Flamingos on my mind

Since I have a show in a couple weeks at the Grand Bohemian Gallery in St. Augustine called “Destination Paradise”, I decided to work a bit more on the theme of tropical birds and animals. The top painting is inspired by a photo I took while in Key West of two flamingoes in a arboretum. It is called “Rock Pond” and is a thick gallery wrap 24×36″.

This painting is more fanciful with a dragonfly and two flamingoes. By the way, I looked up the proper spelling of the plural of flamingo can be flamingos or flamingoes.

This 40×16″ gallery wrap painting is called “Spring Joy”. It has metallic gold and irridescent touches throughout and looks more captivating with room lights.

Here is the invitation to the upcoming show. Hope to see you!

Mermaid along the Bay

I wasn’t sure what to call my new mermaid but wanted to relate how she was watching over the bay as a guardian. “Lightkeeper” was a contender but I ended up with “Allexis” which is a Greek name meaning protector, guardian. This painting is smaller than most of my mermaids at 36×18″. It took a while since I made up the scene. I did use a canvas from years ago that I had started from a live nude painting session at the local university.

Sometimes while painting a figure, I have to guess where the shadows and light is coming from which is challenging. There is a point where the face changes dramatically with each brushstroke and finally she appears. I say “Oh there you are” when I feel she has emerged.

Flamingo

“Coral Plumes” is a small accent painting 20×10″. It would be great in a bathroom or as accent in any room. I also am offering the image to be printed on demand through my website.

details

“This is a 24x36x1.5 gallery wrap painting called “Flamingo Gossip”. Its more impressionistic in style and was inspired by a photo I took at the San Diego Zoo.

Parrots!!

After working on monkey paintings earlier in the year and recently, I wanted to continue my tropical rain forest theme in include birds and other animals.

“Parrot Choir” is a 40×30″ painting with three parrots

The other two parrot paintings are small 20×10″. I have also shown ideas for having my art printed on various decor and wearable items. This is an option on my website and a great option for collectors who have no wall space; at http://www.linda-olsen.pixels.com

Silk Painting with my ARTISTIC CHICKS© club

There are four artists in a club I started years ago where we meet monthly to try different artistic endeavors, teach each other art techniques and share ideas. Lisa Woodruff is a clay artist, Peg Paschal is an artist who transforms used items into sculptures and art, Deb McKinney is an illustrator, graphic designer and painter and I am a painter.

We have done mosaics, woodcuts, linoleum block prints, paintings, glass sculptures, tie dye clothes and other mediums. Deb was in charge of this meeting which took two days. She generously bought the supplies and did the tutorials. I recommend artists to form their own small groups. It calls for dedication, ability to work together well, and imagination to try different techniques.

First we had to build the frames to stretch the silk before we started to actually paint. Using PVC pipes and fittings, we cut the poles to the size of the scarf silk to be able to suspend. Then we used a resist to paint in areas that we wanted to have no fabric dye. Then…painted away.

I loved how everyone tackled the project differently and the final scarves so unique. We loved this so much that we will do another session in a couple months. Also we will be able to use all the dyes and the racks that we built. SO fun!!!