‘The Language of Trees’ acrylic on paper, 148 x 210 mm, 2020‘The First Daffodil’ acrylic on paper, 148 x 210 mm, 2020. SOLD
I have so many painting ideas waiting in folders that I’m in no danger of suffering from “artist’s block” any time soon… but then there are so many ideas, sometimes I’m at a loss to know which one to paint next ~ so maybe that is a kind of “artist’s block” after all. In an effort to reduce the backlog, I’ve started a series of small studies on paper ~ and I’ll be choosing the subjects more or less at random, so anything might happen : )
The first two to get picked from my ‘photos to paint next’ file are a tree dripping with autumn leaves (2017) and a daffodil positively radiating sunshine (2013)…
‘The View from Here’ diptych — acrylic on canvas, 100 x 305 mm each canvas, 2020. SOLD
Fresh off the easel: the lights of Christchurch as seen from the Port Hills. The paintings are lightly textured and best seen from a bit of a distance. I was going to varnish them but I am really liking the subtle shifts in colour and texture of the unvarnished canvas and so I’m not going to risk it.
reference photo ~ Christchurch 2019work in progressfinal diptych
I have been thinking about painting this landscape for a little over six years. When I took the reference photo, the rainbow appeared to be shining directly into our neighbourhood, showing us the way home. I liked that : ) The only thing that made me reluctant to tackle it was also one of the things that made me want to paint it in the first place: the out-of-focus raindrops on the car windscreen. I wasn’t sure I could do what I had in mind ~ something representational but not too realistic. I needn’t have worried; the raindrops almost painted themselves (at least they look like raindrops to me). No, it was the painting of the rainbow that was the most difficult thing because I wanted to paint a rainbow that was not too ‘rainbowy’ (i.e. to paint a painterly painted rainbow and not an emoji 🌈 ).
‘After the Rain’ rainbow detail
I got there in the end by overlapping layers of translucent rainbow colours, blending the cooler colours with the clouds and sky (which is why some of the colours have almost disappeared), and using subtle lines to suggest reflected and refracted light.
reference photo
work in progress
final painting
‘After the Rain’ acrylic on canvas, 405 x 405 mm, 2020. SOLD
‘Alone with a hundred billion stars’ acrylic on canvas, 505 x 405 mm, 2020. Available.
Almost a year in the making, I started this painting in September 2019 and then put it aside to work on other things, then lost interest, then forgot about it, then found it last month while tidying up and felt sorry for it and finally (finally!) finished it. There’s a lovely glow to it and a rather nice 3D-ness now that it’s varnished.
The two six-word supermoon paintings look so good together in the Drawing Room, you’d think I’d planned it : ) Both are available from my Etsy shop.
‘Big Sky I’ — acrylic on canvas, 155 x 155 mm (left canvas, diptych), 2020‘Big Sky II’ — acrylic on canvas, 155 x 155 mm (right canvas, diptych), 2020‘Big Sky’ diptych — acrylic on canvas, 155 x 155 mm each canvas, 2020. SOLD
‘Travel With Me’ — acrylic on canvas, 150 x 305 mm (left canvas, diptych), 2020‘We’ll See the World’ — acrylic on canvas, 150 x 305 mm (right canvas, diptych), 2020
“By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.” A.A. Milne
If, like me, you are feeling a little older and a little less like running and jumping and sparkling these days, that’s okay. “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
‘Travel With Me’ and ‘We’ll See the World’ are two small paintings inspired by the mighty Waimakariri River, a braided river that flows 151 kilometres (94 miles) from the Southern Alps across the Canterbury Plains to the Pacific Ocean. I took the photograph that became the reference for this diptych back in February… which seems like a lifetime ago now… back before we really had any idea what 2020 had planned for us. It was a wonderful trip. We spent the weekend at Lake Brunner and performed at a music festival. I felt much more like a little stream back then.
While painting this scene, I thought a lot about that trip away and about how so many of us are having to travel vicariously and virtually this year. I have also been thinking about what it means to ‘travel’ and about how we travel when we are stuck in lockdown ~ hopefully we are making good use of art and books and music and videos and conversations ~ and that is what the titles of these paintings are intended to reflect.
‘Travel With Me’ and ‘We’ll See the World’ diptych in the Drawing Room. SOLD
P.S. Below is the reference photo that I used for the paintings ~ a quick snap taken through the car window on our way to the festival (and no, I was not driving).
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 