More than 100 Years Abstract Painting

Abstract painting started probably in 1910 when Kandinsky created his first non-figurative water color painting. So the way I painted in 2008/2009 hat an almost 100 year old tradition, this kind looking back on the Delaunys, Feininger and Klee. There is nothing really new about it, but as my husband likes a smaller version (postcard size) of this painting so much, I answered his request by creating this large acrylic painting. You can conclude on the size from the newspaper you see at the lower left corner. It will decorate our bedroom and hopefully not disturb our sleep with its outburst of rays and colors.

Stealing Other Artists' Tricks

Watercolor, 30x42 cm, approx. double letter size

Last week, my husband and I got on the train and visited Bremen, two hours from our home. In the Kunsthalle, a retrospective on the work of Wols is shown, a German artist who reached an age of only 38 and was a friend of the French surrealists. He lived in France and Spain, trying to emigrate to the USA on the run from Nazi prosecution. But he never got there. He survived the war and died from a food imposoning in 1951.
Funny: This exhibition inspired me although I did not like most of Wols' work. His older watercolor and pen drawings are no different from the things that all the people draw after smoking grass (no idea if he did). His later watercolors are extremely charming and remind of Paul Klee's work. His larger paintings are obscure and show a violent temper with the paint flung and splashed onto the canvas, they are carved with scratchings and big blobs of paint which must have taken ages to dry.

Detail of "A Friendly Little Flash"

I was very impressed by his watercolor techniques and tried them on this watercolor (above), my latest painting, double letter format. Title: "A Friendly Little Flash". I filled my rocks with petrified life this time.

Exhibition site

Complete Change

Fairy Hill. A place in which there is a different time continuity.

Still Messing with the Menhirs

"Golden Mountains", water color, appr. letter format

"Columns", ink drawing, approx. letter format

Stone circles, menhirs and other rock formations which were put deliberately into a place have something haunting, something mysterious. So many have been placed somewhere else; but what if the stone doesn't matter, but the place does? If man in a few thousand years cannot read our sign posts and put them somewhere else, we know it doesn't make sense. But maybe this is what we do.

"You wanted it like this", water colors, approx. letter format

"Erratic Boulders", water colors,
double letter format

Last summer, I painted this water color. It is about the contrast between brillant hues and subdued large areas. But somehow, my choice of colors has become a lot brighter. I had the feeling that the colors demanded me to use them like this, hence the title.

New Paint Box

On the left, there is a new paint box with fresh white palettes. The one on the right side is history; I bought it as a student of Fine Arts, early in the seventies. The palettes had rusty patches which I repaired with white acrylic paint, so they are really used and don't support my work as I need it. Yet, they will contain alternative hues and widen the spectrum.

 

My latest watercolor painting: "Measuring the Dolmen", approx. double letter format.

 And now I'm going back to my working table, while this is my view:

 

It is snowing again incessantly. The forecast is 4" of snow and, during the coming week, temperatures going down 9 below freezing point at night.

New Painting

Every 2 or 3 days, a new painting pops out of my studio. Gouache, 8.3x11.7"
Title: "Stabbing Mother Earth II".
The Tibetans believed that mining is no good; it might stir up negative forces from inside the earth. They would only take what the earth gave them. Even benevolent observers like Heinrich Harrer smiled about this naive attitude.

My Etsy Shop is Back!

For a long time, I did not have any items on my Etsy shop. It did not seem to be very rewarding, and after all, it is real money you spend for showing items. Recently, I heard words of encouragement to display paintings, so now my shop is back. It displays 10 items, one is an embroidery, the rest are paintings, most of them on a black background. They are gouache paintings of approximately letter format (A4). Now you find the shop, too, on the right column of my blog.
Or please click here.

Painting and Collecting

"Copper Mine", size approx. letter

Some bits of my color pencil collection

 Colour pencil on black cardboard works fine and is not as dangerous as gouache when being used in the living room. You might remember: I started embroidery and quilting to have something to do while my husband watches tv in the evening. We need to be together during the few hours of day when he is at home. -- My collection of color pencils is much larger, but I am ashamed to show the whole bunch. Stash collectors... Well, I'd probably not collect things that cannot be transformed into something else.

Painted Diary, Gouache

At night, I carry on with my gouache paintings. I use a small book -- about half letter size -- to create a painted diary with comments. 

The Black Waters of Loch Ness

African Dance

Merry Xmas, Mr Vassily!

Happy Boomerangs

Age of Paint

Like some alcoholics who are periodic drunkards, I let my passion for paint run freely for the time being. The needle goes cold in these periods, but never mind, it will be picked up when the time has come. You may have wondered (if you saw the series I showed as a guest blogger on Rayna Gillman's blog) why I work mostly on black. Does this show that I'm in a critical phase of life or depressive? Well, I started painting on black when I was 3 years old and had my first paintbox. My access to black was positive. It provided the perfect background for dreams, it gave an amazig brillance to my favourite colors . The color cups in my paint box containing yellow, white and light green were the first to be empty. My mother generously provided a new color box, everytime one was up -- and they did not last long. I remember how thrilled I was when I received a larger paintbox with names of the colors for my 8th birthday! Indian yellow, raw umber, turquoise -- only apple pancakes could have pleased me more.

