Yet Another Painting of Leaves....and My First Dog Portrait

I thought my obsession with leaves and negative painting was over, but it seems I was wrong. Hopefully, you are not too tired of these... This painting is a small 8" x 10" acrylic on Ampersand panel. I love the textures that can be achieved on this surface.

Autumn Leaves- 10" x 8" - Acrylic on Ampersand panel

I am finishing a large watercolor commission that I have had for months. To relax in between watercolor painting sessions, I have been playing. Last week, I painted my first dog portrait and had fun making it very colorful:-)

Chleo, the Bassett Hound - 10" x 10" acrylic

I am pleased that I have managed to post more regularly lately.
Wishing you a great week.

Forest Light: Another Negative Technique Painting

"Forest Light": Another Negative Technique Painting

Forest Light

Note: on my monitor, the painting is much brighter than in real life on this site, while it uploads closer to the real values on Facebook. Strange!

I have just finished another acrylic painting of leaves in negative painting technique. I think this will be enough leaves for a while at least:-)

The painting is 16" x 20" and I have painted the sides blue. I am not sure yet if I will leave it as is or get it framed since it is not on a gallery wrapped canvas.

Now, I will go and work on a watercolor commission and think about what I will paint next.

I wish you a great week!

Latest painting and Great Summer Workshops!

This weekend I decided to play in the studio and created Forest Glow - 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas
I really had fun creating this painting of a small corner of an imaginary forest. Since I love solving puzzles and sudokus,  I think it is not surprising that I never get tired of the negative painting techniques and love to carve stem after stem, leaf after leaf into a colorful background. It is like working in a maze:-) I hope you don't find the result too chaotic.

 I have been very fortunate to have taken several workshops with the "Ambassador of Negative Painting", Linda Kemp. Last summer, I took a one-day workshop with this great lady and just over a week ago, I attended the Holbein Vermont Event and attended 3 half-day workshops with Linda. What a treat!
The same week, I took a half-day workshop with the well-known American landscape painter, Ken Muenzenmayer. His landscapes are so luminous. He paints as many as 50 layers on ampersand panels to achieve a wonderful glow! 
In early June, I signed up for my first ever portraiture class...I had never even tried to draw a face I think...I certainly was more than a bit apprehensive:-) The class was being offered by a visiting artist from France, Monsieur Habib Chamat.

Habib was a wonderful teacher and in four days he had me sketching faces and painting portraits in acrylic. Don't laugh at the portrait below of an imaginary man: this is my first ever portrait and I am proud of it:-) My next attempt at portraiture will be the portrait of my 96 year-old mother...

My First Portrait

 What wonderful experiences...and quite humbling at the same time to watch all these excellent artists and teachers paint....I can't wait for another great workshop opportunity.

Wishing you a great month of August!

Christiane

Textured Semi-Abstract: Blowing in the Wind

Blowing in the Wind

Here is another acrylic painting on a 16" x 16" gallery wrapped canvas. I intended to paint a textured abstract, but it quickly became more of a semi-abstract with some subtle negative painting suggesting branches or stems.  I had a lot of fun creating the various textures on the canvas. See some close-ups of the textures below:

Blowing in the wind - detail

Blowing in the wind - detail

Let me know what you think.

Dreaming of Canadian autumn:-)

Dreaming of Canadian autumn:-)
A small 6" x 8" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas all done in negative painting technique. It shows the subtle dance and shimmer of autumn leaves carried away on the surface of a stream.
Currently available online on Daily Paintworks :
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/christiane-kingsley/canadian-autumn/242548

I got fascinated with negative painting techniques last summer after taking a workshop with renowned watercolor/acrylic painter Linda Kemp, who is often called the "ambassador for negative painting".  I will be taking more workshops with her this year.  I find negative painting totally addictive!

Return to Blogging and Recent Paintings

It's been months since I have posted on my blog. I truly apologize for this absence. I hope my readers are still around:-) I seem to spend a lot more time on Facebook these days. Why is that? Maybe because Facebook is quicker, although it is more appropriate for short posts with less information than the blog...Not sure...But, I intend to post more regularly again on my blog.

Today, I will show some of my most recent paintings: one varnished watercolour, two acrylics of boats  and two acrylic abstracts. The two boat paintings were recently sold at the Kevin Dodds Gallery and Studio at 1101 Bank St, in Ottawa, Ontario. The others have recently been added to Kevin Dodds' Gallery.

Talk to you soon I hope!

"Summer Dreams" - Acrylic -10" X 10" - SOLD

"Waterlilies"-Varnished Watercolour - 18" x 24"

"Gatineau Hills Energy" - Acrylic - 16" x 16"

"Floating Dreams" - Acrylic - SOLD

"Dreamscape" - Textured Acrylic - 16" x 16"

New Art Show: The Year of the Horse

The Year of the Horse - A group art show curated by Christiane Kingsley and Luminita Serbanescu

Today, two of my friends and I hung 40 paintings by 6 Ottawa artists at Cafe Angelina, near the popular Byward Market. The show is called "The Year of the Horse" and includes several paintings of horses and several with a Chinese feel. Such a colorful and vibrant show with something for every taste!

