painting

A Little Further Down The Road

| Anna Cull
‘A Little Further Down the Road’ — acrylic on unstretched canvas, 255 x 255 mm, 2020.

This little landscape was inspired by a detail of my coloured-in Port Chalmers colouring page ~ now completely reimagined. 

I really didn’t like my first attempt (see previous post). It wasn’t fun to paint and I didn’t feel connected to the end result. So I stopped painting from the reference and started looking at what was in front of me on the canvas… exploring shapes and colours and remembering how it felt when we first came upon this view back in 2017. And I had a ball.

I was at the point of deciding whether or not to paint the house in the foreground a brighter red when my husband walked in and said “it’s finished” 🎨 …and so it is.

Onward and upward (and possibly sideways)

| Anna Cull

The inspiration for this painting came from a detail of my coloured-in Port Chalmers colouring page but I have been struggling with how I want to paint it. If nothing else, it has been useful as a background for a great quote by Rob Bell (my painting study WIPs are included below).

study work-in-progress
study abandoned

It looks better on screen than it does in real life and even though it is what I set out to paint, I really do not like it. What worked as digital art simply has nothing to offer as a painting. It feels very ‘meh’ to me. Which is great. Because now I know what not to do. Meanwhile I have already painted a second version of this little landscape and it is COMPLETELY different, but I’ll write more about that in the next post : )

Leaving home

| Anna Cull

‘Endless Possibilities’ and ‘Curves Ahead’ in the Drawing Room

I’m saying goodbye to a couple of paintings that sold on TradeMe (NZ) last week: ‘Endless Possibilities’ and ‘Curves Ahead’ ❤️❤️

Eight…

| Anna Cull

Eight years on WordPress! I’ve written more than 650 posts, uploaded well over 1800 images, and completely lost track of the number of canvases I’ve painted : ) And so it’s time for my eighth Happy Annaversary retrospective. Here is a collection of eight paintings created over the last year that represent my (current) favourite subjects and styles: the abstract floral, the do-over (that’s a style, right?), the experimental diptych, word art, New Zealand landscapes (of course), and Art for Australia.

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Kangaroo ~ Art for Australia

| Anna Cull
‘Kangaroo’ — acrylic on canvas, 205 x 205 mm, 2020. SOLD

This little kangaroo road sign is officially one of my favourite paintings. Ever. I love the curves and the colours and the sign and the shadow falling across the road. I’m a bit tempted to keep this one… So if you are interested in buying it (and supporting a good cause), I suggest hopping over to my Etsy shop before I change my mind.

‘Kangaroo’ is the latest painting created to raise money for people and wildlife who have lost their homes because of the out-of-control bushfires in Australia. I will be donating 50% of the sale of these artworks to the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund and Wildlife Victoria. 🇦🇺

Koala ~ Art for Australia

| Anna Cull
‘Koala’ — acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 mm, 2020. Available.

This little Koala is the second in my series of small paintings created to raise money for people and wildlife who have lost their homes because of the recent bushfires in Australia. I will be donating 50% of the sale of these artworks to the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund and Wildlife Victoria. 🇦🇺

You can probably guess what the next painting in this series is going to be… but be prepared for a bit of a twist : )

Art for Australia

| Anna Cull
‘Superb FairyWren’ — acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 mm, 2020. Available.

It has been heartbreaking to watch the bushfires wreaking havoc day after day, week after week, month after month. We watch the news from the safety of our living room in New Zealand, more than two thousand kilometres away, and feel completely helpless. I have family over there. My mother grew up in that beautiful countryside. We spent many Christmases in Victoria when I was young…

How do you paint when the world is on fire? What do you paint? Why even bother? And then I found my answer in a Maxine Hong Kingston quote:

“In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.”

This little Superb Fairy-wren is the first of a series of small canvas paintings I’m creating to raise money for people and wildlife who have lost their homes as a result of the devastating fires in Australia. I will be donating 50% of the sale of these artworks to the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund https://www.gerf.org.au and Wildlife Victoria https://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au. 🇦🇺

“the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own”

― Mary Oliver