Tree lines and sheep dots,
Light falling on them like snow
Even in summer.
Sheep dots
landscape
Some vagueness
“A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people.” Edgar Degas
Happy 5th Annaversary!
Another milestone. They seem to come around a little quicker every year. Is that possible? My WordPress blog turns FIVE today! To mark the occasion, here is a slideshow of a few of my favourite paintings from the last year.
I am celebrating my anniversary with a 25% off sale on Etsy — a thank you to my readers and followers for your encouragement and support over the years. Apply the code [ ArtCaveTurns5 ] at checkout to get 25% off the listed price of everything… paintings, cards, even commissions! The offer will run until the end of March 2017.
We are being painted
“To live is to paint, it is to create; but while we are painting, we are being painted, being created as well!” Mehmet Murat İldan
Here is one final Southern Alps painting… for now, anyway. ‘An Approach to Sunlight’ completes the 16″ x 16″ trilogy. It’s a little wilder and more colourful than its siblings.
I think it’s time to move away from the mountains and do something else. I’m not short of ideas — far from it — it’s just a matter of deciding which one to tackle next. Any suggestions?
Any road will take you there
God bless our contradictions, those parts of us which seem out of character. Let us be boldly and gladly out of character. Let us be creatures of paradox and variety: creatures of contrast; of light and shade: creatures of faith. God be our constant. Let us step out of character into the unknown, to struggle and love and do what we will. Amen.
‘A Note on God’ by Michael Leunig
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Yes, I’m still exploring Arthur’s Pass in paint. ‘Any Road Will Take You There’ is similar to ‘A Road Runs Through It’ and ‘Summer Somewhere’ but also quite different. This time I’ve hinted at the telegraph poles and allowed the foreground to melt into the mountains. I really pushed myself to do something I hadn’t done before and I’m very happy with the result. And if the title sounds familiar, that’s because it’s a paraphrase of a line spoken by the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.” It’s also a line from a George Harrison song but I didn’t realise that until after I’d named it.
Questions
“The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them.” Anton Chekhov
I found myself asking a lot of questions while painting ‘Summer Somewhere’ — mainly about colour, mood, and about what was essential to the picture. I painted telegraph poles; I took them out. I had the blue road disappearing into the horizon because that’s what it did; I painted over it. It was too cold, all blue and white and green and grey; I mixed an entirely new palette for the middle foreground. And then I stopped…
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 