Magnetic art (…also known as fridge magnets…)

July 17, 2020 | Anna Cull

It has been fun making these teeny tiny art prints and turning them into magnets (that’s proper magic, that is : ) I have listed a few over on Etsy and will make more if they are popular.

The hardest thing about the process was deciding on the colours for the stick figure magnets (final image below) and then coming up with names for them. Happy colours deserve happy names, so I have ended up with Sky Blue, Violet Blue, Strawberry Pink, Pumpkin, Sunshine Yellow, Spring Green, Lavender, and Midnight Blue.

‘Butterfly Catcher’ ~ ‘Flower Gardener’ ~ ‘Stargazer’

And now that I have the little magnets all sorted, I think it must be about time I started painting again…

Tree lines

January 7, 2019January 8, 2019 | Anna Cull

My final project for 2018 was this logo and business card design for a small arboriculture company in Auckland.

The logo was hand-drawn and then tidied up in Affinity Photo. I wanted the letters to retain an ‘organic’ quality and so I resisted the temptation to turn it into a black and white vector image.

tree-line sketch in progress

completed trees ~ ink and acrylic

The tree-line sketch (or, if you prefer, tree line-sketch) was drawn in black ink. I painted over some areas to boost the shadows and highlights prior to scanning. I then edited the trees (ever so slightly) to ensure that the tree heights looked good underneath the text.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As well as the pine/light brown colour, we also considered green and blue. Happily, the client went with pine brown which not only fits the brand identity beautifully, it also enables the finer details of the drawn elements to really stand out (the other colours were significantly darker when printed). And even though I was working on this right up until Christmas, I didn’t mind one bit because it just seemed so wonderfully 🌲🎄🌲 seasonally appropriate : )

Sheep dots

May 18, 2017April 15, 2019 | Anna Cull

AnnaCull-Sheep-WPpost — Sheep – acrylic on canvas, 200 x 255 mm, 2017. SOLD

Tree lines and sheep dots,
Light falling on them like snow
Even in summer.

Limitation

July 23, 2016January 6, 2020 | Anna Cull

Anna Cull Shadows and Sunlight — Shadows and Sunlight – acrylic on paper, 130 x 180 mm, 2016. SOLD

“Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.” G. K. Chesterton

Wednesday

July 20, 2016February 4, 2023 | Anna Cull

“They didn’t want it good, they wanted it Wednesday.” Robert A. Heinlein

I tend to thrive on deadlines, creating them for myself even if I don’t have to because it makes me more productive, but this month I have no projects demanding urgent attention. And I’m still managing to get a few things done.

Here are three little drawings I’ve just finished:

Anna Cull The Return 1 — The Return #1 — ink and watercolour, 90 x 90 mm, 2016. SOLD

Anna Cull The Return #2 — The Return #2 — ink and watercolour, 90 x 90 mm, 2016. SOLD

Anna Cull Worth the Risk framed WP — Worth the Risk — ink and watercolour, 128 x 128 mm, 2016. SOLD

In the style of… Hundertwasser

January 16, 2016January 16, 2016 | Anna Cull

Tree – mixed media, 2016 — Tree – mixed media on watercolour paper, 2016

A tree in the neighbourhood, Christchurch ~ original photograph, 2015

Austrian/New Zealand artist, architect and visionary Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000) was an amazing person and he is one of my favourite artists. His work is colourful and exuberent, bold and quirky, unique and significant.

If you’re not familiar with Hundertwasser, you can visit www.hundertwasser.com to read about him, his art and his philosophy. ‘Blobs grow in beloved gardens’ 1975 and ‘Green town’ 1978 are just two of the beautiful artworks that inspired my tree painting.

I’m not sure if I like ‘Tree’ or not… but I do like knowing that I’ll never look at another tree the same way again!

In the style of… posts are where I use my own photographs as a starting point and draw inspiration from some of the world’s greatest artists and illustrators. It’s not about copying someone else’s art; it’s an experiment in seeing things differently.