Post Impressionist Paintings in Art. Zazzle Sale Continues.

The next color approach I explore is post-impressionism. Post impressionist artists, i.e. Van Gogh (above painting), Gauguin, learned from the impressionists and further explored color to make expressive paintings. Van Gogh used pure complements and brushwork to achieve exciting and dramatic paintings. There were few light tints and more pure mid tones and dark values.



Click on title of this post to buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. Zazzle.com is having a sale. 50% off posters, 30% off aprons, 20% off postage stamps. Code is MEMORIALSALE. The sale lasts until June 1, 2010 at 11:59 p.m., Pacific Time. Zazzle.com sale includes 10% off T-Shirts/shirts; the code is TSHIRTS10OFF. 15% off 3 or more mugs; code is MUGS15SAVER1. 10% off posters; code is POSTERS1DEAL. These sales are until June 30, 2010 at 11:59 p.m., Pacific Time. Learn more details. If you received this post via email (feedburner), copy and paste this URL into your browser, http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist*.

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In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org/.

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Tonalist Painting in Art; Zazzle.com Sale

The Disrobing of Christ, Painting by El Greco & Gray Scale Image (Values)

I wish my American friends and readers a safe Memorial Day weekend.

In prior posts, I have written about different color approaches, i.e. Turner, impressionism. I now write about tonalism. The famous artist, El Greco, used contrast of values to achieve great drama. I am not a tonalist painter. Tonalist artists use value as a color method. Most colors are muted; the artists rely on value contrast. Other elements of color, i.e. temperature, are also used. The contrast of values has significant impact in these paintings.

Zazzle.com sale continues. 50% off posters & more. Click on title of this post to buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. If you received this post via email (feedburner), copy and paste this URL into your browser, http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist*.

You can receive updates of my posts by email. Subscribe in the right upper widget. Forward this article to interested friends and family. Also join my Facebook Fan Page; click on the Fan Page widget to your right. Follow me on Twitter. http://artbyarlene.blogspot.com/

Buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com/

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org/.

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Zazzle.com Sale

Zazzle.com is having a sale. 50% off posters, 30% off aprons, 20% off postage stamps. Code is MEMORIALSALE. The sale lasts until June 1, 2010 at 11:59 p.m., Pacific Time. See, learn more, for more sales, i.e. T-Shirts, and information with codes. Click on title of post to go to my Zazzle shop. If you received this post via email (feedburner), copy and paste this URL into your browser, http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist*.

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Impressionist Painting in Art

This painting is “Argenteuil”; painted by impressionist artist, Monet. The impressionists painted light and the color of light. Therefore, the impressionists liked to paint with the light behind them; form and cast shadows were not important. Colors were under mixed and warm and cool color temperatures were used to model forms. The impressionists also used a similar thickness of paint throughout their paintings. Shadows were not transparent but colors were added to any shadows. Brushstrokes were used to describe the form and the brushstrokes varied. For example, horizontal brushstrokes would likely follow the direction of a building. Large brushstrokes were used in the foreground and smaller strokes were used in the distance. Reflected colors were important. At this time, more colors were available and the impressionists were able to use pure colors, tints (hues with whites) and whites. Darks and earth colors were limited in the impressionist palette. Middle and dark values were tints with pure colors; muted colors were avoided. Unity was achieved by using tints of pure colors. Warm and cool temperatures instead of light and dark values were used. Complements or near complements in close values enhanced colors and vibrancy. Warm tints enhanced cool colors. Simultaneous contrast of temperature was more important than contrast of values.

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Buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

Click on title of this post to buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more.

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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The Streetcar - My Painting Study

I wish my Canadian friends and readers a safe and happy Victoria Day.

This is my painting study of the streetcar. In Photoshop I reduced the yellow colour. The computer scan had a strong yellow foreground that is not in the actual painting. I will apply a matte medium to reduce this gloss medium effect. I am pleased with the compositional structure. This is my third study of the streetcar. I like the square format and the large size of the streetcar on the picture plane. In Toronto, Canada, these streetcars are called the Red Rocket. I did not include the lines of black and white on the top of the streetcar and below its windows. I wanted to maintain unity. The bright sunlight on the front window eliminated my view of the driver. I look forward to reading your comments about my study.

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Buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

Click on title of this post to buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more.

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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Linear Perspective in Art - My Unfinished Painting Study

My updated but unfinished study of a streetcar.

