Artbymarion - Joy of Colour: contemporary abstract

Keep up with my latest paintings and works in progress

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15 November 2019

BLUE IS A CALMING COLOUR

"Blue is the colour of the mind and is essentially soothing; it affects us mentally, rather than the physical reaction we have to red. Strong blues will stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft blues will calm the mind and aid concentration. Consequently it is serene and mentally calming"

from Colour Effects

Layers of Silence

by Marion Hedger

30x30cm (12"x12")

Acrylic on Panel

A second calm painting in blues and turquoises, with orange highlights to draw you in and take you around the painting. A sister painting to Wandering in Space and Time

Close-up

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14 November 2019

CALM WITH A TOUCH OF DRAMA

Blue is a calming colour. I wonder if this is the same for turquoise?

Wandering in Space and Time

by Marion Hedger

30cmx30cm (12x12")

Acylic on Panel

Available

I must have been in a calm mood when painting this painting. the different tints of turquoise set off by that pale lilac adds depth and mood, while the orange provides a touch of contrasting heat which leads the eye around.

Close-ups

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13 November 2019

3 new totem pieces making a debut

3 New pieces making their debut at the Windsor Contemporary Art Fair last weekend. Here they are on the stand (Not a great photo but gives you an idea of their size, 120x40cm). I have yet to take proper individual photos and they are not up on my website yet.

It was interesting working in this long format. Your brain has to think different to get a good composition on a narrow long canvas. I found it very challenging (if you put the three together this would be my largest painting to date) but I loved painting this. When I thought I had finshed them, I hung them in the lounge so I could look at them before deciding if there was anything more needed. There was. The turquoise oil pastel did the trick and finished them off nicely.

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10 October 2019

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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08 October 2019

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

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04 September 2019

Over the moon.... Towards New Vistas award

TOWARDS NEW VISTAS

by Marion Hedger

40x40cm, acrylic and mixed media

I'm over the moon. 🙏This abstract has been awarded a 'Special Merit' award in the LightSpaceTime open competition.

Special Merit Award Category – These are the artists and their artwork which we felt could easily have been placed higher but due to the size constraints in each media category, this art was placed in this special category. Any of the Special Merit art, in many cases, is interchangeable with the best art that we selected for the top tiers.

This painting evolved and almost painted itself from the start. I loved what was happening and nearly stopped earlier. I'm glad I kept going as it just got better and better. Note the special touch that my 'brush' of lavender stems created.

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09 August 2019

The Colour Purple / Living in Mystery

My Impressionist landscapes of Provence always contained purple for the obvious reason. Since concentrating on abstracts, I'm using less purple but it can still be found in a few paintings.

I find that it's a good foil to the other colours, often setting them off nicely. Green can really be made to pop with an adjacent patch of purple. It can easily be toned down to a purple grey by adding green, and this is enhances yellows and creams.

LIVING IN MYSTERY

by Marion Hedger

Acrylic on canvas

The Meanings of Purple
"Purple’s rarity in nature and the expense of creating the color and has given purple a supernatural aura for centuries. Purple is also the most powerful wavelength of the rainbow – and it’s a color with a powerful history that has evolved over time. In fact, the origins of the symbolism of purple are more significant and interesting than those of any other color.

If we go back to our pre-historic existence, our ancestors probably never saw a purple fruit, flower, bird, fish - or any living thing - because purple is very rare in nature. This is hard to imagine in today’s connected world. Read more..."
Source: Colour Matters

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07 August 2019

The Colour Blue / Se7en is the Magic Number

I'm immediately drawn to paintings containing the colour blue. There are so many nuances from dark phthaloblue, bright ultramarine and sky blue right through to turquoise. Blue harmonises with all colours and mixes well with white. I'm a fan of ceruleum blue mixed with a dash of white. Do you have a favourite blue?

SE7EN IS THE MAGIC NUMBER

by Marion Hedger

Acrylic on canvas
Palette Knife Painting

The Meanings of Blue
"Blue is the favorite color of all people. It’s nature’s color for water and sky, but is rarely found in fruits and vegetables. Today, blue is embraced as the color of heaven and authority, denim jeans and corporate logos. It is cold, wet, and slow as compared to red’s warmth, fire, and intensity.
Blue has more complex and contradictory meanings than any other color. These can be easily explained by pinpointing by the specific shade of blue. Read more..."
Source: Colour Matters

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05 August 2019

The Colour Red / Searching for Enlightment

I love red, but a little goes a long way. It is a hard colour to paint with.

Too much and it's garish, too dark and it can be dull. It is difficult to lighten as adding white turns it pink, and not many reds make a good pink. Adding yellow can lighten it, but this will send it into the orange tones. For me, there is always a lot of toing and froing with reds, to get that shade 'just right'.

