Grit, concrete, rainy days inspire new vision

Black iron, copper, gray, titanium white and sand

12×16 Abstract 1267

Rainy days make the city feel more like concrete: gray sky, gray buildings, gray sidewalk. The graffiti painted over haphazardly with an off white. Lines beneath are ghost writing – visible in spite of the cover. Layers of patches and paint leave a gritty surface.

Etching stars into a gritty surface

The 12×16 Abstract 1267 has layers of black and silver with black lava, black and iridescent pearl underneath the top surface of unbleached titanium, gray and black. The shapes of stars were cut into the thick wet top coat to resemble the effect of cutting wet concrete or peeling paint.

Infinite love

Working with black iron metallic paint underneath gray and titanium white, the coarse, wet metallic bleeds through. I used a rust activator to bring the rust to edges. I used a copper metallic paint through the top part of the work and a blue patina aging solution brings out a bit of blue. This painting was inspired by the colors this past

14×18 Infinite Love

week on some cloudy days. The cliffs of Santa Monica appear to rust in the rain and water takes on a sandy gray color to blend with the beach. The sky boils with charcoal, gray, and small holes where I can see a hidden blue sky of a sunny summer day. This part of the year is full of weather transitions, turning winter to spring with brief reminders of how summer feels.

Valentine’s day

The painting also expresses a concept of unconditional love. I hope you have a good Valentine’s Day. Although the day is a contrived event designed to benefit businesses selling flowers and candy, I hope it can also be a time where people express love. On a dark and stormy day, the deep interior can still be warm.

New travel plans: New Zealand and Australia

This time of year is the best time to take a trip. I am hoping to find some summer weather or maybe an early autumn. I am heading to Auckland, New Zealand March 22nd to spend a few days seeing the area. This will be my first visit to New Zealand. I will fly from New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. This will also be my first visit to Australia. I picked Sydney because I have heard there is a big art community in Sydney. My visit to Portugal inspired my new work. I hope New Zealand and Australia will also be a source of inspiration. If you have any suggestions for what to see, let me know

Thanks for stopping by…

I appreciate your feedback and have been inspired by blogs kept by everyone who has stopped by. Travel pictures and experiences shared by you inspired me to choose New Zealand and Australia for my next trip.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. If you are interested in purchasing work, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com. I am still researching how to sell work online. If you have a suggestion of a site or method that is working for you, let me know.

Other works inspired by Portugal… these are cell phone photos. I didn’t get a chance to photograph these five before they were went to their new home.

20×16 Abstracts hanging in their new home

20×16 Abstracts in their new home

Bare trees under a winter sky

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Under a gray winter sky

The days feel much colder now as January is half way through. After visiting Portugal, it feels even colder here in Santa Monica. The sky seemed to become an endless gray cover and I found myself reaching for black, white and every shade between the two. My own version of 50 Shades of Gray… This painting is a black and white version of the last post which was filled with rich and warn hues of brown and gold. I also used some mediums to make the surface appear rough and worn like an old tree weathering a winter.

Drifting from bright color to the gray day

This painting took some time to develop, and then a while to dry. I have continued to experiment with black and white with a small amount of color and will post some of those works soon. While in Portugal, I went to a museum dedicated to a woman who was an abstract artist. Maria Helena Vieira da Silva grew up in Lisbon and was greatly influenced by the structures around her. If you are interested, you can read about here in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Helena_Vieira_da_Silva. I was impressed by the museum and the people who were there working the day I came were very gracious. The museum is near the aqueduct. I have been inspired by her work and inspired by a country that dedicates a museum to a woman who was an abstract artist – a rarity.

Less is more – the impact of sparse color

I am intrigued with the impact of very little color in a work. I have been experimenting with a more structured look like da Silva. It is strange to do something so completely different than my colorful work.

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, and read about your experiences. The best part of WordPress is that I can interact with people from around the world. I am currently trying to decide where to go next, so I will be reading about your trips. My next trip is the end of March and beginning of April… I’m hoping to explore a country I haven’t seen yet.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. If you are interested in purchasing work, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com. I will be working on a way to sell on the web site during the next month and plan to put something up in February.

Environmental Influence: The Trees of Santa Monica

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A Tree on Ocean Park

Santa Monica has some grand old trees in the park along Ocean Park. This one near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Park inspired my work posted here. The tree isn’t quite the mix of color I have here, but has a little more gray on it as if it is showing its age. This is the colorful version of the tree bark. I also have a black and white version that appears a little more rugged and aged: a tree with character.

Chocolate and caramel

I used a mix of warm colors in smooth strokes like a swirl of chocolate and caramel warmed by a little sun. There’s a mix of several colors on top of a black canvas. I actually haven’t put the finish on it, so the color will pop a little more after I do.

Environmental influence

Much of what I paint is inspired by the environment. I have walked past this tree at least a hundred times. Although I took a picture of it, I painted it from a mix of memory and emotion that thinking about the tree evoked. I do appreciate the way care has been taken to keep the trees along Ocean Park alive. I still remember the first time I saw this tree in 1999 while walking along Ocean Park with a friend. We stopped and talked about how grand a tree it was and I took a picture of it. Both the tree and my friend are still part of my life. It is easy to take the beautiful environment and the love of friends for granted, but here I am 13 years later thinking about how grand both the tree and my friend are …

This season

As the days grow short, and a little bit cold, I hope that we all find some warmth and that this brings peace. As the crowds scurry about looking for gifts and getting angry with long lines and traffic, I hope to spend some time with friends and maybe a few old trees before I head to Portugal.

Thank you …

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my work. I have people ask me often why I use WordPress instead of creating my own web page. I always tell them it’s because of the community. While my art is for sale, I hope that there also is a personal connection made in the process to the work. Art on your wall should be something you love to look at, something that evokes a feeling. If you are interested in any works here, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. Please ask permission before using images posted here of my work. You can share the link, repost or share the post.

Framing a bit of serenity

Finding some peace

The first work after returning from the funeral came out looking like spring after a hard winter. I took this painting to be framed before I took a picture of it, so I leaned it up against my car and took this shot with my phone. I chose a floating black frame … one I like to use on my work.

Painting a bit of hope

I hope that my Mom found some peace after all the suffering. I think that painting is a form of expression of what’s inside that can’t find words. I started with a light green on the canvas and then let the colors fall through the layers of blues, greens, browns and purples. Although it has been foggy often lately, I have been painting a bit of spring color on my canvases. This one is 18×24, which is large enough to create complexity.

Thanks for stopping by …

I love the feedback on WordPress and I also like visiting other sites. I have been checking out a lot of travel blogs as I thought about where to go. I booked a flight to Lisbon in December. After reading so much about it on other blogs, I thought it would be a good place to go right now. If you know of any great art galleries there, please let me know. I know there will be plenty of good food and melancholy music. I’m sure it will inspire new work.

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.