22 Apr 2020
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, acrylic art, Boise, Boise depot, Boise Idaho, Boise landmark, Boise landscape, boise train depot, cut paper art, cut paper collage, French bulldog, koi pond, landscape, paper collage, paper mosaic, pet portrait

Koi pond

French bulldog
Since I like the way the last paper mosaic came out, I decided to try again. These two are the result. I am not as fond of these as I am of the first one, but I am not unhappy with them either.
I think the koi pond lacks enough depth, but I was only working with the failed gelli prints that I had. I am not sure I want to go to the task of printing up some darker plates. Still, I do like the composition and the water effect. The French bulldog was just fun. I am not really happy with the background. When I chose it, I thought it would be a nice contrast, but now I see it is too close in tonal quality. Live and learn. Back to painting this week.
17 Feb 2019
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, acrylic art, acrylic landscape, acrylic painting, b, Boise, Boise Idaho, Boise landmark, boise train depot, landscape, lily pond, water lily, water lily painting, water lotus, water lotus painting

Lily painting three
Here is the finished painting of lily pond three. I like the relative scale of water versus lily pads much better here because it allowed me to concentrate less on the individual pads and more on the overall texture and colors. Playing with the varying tones in the water was a lot of fun and allowed for some freeform brushstrokes. I was able to go with bolder application of color on the individual lilly pads too and create an almost abstract work that still had very identifiable objects.
I am thinking about the possibility of making reproductions of this series. For almost the first time I think the work might be good enough and the subject matter generic enough for some sort of licensing on the drop ship websites. I need to investigate what photography would be needed and the relative costs involved. What do you think?
10 Feb 2019
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, acrylic art, acrylic painting, acrylics, Boise, Boise Idaho, Boise landmark, boise train depot, botanical art, botanical painting, landscape, lily pond, water lily, water lily painting, water lotus, water lotus painting

Pond pencil up

First layers down
I have enjoyed these pond paintings much more than I thought I would. It is the first time I have been even remotely satisfied with what I have done with acrylics since college (low those MANY years ago).
Since I felt that the relatively bigger size of the lily pads in the previous painting was harder for me to deal with, I decided to go bigger in the canvas (14″x11″) and smaller again for the pads. This is actually a rather large size painting for me, so that added its own bit of stress.
I put down most of the water before I moved on to the lily pads. It seemed easier to place most of the background down first and then add the vegetation on top of it. Then I could also shade under the pads and adjust the water to add depth and interest. I was pretty pleased at this point, much more so than with pond painting 2. Smaller pads were definitely the way to go for me. Who knows where this will lead in my acrylic adventure. It’s been fun so far.
15 May 2018
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, acrylic pour painting, fluid art, pour painting, primary colors.

Dirty pour
It’s called a dirty pour when you layer all of your colors into one pouring cup and then dump it all at once onto the art surface. And that’s what I did for this one. When I finished the tiles shown previously, I had a few ounces of each prepared color left over, so I put them all in one covered cup to store until my next class. When I came back the next week, I proceeded to pour the whole cup onto the center of an 8×10 canvas and watch what happened as I tilted it back and forth until the paint mostly covered the surface. By my good luck, there was just enough to reach most of the edges and spill over the sides. Pretty interesting, huh. You have less control over the color positioning this way (although you do have the option of what order colors are put into the cup and thus come out) but you can still manipulate the flow somewhat with popsicle sticks, straws, or a palette knife.
After it dried, I started painting the small amount of white space left on the edges and the top with the dark blue I had used to unify the canvas. If you look closely, you can see it is almost done. There is a small amount on the lower edge and the left side to finish.
As you will see, the next pours on tile were a bit more purposeful, but still had a wonderful unpredictableness about them. I don’t do much abstract work, but this is pretty interesting and I might enjoy it as a change of pace from the more detailed pen and watercolor work.
10 May 2018
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, acrylic pour painting, acrylics, fluid art, pour painting, primary colors.

