Autumn Berry Abstraction 1 - Detail

My largest painting to date, is done.  The question is: "when is the right time to post it?"
After all, it is the holidays, and New Year is approaching. Many people spend the time with family and friends, art might not be the priority.

Hear is a teaser anyway, a small strip of the painting.

Merry X-Mas and A Happy Creative New Year

I'm working on my largest painting to date. It is a real challenge and adventure working this big. I have no idea if it will be a success or not, but I learn a lot.

I want to take the opportunity to wish all viewers, buyers & subscribers a Merry X-mas and A Happy New Year. Thank you all for a great year.

Best wishes

Roger

Flower Abstraction 161 - on the wall

Here is a few pictures of my latest painting, hanging in my kitchen.

Flower Abstraction 161

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This was a great break, because it left me with some great energy and I am looking forward to paint again.

I felt that it was time to leave the non-figurative abstract art for now and I went back to my flower abstractions, but with the ambition to push my limits, going outside my comfort zone.

Didn't want to push too hard, just enough..... and I like the result.

Shapes & Movement 44

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What to do when you love part of a painting, but not able to connect it all together? Well this one was a small part of a larger painting that didn't go in any direction that I liked. I removed the canvas from the frame and stretched this part on a smaller frame. I had to adjust a few things to make it work, but I think it was worth the extra effort.

Feature about "Daily Painting"

A while back, I was contacted by the editor of an English art magazine called "Artists & Illustrators" regarding taking part of a feature about "Daily painting".

You can find the article and my contribution in the January edition, available now.

Shapes & Movement 43

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Time to recharge and do something else. Well there is other things to do this time of year. I have actually baked, made jam. Having a garden and living in the country has really made a difference in my life. One never know before you "have to" if gardening is something that you like. In my case, I found out that I do. 

This is another small abstract painting, trying to find the balance between detail and simplicity.

Shapes & Movement 40

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I tried to keep this rougher than usual, not clean up too much too soon. I like the flow in painting.

It is a delicate balance, letting go and having control, know where you are going and letting the process/painting showing the way. It is so easy to rush things and to think too much. I think I was able to keep the balance in this one.

Shapes & Movement 41 (On the wall)

Here is a couple of pictures of my latest painting displayed in my kitchen. It is my way to give the viewer a more correct experience of the painting. Art on Internet is a tricky thing. Browsing around, looking at art, gives no sense of size. Small paintings looking bigger than they are and large paintings looking small (showing no details).

Shapes & Movement 41

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It was time to push myself again, go outside my comfort zone, push my limits. The hard part is to know where to go and keep some objectivity to what one is doing. Well, I like where it ended up.

Shapes & Movement 38

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This one is a continuation of "Shapes & Movement 37". It isn't a copy, but a variation of the concept, with the same color scheme. The overall impression of it is that it is less "dark" & "moody".

Shapes & Movement 42

SOLD

This is my smallest abstract painting to date. It became more complex than I expected, considering the size. The result is a playful painting.

Shapes & Movement 37

I try to take reference photos of my large paintings, to show the size. The light this time of year isn't ideal, but here it is.....

Shapes & Movement 39

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This one was inspired by the previous paintings in this series and the favorite colors of a collector. This is a good example of a painting that painted itself. I trusted my skill and judgment and had some fun. I really like this one, one of my favorites at this moment.

Bird's Nest Abstraction 49

SOLD

This is the smallest and cutest bird's nest painting I have done. I painted it a few months ago, but never got around to post it. Something else got posted instead and then I took my long break. Not easy to work that small space with my kind of style, but I think I made it work.

Flower Abstraction 148

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This is one of those paintings that was done a while ago, but haven't been posted. I was experimenting at the time, having a lot of fun using different kinds of acrylic paint.

Shapes & Movement 37

Sometimes a painting opens up opportunities, give inspiration for a concept or for further paintings. This one really inspire me and it has already been the inspiration for new paintings. I don't know if I will put it up for sale or not, at least not right away.

Flower Abstraction 159

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I usually do single flower compositions on small panels, but I wanted to experiment with the colors and textures and went a little larger than usual. The result is a distinct flower on a vibrant background.

Shapes & Movement 36

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This is a small continuation painting that is based on what I did with "Shapes & Movement 34". Usually I go small first and then larger, but not this time. I wondered how it would like if I went more "nature" with the colors.

Shapes & Movement 35

SOLD

This is an abstract that came from pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, using more white than usually.

I let go and I like it.

Floral Abstraction 158

 

SOLD

I did this dark flower recently and I love it. I also went a little more contrast with the background and the painting in the whole have given me some ideas.

Shapes & Movement 34

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Last painting was had a very specific color scheme and look. I tried to go the opposite with this one, taking inspiration from nature, but going in an abstract way. I can finally say that I am back painting and having some fun again.

Shapes & Movement 33

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I have started painting again. I am taking it slow and I have no clear direction yet, but I have started to experiment and play with non-figurative abstracts again. I tend to over think things right now and I have to remind myself to have fun and just paint.

Flower Abstraction 140

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This is a small painting I did in June. I played around, tried new things and and had a lot of fun. Still don't have the urge or need to paint, taking the opportunity to do other things.

To mix things up, I offer a 10 US $ discount on this one.

Flower Abstraction 123

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This is a painting that I did in May. Painting whites and soft colors with my distinctive line work isn't easy or something that comes naturally. The natural thing is to go bold, use maximum color. I still can't judge this one. I like it, but is it something that I want to proceed with? Time will tell.

Tree Abstraction 60

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This is one of a couple of paintings that have been around for a while, but haven't been posted for some reason. This one is from February and I was doing a lot of landscapes and tree paintings, getting ready for my Easter exhibition.

