Shoot it Sketch it

Shoot it, Sketch it: Pink

| Anna Cull
Spring blossoms, original photograph – Christchurch, 2012
Spring blossoms, original photograph – Christchurch, 2012
Spring blossoms – acrylic on canvas, 240 x 300 mm, 2014
Spring blossoms – acrylic on canvas, 240 x 300 mm, 2014. Private collection.

I took a few liberties with the composition and colours on this one. I don’t have any WIP (work in progress) photos but trust me when I say that it only came alive when I added blue to the background (and a hint of blue to the petals).

P.S. Yes, this is the same plum tree immortalised here, here and here.

Shoot it, Sketch it: Wellington Harbour

| Anna Cull
Wellington Harbour – acrylic on canvas, 455 x 610 mm, 2014
Wellington Harbour – acrylic on canvas, 455 x 610 mm, 2014. SOLD
Wellington Harbour — edited photograph (left), 2013 and original photograph (right), 2008
Wellington Harbour — edited photograph (left), 2013 and original photograph (right), 2008

Today’s painting was inspired by my photograph of Wellington Harbour on a sunny, summer afternoon originally posted here. I also referred to the unedited image (prior to giving it the tilt-shift treatment and cropping it to remove the reflections from the hotel window) for some of the details.

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Shoot it, Sketch it: Purple

| Anna Cull
Purple coneflowers, digitally edited photographs – Christchurch, 2003
Purple coneflowers, digitally edited photographs – Christchurch, 2003

I have no idea where my original photographs are but these are the arty versions (created quite a few years ago using Corel Photo-Paint) that inspired the diptych below. How I wish our garden still looked this good!

Purple coneflower diptych – acrylic on textured card, 205 x 305 mm each, 2014
Purple coneflower diptych – acrylic on textured card, 205 x 305 mm each, 2014

A loose, sketchy style seemed the thing for these two studies. I also used less intense, more natural colours and resisted the urge to define all the edges. In some ways they feel a little unfinished, like a work still in progress, and yet I can’t bring myself to add any more paint.

Shoot it, Sketch it revisited: Black bird

| Anna Cull

Anna Cull Black bird haiku

This week’s Shoot it, Sketch it revisited is a little different. Rather than painting Black bird on a grey day again (which I was just about to do), I’ve used it as the inspiration for a haiku (prompted by blogger Digital Granny who thought the image would make a nice background for a poem). It’s my first ever haiku. It’s such a fascinating art form — I’ve been meaning to write one for ages. Thanks, DG.