'on my EASEL' NEW PAINTING FEATURED



Hey guys... it's Loren and time for an 'on my EASEL'.  This is a series where I discuss an early painting and I talk about what the thought process I went into to create it.



'TIME TO OPEN UP'   18x24   oil on canvas    (c)   Loren Fidalgo 2010

I painted this piece back in 2010, however, I love it and the subject matter is this painting is titled, 'TIME TO OPEN UP'. and it is still current for me today.

When I was creating this painting, it began from a normal still life set-up.  I decided to shift the arrangement around and create something that would speak to me in a deeper way. I changes the arrangement and the colors.  I took the 'umbrella' and painted it on top of the mannequin to illustrate a figure/woman with an 'umbrella' as her head and face. It kind of makes one want to ask, "what is under there?"  The 'umbrella' is symbolic to me for the ability or inability to open up one's mind and heart. I chose to move the mouth off of the face on the 'umbrella' to hanging it from the bottle to suggest that this soul is suffering from being shy and not able to speak or open up. Thoughts and feelings from the mind, don't reach her mouth. The mouth however, doesn't go far and it is 'hanging on' to it's possibility to be able to speak by being in arm's reach. The eyes look on mysteriously and they are glancing out at you to express that she is so deep in thought and feeling and communicating, "I have so much to say!" While I was painting I knew I needed the courage to step into this new experience.

At the time I painted this piece, I was personally going through a lot of changes in my life and feeling like I needed to express myself in a deeper and more meaningful way. This painting was done about a year and a half after I began painting and my head injury.  If you would like to read about my 'destiny' and 'calling' into painting, please read HERE.   I was challenging the direction I was heading in with my artwork and my life in general.  I was asking myself questions and struggling while trying to make the changes that I knew would make major differences in my life. Although I wanted the changes, they were still overwhelming and somewhat difficult to encounter.  I knew nevertheless, it was time to try and open up, to speak out, to let it be known that I had a lot of thoughts and feelings that needed to come out. The 'umbrella' image in this painting was a perfect icon for expressing all this without words.

I love creating this type of painting with so much meaning and intense content.  It reaches and touches my soul in a profound way.  I love being able to express something with visual imagery, as well. Since I have began painting, I have been on a journey to dig deep inside myself and to be true to myself.  This painting was one of the paintings that was created in the beginning of this process.  I am still learning and experiencing intense changes.  It has all been good and welcomed.

Please feel free to leave a comment and to let me know if you have ever struggled with having the ability to speak up when needed?  I am happy to hear what you have to say.

Cheers,

Loren

 

SAYING GOODBYE TO DINING ROOM AND MOVING INTO THE NEW STUDIO

Heys guys... I am so excited to tell you that I have finally made the move from my Dining room into my new porch/studio after a year in the works.  I have moved almost everything into the new studio and sealed with a kiss by moving my wooden easel into it!  Last night was my first day painting in it and I have to say it was 'heaven'!  I had my supplies and my music...and I was so relaxed and calm.

NEW HANDSEWN CURTAINS ON FOUR WINDOWS

Even though I am so excited about the new move, I have to say that I felt a twinge of sadness when I was carrying things out of the Dining room.  It was a slow moving feeling, a quite sadness that I felt rising up in me every time I'd move something from room to room. I was experiencing a sense of loss and I realized that I was going to have to say 'goodbye' to the dining room experience just like saying 'goodbye' to a relationship that changes. Even though the Dining room did not really meet my needs and it didn't feel like a real working studio, I still had a part of me that was connected to it because I spent a lot of time in there. I will not miss it, but I will certainly remember working in it. It's strange how we humans are connected oddly to our 'stuff' and in many ways.  We know ourselves by the 'stuff' we surround ourselves with and the places we spend our time. 

SOME STUFF FOR THE NEW STUDIO AND PAINTING THE CEILING
AS WELL AS PREPAIRING FOR LANDSDALE ART FAIR

PINK AND GREEN DRESSER IN NEW STUDIO SPACE

TOP VIEW OF NEW PINK & GREEN DRESSER

CLOSE UP VIEW OF FRONT OF PINK AND GREEN DRESSER

I had so much stuff in the Dining room ( and still do)  and it no way will fit in my new studio.  Being the collector of supplies and 'stuff to make stuff out of '.   I have a lot of supplies that I will have to find some other place to store my 'stuff '.   I always plopped my stuff down on the pink dresser when I came in the door from classes etc.   Now after I resurfaced it, it is cleared off on top and it looks great.  I painted it and decoupaged/ mixed mediaed it (not sure if that is a word? Well, I'll make it a word!) and the new dresser really makes me happy when I look at it.  I am now working on a trunk for the studio to put my paper and mixed media stuff in.  I'll show photos when I complete it. 

