This is the latest piece I have been working on, an acrylic landscape painting created in a modern minimalist style on gallery wrapped chunky canvas. This painting developed quite differently from my original inspiration, so differently in fact that I initially started painting purple clouds! I am quite pleased with the way this one is coming along, as it was the strong contrasts in the light and darks of a desert sunset that I wanted to capture, and in particular I wanted to achieve this with rather bold brush strokes (considering the size of the canvas) and some pallette knife work for added texture. After looking at this piece for several days I am contemplating whether or not to further lighten some of the area around the sun, and some of the reflections in the middle of the painting.

One of the things that I am finding rather surprising with the modern, minimalist, abstract/contemporary styles that I am experimenting with at the moment is just how long they take to complete to my staisfaction - simple and less detailed definitely does not necessarily equate to less time to create, and I can definitely say that I have a new found respect for artists who work in these styles!

“Desert Sunset”, Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas, 2006

Right side view

Left side view

Cheers

Michelle

Technorati Tags:art, artist, artwork, painting, acrylic painting, modern art, desert sunset,
desert painting, landscape, minimalist art, contemporary artwork, sunset painting, abstract

In an effort to streamline things and hopefully be slightly more productive with my time, I have transfered most of my available artwork to Art ByUs (ABU) including ACEO’s and some of my sterling silver jewellery items (I do have some additional jewellery that I will also be adding there later).

I will still be listing a few items on Ebay from time to time, but most likely only the pieces that I create as part of the ‘theme’ challenges that happen from time to time (some weekly, some monthly) on the different Ebay Artists groups that I belong to, such as this acrylic painting that was part of the April ‘Spring’ theme organised by the Small Format Artists Ebay Group. This painting is 4″x4″ acrylic on canvas and is titled ‘Tall Poppies”.

To find other artwork on Ebay created by other artists as part of the ‘Spring’ Theme week, simply search Ebay for “SPRING theme week SFA”.

Michelle

Technorati Tags: art, artist, artwork, painting, acrylic painting, floral art, floral painting,landscape, modern art, contemporary art,

I’ve definitely been on a water kick lately, I guess maybe because in the last few weeks we’ve finally had some hot summer weather, if of course you don’t count the rain we are having today (although of course that is water too!). I’m really enjoying experimenting with these paintings and reducing the amount of detail that I am including in them…not always so easy given my background in bery detailed and realistic art, but lots of fun none-the-less.

This modern beach painting was created from my imagination, and is 4″x4″ acrylic on canvas.

“View from the Dune”

Currently Available on Art By Us

These two ACEO’s (2.5″x3.5″) were also done in acrylics on mattboard:

“Dune with a View”

“Tropical Sea”

Michelle

Technorati Tags art, artist, beach, painting, seascape, art blog

Storm Coming, 5″x7″ acrylic on canvas board

I’ve been experimenting with a new Abstract series based on this concept, this first one, ‘Blue Flow’ is ACEO sized (2.5″ x 3.5″) acrylic on mattboard.

Viewed as Portrait format:

Viewed as Landscape format:

And the first one, as yet untitled, 3.5″ x 5″ acrylic on canvas:

Viewed in Portrait format:

Viewed in Landscape format:

The scanned digital images of these are rather disappointing as they have lost much of the vibrancy and depth of the originals. I havn’t varnished them yet, so will do so and see if I can get better images.

Michelle

Just to be different I have painted several modern/contemporary abstracts which are very different to the more normal highly detailed and realistic animals I normally do. My aim with these was in fact to avoid lots of detail and take the minimalist approach. These are all 4″x4″ art squared pieces, acrylic on canvas. I really enjoyed doing these and have listed two on Ebay to see how they go - they were a lot of fun and in between commissions, I plan on doing a lot more in this small format size.

Solitaire

Tall Poppies

View From The Dunes

Michelle

I finally have a chance to add an entry this week!

This is my latest ACEO of a green tree frog, titled “Frog on A Log” (ACEO #15), which I will be listing on Ebay either later today or tomorrow. This will be the only opportunity to own this cute little frog because if he dosn’t sell, my hubby has claimed him!

This photo is a cropped enlarged version showing some of the detail.

and another landscape “Snow Covered Mountain”

The first lot of ACEO’s I have ever offered for sale (including the Golden Retriever, Siamese Kitten, the pelican, frangipani and Teddy bear) will be ending on Ebay in the next few hours, if you collect ACEO’s have a look as some of them don’t have any bids.

Click here to view current Ebay auctions.

Because of the cost of listing items on Ebay, it seems that many artists don’t re-list items that don’t sell at auction, but list them in their Ebay Stores at a much higher retail price. This makes sense to me - apart from the cost of Ebay fees, I think way to many artists undervalue their work - and is something I am considering on doing with my own Ebay store - I’d love to hear your opinion (as an artist or art collector) on having a policy like this.

If I am lucky I can run to my studio and grab a couple of hours to myself, and hopefully create a masterpiece!

Bye for now

Michelle

Pencil Portraits

It really is no wonder that these ACEO’s are taking the art world by storm, they are so much fun to do and I am finding them quite addictive:)

I will admit that it is really difficult to get a lot of detail into a painting that is a maximum size of 2.5 by 3.5 inches (the same size as normal trading cards), I’m finding that they are a really good oportunity for me to experiment with a looser, less photorealistic style.

Here are a few that I have done this week, I might try listing some of them on ebay.com.au and the new art auction at the Art-Cards.Org site (I’ll post an update when they are listed for auction).

The first one is a lovely golden retriever ACEO portrait:

A sweet little Siamese Kitten:

A bird this time, a Pink Flamingo:

and something different for me, a landscape - impressionistic in style?

I do have a few more but I will post them on the new ACEO gallery that I am setting up on my website Pencil Portraits as soon as I sort out an image size problem that I seem to be having.

I’m contemplating opening an Ebay store for my ACEO’s, small format art and art jewellery…if I can find enough hours in the day! I’d love to hear if you think this is a good idea or not (what can I say, I’m a Libran and making a decision takes forever!)

Ciao for now!

Michelle