Learning more by copying

This time I have been copying a painting by the daily painter Carol Marine. It is small, 15 x 21 cm. I have painted it in oil, like the original version. It was very interesting to do this excercise as it is another way of painting than I am used to. It is alla prima, painted in one go.

What I realize I really need to learn more about, is use of colours. And I think copying other artists as I am doing these days is really valuable to me,

Trying out another style

Acrylic and oil on canvas, 24x32 cm, not title.

Trying out another style. This painting is inspired by the Norwegian artist Kenneth Blom, you can see his work here www.kennethblom.com

I am a bit fed up with working on this painting, to much fiddling, it doesn´t suit me. I´m not patient enough. I still see parts of the painting that need some adjustments. I think the act of painting in this style would work far better with a big format.

The interesting part to me is that this painting started out with two figures and then no plan. Then it evolved to this somewhat mysterious image, so I don´t know myself what´s the story here.

Back to houses

Oil on canvas, 65x80 cm, no title.

The colours looks a little bit different on the photo than on the painting, e.g. the blue house on the left side isn´t quite that blue on the painting. There are also some reflections from the oil paint that mess up the photo. I will se if I can take a better photo another day. I will perhaps also adjust a little bit on the painting itself.

Bathing beauty

Oil on canvas, 30x40 cm, not title.

The fun thing about not having a sketch or a pre-thought desing is that painting becomes an surprising adventure. The only thing I knew when I started with this painting was that it was going to be a portrait.  The expression, style, colours and the scene came as I painted. This painting started off with some really quick and lose brush strokes with acrylics, and from there I continued with oils. First, I attempted a loose style, which I kind of liked. But then I messed it up. Then I attempted a more "classic" painting style, but the result bored me, so I wiped it off. This morning I started out with a fresh mind, and I decided to paint it more like the manner I paint my house-paintings.

I wonder if the ligth blue line in the bottom right corner is too strong? Perhaps I will adjust it a little bit.

Oil painting

This is one of the oil paintings I have been working on the last months. I work very slowly with these bigger paintings, I use a lot of time just sitting in my chair looking at the painting, waiting for an impulse for what to do next. It is almost like a meditative state of mind. To me it is important not to rush into the painting process. If I do that, if I get impatient, I tend to get lost, and loose the feeling of what the painting needs. So, I need stillness. And time to wait.

The painting is about 65x80 cm. No title.

Kind of self portrait

aargh - it has now gone a couple of weeks where it seems that I am not able to paint with watercolours anymore. Interesting how the ability to paint seem to fluctuate.

So, I find comfort in looking at what I think is my first proper painting. It was painted in 2002, with oil on canvas. I looked in the mirror and used the reflection of my own face as a reference for shadows etc.

It is sooo much easier to paint with oil!
But the challenge of painting with watercolour is just so much more interesting.