Small view of coastal color

Small view

The beach in Santa Monica is layers of land, water, brown cliffs, and the green of trees and grass. On these beautiful fall afternoons, late afternoon, when the sun is starting to set, the colors blend in my mind. This abstract, inspired by the beauty around me, is only 8 inches by 8 inches.

I wanted to create a small work that I could take with me when I went to see my Mom who is fighting cancer. (She lives out of state.) She has a particularly aggressive cancer that started with a tumor behind her eye. She is blind in that eye and now has another tumor in the root of her tooth. It is difficult to see my Mom this way but also it was good to see her. I have been lucky enough to have my Mom in my life for many years. My Mom loves acrylic paintings with texture, so I created this one for her because it is small enough for her to hold to touch and look at closely. My time is short with my Mom and it felt good to share something with her. She is not able to travel to see my studio so this is the best I can do.

Art reflects life changes

I have been settling in my new place in Santa Monica and painting where I live while I search for a new studio space. The change in work space has inspired different approaches to my work. I also have been trying different brands of paint, which has also changed the outcome. If you paint with acrylic, then you understand the nature of working with it. Some brands produce a thicker paint that lends itself to the type of work I like to do. These works were done with the Blick brand of paint. It tends to be more liquid than what I have used in the past. I have been mixing it with different mediums such as glass beads, pumice, iridescent, crackle paste, and a few others to thicken it up. The work to the right is only 5 x 7 inches. It can be challenging to work on a small canvas…this one just happened. Often painting is almost an out of body experience – I am lost in the creation. I spent days afterword waiting for this one to dry. About a week later, when it finally dried, I still wasn’t sure what I thought of it, but it has a combination of some of my favorite colors of blue. It feels like late evening, last light of the day, the blue period before dark and the sky blackening behind stars.

Thanks for stopping by …

I appreciate everyone’s feedback … it is inspiring to hear from others and also to visit your blogs to see your travel pictures, artisitic photographs, design, art, and read about your experiences. I think the best part of having a WordPress site is that you can interact with people from around the world. I haven’t been able to travel outside the country for a bit and so I love seeing and reading about your trips. I will be going in December/January somewhere… I’m hoping to explore a country I haven’t see yet.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. Please ask permission before using images posted here of my work. If you are interested in purchasing work, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com.

Color of August

12×12

One Hot August Afternoon

I finally made the space to start painting again in acrylic. I had taken up using charcoal and a pad of paper for a bit during my move to Santa Monica but it doesn’t compare to working with a tool to create a three dimensional piece such as the one I’m posting today.

Colors collide

I wanted to use a hot pink with a green and white, and so I began working on this piece. Just laying the colors next to each other created a glowing affect. I mixed in several other colors to increase its complexity. I used five mediums in this one to add some variation in the surface. Glass beads are one of my favorites, but this jar contained smaller sized glass beads so the result looks different than previous works.

This photograph

It’s difficult to see all the color in the darker area but if you click on the photograph and enlarge it, you will probably see it much better. I was using diffused natural sunlight to get this photograph. Usually I set up bright white light to increase the detail in the picture, but I thought I’d try the natural light that floods into my workspace. I also tried a different type of acrylic paint that takes quite a long time to dry. I have my floor covered with several pieces that are drying – one two by four foot piece is probably going to take over a week to dry.
Thank you for stopping by …

As always, I appreciate comments and likes… it is very motivating to have some interaction. Painting can be a solitary activity. I’m not saying that is always bad because it also is a great way to take your mind off all the frustration and stress our world can bring on us.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. Please ask permission before using images posted here of my work. If you are interested in purchasing work, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com.

Transit of Venus inspries a passion for purple paint

10×30

10×30

12×30

Planetary Push

Last week, as Venus made its way across the sun, I found myself picking up purple, red, orange, and pink. My work took on a different tone with this choice. The first piece – Water 30, which is an 10×30 very vertical canvas had a coat of red on it. (Click on the image for a better view.) I took black, mixed it with a glossy medium and water to coat the red in a thin layer of black. I began working on the painting with a wet canvas. The lower half took on a darker shade with Prussian Blue, Black and Violet (and a few others) and the top half took on a fiery orange and pink look with yellow oxide, pink, raw umber, and light yellow. The black bleeds through the painting and this is most apparent on the top half. This painting was tough to photograph because of such a great contrast. There are colors streaked through the black that have disappeared slightly. Black and other dark colors are very difficult to photograph.

The second painting, Water 31, also 10×30, I started with a purple coat on the canvas. I used water to keep the lower half wetter than the top half. The effect on the blue and black was to create the look of water that is more still. Sometimes the water can be flat out here, which tends to create swirls of color.

The third painting in this series, Water 32, a 12×30 canvas, was a little lighter overall than the first two. I started with a dry aqua green canvas and painted a thin layer of pink over it. After that, I added almost every color I had in the studio, including: Dioxazine purple, deep violet,  quinacridone  magenta, alizarin crimson hue permanent, primary red, cadmium red deep hue, primary magenta, cadmium orange and cadmium red light hue, mineral orange and organic orange, raw sienna, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, red oxide, yellow oxide, organic yellow, flash gold sheer, naphthol crimson, cadmium deep red, wedgewood, bright aqua green, bright yellow green, cobalt blue, prussian blue, manganese blue, hooker’s green, permanent deep green, permanent green light, light blue permanent, phthalocyanine blue, cerulean blue, light blue violet, titanium white, iridescent medium, glass beads, gloss medium varnish, copper, gold, silver, green-gold semi opaque metallic paint, black lava texture gel, ivory black, and carbon black. The use of so many colors is an attempt to have each stroke hold a rainbow of color. I changed my approach to texture with the third one using thicker but thinner layers.

All work is available for sale. Copyright is retained by Trish Falin. Images are available for use under the Fair Use guidelines. Please credit Trish Falin at www.trishfalin.com. Inquiries about commercial use or purchase can be directed to trishfalin@gmail.com. I appreciate feedback from everyone. Thank you for stopping by!

Sunny Day

I’ve been working on smaller canvas lately (16×20), concentrating on the color and texture of these beautiful sunny days. This piece, Water 8, is still wet … I took this picture right after I finished it. It takes almost a week for it to dry completely. During the week, more of the black behind all this color will show through. The colors blend a little and some become more pronounced. Often a color that I have hidden underneath appears more brightly. I will post the finished work soon, along with other new works. Thank you for stopping by to take a look.