Painting Magnolias

We have a lovely Magnolia tree in our front yard that is so inspiring and gorgeous when it blooms. I find it hard to walk by without stopping to take at least a few photos of it. When it bloomed again this past Spring I had to finally paint it!

Small 6" x 12" Magnolia "Gentle Beauty" (available)

Close up of "Gentle Beauty"

 Using one of my photos as reference, I first painted only the small 6" x 12" version.

Small Magnolia in process

 I ended up loving it so much that I had to paint a larger version. I already had a 15 x 30 gallery-wrapped canvas (the perfect size for this!) prepped and ready to go! I wanted to make it similar, yet different enough and I had fun stretching myself to achieve this.

Large Magnolia painting 15" x 30" (sold)

Close up of large Magnolia

Close up of some of the great texture on large version

I added plenty of texture on the larger one because... well... I'm a texture junkie!

I love how both pieces turned out and can't pick a favorite between the two. Not a bad problem to have, right?

  

Large Magnolia in progress. Notice my photo at the top of the easel that I used for reference

I can't wait until the tree blooms again. I'm sure there will be plenty more picture taking and more Magnolia paintings too. What a blessing to have this inspiration right in front of our house... which means I can also see it from our kitchen window. Can you blame me for being a bit bloom crazy?

Our Magnolia tree back in March

Mixed Media Lotus Minis

Ok, back to showing you more from the 30 Paintings in 30 Days I did last year. This piece above, "Content" is number SIX. I had actually worked on another piece that night for hours but it was not cooperating. Or I wasn't. Either way I wanted to toss it to the coyotes. I gave up and cleaned up because it was late, and I was tired. I was bummed that I didn't finish one. As I was cleaning up I saw my little 4"x4" canvases. I grabbed one and went for it. I returned to a favorite subject and colors and the next thing I know this lil' happy piece was done! Yay! I felt so much better!

This next one, "Transparent",  is number SEVEN. I was trying out different colors than I normally use and a different style. I like how it turned out!

"Absorb" is number EIGHT. Absorb and learn what you need to from this beautiful life so you can nurture yourself and those who surround you.

These were all done in a similar way. I started by glueing down antique French book pages then painting and drawing over them. On this last one above I also glued down blue hand-painted paper and a strip of natural fiber. 

Ok, you know what... even though it's not part of the 30in30, I'm going to add one more mixed media lotus to this post because it was done around the same time and has a similar feel.

This is "Silent Beauty", because often silence can be a beautiful thing. 

Ok, that's enough for now. These are all done on small 4" x 4" x 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvases and are all available for purchase.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a creative day!

xoE

Numbers 4 & 5 for the 30 in 30 Painting Challenge

A few posts ago I shared that I took part in a challenge to paint 30 paintings in 30 days (last year). In that post I showed you the first three paintings I did for the challenge which, even though it was unplanned, all contained a water element and similar colors.

The next two took a completely different turn as you can see here! That's one of the many reasons that I enjoy being and artist... if I let it, art can take me on a journey instead of the other way around!

 Above is Number FOUR for the 30 in 30. "Vase of Flowers". It was done on a 14" x 18" canvas. 

close-up of # 4

Since I love texture I added some papers and even cardboard to the canvas first before painting it.

another close-up of # 4

Part of me likes this one just as it is, yet another small part of me wants to get back to work on it more. I'm not sure what I'll do but for now I've got plenty of other paintings to finish up so it stays like this... at least for now! If you like it as is please speak up! Also, this one does need to be framed because it has staples on the sides... so unframed it's only $300 .

Here is number FIVE. It's on done on a 14" x 14" x1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas.

I love abstract paintings with a lot of white. For some reason I'm drawn to them, but whenever I attempt one myself it gets overtaken with color and form. So the beautiful thing about doing a painting each day when I was doing this challenge... instead of giving in to my desire to reach for more color while working on this painting, I figured NO, I could do that on tomorrow's painting!

close-up of # 5

Title of this piece, "There's Always Tomorrow". $275 ready to hang.

Both of these are available to purchase. If interested just leave me a comment or email me. My email is in my profile.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be showing you numbers's 6, 7, & 8 next time we meet! 

xoE