Flower Abstraction 157 + Bird's Nest Abstraction 55

The autumn is here and the days are getting shorter. It is hard to find time to paint during the day, when the light is good.
I took some pictures of my latest paintings, displayed on my kitchen wall, showing their size. Not the best light condition, the paintings are in shadow, but I hope they do them justice.

Flower Abstraction 157

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After the initial start, the large flowers and the dark, but vivid background, I had two choices. I could stay with that and only work and balance these elements. I could also take advantage of the large size to ad smaller elements, to ad size and depth contrasts. I chose to latter. I think I made the right decision.

Bird's nest abstraction 55

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I worked on this for a while. It was originally a flower abstraction that went nowhere I wasn't inspired and painting wasn't on my mind. At some point I decided to scrap it and have some fun with it. Working on a used canvas has it's benefits and disadvantages. On one side there is no pressure (can only get better), on the other side lower ones expectation and not taking things serious.

It took some time to get things right, but I had fun, got some inspiration, and I like the result.

Flower Abstraction 155

SOLD

I hope I don't jinx it, but I am painting again. I have done a large bird's nest painting and I am currently working on a large (39.4" 39.4") flower abstraction painting that looks very promising so far.

I did this one a while back, experimenting with colors and shape.

Flower Abstraction 156

SOLD

Time flies and the garden have taken a lot of time and interest. A lot to think about, plan and execute. I have also harvest what we got, made some jam etc.

I am not sure if it's the garden that interest me more right now, but I don't feel any strong urges or inspiration to paint. I know that I need to find and get inspired by a new subject, well it happens when it happens.

This is a small flower abstraction I did earlier. It is fun, bright and playful.

Flower Abstraction 153

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I had a lot of fun doing this one. I pushed the colors, went outside my comfort zone and I like what I achieved.

Flower Abstraction 154

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This is one of my latest paintings. I still dabble in flowers and bird's nests, but looking for my next muse.

If anyone got an idea or a suggestion about a subject that could be interesting in my style, feel free to contact me.

I wanted this one to be like a rainbow, to be soft but with contrasts. It is all about repetition with variations.

Flower Abstraction 141

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This painting is all about variation of a color and the complimenting color. I used acrylic spray paint to make the soft gradient colors and then worked with lines and bold thick brush strokes to contrast the soft. I have a lot of fun exploring this.

Flower Abstraction 143

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Going outside my comfort zone is a good thing, scary but good. I have played around with colors and textures. Using spray paint allows me to hint colors within colors. Not easy to control, but a lot of fun.

Rowan Berries 26

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I did this a while back and was ahead of time, this berries is getting read around now. There is a lot of similar berry bushes/trees, even if these isn't common everywhere.

This painting was originally rectangular, but I thought it lacked focus and cut the canvas down and re-framed it as a square.

Artist Appreciation Month

I was reminded by Patience Brewster that August is Artist Appreciation month. Patience is an artist herself and designs holiday ornaments and figurines. They invited me to write about artists/painters that have or are inspiring me. Naturally I accepted.

I started out drawing and painting without a drive, without any ambition. I never did something new, I didn't push myself and I didn't grow as an artist. It also meant that there was nothing to drive me forward. I painted a few paintings and then nothing. It could mean that I didn't do anything for years.

At a point I realized that I was stuck, I was repeating myself. I also felt that there were too much focus on skill/technique and too little on expression. There were artist that I always felt connected to, Like Vincent Van Gogh. I love his combination of bold brush strokes and strong colors.

Through Internet I found new artists that inspire me and have made impact on my art. They way I paint, the direction I want to go.

I don't want to be a copy cat, I learn from what I see and make it my own.

A few artists that has influenced my work are (in no particular order):

Carol Marine (Love her brush strokes and her ability to simplify, keeping it clean and graphic).

Robert Joyner (His roughness, almost abstract approach is amazing. He brings order to chaos (if you know what I mean).

Steve Penley (I espcially like his landscape paintings, but also his portraits. Love his bold colors and brush strokes.)

Andrew Salgado (I get inspired by the way he combine areas that has bold brush stokes and textures with other areas that are calm. He does super large abstract portraits.)

I have grown a lot and I hope that I won't stop doing that. I am on a journey, a fun one.

 This is where I am today.

This is me in 2009 (a painting called "Above")

I am not saying that my art sucked back then, I did some great paintings, but they didn't inspire me to keep painting. My art today drives me forward, inspire me to continue and other artists inspire me to push myself outside my comfort zone.

Flower Abstraction 145

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Finally I have a beautiful and functional greenhouse. It took a lot of time, hard of work, but in the end, it was worth it.
This is a painting that I did a while back. It is a flower abstraction that has a limited color palette and has a lot of impact.

Bird's Nest Abstraction 52

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I did this one a few weeks ago. I wanted to go bold with colors and shape and have some fun with it.

Bird's Nest Abstraction 53

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Am busy assembling our new greenhouse, a lot of work, but thought I post this painting that I did a few weeks ago. This is a large bird's nest painting that has a lot of earthy colors, wanted to play with variations, keep it interesting without it getting messy.

Flower Abstraction 150

 SOLD

I wanted to do a dark  flower abstraction with a limited color palette, with the sparkle of yellow/red in the center of the flower, glowing in the night.

Flower Abstraction 135

SOLD

Well, still doing garden things and not painting, but gardening is creative too. We considered to build a low stone wall, but the thought of digging etc. changed our minds. We continued the fence instead. We made it slightly lower than the side, but we connected them in a way that we think looks great. Still has to plan, buy and plant more bushes, trees and flowers, and let it grow, but it is a start.

The painting is a small flower abstraction with a two flower composition and some bold brush strokes.