Minor changes and painting again...

I am still doing some changes in our garden, no big projects, but enough to make a difference. I have also slowly starting to paint again. Finished two paintings that I started in the spring, but never finished.

 Before

 After

 Before

After

wacky boxes with apples

Been together with my big love for 8 years now, celebrated it by (among things) with painting something different.

old meet new style

One thing that I enjoy painting is faces. It is a while since I painted one and am a little rusty. This isn't my best one, but I had lot of fun painting it.
The picture that I got inspiration from show how old beard and mustache fashions are back in style. Seen it in a lot of pictures lately.

Water Lilies 2011:6

Here is another one that I kept loose and more expressive colors.
The painting were square in size, but after I finished I realized that the composition worked better if I cut the image size.

Water Lilies 2011:6

Water Lilies 2011:5

One thing leads to another.
Usually when I paint I tend to go in an opposite direction either on the next painting or after a few in a certain style. When I paint I usually work with my instinct and often triggers the question what the painting would have been like if I went the other way. That mean that I often go from simple and strict, to more complexed and expressive. With this painting I went with more colors and more movement, with the contour lines keeping things together.

Painting on paper

Sometimes I paint on paper, sometimes on canvas. The difference is often that I loose up and get more free on paper, trying out new things. Sometimes the finished result feel like sketches, sometimes like a finished painting.
This one feels like a (I think) finished painting.

Big Pop Water Lilies

I liked the "pop water lilies" painting a lot. I thought I take it a step further and make a bigger one. With bigger I don't mean making the same motives bigger, bigger leaves etc. I mean making a more complex painting with more leaves and flowers.
I like the result a lot.

Pop Water Lilies 1-9, Final vision

This is how I imagined that they could be displayed, all together, and it works for me.

Pop Water Lilies nr. 9

Last and final (for now at least) of the series. Went with blue background, looked on the eight that were finished and thought blue is the missing one.
I like to paint these clean graphic paintings and how they look.

Pop Water Lilies nr. 8

Here is number 8. I put the 7 paintings on the floor and decided to go with a red/brown background. The result got a autumn feeling.

Magnolia 3 (the canvas version)

Here is the one I did on canvas. The basic is the same as I painted on paper, with some adjustments.There is more details and I changed one of the background flowers to a bud. I think it works even better.
Think this is going to happen more, that I try new things on paper and some things will end up on canvas too.

Magnolia 2

This was my 2nd attempt to paint Magnolia. The first attempt was OK, I painted the red variation. I still think I can do better, I might show it later.
The second attempt was a painting on paper of white Magnolia flowers. I liked it a lot. I liked it so much that I decided to make a new version on canvas, a little larger than this one. I show that one later, but first the one painted on paper.
Hope you like it.

Pop Water Lilies nr.6

This is number six of my nine 12" x 12" paintings that I am calling "Pop Water Lilies".
I chose a rather neutral background this time too, a warm gray color.
I continued that path of making them very graphic, and it is very clean and crisp. I like it a lot myself.

Water Lilies Close up 2

My second painting on paper came from the idea to limit the color range, and just give the water tension and higlight a yellow green glow. I like the feeling of it.

"2nd version

After I painted the water lilies with gray clouds reflected in the water, I wondered how it would look with a more restrained color scheme on the green leaves.

Start to paint again

After combining studies with work I decided to take a break from painting, but I am finally back in full force, took up painting in mid April.
The first painting I did was this painting of waterlilies with reflections of gray clouds. It was painted with acrylic paint on stretched canvas, 60 x 80 cm (24" x 31"). Since I paint water lilies a lot, I don't usually name them. This one is 2011:1.