Works in progress - Arisaig

I took a break from the Valle D'or series yesterday to start work on some more highland paintings, inspired by a trip out to the car where I noticed a big canvas that had been left in the boot..
I took some stunning sunset pics when I was up at Arisaig in June, but hadn't done much with them yet as it's too my mind quite tricky to turn a sunset photo into a sunset picture without it looking rather tacky. But I felt emboldened yesterday and decided to give it a shot anyway. I'm a bout three quarters of the way through this painting, and I'm at this horrible stage where I can see all the bits that need work, but I don't want to start on them in case I ruin what I've done. Because I like it! Grr. Wish me luck..

Finally, there's still two days left in the Redbubble Sale : one calender like the one below sold this morning, plenty more available..


Calenders here, Prints and cards here.

Sea Sale! 3 days only..

First off, there's a sale on at red bubble of all my works that are linked to the sea. 15% off all prints, cards, posters.. Just hit the link and go to the sale gallery.

Calenders are also reduced by 15% - Check them out here.

The sale only lasts three days though so don't wait around..


And a quick update on what I have been up to painting wise..

I finished my Ardtoe Beach series with this painting here :

Also in the sale.

I painted it up fairly quickly, and thought, 'hey, I'll finish it off after I come back from my weekend away. Upon my return though, I realised there wasn't any more to do really. This made me happy :)


I've also been working on my Valle D'or series again - I'm up to 11 paintings now. Almost enough for a calender :p. Very pleased with how some of the new paintings have been coming along - not sure if this will be too small to see, but will give you the gist.

Hmm. Weirdly unfixably blurry! but if you click on it, it takes you to a full version that is fine.

West Highland paintings

Broke my long spell of not-very -much -painting at all with a couple of paintings inspired by our holiday in the highlands last week. It's always difficult to pick up a brush again after a long time away, so I was quite pleased with how they turned out. Some paintings are better in photos than they are in the flesh, with these it's the other way round, but here they are anyway.



Both are acrylic on Box canvas, 16" x 12". The originals are for sale at £120 each, or £200 for both. As always, cards and prints can be bought at Redbubble via the link on the side.

Just a quick heads up that 2010 calenders are now available on RedBubble, with a shiny 15% discount for the next two days.

Check out my various calenders here. There's a lot of great calenders by other people too on Redbubble, so if mine don't tickle your fancy, have a look around the site anyway, you may find something that does.

RECENT WORK

Hallo, poor little neglected blog..

I've not been regularly painting, and no regular paintings means not much to write about. But I do have a few things to show.

First up, my partner and I took a wee trip to the highlands and I produced a couple of en plein air little canvases -

Sanna Beach

Back of Keppoch

These, and the hundreds of photos I took, will be used as the basis to work up some bigger canvases. Hopefully I'll be back up there later in the year to work as well - the west coast of Scotland does just make me want to paint, paint paint.

Secondly, a commission to paint the local bistro out here in France. The proprieter is leaving, and my mum wanted to give her a leaving present. Hopefully it will remind her of good times there - We certainly had many great evenings at Le Lion D'or.

Finally - some good news in that a couple of sets of paintings have sold - Belhaven Bay and East Beach tryptichs were sold through Blues and Greens gallery in North Berwick recently.

And that's the news for now..hopefully there will be more to show again soon.

RECENT WORKS - PAINTING PRESENTS

Now I'm back in Scotland for a while, regular service can resume...

My painting schedule has been pretty scrappy and intermittent of late, but what I have managed to get done is a couple of presents for people.

Painting for presents is a funny thing - whenever I am painting regularly, it seems quite a lot of my output is always marked out as presents. If I have a wedding coming up, or someone I want to thank, or a birthday, I never like to give people something 'off the shelf' - I'd far rather make a bit more effort to make something that is personal to them, that I think would suit their taste.



Sometimes this is easy - La Barthe was a painting for our neighbours in France, to thank them for all their help to my family of late, phoning the hospital daily for us and generally rallying round in times of trouble. Subject matter was fairly easy then - their house, nestled between the maize fields and the hills. I wanted to catch a soft twilight light, and the way the house glowed goldenly when the sun was rising or setting on it. On the computer screen, it looks almost too vivid - garish almost - but seen hanging within their sunny yellow salle, it works.



The Lighthouse was a slightly trickier one - a wedding present for my swedish friend Anna and her new husband Neil. I've never been to Worthing, where they live in the Uk, or Sweden, but I know her well enough to know she'd like a stormy sea scene. I asked a mutual friend for some help, and he suggested using a lighthouse she liked in Sweden - Morups Tånge fyr

Morups Tånge Fyr, April 2008

Creative Commons photo by Sune Frack

So I pulled together a few images of the lighthouse, such as the one above, and set about creating a turneresque moody sea, with gloomy colours but a pale yellow light. Challenging, but fun - and hopefully enjoyed by the recipient.

It's one of the nicest things about being a painter - being able to give people pictures that are personal to them in some way. Just as well I like it though, as we have a lot more weddings coming up that need presents of some kind..

Anne Staub - Feature

After a bit of a hiatus, the blog is back -my father's on the mend, family crisises resolved, and I've managed to get myself engaged. So - back to real life (or internet life) with a feature on Anne Staub discussed previously. Please click on the pics to see them in their full glory - am limited on the size ( and number) I can show them here!