There will be a Meet the Artists reception on Sunday, Feb. 9th, from 3 to 5 where all six featured artists will be present:
Marie Arsenault, Elisabeth Arbuckle, Dhanashri Bapat, Christiane Kingsley, Luminita Serbanescu and Sawsan Shorbajee.

My "horse" entry for the show is a pewter and acrylic piece, of an Estrucan horse from a statuette in the British Museum. It is one of a pair....the other, facing in the other direction, and with different hand embossing, is currently on display at the Kevin Dodds gallery at 1101 Bank St. Ottawa.

 If you are in Ottawa for Winterlude, please drop in and see the show at 11 Murray St,. about two hundred yards from the National Arts Gallery of Canada.

Sold at Opening Reception of the Holiday Fundraising Art Sale

My highly textured " Happy Dance of The Weeping Tree" sold last night at the opening reception of the Ottawa School of Art (OSA) Holiday Fundraising Art Sale. After I bring in a replacement piece for this one, I will have three more paintings in this exciting show. The funds raised from this sale go toward the Ottawa School of Art’s bursary programs to provide free art classes and materials, while maintaining their high standard of instruction.

The downtown campus of the OSA is located at 35 George Street, Ottawa.

An Acrylic Abstract and Another in Aquatic Series

I have just had my aquatic series framed. The only one that you have not yet seen is "Fallen Angels" inspired by a WetCanvas photo. It is on Ampersand Claybord and measures 12" x 9" without the black floating frame. I tried to create a veil of mystery especially on the left-hand side where a small layer of water and mist are covering the leaves. I hope I succeeded.

Fallen Angels

The next painting is totally different.  It was started in Vermont at the beginning of the month when I took an acrylic workshop with Linda Kemp: we played with all the Holbein acrylic products. During the workshop, we simply created the textures and I painted the 11" x 14" canvas last week.

I don't have a title for it yet. Any suggestions?

I wish you a wonderful weekend.

More on my acrylic journey

I have to admit it: I am totally hooked on acrylics! I am also hooked on negative painting!

Here are three paintings I have done in the past two weeks:

"The Dancers Below the Surface"

 

 

This 12" x 16" painting on canvas went through many transformations. I started with reds and oranges and ended up with these muted blues.

"Shimmer on the Pond"

As you can see, I have also developed an obsession with leaves and water:-) This 9"x 12" acrylic painting is on a cradled gessobord made by the Ampersand company.

"The Last Waltz"

This 3rd acrylic painting is 8" x 10" and is on Claybord by Ampersand. This glass-like surface does not photograph well; in real life, it has a wonderful glossy surface. It requires getting used to, but it is wonderfully different.

I love to experiment and the last few weeks I have felt so energized by my new journey with acrylic paints. I hope that you will like these paintings.

I hope that you are all enjoying these summer days.

More Acrylic Fun: "Underwater Fantasy"

"Underwater Fantasy"

I seem to be hooked on acrylic and negative painting these days. Here is my latest done spontaneously apart from drawing one leaf shape to start. I should pay more attention to the composition, but creating all these seaweed shapes was so much fun!
This is 12"x 12" on a flat Ampersand Claybord panel.

New Show at Angelina Cafe 11 Murray St. corner of Sussex Dr. Ottawa

New Show at Angelina Cafe 11 Murray St. corner of Sussex Dr. Ottawa

My great artist friend, Luminita Lou Serbanescu, and I are excited about showing at Cafe Angelina in July and August. We will be at the Cafe on Monday to celebrate Canada Day. Weather permitting, we will be outside with small pieces of artwork for summer giving. I will have some of my jewelry, my "Little Gems" and both Luminita and I will have miniature paintings. Inside, we will have somewhat larger paintings.

Cafe Angelina will be right in the middle of the action on Monday since it is a few feet away from Sussex drive, the National Art Gallery etc...I believe Murray street will be turned into a pedestrian street for the celebrations.

Come and celebrate with us!

Neptune's Sea Horses juried in Selections 2013

I was thrilled to find out yesterday that my latest watercolor painting, "Neptune's Sea Horses - Florence" was juried in Selections 2013
 
This annual juried art show will take place from September 26th to October 22rd, 2013 in the Trinity Art Gallery at the Shenkman Arts Centre, in Ottawa. 

 This year, 60 original works were selected from the 321 submissions.

FOREST WHISPERS

"Forest Whispers" - 8" x 10" acrylic on 3/4" ampersand cradled panel

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am becoming addicted to this negative painting technique, at least on this slick ampersand panel surface.  I started with the main leaf in the foreground, then "found' new shapes around and behind the this leaf as I intensified the values. Then I tried to imagine the criss-crossing of stems and twigs on the forest floor as well as little openings of light through the vegetation. This is so much fun!

I varnished the painting and painted the sides black. The painting does not need to be framed. However, I tried it in a black floating frame and it really made the colors pop.

Let me know what you think.
I am offering this painting through my Daily Paintworks site.