So, as I have mentioned, I feel a little sad making the move into a new studio enviroment, I am so excited to finally be moving all my 'stuff' into it. Well, most of it anyway.  I am really going to like this new space because I designed how I wanted it to function in my mind so many times.  Palette on the right and paints on the left.  Everything on wheels.  Must have wheels. 

 I will keep you updated to let you know if moving to a studio space really is that different or not.  I will post some pictures when I get them to show how my studio is working for me.  Please leave a comment if you would like about your experience of moving your 'art stuff' into a studio space.  I would love to hear what you have to offer.

Cheers, 

Loren

MY NEW PAINTING 'GOING PLACES' WINS AN AWARD

 My painting 'GOING PLACES' took Honortable Mention in Fleisher's 116 Annual Student Exhibition in Philadelphia. Pa.    This painting is 24x30 and is oil on canvas.

I really enjoyed creating this painting from beginning to the end.  There were challenges along the way, because the display set up changes slightly every week.  It was tricky to know which version of the still life that I was going to commit to.  The third week of the painting set up, I was pretty much on my own interpreting the arrangement to complete it.  I tried not to focus so heavily on looking at the still life arrangement, and used my own judgement, memory and imagination.  I am really happy with how it has evolved and satisfied that I put all my skill and emotion into it.

Leave a comment and let me know what you feel about this painting?  I would love to hear feedback and insight.

Thanks for reading this post.

Cheers,

Loren

NEW 'on my EASEL' PAINTING TALKED ABOUT

Time for a new 'on my EASEL' painting to be discussed on my blog. This is where I talk about what went into creating a painting.  Basically, it is about how and why I created this featured painting..

'SEARCHING FOR MEANING'   oil on canvas  18x24   (c) Loren Fidalgo 2010 

The painting I am writing about is titled, 'SEARCHING FOR MEANING'.  It is 18x24 and oil on canvas. I really enjoyed creating this piece and I liked the opportunity to dig deep into what goes into the struggle when one is looking for purpose in their life'.  I believe that the seeking and searching may be something that most of us go through some time in our lives. Whether it be addiction to drugs, alcohol, mental illness, emotional loss of a loved one, divorce or trauma or just simple 'existential questioning'.  We may ask ourselves questions... we may tell ourselves what seems to be lies that "we can handle it." With this painting, I am asking, "How do we find the reason? How do we find joy in life, when things are not going our way or we are in pain? How do we find hope?" 

When I began this painting, I had a strong image in my mind about what I wanted to express.  I had the concept in my thoughts about a woman and her struggle to find the reasons for living and why she is here. I wanted to express how it is usually the little things in life that are often missed when one is depressed and feeling like there is no hope. Elements like the flower and butterfly were thought of to  help portray my concept.  I wanted to depict this idea by playing off of a simple phrase that is often said to someone to let them know how they are not valuing the simple things in life.  'Take time to smell the flowers'.  Possibly, people might think that one is not grateful for the little things and they need to take the time to look and see what is right in front of them? For this woman, to smell the flowers is her symbolic way to express her desire to feel what she is missing, the 'joy of life'. She is looking, seeking, hoping and longing. 

 I painted this in a subtle cubist like style and use thick, textured paint. The cubist style helped me to convey the ambivalence that this woman is having in her life.  The woman's eyes are disjointed and each one is looking back out at 'YOU'. This is her way of saying, "I see you, I'm looking at you looking at me and I see that you are wondering what is wrong with me and you are wondering, "why I am 'searching for meaning?" I decided to depict her nude so she is in her most vulnerable and fragile state. The colors I chose are purples, greens, oranges, yellows and reds.  I like the way the colors interact with each other, such as the oranges and greens and purples and yellows.  I used a palette knife to sculpt this entire painting. I stroked the knife on the canvas, moving it in many directions as I carved into the paint. You can see this in the swirls of her hair and the texture in her body.

