The Cup And Saucer

The Cup And Saucer

Acrylic on gesso'ed canvas on board

20 x 15cm

So what is the story behind this painting?  Well, my mom told me the following story years ago...  Even though the Daffodil is not my birth month flower, my mom said that she always thought of the Daffodil as my flower.  The reason for  this is... the day I was born my mom said she looked out of the window of her room and outside was a big bed of Daffodil flowers in full bloom.  August being my Birth month as well as Women's Month I thus thought it perfect timing to paint ‘The Cup And Saucer’ flower in a cup and saucer.  

Now as a little girl growing up, I got to know this flower not as a daffodil, but as a cup and saucer flower.  The base petals being the saucer and the trumpet section the cup, however I am not sure if the Daffodil is known by anyone else as a ‘cup and saucer’ flower.

This painting was painted from memory with no reference photograph or still life set-up.

Symbolic meaning of Daffodils:  Symbolizing rebirth and new beginnings, the Daffodil is virtually synonymous with spring (even though our Spring only starts in September, the daffodils starts blooming in August already).  Other symbolic meanings of the Daffodil are clarity, vitality, memory, renewal, creativity, inspiration, awareness, forgiveness and inner-reflection.

A question that came to mind once the painting was completed was if the cup is empty or does it have some water in for the flower to keep it blooming?

For me, even though times are tough, my cup overflows as I have so much I am grateful and thankful for everyday.  A heart of gratitude and thankfulness goes a long way in having a cup that overflows.

So my question to you is this - Is your cup empty, half empty, half full or overflowing?

Medicine For My Lemon Man

"Medicine For My Lemon Man" is an oil on 14.5 x 20cm gesso'ed board.  I put my shadow box in action this week and did a still life set-up of whisky, honey and a lemon.  I have drawn from life before, but never painted anything from life, so this was a first for me.  I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process.  

The story behind the painting...Recently my husband, Adrian was horribly sick with flu and his best friend, whom lives just around the corner from us, made him a 'Hot Toddy' for the flu. Well I am sure the 'Hot Toddy' did the trick and that gave me the idea to paint the ingredients.

So I asked Adrian on one fine day, when he was feeling a lot better, to please pop into the shop on his way home from work and buy me a lemon. I said to him that it must not just be any lemon...it must please be a beautiful lemon, one that is firm, smooth (not the rough skinned ones) and beautifully shaped. I have such a sweet husband! He got to the fruit and vegetable section and looked through the lemons. He did not find one to his satisfaction and my description. He asked one of the assistants in the section if they have any great looking lemons, as he really needs a beautiful lemon for his wife. Now I did not mention to him that I would like to use it in a still life set-up and paint it, however knowing how my brain works he figured it out already.smile emoticon

The assistant in the department went to fetch a box out of the cooler room and my sweet darling husband went through the lemons until he found the perfect one...actually he bought two.

Excitement over the little things in life ~ As he got home and handed me the lemons with a big smile while telling me the story, I had the most wonderful feeling of excitement, butterflies in my tummy as if he just gave me the biggest diamond in the world. So since then I call him my Lemon Man. Together we will make Lemonade.

Easy Fold-away Shadow Box

A couple of years ago I built a shadow box from thick polystyrene sheets, however the sides were all glued together, it was bulky and not very practical.  When this shadow box was not in use, it was in the way as my studio was not very big then...not that my studio is big now, in actual fact it is even smaller now.

Last week I decided to build another shadow box.  I really wanted it not to be too heavy or bulky and I need to be able to put it away without taking up too much space.  I decided to make use of hardboard, which I had pre-cut pieces of already for future paintings and were all different sizes...thus I just used what I had at hand.  I still needed to get some hinges to join them together to make a fold-away box.  

I had to take some paintings through to a gallery the weekend before last and thought that I will pop in at the hardware store on the way back to buy some hinges for my shadow box.  While driving home, I really did not feel like popping into the hardware store as I was eager to get home.  My mind kept thinking of an alternative solution for the hinges.  Sometimes some great ideas comes to mind while driving, I am sure you have had the same experience too. Out of the blue a solution to the 'hinge problem' came to mind and was very excited about the idea.

