Mini Canvasses

I have worked a little on the mini canvasses today, but mostly on other things.  I took three pieces of work down to the Spa for the annual Bridlington Art Society exhibition this morning and unfortunately one of them fell out of the boot of the car - the glass broke and the frame did too!  I had to come home and re-frame the piece, by which time it was lunchtime.  

I had various housework and other boring jobs to do after lunch, and by the time I actually got into the studio it was nearly four o'clock and I was just too tired to do much.  I did float mount one of the mini canvasses into a frame, and it looks nice.  I've also experimented with painting a mount using acrylic inks to go with another mini canvas.  The mount had a slight mark on it so I couldn't use it, so nothing is lost if it doesn't work.

I coated the finished canvasses with acrylic varnish today and noticed something which I probably wouldn't have otherwise noticed.

Wish a little pre-planning, the mini canvasses could be made as diptychs or triptychs.  I think they would look very nice in pairs or a row of three, and it was only because the two canvasses above were side by side and I saw the way the houses seem to be in the same scene.

Mini Canvasses

I managed to get two of the mini canvasses finished today.  I am quite pleased with them, although they are far from fine art.

mini canvas 1

mini canvas 2

I like the second one because the underpainting worked out so well.  In the first one the houses are a little dark.  I think they need to have a coat of acrylic varnish as I'm not sure how I am going to display them yet.  I may frame them with a mount, or float frame them, or, in the case of the stretched canvasses, I may just leave them as they are and display them on mini easels.

More mini canvasses

I have been thinking about why I feel I am not getting on with work since I came back from holiday, and I have come to the conclusion that I was working an 8-10 hour day then, and it isn't something I can keep up.  I am therefore going to stop beating myself up about it and just try to go with the flow.

Just to show willing, and to bump up the number of posts, here are a couple more of the mini canvasses.  I managed to work on them between trips out.

stage 1, painted canvas

I quite enjoy doing the backgrounds, they don't always come out looking good, but it's fun to let the acrylic inks flow and run.

stage 2, adding collage

On this piece I have just started to add the collage, and it obviously needs blending in, using some tissue type papers for the beach and the space between the beach and the houses.  I love how the sea has turned out on this one, so may just put in some beach umbrella's rather than boats.  I think this one will have to be called 'Low Tide'!

Missed another day

I can't seem to catch up with myself since I came back from holiday.  I planned a quiet day yesterday, but it didn't turn out like that as I had work to get ready for an East Riding Artist exhibition.  Today I have to take it to the venue, so another day broken up - it's also Slimming World this morning, and I have to call in at the framers for the next exhibition's work.  That exhibition has to be in next Sunday!

Anyway, I did get a little work done yesterday and Sunday.  I am trying out working on some small canvasses I bought last year and never used.  They are tiny, 5 x 7 inch.  I bought a pack of canvas boards and a pack of shallow stretched canvasses.  I am finding them very fiddly.

stage 1, painted background

I painted the backgrounds first with acrylic inks.  Some I added salt to make a bubble texture, and some I just sprayed with water.  The one above came out particularly well.  I could use it this way up and have an orange sky, which I love, or I could turn it around and have a beach with a stormy sky.

stage 2, collage added and windows painted

On most of the canvasses I am adding collage to some degree, although one or two I have just painted.  The one above is mostly collage.  The next stage is the very fiddly stage of painting in the window bars, and chimney pots, on the houses, adding masts and other bits and pieces to the boats.  I may add a beach umbrella or three.

These are not giving me the same feeling as the free-flowing landscapes on the watercolour paper.  I am finding them fiddly and frustrating.  There are five or six of each type of canvas, and I am going to get them finished and out of the way.  I may then try a similar imagery on watercolour paper.

I haven't got back to the compositional exercises I was doing, and doubt if I will in the near future.  Sometimes you just have to let plans go.