Painting on a black backgroud, you can make something rise ever so softly out of the dark, whereas on white it is in the limelight right away. I love the process of letting something secretly emerge from the depth of space, just like dreams and thoughts do.

How to build a mobilé

After Chris suggested a tutorial, I thought how to show the way it works. The metal parts are black, the threads are red. Such bows can be bought, but also be made of wire or small rattan canes. Please start with the bottom part, building it up step by step. The most important part of the job is finding the balance, and this is something I can hardly explain.

The dangling objects are pieces of stiff cardboard I cut in geometrical shapes and painted with gouache, but I guess I'd rather recommend acrylics because the surface of gouaches is quite vulnerable.

... and the edges
better get painted, too!

In the second picture you can see the very easy method of building the objects. No glue is used to keep the parts in place. It is crucial to make a precise cut, not too thin, not too wide; if you cut only once, the space is too narrow, and the pieces will warp when being shoved into one another. If the cut is too large, they will drop apart. The width of the cut and the material thickness should be the same. -- Have fun making your own mobilé!

And if you do -- I can't wait to see your results. Please let me know!

WIP: Each Side Up

 

As the title says: This painting can be turned upside down as well. May the light reach every house and beyond. More rays and more houses should be coming soon. Size: approx. letter format, gouache.

Almost feeling normal, just a little weak and having to keep a low fat diet.

Creating my hues

 I like to blend larger quantities of my favourite paints. This is gouache. I like them to be different from the shades that come directly from the tube.


Do you find it decadent to use antique Japanese sake bowls for my paints? I believe they inspire me. 

Sunshine and joy on a roof

 A blue sky and cold wind. It was nice to sit in the sun, but in the shadow, my nose got cold at once. We had our winter tyres exchanged today. Crows were enjoying the sun under a label saying "for birds" -- at least, this is what they believe the golden chap is for.

 Just a little glimpse of the sunshine and shadow play.

 I don't have a design wall, but today I decided to occupy this window between corridor and living room for my paintings.
The one below is about wind and sun power dominating over nukes, at least this is what I hope will happen. It is color pencil and gouache on black paper.

And also this one is about windpower. I love it, but not the machines; I think they are an insult to the eye. They should be designed like this, I believe.

Japan is in the news every day.

Japanese calligraphy on fabric

"A walk in town"

One of my fabric treasures is this print by Rayna Gillman. I was very happy to get this. It will be part of my museum quilt. And I started a painting again, using a piece of cardboard from a packing. A shirt or what. Very plain brown paper, stiff enough to paint on it. I'm eager to get such material, it is a lot more inspiring than clean white sheets. Of course, I will leave parts of the surface uncovered. It is simple, it is primitive. I hope it will influence my style.

Landing Maneuver

"Spaceship Landing". Gouache painting, letter format.
Sunshine and warmer temperatures, distinctly above freezing point, even at night. I'm so relieved. It may go colder, but the sun is definitely stronger now.
Most of the time, I spend on compiling a book on modern art, a kind of "how to identify artwork" for the 20th century. I promised to do it for my husband, and it is a lot of work. I cannot publish it for copyright reasons of the artwork. Just a glimpse! It has 128 pages, on which each term like "impressionism" or "colorfield painting" is illustrated by featuring a few artists and 2 or 3 paintings by each of them. It is crowned by maps of origin and connections, a table of mutual influences.
As you see, my husband has a special liking for schemes and tables, so he compiled this one.

Painting again

I'm back in my little studio. Gouache, 15x10 cm. Title: Townscape. Awful light, sorry for the blur.

Update: The second show, the memorial one, will be performed on Thursday night, but the work is finished, and I can go back to my painting and needlework. Which is a recreation!

While I was painting...

 ... I tried to keep you entertained with other things until this would be finished. Gouache painting, approx. letter format. The sad story of the end of the Tatzelwurms ancestor. George stabbed him to death and became a hero. This scene is painted from the Tatzelwormic view which explains the color of the aura. No Tatzelwurm ever was named George which is easy to understand.

Do you find yourself sometimes involved in your artwork, thinking of blog reactions in advance? Does it influence/inspire/disturb your working progress? I have a serious problem with rising vanity thru blogging, but addicts can't just stop.

Dad is a babysitter

While Mom is shopping. Gouache, unfinished

The worm is still going strong

There are not only dragons. There is also a Bavarian relative. This time again as an ink drawing on paper. I made a few versions of the same topic, something I rarely did in the past. Is it better to develop a motif or does it contain the risk to get bored and drop the project?
What do you think, how do you work? I used to get bored easily, but not this time. I have plans. Wait and see.
The easiest way to transform it is to color the scene, be it by hand or electronically. I'll try both methods. Then it will possibly go on to be transferred to fabric, either drawn/painted, lino-cut (problem: almost no room for printing) or another easy but more expensive way: To be sent to Spoonflower. A large choice! -- The embroidery got stuck somehow. Too many plans, maybe!

Nocturnal Garden with Visitor

Plants and sky are finished.
The next one will be on a white ground because I think I'll try another fabric design or t-shirt. For cloth printing, the black background is a disadvantage.
Painting plants on a dark ground reminds me of nights under trees. Plants breathe like plants at day-time, but like animals during the night, consuming oxygen, as we do; could it be they sleep at day and are awake at night?