6×6 tile

4×4 tile
I am taking this new acrylic class mostly to find out about the varieties of acrylics currently available and what additional mediums and varnishes are being used. There hasn’t been much emphasis on realistic work, but I am still happy with all the new things I have learned.
We moved from the Gelli plates to pour painting, something I had barely for even heard of before, much less tried for myself. You put acrylic paint into a fluid medium, add a small amount of silicon, and then pour it over a substrate like canvas or commercial tile. Some artists use it over built up mixed media, too. The paint is rather like a thick lotion you pour onto your surface, but dries completely flat. As the different color mix, the silicon helps them form into various shapes due to different specific gravities for each color. You can do some manipulation to guide the formations, but I am rather limited at this point in my technique. For these, I just poured 4 different colors on a 4″ and 6″ tile and then tilted them back and forth until the paints mixed and moved out to the edges. Don’t ask me about the chemistry involved. I rather like my first efforts, but I know there is a lot of experimentation to be done. I am already happier with the pieces I have subsequently worked on. Youtube pour painting and you will see some pretty incredible things.
27 Mar 2018
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, circle painting, circle watercolor painting, small format art, Watercolor painting, Watercolors

Circles
My eyes and mind needed a break from the ink linework and here it is. I decided to do something that required little conscious thought and was more free form. I started with drawing the larger circles and went down from there until the page was filled. (Do you know hard it is to draw and then paint little circles? LOL)
Once I decided on the color scheme, I again started with the larger circles. I tried to just go with the flow and not think about much of anything. It turned out to be a kind of a positive/negative space exercise only with colors and circles. I am actually rather pleased with the result and have listed it in my etsy store.
16 Apr 2017
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, acrylic art, acrylic painting, acrylics, fruit art, fruit painting, pear painting, still life, still life painting, tomato painting

Pear
And lastly a tomato and a pear. I think I like these two the best out of the six. I am varnishing them right now and should have all of these 8×10’s listed in my shop sometime this week. It has been a fun break from the precision of all of that ink work.
After that, I think I’ll go back to a little drawing of three calves that I started way back last fall before the Christmas rush started.

Tomato
13 Apr 2017
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, acrylic art, acrylic painting, acrylics, apple painting, fruit painting, Illustration and Drawing, strawberry painting

Strawberries
Next up was strawberries and an apple. These are all 8×10’s. I like the smaller size as it is not too intimidating for me at this point. I really need to take an acrylic class again, just to get some tips on manipulating the paint. I have problems dealing with the thickness of the paint and using the drying speed retardant.
In any case, I was pretty happy with the way these turned out. Once again I raided my refrigerator for inspiration and came up with these. And the nice thing is, when I’m done, I can eat the scenery props. Which I did. LOL

Granny Smith apple
06 Apr 2017
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, acrylic art, acrylic painting, acrylics, avocado painting, fruit painting, orange painting, still life, still life painting

Avocado
After two months of line work, I felt I needed to do something very different for a little while. Since I plan to do about a half a dozen of these, I felt that posting most of the preliminary work would be a bit tedious, so I will stick with a close to finished photo.
I went to the refrigerator and took a look at what was in there. First up turns out to be an avocado and oranges. I wanted to do something more free form and these are part of the results after 3-4 painting sessions each. I think I will look at them all again when the the whole batch is essentially done to make final adjustments before I list them in my etsy store. As it turns out I will have two reds, two greens, and two orangish one. It should make a nice variety of color for kitchen art. Maybe I should add in something blue, too. Blue berries? I’ll have to buy some which will make John happy.

Oranges
13 Dec 2015
by ruthsartwork
in artwork
Tags: abstract art, architectural art, architecture, Art, Christmas gifts, home portraits, pen and ink, Watercolors

Brown house
Somehow I forgot to take the pencil up and inked photos of this commission with all if the work piling up after it, so right on to the colored version. As the buyer said, it’s a brown house. The green shutters add a spot of color as do the flowers. I had to rearrange the landscaping a bit to not hide the window, but she had some pretty flowers round the front.
I’m mostly finished with the last commission. I want to get it out soon so that it makes it for Christmas.
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