Framing the view — acrylic on canvas, 190 x 480 mm, 2015. Private collection.
‘The View’ is a little something I made for this year’s Christmas market at Sumner.* The painting is of our beautiful Kaikoura coastline as seen from the Port Hills in Christchurch. I found a $5 frame at a recycling depot, removed the seriously ugly dried flower art that was in it, and painted a landscape on canvas to complement the mahogany-coloured wood (see photograph below). It was such a fun project, I may have to go in search of more frames that need rescuing.
*I’ll be selling my art cards and a few of my smaller paintings at the Sumner Market in Christchurch this coming Sunday 13th and also Sunday 20th December, 10 am – 2 pm.
Thank You — original illustration and now a note card design
This thank you illustration is one of my all-time favourites. Created to celebrate a milestone on my blog in 2012, it is also the image most often ‘borrowed’ by people on the Interweb. So, given its popularity, I’ve decided to turn it into a note card.
If you click on the image above, you will be magically transported to my Etsy shop.
Thank you : )
This week’s featured artworks are my Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse mini canvas and the Moeraki Boulders paintings. Please click on the images below for more information.
Ebb and Flow – acrylic on canvas, 150 x 305 mm, 2015. SOLD
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” Pablo Picasso
I have just finished a large abstract painting commission (this isn’t it ― I’m saving that post for another day). I love commissions. It was, however, quite an intense experience. I don’t know why but I find abstracts a lot more challenging than painting landscapes or birds or flowers… I guess that’s because the painting itself is the frame of reference rather than a photograph or something you can see in front of you. Which means that anything is possible. And I find that difficult, possibly because there are too many options. Some people are happy to start with an idea, a mood, a colour, a texture… I guess I’ve discovered that I like starting with an image. Of something. Anything. Anything at all.
Nugget Point, original photograph, 2013Nugget Point, reference image (cropped, edited and flipped 180°)
So I decided to work on a little abstract just to move some paint around : ) and used a photograph taken a couple of years ago on the Otago coast as my starting point ― a photo of waves crashing against the rocks. It’s an image I’ve been wanting to paint for ages because the place left such an impression on me. I’ve called the painting ‘Ebb and Flow’ and it will be available for purchase in the very near future.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 