flights of fancy

Just now I found this whimsical drawing that I made, goodness knows when.  It’s a quick and spare copy of Bonnard’s huge and famous L’atelier au mimosa.  I saw the actual painting in the Phillips Collection exhibit on Bonnard in 2002 though I made this drawing from a book.

Bonnard’s painting is 50 x 50 inches square.  Seeing this little sketch I think about large spans of very bright — dizzyingly bright — color!  In truth all of reality is an amazing field of light that we see with our eyes each day.

 

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putting the flowers into the vase

So it’s time to transfer some of the flowers in the newest bouquet, the ones on the aluminum easel, to the painting above it.  The painting on the wooden easel is an intermediary stage between me and the really BIG painting.

I’ve been working on this 24 x 18 inch study for a few days in succession.

Jump flowers, into the picture!

And the flowers of the actual bouquet are now kind of spent.  Some are a little worn and others have gone entirely limp!  But that pretty rose is still firm.  It refuses to open, but it still looks like new.

 

studio stack

My creative mess on one side of the room:  the painting propped against the still life table; above it peek the flowers of the very same.

Two of my flower pictures above, hanging on the wall.  To the right a painting by a friend.

flowers in the darkness

Black can be a particularly challenging color to use.  It is very bold and rich.  It’s so absolute in value that it’s hard to create an atmospheric effect using it.  The black in this painting is mostly composed of dark browns made from burnt sienna and ultramarine blue.  It breathes a little.  But I want the mystery of the very darkest background.  In this painting and in some others, I have explored the sensation of an atmospheric deep shadow.

All the other elements serve some role in striving after that effect.  Its size also participates in the experiment.  It’s a largish picture, measuring 44 x 34 inches.  I want to create a life-sized feeling of the space.

Making its debut soon ….

Just learned that the Crepe Myrtles will be on exhibit at the Virginia Art League in March.  The painting will be included in the spring landscape exhibit running March 6 through March 31st.

gardening indoors

I’ve been working on this picture for the last week.  It’s a 30 x 40 inch acrylic painting of the old garden.  And it’s almost finished.  I seem to be going left to right so the whole vertical right side comes next.

Nonetheless it’s kind of a prototype for this motif because I have another version in mind too.

The first painted sketch I made for it was called “the little garden” so I guess the version above shall be considered “the big garden.  Little Garden is here:

https://alethakuschan.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/little-garden/

picturing the pictures on the wall

I have some pictures available in reproductions at Fine Art America.  And the Fine Art America website has introduced a feature that makes it easier to imagine the image hanging in a room.  With their new feature, you can get a sense of how the image size you’ve chosen might look in an actual room.   All that’s left is to imagine how it will look in your room and in your life.

You can find my stuff here:

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/aletha-kuschan.html

the picture unfolding

The large flower wall has been thoroughly blocked in, and now I have to bring the individual parts into greater clarity.  At the same time I don’t want to spoil the element of abstraction, the aspect of the painting that suggests forms.  I want to suggest more than to describe, though my natural way of thinking is descriptive.

I learning to look at the painting itself more to gain a sense of how to go forward.  I waver between the pull of the motif and the needs of the picture to stand on its own.

around the corner

After landscapes, still life and flowers.  I have some pictures that I need to finish including the one above which measures 48 x 36 inches.  I began it a while back.  I’m eager to return to it.

Painting the landscape has given me lots of ideas that apply to this. So, soon — very soon I’ll return to my flowers.

Pierre Bonnard & still life

I’m all landscape right now.  But when I get back to painting still life, this guy is going to be providing a lot of my motivation.  Look at that color.

I love Bonnard’s paintings!