What I really love about this Shadow Box is that when it is folded up it hardly takes up any space at all.

Unfortunately I did not take photographs as I progressed, only thought of a blog post after the initial stages.

This is how I built my Shadow Box

What I used:

* 1 x 60 x 80 cm Hardboard sheet - Backing

* 4 x 40 x 50 cm Hardboard sheets - 2 sheets for the sides and 2 sheets for the base

* "Hinges" - Canvas sheet already primed that comes in a book form and this I cut into wide strips... about 10 cm wide, but 5cm will be sufficient too I think.

Note:  You can choose your own hardboard sheet sizes. 

You will need (including the above):

* Acrylic Gel (any brand will do)

* Hard Rubber Roller

* Couple of A4 sheets of paper (this is to cover the canvas strips when using the roller so that the gel medium does not stick to the roller)

* Matt Black Acrylic paint (house paint is perfect)

*Brushes to apply the Gel Medium and Matt Black Acrylic paint.

I placed the 60 x 80 cm hardboard sheet, with the longer side horizontally, flat on the kitchen counter.  On each side of this 60 x 80 cm hardboard sheet I placed one 40 x 50 cm hardboard sheet with the 50 cm side matching the 60cm side of the main backing sheet of hardboard.  I pushed the three sheets tightly together.  I painted gel medium about the width of the canvas strips on the left  'joint'.  I placed the canvas strips immediately on top of the wet gel medium.  Laid an A4 sheet of paper on top of the canvas strip and used the hard rubber roller, pressing hard as I rolled it over the canvas strip section on the board to iron out any air bubbles and to spread the acrylic medium evenly.  I then remove the A4 sheet of paper.  I repeat this on the right hand side "joint" as well.  I leave this flat for a while so that the gel medium gets a chance to set completely.  It took about half an hour more or less.

In the photograph below you can see what it looked like when I lifted it up and folded the sides inwards.

In the above picture you will also notice the 4 canvas hinges.  The four hinges is sufficient to keep the 3 pieces together, however there was still a thin slither of light coming through the sections between the canvas strips on each side.  To solve this I just glued more canvas strips on the sections in between the original hinges, which you will be able to see in the completed shadow box.

In the photograph below you can see what the shadow box looks like when the sides are folded inwards completely.  You will also get an idea of how little space it will take up when stored for example behind a door.

In the middle the stripe on the left is where the left and right sides meet together when folded inwards. (The line on the right of that is just a mark on the board)

I put the other 2 hardboard sheets of 40 x 50 cm next to one another with the 40 cm sides together to form the base.  I glued the canvas strips in the same way as the shadow box itself and let it dry.

I placed some plastic protection (big plastic rubbish bag cut open will do fine and is what I used) on your work surface.  Place the board on top of this plastic sheet, just like it is in the picture below and folded open, but turn it upside down so that the back faces you...both left and right sides folded out.  So it will look again like it did in the beginning, but face down.

I then painted the back with one coat of Matt Black Acrylic paint, let it dry.  Once completely dry I turned it around and kept it flat and opened up, then painted the entire inside with the Matt Black Acrylic. Let this dry completely.  I repeated this same procedure with the base section.

The reason why I paint the back of the boards is due to the fact that with hardboard when one side is painted, it tends to buckle slightly.  When you paint both sides, it 'straightens' the buckle when the other side gets painted.

This is the end result of the Shadow Box all set up and ready for a still life arrangement.  The Shadow Box fits perfectly over the loose base section. 

Even my one cat, Joey tried to test the Shadow Box out before it was all set up.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions.

Happy building

New Year With New Ideas

We are almost at the end of the first month of the new year.  I have not been able to paint for the past two and a half months as I was snowed under with sewing and the making of blockout blinds for the entire house.  This summer is extremely hot compared to previous summers and the entire January we experienced heatwave upon heatwave in Cape Town with a wicked South Easterly wind on most days.  Although the blinds were a lot of hard work, it is now paying off and keeping the house much cooler.  The aircon also seems to cope a little better too.

