NEW 'on my EASEL' PAINTING FEATURED

Hey, guys it's time for a post about a new painting. It's long over due.  This time I had a lot of trouble deciding what to write about mainly because I have so many paintings that I've done in various mediums and techniques, that I was not quite sure what I should tackle first. I am somewhat stuck. I am tossing back and forth with what paintings I have listed in my etsy shop and on Facebook.  Since I began painting before I began this blog, I have a lot of work to talk about.
In the past year I have been working mainly on abstract experimental painting and still life paintings.  I like to work on both because it keeps my skills up and I am constantly learning new things.  I also find new ways to manipulate the paint and brushes.  I think I am getting better but hey, who am I to judge?
I'll let you be the judge.
Well, let's talk about this new painting...

                                   'HEADING TOWARDS THE LIGHT'

'Heading towards the light'                       24 x 30                       oil on canvas              Loren Fidalgo

Just recently, I sold this painting, YEAH!!! and I would like to talk about it before it leaves it's current home.  The title of this painting is 'Heading towards the light'.  It is 24 x 30 and oil on canvas.  I really love the 24 x 30 size canvas to paint on.

I began this painting shortly after I began painting abstract back in the beginning of 2012. I think it was my 3rd or 4th painting.  I still felt new to abstract and unsure of my direction when I stumbled upon this painting style.

I began this painting using oil paint and by laying down blocks of color in Cerealean Blue and Ultramarine Blue squares in the bottom left hand corner using a palette knife.  I used various shades of these colors next to each other.  I dragged the paint around the canvas and dropped the palette knife down on the canvas where I decided the colors should go.  To merge colors, I dragged the color to the left side into the color in the right side with the flat part of the knife.  I used a lot of Alizarin Crimson as the dominate color around the canvas and especially on the top.  The Crimson color worked it's way into the shape that is painted in a curve.  This is a contrast to the square/ blocks of color.  The curve in Crimson sort of tucks you into the yellow areas of light almost like it is hovering over the yellows like a archway to a bridge or some kind of animal pulling your eyes into the painting.

There are two areas of light, in the blues on the bottom and in the yellows on the middle right side.  The Cadmium Yellow really brings your eye in to it and it looks as if you are heading towards the light starting at the bottom left corner of blues and moving up into the yellows.  In some ways. it reminds me of a landscape sunset with water on the bottom. Do you see it??

Although there are many colors in this painting, when I look at it, I see Crimsons and Yellows.  The other colors kind of recede for me.  They are secondary.  I wanted to show the interaction between many colors all grouped together on one surface.  I had a vision in my mind and at the same time I wanted to just let the colors flow out of me.  I didn't want to judge it while I was painting.  The title came to me right away and I knew what I wanted to say with it.

Well, I have to say "good-bye" to this piece as it will be leaving me soon.  I know it will go in an  awesome home, so I am so happy about that. I created another painting like this one.  I will feature it somewhere down the road.   Leave a comment if you would like to share something about this painting or my work in general.  I love to hear from my readers.

Live life!
Cheers,
Loren

'on my Easel' NEW PAINTING FEATURED

  

                                           'SUNRISE SUNSET'

Hey folks... new painting is featured on my first 'on my Easel' post.  For this post I will be writing about my painting 'Sunrise Sunset'. This painting is a triptych (meaning three separate panels).  The size is 33 x14 total.  Each separate panel is 11x14 each.

When I first began this painting, I was unsure about the direction I wanted to go in.  I knew I wanted to do a triptych, however I was in uncharted territory. I was using acrylic latex paint (known as interior room paint) and I was a little unsure about how it handled. I had a vision in my mind of the way I wanted these paintings to look but I was not sure how I was going to get there. I started by creating a starburst on the canvas with my three colors.  I was using buttery, creamy yellow, bright fire engine red and textured sage green paint.  The green paint had texture because the glitter that was in it had disintegrated into something like a sand or gritty feel. The green paint was really cool and interestingly textured so I knew it would make the painting look different than I was used to working with.

I started with a canvas and I painted a starburst pattern with the yellow paint and then I went over it with the red which created somewhat of an peachy pinky color. You can see some of the starburst pattern on the outside edges of the canvases and underneath the top layers. I used a brush to swish the paint around because it was runny and was flowing quickly on the canvas.  After I finished the starburst pattern, I decided to take the leap and began to pour the paint onto the canvas because I couldn't wait any longer to get to a place that I felt comfortable with.  I have only poured my paint a couple of times however, I felt that it was a safe way to go. I poured the green textured paint onto the canvas first and around the edges of the canvas, then the red colored paint and the yellow color.  I let the red and yellow colors drip down as I started to see what I wanted to happen with the colors.  I began to turn the canvas every so often to control the flow of the paint.  The trick was knowing when and how to turn the canvas. This was key. It took some time and I patiently waited for the colors to run and integrate with each other.  I then took my palette knife and stroked the paint as I moved it into a different direction as it flowed.  Again, I turned the canvas.  There was a lot of paint on the canvas at this point so I had to balance it out all over the canvas so it would not be too thick.  I moved the paint around some more and I turned it again.  Whenever it dripped too much, I'd turn it so it would go the other way. This enabled me to create these beautiful patterns on the canvases.

To finish up with this painting I used a palette knife to create more texture by mixing the colors together around the canvases.  The tricky part again was creating three canvases that would look good together as well as good on their own. I scraped, scratched and then just turned them every which way until I felt they looked the way I had seen them in my mind.  I painted the sides yellow and put my signature on the side of the third panel.  Then it was finished!

Ooops... I fibbed a little about how I created this painting.  Although this is section is called 'on my EASEL', I did not create this painting solely on my easel.  I created it a little on my easel and a little on a table and a little on the floor.  Please forgive me!

If you are interested in purchasing this painting, please visit my etsy shop here