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Building a composition using geometric shapes

4/22/2015

Found on lenalevin.com

I wanted to add something further to geometric shapes idea – that will be more fun and more in keeping with our continued exploration of colour – but geometric shapes still come to play in the way the scene (in this case still life) is composed.

The composition on the right, and the one below, could be said to have been built on a geometric shape foundation. I think to remove ourselves from a literal presentation of a scene in front of us, we need to use tactics that move the mind sideways. In this case the artist is using design and colour to present a beautiful composition. This is what we will explore this evening!

Another beautiful painting by Lena Levin. Wow!

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This week at Cedar Lane Studio

4/21/2015

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Had a lovely, quiet afternoon yesterday with Maureen Wilson, who joins me most Monday afternoons from 1-3:30 for my 'Paint with Me' studio. While Maureen completed a lovely painting of poppies to cheer up a wall in her house (sorry, forgot to take a pic...) I worked on finishing touches to some of my Val David plein air paintings. These were largely accomplished on site, with a little tweaking in studio. Tom is building frames for our work, which we will be showing in the Art Kruze tour coming June 6th. More on that later!

Anyway, I like to post here for my Wednesday night students what I am thinking of for this week. We love to explore methods and ideas.

Lately in my internet perusals I saw some very unique pieces built on geometric shapes. What a great way to study design and composition! This is what we will look at - likely on nice wc paper.

Contact me if you would like to join us!

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Pussywillows - our take

4/21/2015

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It never ceases to amaze us all how the creative process takes us each down a personal journey. We should be amazed at ourselves!

A simple process, here, that involves layers of paint, tape, and imagination. You have to love it!

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Pussywillows....

4/14/2015

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Thinking about class tomorrow and I thought I might keep it simple - and springlike. We have explored pussy willows before, but their delicate boughs winking in the spring sunshine on our return beckoned, Here is some inspiration from the internet:

Let's see how creative we can be!

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Plein air painting at Val David

4/14/2015

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Last weekend Tom and I had the pleasure of attending a plein air painting trip with group of artists in Val David, Quebec. We stayed at the charming Auberge aux Vieux Foyer, were the food and service, and rooms, were all wonderful. A lot of wonderful artwork displayed, stories told, music made, and friendships rekindled!

Tom's pieces - beautiful!

My work - not as loose as I would like, but I haven't painted plein air for a while...

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Abstract trees - Fun with a palette knife

4/14/2015

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Inspiration piece

This was actually a little while back. I was flicking through Pinterest - always lots of imaginative ideas there - when I saw an abstract that caught my eye (at right). I loved the colour, the texture and the execution and also thought this would be an interesting project for our class. I broke the process down into stages, starting by covering the canvas with gesso. We chose a limited palette of three to four colours, and applied them quickly Into the wet gesso to create a soft background glow of colour. Next were added 'trees', created by dragging a palette knife to evoke a sense of spruce tree. Finally, students chose a dark colour they felt would compliment their painting. This colour was used for foreground tress, shoreline rocks and any other small accents. Trunks were scraped out of the painted trees, as well. Finally, to gove a sense of water surface, lines were added to the bottom of the painting. This class was run for both students and adults, with great results from all!

My piece - a little less 'fiery' than the inspiration piece...

Aren't they lovely!

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Encourage & Explore

Building a composition using geometric shapes

This week at Cedar Lane Studio

Pussywillows - our take

Pussywillows....

Plein air painting at Val David

Abstract trees - Fun with a palette knife

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