Not one, but two works in progress

I started two new works in progress yesterday, one large and one that's more my normal size. I'm working side by side on them so so far they have the same colours and similar mark making.

The larger one was given a coat of textured gesso (normal gesso with plaster added) because I love working on a textured ground. The smaller one.....

I fully intended to make a time lapse video but my tablet had run out of charge. I had the urge to paint and couldn't wait to get going with the paint. I started differently than normal - using a brush and not a palette knife and placing black marks for the composition, ensuring they were all of different sizes and led the eye around the canvas. I had a good couple of hours where the paint just seemed to flow. That is a glorious feeling.

The next stage is deciding where to take it with thicker paint and more control. I'm hoping that I can keep some of this spontaneity going, and now that my battery is charged, maybe I will do a timelapse.

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Lyon Contemporary Art Fair

Lyon Contemporary Art Fair Stand

Last week end saw me at the Art3f Lyon Contemporary Art Fair with my largest painting to date taking pride of place.

It's so hard to photograph the stand as it is 3metres deep and hard to get a good vantage point to photograph the walls properly. At the English art fairs I am used to having a longer stand where the side walls are 1m or 1.5meters long which I find is a much better way to display the art. But the smallest art3f stands are 3x3m. I feel it discourages visitors to enter the stand as, although there is 9 linear metres of wall space, it feels quite enclosed.

I have another art fair at Marseille the weekend after next, with the same stand layout so I will have to get used to it LOL. If you are in the area and would like tickets. Contact me

Keep upto date with the latest artwork by Marion

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Weekly News Update from Artbymarion

I'm at a bit of a loose end this week as I cannot paint and the heat wave is in full swing.

I attended the first Cannes International Contemporary Art Fair last weekend and will write-up my experiences to share with you maybe next week.

After the fair, I had a hand op last Tuesday for Dupuytrens contracture. It's a minor op as operations go, but it means painting is out of the question at the moment - I've been sternly told not to get my hand wet for at least two weeks. I can now move most of my fingers and so at least type with one and a half hands.

I've discovered I'm not very good working with my left hand, so I think some painting exercises with my left hand is in order to work on that right brain activity. It has given me a new appreciation of how lucky I am to have all my working parts and also have a new found admiration for things people with disabilities can do.

Works on Paper 

It's been a while (like years) since I seriously worked on paper and I wanted something to complement my works on canvas and panel to put into a browser at art fairs. A block of 14 rough water colour paper sheets were sitting in the cupboard and saying 'use me, use me'. I challenged myself to work loose and free and not be too precious and to use them as studies. Needless to say, I couldn't leave it at that and worked them up into full paintings. I'm very pleased how they turned out and manged to keep them loose and free in the main.

Here are a couple more images. The full range can be seen on my website

Social Media
The use of social media is both a blessing and a curse. Which one is best? How many should I have a presence on? Which ones do you use and what works best for you? I'll be interested to know;

At the moment I have a presence on Instagram, Facebook and my occassional blog posts - one of the things that has suffered due to time conflicts. My  pinterest account is also on the back burner as are a lot of the other bits. I will stay with Instagram for the time being as it's a platform I enjoy. I'm going to attempt some Facebook lives as well as posting the occassional photo, and will attempt to update my blog once a week. I tried Twitter but just didn't get it, I'm a dinosaur at heart.

Tuesday Painting Tip by Marion Hedger

Work in Progress

Acrylic/mixed media on paper

When getting close to completing a painting, looking at the painting through a mount helps to focus on the painting. 

It's quite amazing how different the painting looks and it helps to highlight areas needing more work. I will also leave the mount on as I'm putting in the finishing touches.

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Artwork in a Room, which app do you use?

DISRUPTED NARRATIVE

by Marion Hedger

60x60cm on cradled panel

Framed in a white floater frame

Overall size 65x65cm

AVAILABLE

I'm gradually adding room views on my website to make is easier to visualise the art in a room.

Often I use room mock-ups, usually from Mockup World but these involve using Photoshop to get the full benefits from the different layers. I only have Photoshop Elements which is OK but doesn't give the full functionality and often involves a lot of fiddling.

Just lately I have been using the WallApp app which is easy to use but has a limited number of rooms with a sofa.

Se7en is the MAGIC NUMBER

by Marion Hedger

60x60cm on cradled panel

Framed in a white floater frame

Overall size 65x65cm

AVAILABLE

With the two paintings above I framed the pieces with a white frame similar to those I use in real life (my framed photos did not work out very well) in PSE first. Now I have the frame, creating more room photos will be easy.