Seven paintings are currently on exhibition at the Masque Theatre in Muizenberg until the end of February.  Below is the last painting I completed in 2015 and forms part of the above mentioned exhibition.

"Perfection In Imperfection"

40 x 90 x 4cm 

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

Close-up of a portion of "Perfection In Imperfection"

This year I decided to work out a painting schedule and to try and stick to it as much as I possibly can.  I made the decision to work on a series of smaller paintings and there is reason behind the 'madness'.  First of all not everybody has the wall space for big paintings.  Small paintings are much more affordable as well as postage/courier and shipping will also be much more cost effective for the buyer.

There are a couple of techniques and an additional colour or two that I would like to play around with, so time will tell.  I hope that you will walk this journey with me and your feedback will be much appreciated.

I hope to see you around.

What Does Creativity Mean For Me

Art and painting is always present in my thoughts and when I am not painting, I think about it all the time in terms of ideas, colours, composition and planning.  I am generally a very quiet person, well at least I tend to think so and my family and friends might have a different opinion, however when it comes to art it is a bit difficult to shut me up and a conversation can carry on for hours.  Let's be honest here, I even dream about my paintings and I am sure a lot of artists experience this too.  Dreams might contain new ideas or even find solutions when you get stuck at a certain point of a painting. I find a huge difference when painting from my own photographic reference material compared to if I had to use the photographs of someone else (with that person's permission of course).  I feel a strong connection with my subject matter as I was there at that specific moment in time the photograph was captured on the camera. 

I recently did a short mindfulness art journaling course.  One of the topics was 'what does creativity mean for me' and then I had to put that into visual form.  The photograph of this exercise is a little bit further down.  I was limited to only mentioning seven points in my visual representation in the course and I found it to be difficult, as all the points of what creativity means for me plays an important role and exceeds seven.  I decided to do a post about this topic so that I can expand beyond just the seven points represented in my art journal.

So, what does creativity mean for me and why do I paint?  The answer to this question can't be summed up in one sentence as it involves a lot more...

Painting for me is great fun, yet it can have intense moments when I dance backwards and forwards with the brush in my hand over the canvas moulding and shaping with paint.  Mostly the 'dance' is playful and sometimes a little more intense as I am resolving mistakes, which in turn helps with the resolving of possible issues in life at that specific moment.  

Freedom and letting go - The freedom of thoughts and movement makes me feel free and not boxed in to conform to certain rules or regulations.  I made this quote by Andy Warhol my own - “Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”  Thus, what is important to me, is that I keep painting while everybody else decides and that I have the freedom of just being able to let go and play. 

Visual stimulation and awareness - Colour, texture, subject matter and sometimes the need to dig a little deeper as to the why a painting has a certain effect on my emotions, thoughts and feelings.

Exploration, observation and curiosity - Being able to play with colours and textures as well as exploring subject matter and how it all fits together in the end.  Communicating visually with my audience, working intuitively with the aim to show my personality and individuality in my art work.

The fulfillment that I experience while painting and viewing art is very addictive and encouraging.  Being able to paint and having art present in my life makes me feel complete.

Growth - The constant improvement of my technique and the evolving of my style from painting to painting.  The desire to push myself to be and do better with each progressive work of art.

Motivation - The need to keep on and keep going, not giving up, which also teaches patience, persistence and perseverance.

Connected - Painting as in the activity is my form of meditation and I find it very soothing - It's the time in my studio where my mind goes silent, connects with my Creator and where I experience stillness and serenity.

Painting takes me to a place where I feel connected and can reflect, yet at the same time it keeps me in the present.  It gives me great pleasure and purpose as well as making me feel grounded and humble at the same time.  It brings balance, playfulness, passion, calm and discipline into my life.

The great feeling of achievement when I have completed a work of art and when someone else makes a connection with my painting and want it on their wall.

Painting taught me that there is perfection in imperfection.

“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.” 
Alberto Giacometti 

This was done in my art journal using acrylics in a very watery consistency and impasto in other areas.  My aim was not to create something realistically, nor to focus on highlights, shadows, cast shadows or reflected light.  The main aim of this exercise was to just play and let it flow.