 In closing about this painting,, the question is inevitably asked, "Does this woman find her meaning?  Well, that is for you to decide.  What do you think?

 I hope you enjoyed the in-depth look into this piece?  If you would like to, please leave a comment or question.  Thanks for reading this post and stay tuned in for the next one.

Cheers,

Loren

NEW 'on my EASEL' PAINTING LOOKED AT UP CLOSE

Hey guys... it's about time for a new 'on my EASEL' painting to be 'looked at up close'. This is where I talk about a specific painting and the thought process I went through to create it.

I am excited to write about this painting because it is an earlier conceptual/fantasy work that I did and it is interesting in texture and subject matter. Let's get to it...

'OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND'    18x24   oil on canvas  by (c) LOREN FIDALGO 2011

The painting I have chosen is titled, 'OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND'.  It is 18x24 oil on canvas.

When I began this painting, I had my concept in mind and I knew I wanted to create a image of a girl pulling her eyes out of her head. "Why" you might ask?  I don't know exactly, but I had this image in my mind for weeks and I had to get it on to the canvas. I knew what I wanted to express however, I didn't know how I was going to do it, so I started by painting the background in a flat bright color of green and yellow.  I drew the outline of the figure and I painted out the girl's face with a palette knife in a textured and layered style.  I liked the contrast between flat blended color and the highs and lows in the texture.  As I was painting her face, the rest of the painting was coming together in my mind and I decided I wanted to create character's faces with vacant eyes missing from her bright red cheeks.  As I painted up to the top of her head, I began to imagine more and more faces with hollow eyes that would be coming out of her ' head', her 'mind' and her 'subconscious'.

I was thinking about how the young girl seemed to look so 'cartoonish' in nature, somewhat surreal/fantasy like. I liked the juxtaposition of this and the reality of the subject matter.  Her face shows her smiling and yet at the same time, she is crying only able to reveal one single tear. Her eyes, as well as the other characters eyes are as if they are on a strand of string which is being pulled from the heads and out of her mouth. One eye after another, then another, are coming out . 
This illustrates the title that she is 'out of sight', i.e.' she and they have lost their eyes and 'out of mind' because she has lost her mind to the characters residing in her head.  All the missing eyes are windows to the soul to this captivating girl and those who live 'upstairs' with her.

The technique of the textured effect was painted in layers beginning with the dark colors first and solely building up to the lightest and brightest areas on top.  I used a palette knife to lift the paint off the palette and lay it down onto the canvas.  I 'pushed and pulled' the paint around the canvas to the desired areas and I carved and sculpted right into the layers of paint below.  This could look random, however, it took some patience and time for the layers of paint to dry to allow for the additional layers of paint to be put on top. The end result is this combination of 'a little bit of paint and a lot of paint' all in one painting.

Well, this is a wrap up for this ' 'on my EASEL' painting.  I hope you enjoyed the new subject matter and the different technique from my other works?  If you have an interpretation of this painting that is different from my own, please by all means, share.  I would love to hear what others think about this piece.  I will be posting another piece with a similar technique some time in the future.

Thanks for checking in to reading about this piece and please feel free to leave a comment if you would like to.  It is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Loren   

NEW LARGE ABSTRACT PAINTINGS FEATURED IN ETSY SHOP!

'PEACHES AND GREEN'     24x30            oil on canvas                 (c) Loren Fidalgo 2013

Hi, there.  It's Loren.

They are finally in the shop!!  I wanted to let everyone know that I have featured some large abstract 24x 30 paintings in my etsy shop.  Scoop them up if you can.  I am really loving the abstract paintings these days and I hope that they appeal to you too?  These featured on my blog are available in my shop.
You can also check the ABSTRACT page to view larger images of the paintings on etsy.

'PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT'   24 x30   oil on canvas   (c) Loren Fidalgo 2013

Scroll through the written content for each painting to read up on what inspired me to create each painting, what paint colors I chose as well as the technique I used.  The paintings are painted on the sides so they are ready for hanging.  They have hooks and wire on the back, too!

'JOURNEY TO HOPE'   24x30   oil on canvas   (c) Loren Fidalgo 2013

Take a peek over at my etsy shop.  I will be featuring more paintings in the next week so keep checking back for new listings.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.  I am happy to help!

Cheers,

Loren