Author: Cheryl

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Buddies

Cheryl
{emailcloak=off} I have always thought of sunflowers as free spirits. This painting, that leans toward abstract, began as a wild spatter and pouring of colour. Sunflowers just felt like the right subject to put on top. Click to view a larger version of this painting Thank you for supporting a career in the arts by buying directly from the artist! Order a Beautiful Matted Print 7″ x 10″ print on archival watercolour paper 11″ x 14″ acid free mat & foam core backing local (London) pickup: $39 + tax shipped to North America: $49 + tax Taxes will be added at PayPal checkout On PayPal, you can use a credit card;you don’t need a PayPal account More Details Satisfaction guaranteed. Full refund – purchaser pays return shipping only. Frames are readily available for this standard size print. Contact the artist for shipping cost to U.K., Europe, or remote areas. The original painting is sold.  

Layers

Cheryl
The joy of acrylic paint is often found in multiple layers. And since it is fast drying, this is easy to do. The lovely transparency of colour laid down in layers is a wonderful dynamic. Add texture to that as well, and the creative sparks really start to fly. All acrylic paint is essentially glue, and so the acrylic transparent mediums can have items such as sand, poppy seeds, fibers – just whatever captures your interest – added. After adding a layer of texture, try flowing wet paint over it to make the texture stand out even more! And yes, we were playing with this in the recent Wet & Wild course. It was a great week with lots of creative paintings happening! Here’s the video of paintings created by my students at this course – enjoy! 
Tulip4T

Artist’s Hoarding Disorder

Cheryl
A recent writing by Canadian artist Robert Genn used this interesting phrase – or something similar. I think all artists have it. For me, it’s the stocking up of paint when it goes on sale. Naturally I tell myself I’m saving money. And I do eventually use it all, finding myself amazed to be running out of my favourite phthalo again. I think collage artists get it the worst. When you get into collage, dollar stores become gold mines. Glitter and so very many interesting small items that could be adhered to a canvas to make a fascinating image. Scraps of various types of papers wander into your home and start accumulating. Really, when you get into collage, nothing in the house is safe from being glued onto an image. Too much fun! Do you have Artist’s Hoarding Disorder? What items do you hoard? 
Amm325

Dreams

Cheryl
“I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas. They’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind.” – Emily Bronte 
UnlPr350

An Artist’s Challenges

Cheryl 2 Comments
It’s wonderful to be following your dream and doing what you are passionate about – in my case, painting. Yet there are challenges to being an artist by profession that may not be obvious at first glance. For example, painting is a high energy activity for me. I keep the brush moving, and I think hard! Much as I love it, painting is not something that I tend to do when tired. So I need to plan my best time of day to do my painting. Other issues are common with those who are self employed. Such as – it’s hard to find a balance with work time and family and friend time. Still, there’s so much to be thankful for – a job I love passionately, and supportive family and friends who understand the unusual hours I sometimes keep. What about you other artists out there – what are your challenges? 
LakeT

Edges

Cheryl
One of the key elements in any painting is the type of edges employed within the image. A variety of soft and harder edges give a painting life and depth. Soft and lost edges add mystery and let the eye move through. Hard edges stop the eye and say ‘this area is important – pay more attention to this’. Artistic license is frequently taken with where the softer edges are applied. The painter may decide very differently than the camera does, depending what they wish to emphasize. Oil painters have the advantage on this one – with slower drying time, edges are more easily softened. 
Pear2T

After Breakfast?

Cheryl
Did you know that if you say to yourself “Saturday after breakfast I’m going to go and paint.” you are way more likely to do it than if you just say, “I want to paint sometime this weekend.” Giving it a time and place in your imagination makes what is called an “Action Trigger”, and people tend to follow through on those. I just finished reading a fascinating book called, “Switch – How to Change Things When Change is Hard” by Chip & Dan Heath. I learned a lot about what motivates people to change. I recommend the book if you are curious about people’s behaviour. Lots of interesting studies with surprising results. I found a number of suggestions that I want to apply to myself too! Here’s a brief excerpt from the chapter ‘Rally the Herd’ – and I think it will make you smile. – “In ambiguous situations, we all look to others for cues about how to behave. Maybe you’ve had the experience of scanning the table frantically at a fancy dinner, trying to figure out which fork is for dessert. (If you haven’t had that experience, we hope you know your forks, because the rest of us copied you.)” – Painting Saturday after breakfast sounds good to me! How about you?