Whispers of low cloud
Come and go with the sunrise:
A perfect morning.
I am saving this one for June’s exhibition ~ it looks so much better in person than in the photos. I will post details of the exhibition a little closer to the time.
Clouds
clouds
Balancing Act
When the world gets busy, sometimes something has to give. In my case, it has been keeping my blog updated. Sorry about that. I am in the middle of preparing for an exhibition in June and that means that I have been painting painting painting and not much else. As a result, I seem to have misplaced January.
‘Balancing Act (Little Fluffy Clouds)’ was actually my last painting of 2023. It celebrates the Southern Alps in high summer with clouds replacing snow on the mountains, a power pylon and, yep, even more little fluffy clouds. It won’t be available to purchase until exhibition time but I’ll tell you more about that a little closer to the time : )
Snowclouds
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
The year that was (and my ninth Annaversary post)
It is time once again for my annual retrospective. Here is a collection of nine favourite paintings from the last year ~ three birds, a port, a rainbow, a river, a few fuchsias, and lots of clouds and trees. Of course other things also happened. There were the colouring-in pages that I created at the start of the pandemic (when painting was the last thing I felt like doing but I had to do something). I also gave my blog and profile picture a bit of a makeover, created a Portfolio page, and made a new range of arty little fridge magnets. But, really, when it comes to art, if I’m not putting paint on canvas, I’m not happy. Six months went by e.v.e.r. s.o. s.l.o.w.l.y. and then ~ for no particular reason that I can recall ~ I started painting again. Putting together a collection for this anniversary post, it seems to me that I may have made up for the lost time : )
Head in the Clouds
Don’t ask me where this is. It’s not important. It was late summer, early in the morning. The air was damp and the mountains were obscured by low cloud. We didn’t mind; there was beauty around every corner and we weren’t in a hurry. As the clouds began to lift and catch the light, the mood began to shift and the river tumbled on as if this had been nothing extraordinary.
A Break in the Weather
I love the way seagulls park on street lights. What views they must have! I gave this painting the working title ‘Seagull Parking’ but I always knew that was a little too obscure to be a keeper. The inspiration was a photo I took in a carpark ~ in the golden hour before the sun sets ~ while we were waiting to collect our pizza. Yes, inspiration is everywhere : )
The original plan was to create something more like the reference photo, quite subdued and almost monotone with the seagull as the focal point, but the purple/grey underpainting took it in a different direction ~ one which was more in keeping with how spectacular the sky really looked that evening ~ and that meant rethinking the title.
P.S. I’m particularly pleased with those two birds flying in the background. The simpler it is, the harder it is.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 