This is my unfinished study of the streetcar. I have done more painting since my last post. I have been working on the sky and background. I wrote prior posts about linear perspective. This technique creates an illusion of a 3 dimensional image on a 2 dimensional support. This streetcar is in 2 point linear perspective. There are 2 vanishing points on the horizon line (eye level). A problem with linear perspective is that it leads the viewer to the background; it competes with the foreground. Artists can address this problem by using 1 point perspective. Although I have used 2 point perspective, the front of the streetcar is almost parallel to the viewer. The colourful unfinished foreground is also interesting the viewer’s eyes.

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Buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

Click on title of this post to buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more.

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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Compositional Structure in Art of A Single Item - A Painting Study

My Unfinished Study of a Streetcar

When you are painting a single item, i.e. figure, streetcar, the edges of the canvas and the compositional structure must be considered. Unity of the whole painting is important. I have done prior posts about different compositional structures. An artist can connect one side of the figure or streetcar to a canvas edge. A line or shape can connect the item to the edge. This is an unfinished study I am painting, a streetcar. The end of the streetcar is connected to the left canvas edge. The street and line of stores also connect the streetcar to the edges. I decided to use a square format. While I am making changes to my study, you can see my overall direction.

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Buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

Click on title of this post to buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. Remember binders are 25% off until May 20. 2010. The code is BINDER25DEAL.


In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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The Art of Turner - Color Intensity & Luminosity in Painting

This painting is by J. M. W. Turner, an English Romantic artist (1775 – 1851). The painting is Norham Castle, Sunrise. Although he went through changes, Turner was best known for his use of color before color theory was known. Turner used neutral tints (white with gray hues) that led to luminous areas in his art. Strong areas of tints (white with pure hues) were painted beside muted tints and grays enhancing color intensity (saturation). White was not used alone. Turner used gray light and middle values to create simultaneous contrast in intensity. Dark values were limited. The gray scale image of the painting shows it was primarily painted with light and middle tone values.

Click on title of this post to buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. Remember binders are 25% off until May 20. 2010. See my Zazzle shop announcement.

You can receive updates of my posts by email. Subscribe in the right upper widget. Forward this article to interested friends and family. Also join my Facebook Fan Page; click on the Fan Page widget to your right. Follow me on Twitter. http://artbyarlene.blogspot.com

Buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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Zazzle.com Sale - 25% Off All Binders

I have added additional binders with images of my paintings to my Zazzle shop. As a reminder, Zazzle.com is having a sale. 25% off all binders. The sale lasts until May 20, 11:59 p.m., Pacific time. The promotion code is BINDER25DEAL. You can customize color, size and more. See my shop announcement. http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist

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Painting a Dancer - My Art Almost Done

The top image is an update of my dancer painting. The second image is the painting in gray scale, values. I need to make 2 changes. The shape between the left arm and leg are too close in value. This is noticeable in the gray scale image. In a prior post, I was concerned about creating a tangent or 2 negative shapes. I also need to correct the shape of the eye. In this image you can see the increased modeling of the figure and the changes of the background.

Buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. Remember binders are 25% off until May 20. 2010. The code is BINDER25DEAL. http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist

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Click on title of post to buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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Zazzle.com Sale on Binders

Zazzle.com is having a sale. 25% off binders until May 20, 2010 at 11:59 p.m., Pacific Time. The code is BINDER25DEAL. http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist

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Painting Shapes, An Element of Art

I have not yet varnished my painting of a dancer.

This is my painting, Nature’s Waterfall. I have also posted it in a gray scale, values. I wanted to write about the art element, shape. In my painting there are 3 main shapes. The rocks are bridged by the water and waterfall. Shape is not a modeled form. It is not an illusion of a 3 dimensional form on a 2 dimensional support. Shape is 2 dimensional. It is a flat area. Shape is an area enclosed by a line, color, value, etc. The space inside a linear circle is a shape. There are many way to examine shapes. Shapes can be positive or negative; geometric or organic; large, medium or small in size... The direction of a shape is also important. The movement of a shape is in the direction of its long axis. In my painting, the 2 rock shapes move in a curved path toward the bottom of the canvas. Shapes with similar values, color or other elements relate to each other.

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In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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Painting a Dancer, My Work in Progress - Part 4

I continued to work on my painting of a dancer. I added additional orange glazes to the background. I continued to model the dancer’s figure and tutu to create a 3 dimensional form. I added shadows and minimal reflections. I also added the mid tone, light and highlights. I painted the cast shadows on the floor. My brushstrokes on the skin of the dancer are apparent. I must consider whether the brush work on the skin is too much. I also need to put a gloss medium over the entire painting.

