Heavier than air
Clouds as white as falling snow
Cover the mountains.
No, it’s not snowing in New Zealand in summer (although I seem to recall that it did once ~ a long, long time ago ~ on Christmas Day❄️). I just felt like painting snow.
“Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen.”
Mark Twain
Many of my paintings start out as quickly snapped photographs taken through a car windscreen while driving somewhere (not while I’m driving ~ that would be silly ~ but when I’m a passenger, amusing myself on road trips). This one was taken somewhere between Amberley and Christchurch, late summer, 2021. It wasn’t the best photo I took of the amazing sky that followed us home that night but I liked the line of light through the trees on the horizon. The six little road markers very nearly didn’t make it into the painting ~ and now I can’t imagine it without them.
No haiku today. I think a sky on fire is poetry enough.
The view from the top
Of a hill in a small town
Was another hill.
I find Dunedin’s beautiful architecture endlessly interesting ~ there’s so much character and variety in those houses… and you know how I love to paint trees!
Giants with branches
That try but never quite touch
The scattered blue sky.
I never get tired of painting the Hamurana Springs redwoods and have plans to paint larger versions of these small studies in the not too distant future. I have so many paintings planned though (I’ve just bought half a dozen canvases because the sales are on ~ and I’m about to buy half a dozen more), I think these two may have to wait until next year. So if it’s a little quiet on the blog, it’s only because I’m busy painting.
“Making a different mistake every day is not only acceptable, it is the definition of progress.”
Robert Brault
A mini version of an older painting, ‘After the Rain (mini)’ has been finished with my new favourite varnish: cold wax medium. Yummy!
I sometimes look at old paintings and see things I want to change. Usually, I leave them alone. Occasionally, I paint over them. With this one, I only intended to paint over a couple of leaves here and there ~ but once I got started…
First painted in 2020, ‘Fuchsia Pop’ has undergone quite a transformation (see comparison below). When I decided to paint over the leaves at the top and lower right, I also changed the colour of the background ~ which prompted me to change the colour of the petals and several other things that were annoying me ~ and here it is, an entirely new painting with even more ‘pop’.
It has been varnished with Gamblin Cold Wax Medium to give it a lovely velvety matte appearance. This is my first time using cold wax varnish and I absolutely love love love it.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 