What apps do you use to show your art in a setting? Leave a comment and let me know.

New Work, New Year and New Venue

PASSAGE REVEALED

Mixed media

50x60cm (20"x24") on gallery wrapped canvas

Contact me direct for more information

The New Year has been a busy time in my studio. I have been busy painting away on a new series of work for an art fair at the end of February.

I seem to have a split personality as the new work falls into two camps - geometric and landscape based. The above painting is one of the more looser 'landscape' based ones and the one below definitely geometric.

SUBDUCTION

Mixed  media 

40x40cm on cradled panel

Contact me direct for more information

 Participating in an art fair is a new experience for me, and I am both excited and fearful at the same time. Let me know if you would like complimentary tickets. The venue is Sandown Racecourse, Esher Surrey (UK).

Adding Calligraphic Marks using Acrylic Ink

One of the hardest things I find to do is scribble/calligraphic marks which seems to come so easy to many artists. To me, mine don't look natural and I have to manipulate them by painting over them, thinning the lines with paint or using transparent paint to make them 'sit' in the painting. 

I use a range of different tools - oil pastels, pencil and pen, but today I discovered I enjoy making these marks, and they look more natural, with acrylic ink direct from the bottle using the dropper supplied.

I'm great at purchasing art supplies (my favourite hobby) but often don't make use of everything I buy. I purchased some acrylic inks several years ago but only ever created a few ACEOs, so I am delighted to find another use for them.

Some of the marks on current works in progress

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Adding Texture to Acrylics Part 1

My visitors have all gone home and I am enjoy the peace and quiet lost in painting again.

As usual, I am working on several paintings at once but they all look a little flat so I am injecting some texture into them.

The best way to do this is at the beginning of a painting is using gesso or modeling paste. You can also use these on an in-progress painting but, as they are opaque, you will lose any colour already down.

One method I enjoy using, because it brings up a lot of unexpected surprise, is laying down two, three or even four layers of acrylics on top of one another and then scraping through the acrylic.

Use thick paint for the best results and wait for the paint to touch dry before adding another layer. I like to wait until the top layer is just touch dry before dragging the scaper through the paint. The effects are different according to how dry the paint is. Practice this to see the different effects. The wet paint also lifts off some of the dried paint underneath, giving interesting results.

The first photo is the work in progress. The grey is layered on top of the cream which is on top of the base painting colours and the scraper has been pulled through the paint.

This is a closer look at the texture achieved.

In this photo I have added another layer of blue to the top right hand triangle and again dragged the scraper through the paint.

New Abstract Series Published

My first series of intuitive abstracts, 'Connections' are all up and available on my website. Click on the image to view larger version on my site. I am still working on adding more to my abstract portfolio and I think I might be getting a bit obsessed with the proces. I love adding layers and scraping away to reveal previous colours.

 

To keep up to date with my latest paintings (I added a new one today) as they are released, use the "Get New Art Alerts" link in the website menu.

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No Rules only Principles

Work in Progress (5012)

12x12in

Acrylic on 5mm board

In the course Nicholas Wilton always stresses that what he is teaching are PRINCIPLES not rules. They are there to be used and should underlie the art but they are only guidelines.

A piece of serendipity this morning when I read Brad Teare's interesting post on debunking the myths on rules in art. I am so guilty of this, I read something and think 'Ah yes, I must do that'. Sometimes it takes me a while to realise it is not my way or my style etc.

AFTER THE STORM acrylic abstract, Day 27 of the 30 day challenge

AFTER THE STORM Work in Progress

acrylic abstract painting

50x60cm (20x24in) on gallery wrapped canvas

Contact me about this, or any other painting

Day 27 of Jan 2017 30 paintings challenge

Click Here to see Day 21's painting

I needed to use paint today - I was getting withdrawal symptons.


I liked the effect of day 10's painting, During the Storm, and wanted to see if I could scale it up.

I gessoed the canvas with heavy body gesso to get some texture and to ecourage the paint to pool in the texture. This is how it look after the initial wash - Sorry a very glary photo:

Next I mixed black with heavy gel medium and added that in what I hoped was and interesting shape. Then I started working on the colour. This was my initial pass, but I felt it was much too bright.

I continued working on toning it down and trying to 'meld' the colours together and also adding a few darks. Day 10's painting was on mountboard and came out much more moody, probably because the colours ran together more. On the canvas the paint did not flow as easily

Todays task is to bring it to a finished state.