Kara English --Dream and Inspiration; Art and Artists: December 2013

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Plein Air

Plein Air leads to Landscape Understanding

Sometimes learning is certainly frustrating and painful, but if it is really learning it leads to better understanding. Here I struggled with these plein air landscapes paintings but I learned more about painting landscapes that I applied to a painting out of my imagination.


Dark and Dieing, 12 x 16 oil on canvas

Field with Cross, 12 x 16 Oil on canvas

Before it Rains, 11 x 14 Oil on canvas

Texas Trees, Texture Media and Acrylic on canvas board

Light House Collage

Gelli and Paperback Collage

These two collages were made from hand created paper using my Gelli Arts monoprint pad and a paper back book which I painted each page a different shade. After painting the light house on the 5 x 7 boards I added the collage elements.


Light House Before the Rain, Acrylic and Collage on 5 x 7 board


Lighthouse Stands Proud, Acrylic and Collage on 5 x 7 board

Fancy Fanasy

Geisha Doll

I like geisha so much that I decided to buy a doll for my collection of dolls. One little doll sits in my office file cabinet. To do her portrait I turn off the lights and shot her photo is low light. There is a potted plant right behind her that accounts for the green leaves. To begin the acrylic painting I began with a textured board in Martha Stewart's textured gold paint. Then I painted her quite rapidly, finishing in less than an hour using Golden Open Acrylic paint with regular acrylics.


Office Doll, acrylic on 6 x 6 wood

The English Fairy Painters were part of the Romantic and Pre-Raphaelite art movements of the eighteenth century. According to Wiki, fairy painting is strongly rooted in the literary and theatrical influences of Romanticism, as well as in the cultural issues facing the Victorian era. This fairy painting is in the style of this movement.