SEARCHING FOR ENLIGHTENMENT

by Marion Hedger

Acrylic on canvas

The Meanings of Red

Red is the color of extremes. It’s the color of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure. Our prehistoric ancestors saw red as the color of fire and blood – energy and primal life forces – and most of red’s symbolism today arises from its powerful associations in the past.
Red is also a magical and religious color. It symbolized super-human heroism to the Greeks and is the color of the Christian crucifixion. Red was almost as rare and as expensive as purple in ancient days – a fact that may explain its magic and power. Paradoxically, today’s intense red dyes come from crushed insects (the lac beetle and the cochineal).
Source Colour Matters

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02 August 2019

The Colour Yellow / On The Cusp of Spring

I love the colour yellow. It always gives me a lift and makes me feel happy.

These two paintings were painted last year as spring was starting, maybe it was the daffodils in the garden or the rape seed in the fields. Of course, here in Provence the sunflowers provide lovely yellow fields but in the summer. So perhaps these should be called On the Cusp of Summer.

On The Cusp of Spring 1 and 2.

by Marion Hedger

Acrylic on box canvas

Available

As a bit of fun, I looked up the meaning of yellow:

"Yellow, the color of sunshine, hope, and happiness, has conflicting associations. On one hand yellow stands for freshness, happiness, positivity, clarity, energy, optimism, enlightenment, remembrance, intellect, honor, loyalty, and joy, but on the other, it represents cowardice and deceit. A dull or dingy yellow may represent caution, sickness, and jealousy.
Studies show that the meaning of the color yellow can be warmth, cheerfulness, increased mental activity, increased muscle energy. The color yellow helps activate the memory, encourage communication, enhance vision, build confidence, and stimulate the nervous system."
Source Bourne Creative.

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27 July 2019

Miniature Abstract Paintings in Orange

Generally when I talk to people at trade fairs, there is a misconception that small paintings are quick to do. For me it's quite the opposite, unless I am doing a limited time trial to loosen up. Often there is just as much planning and thought in these small paintings as in larger paintings and per square inch, there can actually be more time involved. It's very satisfying completeing a series of small paintings although coming up with good compositions for all of them can be challenging.

Here are two more from my new series (10 in all) this time in orange colourways.

INTERPLAY 5

15X15cm (6x6")

oil on box canvas

INTERPLAY6

15X15cm (6x6")

oil on box canvas

AVAILABLE

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18 July 2019

Miniature Abstract Oil Paintings

At the moment, I use acrylic to paint most of my abstracts, but sometimes I get the urge to dive into thick luscious oil paint. I think there is just something about digging your palette knife into thick oil paint and laying it on the canvas. I created a set of 6x6 inch paintings on deep canvas as an antidote to some of the larger paintings I had been painting. Some were in reds and others were in oranges.

Here are a couple of the red ones.

INTERPLAY 1

BY MARION HEDGER

Oil

15x15cm on box canvas

INTERPLAY 3

BY MARION HEDGER

Oil

15x15cm on box canvas

AVAILABLE

All my Miniature Treasure range can be seen here

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17 July 2019

Revitalising my Etsy Shop with new work

For the last two years I have been ignoring my Etsy shop while I concentrate on my new direction of abstracts.

I've always had good sales on Etsy, and now I am revitalising it with some of my abstracts and gradually sprucing it up with better photos.

At the moment I have concentrated on adding my smaller format art on paper and on box canvasses. I have also added a some self-print files where you can download electronic version of my art to print at home for your own use.

Pop over to my Etsy shop and have a look. Your feedback will be valued.

Works on Paper available here. Ready to frame, with a white mount, for a standard 24x30cm frame.

Oil canvas abstracts available here.

Digital Prints available here

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15 July 2019

Honourable Mention for Breathing Mountain

Breathing Mountain

by Marion Hedger

Acrylic

80x80cm on 4cm box canvas

I was thrilled and honoured to receive an honourable mention in the LightSpaceTime 555 exhibition. Although I didn't make it into the top ten, I did make it into the top 20 in the painting category. Thank you LightSpaceTime for the honour. Click here to see the winners

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13 July 2019

Totem Paintings in Progress

Two of the for totem painting

30x60cm each
Contact me with any questions

I've had the idea to do some totem (long and thin) for a while now. I so many blank canvases and partily finished canvasses I couldn't justify new ones of the right size for yet another project trial.

I found four unfinished 30x60cm canvasses, which would make two 30x120cm (12"x48") paintings, and the project was born.

I drew a different design on all four of them and painted right over what was there, with similar colours on all of them. The above photos show how far I have got and I felt they are nearly done.

However, I don't like them.

I will reveal how I am changing them in a future post.

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