Shoot it, Sketch it: Southern Alps, Oxford

September 19, 2014June 15, 2015 | Anna Cull

Southern Alps, Oxford – acrylic on canvas, 204 x 204 mm, 2014 (SOLD)

Southern Alps, Oxford, original photo, 2012 — Cropped and Photoshopped photo, 2014 — Southern Alps, Oxford, original photo, 2012 — Cropped and Photoshopped, 2014 (click to embiggen)

Question: when is a bad, low-res phone photo a good photo? Answer: when it’s the only one you’ve got. After opening my horribly pixelated image in Photoshop, I lightened it a little and messed around with artistic filters until I had something I didn’t object to looking at, printed it, and painted it. The details you would normally expect to see in a ‘good’ photo were slightly blurred and kind of painterly even before I started working on the canvas — which was an unexpected bonus because it meant not having to squint (a time-honoured technique for getting rid of unnecessary details). I really like not having to squint.

Design time

September 16, 2014June 24, 2020 | Anna Cull

During my break from blogging last month, I was given the opportunity to create a couple of logos. One client wanted a design based on water, the other client asked for a ‘rising sun’ graphic — and this is what I came up with:

Ruth wanted her Relax Restore Massage logo (above) to be simple and modern and to represent the soothing and healing aspects of her massage therapy business. The river lines were hand-drawn, scanned and converted into a vector graphic. They also became the background pattern for Ruth’s gift vouchers and Facebook cover.

Julian asked for his design (below) to communicate potential, strength, growth, moving through obstacles and breaking new ground to become unstuck. He says that the services he offers can be quite challenging for people and not always ‘relaxing’ in the traditional sense. He also wanted a dramatic panorama for his website banner. The banner landscape is an acrylic painting which I scanned and adjusted slightly (for dramatic effect) in Photoshop. I was so happy with the end result that I used it on the business cards and gift vouchers too.

I’ve struck gold

September 15, 2014September 14, 2014 | Anna Cull

Goldmine – acrylic on canvas, 102 x 102 mm, 2014

I’ve just discovered Winsor & Newton’s beautiful Gold artists’ acrylic (seen here on a black textured background along with a few touches of Quinacridone Gold and Dioxazine Purple).

For sale on Etsy and on my ‘Paintings for sale’ page.

Now… what else can I paint gold?

Not so sure

September 12, 2014September 8, 2014 | Anna Cull

Beat book cover, detail — student project — mixed media, 2011

“…it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent (like thinking) and it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.” John Cleese

I’m raiding the vaults to find images to illustrate some of my favourite quotes ― and there are plenty more where this came from.

Shoot it, Sketch it: Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

September 8, 2014July 5, 2016 | Anna Cull

Lighthouse – acrylic on canvas,102 x 102 mm, 2014 — Lighthouse – acrylic on canvas, 102 x 102 mm, 2014. Sold.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, Western Australia, 2011

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse stands where the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. I posted the photograph a few weeks ago as a Wordless Wednesday feature — and I still have no idea what that cow is doing there (saying ‘cheese’ perhaps?)…

I’ve fallen in love with painting these modest little 4″ x 4″ canvases, so don’t be surprised if you see a few more in the not-too-distant future.

Everything is important

September 5, 2014April 17, 2018 | Anna Cull

Anna Cull Sidetracked 2014 — Bluescape – acrylic on canvas, 102 x 102 mm, 2014. Sold.

“The best reason to paint is that there is no reason to paint… I’d like to pretend that I’ve never seen anything, never read anything, never heard anything… and then make something… Every time I make something I think about the people who are going to see it and every time I see something, I think about the person who made it… Nothing is important… so everything is important.” Keith Haring

This mini abstract ~~is now for sale~~ has now sold. At 4 x 4 inches, it’s the smallest canvas I’ve ever painted!