Spring Art Show

Black and Silver brought Gold

10 x 12 Oil on wood cradled panel

I am pleased to say that one of my entries into this year's Sprint exhibition won Best in Show!

I have been enjoying painting reflective surfaces lately so my collection of metallic tea cups became

the centre of interest.  Painted in oils on a collaged background, I am most happy with the results.

White Geraniums and Cut Apple

10" square

Oil on wood panel

I so enjoyed painting this one.  I painted this one in oil on a collaged panel.  I put it in the Fall Exhibition and won an honourable mention and a red dot!

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Nasturtiums

Red and Yellow Nasturtiums in Silver Creamer

10" square

Oil on wood panel

Oh how I've missed my blog.  I have been using Instagram a lot more lately and that is probably why I've been remiss in posting here.  But here I am with the final version of my nasturtiums.  I am playing catchup so on to the next painting.

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White Geraniums in Silver

8" x 10"

oil on wood panel

Remember my previous post about painting geraniums?  Well I may have been a little premature.
Painting white geraniums without the best lighting conditions did present more of a challenge.  I do enjoy painting white flowers because of the nuanced colours that appear when painting anything white.  But my photographic skills were not up to par and it was rather difficult to ad lib colour so although I'm satisfied, I'm not thrilled.

Silver & Gold Part II

18" x 24"

Oil and Acrylic

Collage on wood panel

Another one in the series of traditional subject on a fragmented field.  My previous post showed another format of this (8" x 24") and I think I like the outcome enough to pick it up again and

expand on it.  The painting from that post (Silver & Gold will be in the Small Format show at

Galerie Viva Vida for the month of December).... : > )

Revisiting

Here is a series from a year or so ago that I would like to continue with.  I had it in mind to pair up

abstract and traditional.  Definitely something I want to experiment with a bit more.  This panel measures 8" x 24" on deep wood cradled panel.

November Geraniums

November Geraniums

10" x 10" oil on wood panel 3/4" deep

$240.00

They've come inside for the winter.  I'm not that good with geraniums indoors but they have carried

on their momentum in my paintings.  

I was delayed in finishing this one because I searched for a vivid pink (something like Opera which is almost fluorescent).  Not finding any, I used Permanent Rose and lightened it with Gamblin's Radiant Magenta.  A warmer pink than I was aiming for but decided to go ahead and finish this one.  I am happiest with the cluster of petals on the right.  I'm still enjoying (because it's new to me) painting

silver objects.  

Geraniums in Silver with Apple II

6" x 6" x 1.5"

This was a spur of the moment painting using the paint left over from painting the larger version.  (see previous post)  I felt I needed to paint the previous image larger than the usual 6x6 because of the multi petalled geranium but perhaps because I was now familiar with the approach I decided to try the smaller version.  Sometimes simpler is better?

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/joanna-olson/geraniums-in-silver-with-apple/174238

Nearing Completion

                                      Pears in Silver Bowl on blue Gingham
                                        36" square on stretched canvas

Finished!....for now.  I'm at that super critical stage and can't seem to turn it off.  But if I had to walk away from it now, I think it's finished......

nearing completion

Trying not to get too attached to this one but I do love the ochre and blue color theme.  But it was commissioned so I won't have it too much longer.  I feel the need to add another twiggy branch coming out of the vase to fill in that upper left corner.  The pear on the right needs to be shaped and a little softening of the edges on the pear on the left.  And then the final punches of hilights on the silver bowl.  I love that part.

Taking Shape

      

                           

 
















I'm back to the large formats that I enjoy doing this week.  The progression here is from the first sketch to the acrylic blocking in.  I had contemplated painting the whole canvas in acrylic but can't seem to get the depth and richness that oils give me.  So I switched and it's heading in the right direction.  I'm establishing the lights and darks but now I'm itching to get back to it to correct the contrasts.  All this in one day so I mustn't rush it and remember to step back a little more often.  Tomorrow I'll work on the interior of the bowl and the pears. The last image is a photograph that I tweaked in photoshop so the upper third of the image is painterly over the photograph.

Revisiting

Generally there are so many photos to be inspired by, that I don't often do repeats but this painting was one of the first few I did when I started these small formats.  I was curious to see how it would compare to the first one done about a year and a half ago.  I didn't strive to make it different from the first.  This is simply how I painted it now within my comfort zone.  And lo and behold, it is significantly different.  I have adopted this more painterly approach after almost 100 small format paintings and am pleased to have evolved.  This was the point after all.

In search of a brushtroke....

Another little 6x6 oil painting of tangerines in a silver footed bowl.  Would you believe the reason behind

these little 6x6 canvases is so that I can explore methods and hopefully loosen up a little bit.  Eventually I would like to learn to stop the blending and "nitpicking" in favor of gestural brush strokes (as much as one can gesture within a 6" x 6" space!)  But for now this is like my safety net.....More to come in the days ahead.

Tangerine in Silver Footed Bowl
6" x 6" Oil        

Silver and Pearls

Funny how I've returned to a wintry palette so soon. This is one of my favorite designs - sterling silver forged into lengths
of ribbon looking bands connected by some sensuous chainmaille and sprinkled with pearls. It feels great too as the bands
of silver rest on the wrist with the chainmaille creating enough drape and the four clusters of pearls as accents around the wrist.

Two new necklaces....

Two new necklaces that I've added to my Etsy shop. The first one is a 40" plus beaded crochet lariat that is great to wear with jeans. It has a supple, sensuous feel to it too. The other is a triple strand of pearls alternating with hex cut bronze tube beads that glint and glitter...a nice counterpoint to the lustre of pearls. The pearl colors are pinks and shades of bronze and moss green. A nice departure from the usual pearl necklace......

This week's theme for the Year of Jewelry Project that I belong to is
"Atmosphere" - I thought this pearly grey Mother of Pearl with natural pearls and sparkling crystal
was "atmospheric" and frosty - appropriate for this month of March......

Stormy Weather or Snow and Ice

This is my latest addition to the Year of Jewelry blog for week 7 "Stormy Weather". Once you get an idea in your head, it can
be really hard to consider anything else. I knew I wanted to use the AB faced tubes and any other bead I had that look like
ice and snow, so pearls were chosen. Then I picked the design (not that easy as I considered several but were either too influenced by what I had seen on the site already or I had done something like it recently). This chain design was inspired by
Scott David Plumlee. He had used carnelian tubes and I made a mental note that this was a chainmaille design I'd love to try.
Having completed this one however I think I'd pick stones that can stand up to the sterling silver rings. I love pairing pearls
with SS rings but somehow the translucent tubes seem too delicate. I think I accomplished the feel of snow and ice (or stormy weather) though....The bracelet measures 8" with a SS lobster clasp. I believe the ID of the rings were 5.0 and 16ga for the larger of the two sizes and 3.5 ID 18ga for the smaller. I like the way the position of the three larger rings between the
tubes and pearls stagger rather than sit side by side. Unlike other chainmaille designs that can be tumbled for strength and sparkle this design cannot because of the pearls, so anyone contemplating a design such as this should tumble and polish beforehand.......all in all, I'd do this design again.......