I'm not neccessarily an enormous fan of photography - but as with everything, there are exceptions to the rule. Anne's work struck me from the first time I saw it as something other than run of the mill photoshopped photos, and she has the honour right now of being the only artist on RedBubble who has moved me to buy some of their work ( granted, a lot of that has to do with the financial restraints I'm under, I'd like to buy a lot of stuff - but there it is.)




So what makes her work stand out so much for me, amongst the 90,000 + photographers on RedBubble? I think all art is most interesting when the artist concerned has the ability to present another world to us - one which we can't always see, but one we'd like to see, and be part of. As a friend of mine once put it, art should show us the magic present in the world.

I could go on about colour, and composition, and when to post process and when to stop, and all these things are great strengths of Ann's. But at the heart of it, it is this that is important. that her art is revelatory - of a world painted in sombre yet elegaic tones, a time past but cherished, a place where objects are seperated from the mundane and the multitude and allowed to exist in elegant purity.



But - that's my take on her work . Anne's answers are as folllows..

1. Your book talks about your ‘creative journey for the last two years’. Does that mark the beginning of a new way of working? Or of your interest in photography? Some background, please!

When I first selected images for the book “My Creative Journey”, it was for me a way of summarizing the last two years. My ideas, my perspective, indeed my journey. I always had in interest in Photography but in the last two years I dedicated a lot of my time to it, photography and creating images using my own photography had turned into a passion. I have learned a lot, it has been very enriching creatively and also in many other ways. After “publishing” this book, I realized that it was also marking the end of a specific creative journey for me and the beginning of something else….

2. I dislike the term ‘digital art’, and I don’t think it appropriate to your work, so I won’t use that – but I see your work as being in an interesting place somewhere between painting and photography. How would you describe it?

I don’t mind the term “digital art” but I don’t feel it applies to my work as to start with. I think I must use about 20% of what my software does offer. Apart from adding textures, contrast and alter colours or tones, I don’t do anything digitally as such to my images which I feel would be considered as Digital Art. I currently describe my work as Photography and Decorative Art. My main interest and passion is photography, I can’t paint or draw, therefore I compose a visual with photographic equipment, sometimes it will be altered, and sometimes it won’t be.



3. When you take photos, is the eventual image you wish to create in your head? Or is it something that comes out when experimenting in post production?

Most of the time it’s in my head, I go out and “see” images (which is rather annoying when I have no camera with me), my eyes pick up on composition, strong lines, contrast and textures mainly, whatever the subject/s. I always know at the time of shooting if I’ll convert an image in black & white. I also usually know if it will be untouched. Other post-processed images are more ideas but I usually know very quickly what I will enhance and/or add to it. I don’t spend a lot of time altering an image (I’ll rather be out shooting), if my idea does not work for my eyes, I will discard it quite rapidly. I never try “to save” an image either. If there is no inspiration to start with or I’m unhappy with the composition or light, I will not use the image or post-work on it at all.



4. Tranquility, Nostalgia, Delicate, Composed and Subtle are the words I would use to describe your work – is that what you are aiming for? How would you describe it?

Different......or some of my work hopefully is. I think these words are a very good description of the journey I have mentioned above, which I presented in various ways (black & white, minimalism, textured images, abstract …). I think my future work will still convey the above but possibly in a less eclectic way. But I can’t see myself ever producing one single “type/style” of images as such. I think variety is the key to ongoing creativity. It’s not unusual to get comments on my work saying that that they saw an image and they immediately knew that it was one of mine. Considering how varied my portfolio is and has been in the past, this is very encouraging as for me not to be concerned about being creative in different ways. Some of my images convey various emotions, sometimes stories to the viewer. Sometimes, it’s reflecting my views at the time, sometimes it’s more open and let them “see” their own and sometimes both.



5. Where do you see yourself going with your work – what are your goals, artistically and commercially?

I have inspirations and ideas which will make me focus more on a certain way of “emphasizing” what I “see” ……. Watch out for “The Ongoing Journey” book… My main aim is to carry on learning and using photography as my main tool to present what I see and how I see it to others, to communicate at times and share ideas with others. I have started selling my work directly and have several events planned this year (all can be seen at http://www.anne-staub.com/). I love to meet Artists, Photographers and anyone interested in creativity and Arts in general, I hope to meet more in the future and possibly work with them. I am also looking to exhibit some of my work.



6. Finally, name three artists who have inspired you on red bubble – pay it forward!

So many have inspired me in one way or another since I have joined Red Bubble and because of this I regularly feature others’ work or link to other members’ portfolio. I use my journal on RB for this and it’s quite popular with my “watchers”. I can not name just three and would have to provide probably a list of 30 instead as the use of negative space, textures, composition, tones, shapes, and much more has inspired me through viewing others’ creations on various media, I feel very fortunate to discover, enjoy and learn from so many talented photographers and artists exhibiting their work on Red Bubble from Abstract Art to black and white photography, paintings and drawings, macro and minimalism just to name a few.

Anne's work can be seen at RedBubble, AnneStaub.com, and Fine Art America