taller dried grasses showing
Read more

looking at non traditional composition and quiet vs busy areas in paintings

Image
Paul Klee I thought I'd look at non-traditional composition - where the rule of thirds isn't the key but the painting relies on different compositional methods. in response to an excellent series of posts on the various ways of looking at composition by Katherine (link at end). These alternative considerations or breaking of rules - but making it work - appeal to me more than too heavy a reliance on the rule of thirds. The painting above, by Paul Klee is a 'field' painting' - the composition is overall, the eye travels around enjoying the glowing colour that he creates by juxtaposing complementary colours, subtle greyed greens enhancing the oranges/reds/pinks. Most of the image is composed of the various greens, greeny browns and khakis, with accents of the warm colours. When working this way it's important that the balance is unequal and that the accent colours are placed carefully to keep the eye moving in the way the artist wants. A couple of the brighter
Read more