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Buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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Painting a Dancer, My Work in Progress - Part 3

This is the unfinished back leg of the dancer. In this image you see the wonderful rhythm of the human figure. One side of the limb is straight. The other side of the limb curves. This contributes to the overall rhythmic form of the figure.

I have continued to work on my dancer by glazing the blue ballet tutu and some modeling of the figure. I am making the figure into a 3 dimensional form on my 2 dimensional canvas. The light is from the left. I am not certain I like the hue of the unfinished background. I will continue to paint the figure and make a decision on the background. I began painting the legs, feet, head and arms with thickened paint. The pink paint I mixed has been added to a transparent gloss gel medium. The skin color I mixed has also been added to a gel medium. These layers are semi transparent. You see some of the colors I used to begin modeling the leg under the gel medium mixture. I mentioned by adding paint to the medium, the mixture is more transparent. By using transparent layers, I can limit the wet to dry value shift that occurs with acrylic paints.

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Click on title of post to buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

Buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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Painting a Dancer, My Work in Progress - Part 2

In my prior post, I wrote about my preparation and start on this painting of a dancer.
I have continued to build up orange and blue glazes in the background. I adjusted the head’s profile. I made the dress on the left side smaller to create one negative shape between the dress and the arm. Although I have not completed the background, I will start work on the figure. The relationship between shapes is important. If you place a light shape against a dark shape, the light shape will appear lighter and vice versa. This is one reason artists prefer to work up a painting as a whole. I need to work on the figure to better judge the background, particularly the values. The hues I selected were blue and orange complements and red and green complements. As I did in my painting, Two Workers, I want the muted blue background to enhance the colour of the dancer’s skin. I used a square canvas. I like this format for single objects. I was careful to leave sufficient space between the top of the canvas and figure. I did not want to compress or weight down the figure. The head and hands are approximately one third on the left vertical side. The head and hands are also approximately one third and two thirds respectively on the horizontal format. As I mentioned, I had planned my design, values and hues before I started to paint. I will make adjustments as I continue.

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Click on title of post to buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

Buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

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Painting a Dancer, My Work in Progress - Part 1

This unfinished painting is my work in progress. It is 10 by 10 inches (25.5 by 25.5 cm). The support is pre primed acrylic gesso canvas on wood stretcher bars. The lighter image is the true value. I darkened this image on Photoshop’s colour variations to make it more visible for my readers.

I first did my figure on paper. With complicated subjects, such as figures and buildings or objects in linear perspective, I transfer them from my paper to canvas with graphite transfer paper. I decided on my overall design, hues and values. I use high viscosity acrylic paints. I like to place a matte medium over the pre primed canvas. It helps paint adhere to the support. I add a few eye drops of water to my mediums to improve flow. All other layers will be in gloss medium which is less absorbent. After the matte medium dried, I transferred my figure to the canvas. On Sunday, I started to paint. I use transparent glazes to build up values (light to dark scale) and hues (colours, i.e. blue, red). I add my paint to the medium and not vice versa to improve transparency. I glaze until near the end of a painting when I use opaque paints. Acrylic paints darken when dry. By painting with transparent glazes, I limit and control this color shift. I first started painting the dancer so I wouldn’t lose my lines and shapes. I did not complete the figure. I next started to glaze the background. I will continue to work on the background until it is finished except for final details. The background has a greenish hue because I used glazes of yellow orange and blue. I like to work from background to foreground. I can blur and dry brush the figure’s edges into the background. I had extended the dress on the left side as I had a tangent with the dress and arm. I have decided I will make the dress in that area smaller. This will create one negative shape - not two shapes as you see now. I also need to adjust the head’s profile.

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Click on title of post to buy my original paintings. Paintings on canvas mounted on wood stretcher bars are $60 (20.4 by 25.5 cm, 8 by 10 inches). Shipping is free within Canada and to the U.S. http://artbyarlenebabad.etsy.com

Buy images of my paintings on items, i.e. fine art prints, greeting cards, posters, and mugs. Customize style, color, border and more. http://www.zazzle.com/arlenebabadartist

In August 2010 my paintings will be exhibited at the Art for All Canada’s Rainbow Gallery. The Gallery is across from Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market. http://www.artforallcanada.org.

http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/art/