Still Playing...but learning at the same time

"Sea Waltz" - 5" x 7" x 7/8" on Ampersand panel

This weekend, I experimented with Ampersand Claybord panels that I had purchased in NYC two years ago. I used acrylics and this "structured and tight" painter  tried her hand at intuitive negative painting without any preliminary drawing or even a plan! My, what is happening to me???

Well, I had fun! I think by the end of the painting I was totally hooked on creating those little bits of light through and between the free-form leaves. I tried to stop before I had drilled a huge whole through those plants to reveal only the blue water:-)

What have I learned through this play? Well, I am better at understanding the concept of negative painting, I am more aware of what "lies behind or beneath", and I am starting to appreciate the surface of the claybord.

I think I will try something similar on a lager 5/8" thick Ampersand panel that is hiding somewhere in my studio.
Have a great weekend....and don't despair...I will return to my "serious" paintings before long.

What I've been up to

Time is just flying by...Why is it that the days seem to be getting shorter every month?

I was in Montreal last week for a few wonderful days, I've had house guests since, I have done computer work as webmaster for two local art organizations, etc.

What about painting? Well, I've created a few more of my "Little Gems Collection" pieces; several are now at the Ottawa School of Art Boutique Gallery in downtown Ottawa along with my new "Polar" series ( I forgot to photograph them before bringing them to the gallery:-(

Here are a few of my recent fun pieces:

"Rushing to the School Meeting"

I created this piece on a 16" x 16" gallery wrapped canvas on which I had collaged a few pieces of textured rice paper last year. One of the pieces of rice paper ( top left corner) reminded me of a fish; another looked like a jelly fish...so, recently, I decided to play some more with this piece and continue the sea theme. The resulting painting has a lot of textures from various acrylic gels that I embossed, carved into, pushed through stencils etc. What a lot of fun that was! At the same time, I was working on a tight, structured and complex watercolor, so this piece was great to unwind.

If interested, check my mixed media page ( see menu at top) where you can view close-ups of some of the textures.

"My Sweet Friend"

Above is another of my "Little Gems Collection". This glass-like or porcelain-like acrylic piece is on a 4" x 4" gallery cradled panel with sides painted black. It is highly textured and is a totally whimsical piece. My friend and great artist Luminita Serbanescu and I will be having a show in July called "Stunning Gifts" and the focus will be on small, reasonably-priced  artwork perfect for giving.

In another post, I will soon show the latest hand-made, hand -painted jewelry on watercolor paper that I have completed.

Now, I am going back to a large watercolour piece that seems to take forever to finish...but I think it will be worth the time spent on it.

Wishing you a wonderful week.

NEW "LITTLE GEMS COLLECTION"

Summer is the time of  fun in the sun, colorful butterflies, thanking those patient teachers, congratulating the young graduates and smiling with the newly-weds. What better time for my new "Little Gems Collection".  

I have been having fun creating these small pieces. These whimsical, highly textured and affordable acrylic and mixed media pieces are full of reflecting light and colors. They are painted on gallery birch panels that can sit on a shelf, on a desk or be displayed on the wall. These small paintings have layers and layers of color, of acrylic medium and are finished to a hard, shiny surface.


 They will cheer up any corner and any heart:-) They certainly make me smile as I work creating them:-) . My next one will have spring flowers most likely.

  They will soon be offered through various art galleries in the Ottawa area and perhaps online, but here are two that are available for the time being directly from me. See close-ups on my Mixed Media page.
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Do let me know what you think of them.
 Have a super creative week!

New 2-Women Show: "From Heart to Stone"

"From Heart to Stone": Two-women show at Cafe 111 Lisgar in the Ottawa City Hall.

My friend Luminita Serbanescu and I invite you to visit our new show, "From Heart to Stone" at Cafe 111 Lisgar situated in the Ottawa City Hall. The show will run until the end of June with a "Meet the Artists" reception on Thursday, May 9th from 1 to 3.

Luminita's main sources of inspiration are the ever-changing and intangible human emotions while I am attracted by the solidity and permanence of stonework: carvings, gargoyles and the Green Men created by so many different cultures. The surprising element in this artistic meeting is that we find a common ground:Canadan and the City of Ottawa is a backdrop of many or our paintings and our shared love of nature becomes a transitional thread between us.

Please note that the Cafe is open weekdays from 7 am to 4 pm.

Award and upcoming show

I was thrilled to learn that my latest painting, "Neptune's Sea Horses" won the Viewers Choice Award in the show "March Break" that ended on Easter Sunday at the Foyer Gallery.

 This weekend, I will be at the Nepean Fine Arts League Spring Show at 1000 Byron Avenue in Ottawa, Canada. If you are in the area, do try to drop in: it is usually a fabulous show!

Three-Artists Show at Foyer Gallery

If you are in the Ottawa area between now and March 31, I invite you to "March Break", a show at the Foyer Gallery in which I am participating with two other artists, Luminita Serbanescu and Terry Cowan. We try to bring you the magic of that long-awaited March Break with its sunny destinations and its feeling of joy and freedom after the long winter months.

Try to make it for the opening reception Saturday, March 16, from 1 to 3. Hope to see you there!