Artbymarion - Joy of Colour: February 2017

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24 February 2017

Bluebell Wood oil painting

BLUEBELL WOOD by Marion Hedger

24x30cm (10x12)

oil on canvas panel

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23 February 2017

SUNSHINE SMILES Throwback Thursday

Sunshine Smiles Miniature Treasure painting

4x4" on gessoed panel.

Painted with a palette knife.

SOLD

Sunflowers are one of my favourite flowers, although they are not as easy to paint as you may think. Getting the right amount of detail and looseness right is a juggling act. I like the way this one turned out, with lots of layers and textures.

How it would look framed in a floating frame

21 February 2017

Off to visit the rhinos and elephants

Coastal Morning

Namibia Impressions Series

50% of proceeds go to Save The Rhino Trust Namibia

Available

As you read this I will be in Namibia visiting the rhinos and elephants again. Or at least I hope so. We were there two years ago at the same time of year - THE RAINY SEASON. That time we were lucky (well for us not the locals) as the drought was in full swing. This meant that the animals would all congregate around the waterholes making it much easier to spot them.

This year the drought has broken and it is much wetter, although it seems to be easing up so we may not get as wet as we first thought! This of course means that the animals will be more widely dispersed and more difficult to spot, but we are still hopeful.

This time round we are taking in the Savuti Channel and going into Chobe national park in Botswana. Keep your fingers croseed for us.

Namibia Impressions Series

Coastal Heat

12x12inch

20 February 2017

SHADY WALK oil painting

Shady Walk

Oil on box canvas

40x50cm (16x20inch)

We visited Hanbury Gardens in Italy, last summer on a blistering hot day. The gardens didn't have any parking and the only parking was on the street It was a long uphill walk to the entrance. Imagine our delight when we found this beautiful shaded pergola.

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17 February 2017

The Traveling Chickens have come to the South of France

Guess who flew in today for a visit? Senor Azul and friends. They arrived in a specially chartered jet all the way from America. I was so happy to see them but I was horrified to learn there had been a mishap on the journey and the pilot broke his arm as the plane skidded in to land and also resulting in some propeller damage.

The pilot immediately went into intensive care and the plane to the mechanics workshop.

While the pilot was getting some tender loving care, the chickens went out to stretch their legs in the garden. They were so happy playing around in the sunshine with squawking coming from all around.

To find out what this is all about and to read more fly over to The Traveling Chicken blog

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16 February 2017

Distant Shores oil pastel landscape - throwback Thursday

I used to have 3 painting blogs - my daily painting blog (which changed to the present version), a blog for my florals and a blog for my landscapes. Having three blogs defeated me so I amalgated them into this Joy of Colour blog. In a bit of Nostalgia I was wandering through my landscape blog and came across this one painted about four years ago before I I started using oils. I used oil pastels for a while in the mistaken belief it would be easier than oils.

I reworked it from it's original version thinking about composition and leading your eye through the painting. Looking at it again, I think this might be worth doing again in oils.

Distant Shores Painting by Marion Hedger

Oil Pastel on beige Ingress pastel paper

"A reworked painting of one I painted as part of the landscape challenge on wetcanvas.com. I added a closer headland and worked some more on the sky.
Here is the original painting"

I hope you think I improved on the original.

15 February 2017

Staying Loose with 'Paradoxical Surrender' via Brad Teare

Sky Reach

30x60cm

Oil on box canvas

SOLD

Brad Teare's latest post hit a note with me. I feel that my paintings can often be very 'tight' and it is a constant struggle to stay looser. Often, I find myself overthinking the scene and so the painting gets tighter and tighter. Often if I scrape off the paint the resulting image provides a good loose underpainting that helps the process along. I do have to fight with my logical mind telling me that I am wasting all that paint, which with a palette knife is quite thick, but often the result is worth it.

Brad talks about not trying so hard and often this results in a better painting. This rings true as when I convince myself to just 'go for it' I am often pleased with the result.

Today's painting is one of those where I told myself to just go for it and it worked. It is one of my favourite paintings and I had it on my wall for a couple of years before I was ready to let it go.

Let me know about your experiences with just 'letting go'.

14 February 2017

Summer Meadow Painting and Painting Larger

Over the past few I have been striving to increase the size of my landscape paintings. My main size was 7x10inch and often 10x12 and I painted many smaller ones. These two are 6x6inch

Summer Meadow 1 by Marion Hedger

6x6 inch
AVAILABLE

Summer Meadow 2 by Marion Hedger

6x6 inch
Oil on box canvas
AVAILABLE

When working smaller you really have to think of the design and paint loose in such a way that you can say what you want with less details. This can be harder than it sounds. After painting smaller it can be difficult to get back to the larger paintings.

Some of my first paintings I were on full sized mount board (50x70cm) and I didn't think anything of it, but for some reason, at the moment I have a mental block about going larger than 30x40cm (12x16"). So my aim this year is to paint larger.

I have steadily been working upwards with some 40x50cm and 50x60cm and I have purchased some large canvases 76x1000cm (30x40") - did I tell you I was addicted to buying art supplies - and they have been staring at me in the studio daring me to make the leap. Stay with me and follow my journey.

Let me know about your journey with painting large sizes. Do you do it? Do you have to change your technique or just use larger utensils?

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13 February 2017

Provence Poppy Meadow WIP

Provence poppy meadow work in progress by Marion Hedger.

Rescuing a failed underpainting Started well over a year ago. Working on this to bring it back to life. Has potential as my teacher used to say.

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07 February 2017

Abandoned Garden 2 Acrylic Painting Finished

Abandoned Garden 2

20x30cm acrylic abstract

The second half of Day 11's painting - Lots of lovely texture

Close-up showing the texture.

06 February 2017

Abandoned Garden 1, Finished from Day 11

Abandoned Garden 1

Acrylic Abstract painting

20x30cm (approx 7x12in)

Remember this painting from Day 11?

I added more colour and created larger 'flowers' and then cut it into two.
Abandoned Garden 1 is the first half of the painting.

Close-up

04 February 2017

DURING THE STORM Finished

DURING THE STORM

Abstract painting

30x40cm (12x16in)

Acrylic on mountboard

Contact me to commission a larger piece

I put the finisishing touches to this painting and it is now available in my Etsy shop. There is a lot of texture on the black 'cloud'.

Some close-ups

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Commission a similar painting

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03 February 2017

Valentine's Day Gift Voucher

Art Gift Voucher for Valentine's Day

Purchase HERE

This Valentine's Day would you like to surprise your loved one with a beautiful painting but you are not sure which one to choose or have left it too late? Let them make the decision or even order a custom painting of their own!

Giving the gift of an Original Art Gift Voucher from Artbymarion shows you care and will have a special meaning to the one receiving the voucher. They can choose a painting from my shop and use the voucher towards the price. Or they can commission their very own piece of art that is unique to them.

02 February 2017

Pink Roses Commission Painting

Pink Roses for Paola

30x40cm oil painting

Second of the three commissions

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Link to request commission

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01 February 2017

White Roses Commission Painting

White Roses for Paola Commission Painting

30x40cm

oil on canvas panel

This is the first of the additional three floral paintings requested by my collector who commissioned the poppy painting.

I love painting roses in using thick thick paint and a palette knife, there is something therapeutic in it.

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