New Works in Progress

New Works in Progress

All 24x30cm on canvas panel

Acrylic and mixed media

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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.

Keep upto date with the latest artwork by Marion

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Totem Paintings in Progress

Two of the for totem painting

30x60cm each
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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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Taking Risks

Work in Progress

40x40cm on box canvas

Acrylic

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Sometimes you nee to take risks to challenge yourself. This one started off conventionally with large blocks of colour, orange and light blue, and then smaller different blocks of colour on top letting some of the first colour show through.

I looked at it and thought "Why not go for it and drew some thick black lines and a circle . From there it gradually evolved to where it is now going more instinctively. I didn't overthink it and just went with the flow.

I enjoyed myself painting it and I am pleased with how it has turned out so far. Still some work to do, mainly tidying it up and looking at values, but it worked out quicker than many more of my more 'thoughtful' paintings.

Is the motto, "When it feels right, just go for it?"

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Orange Miniature Treasures, Works in Progress

Orange Miniature Treasures by Marion Hedger

Oil on gallery wrapped canvas

6x6inch

More of the new series of 6"x6" miniature treasures. These will also be framed in white floater frames:

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Red Miniature Treasures works in progress

New 6"x6" Miniature Treasure Paintings Work in Progress

by Marion Hedger
Oil on gallery wrapped canvas

My previous series of Miniature Treasures were very popular at the Windsor Contemporary Art Fair last November.

I have another art Fair coming up in Surrey during March and have started on a new series for the fair. I'm using recycled canvases which have been sanded down to remove most of the texture created by the palette knife work. A small amount of texture remains which will add depth to the new painting.

These ones have red as their main colours and others (I shall post later) with orange. They will be framed in white floating frames like the previous ones

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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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Phases of a painting, are you in the middle middle or the beginning of the end?

Work in Progress Diptych.

Where am I in the process?

Recently I listened to a trailer for an interview by Nicholas Wilton talking to Mark Eanes.

Mark Eanes suggested that a good way of looking at the painting process is as a three step process, the beginning, the middle and the end. Each of these have three parts - a beginning a middle and an end, so nine phases in all.

I love this way of thinking about the process and it really gels with me and helps me assess where I am at. I has helped me to visualise what I have done in a meaningful way and how much more there is to do. For example, recently I felt that I wasn't getting past the beginning, but when I stood back and assessed the work I had done and what else I wanted to do, I felt I was further along the process and maybe more to the middle of the middle. Not foolproof of course, but a help.

For example in the work in progress above. I am at the beginning of the end. Realising that, cheered me up no end. 😊


Tell me how you assess where you are in the process.

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Current Abstracts in Progress

As you know, if you follow this blog, I like working on several abstract paintings at once. I do this to a certain extent with my other works but not quite so deliberately as with the abstracts.

Working on more than one paintings stops me getting bogged down on one particular thing. Making a concious effort to work in small blocks of time on a painting (1/2 hour is usually a long enough time to spend on one painting) allows you to approach each new pass with a fresh eye.

Working on several paintings also allows one painting to inform the other and grow ideas. Here are nine paintings I am actively working on at the moment - but the pile of unfinished paintings is much larger. This no longer bothers me like it used to, another benefit of working on more than one at a time.

Works in Progress

Click here to view the slideshow

Three abstract paintings in progress
by Marion Hedger. 

I am on a circles theme at the moment.

These are acrylic on panels, different sizes

Visit my abstract collection

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Work in Progress on my easel

Work in Progress

Both are 40x40cm

I am treating these two painting as a diptych at the moment. Time will tell if they will remain joined or go their separate ways.

Let me know if you think they should remain as a diptych or you can see them splitting up.

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Work in Progress on the Easel

These two boards (40x40cm) are on my easel at the moment. My idea is for a diptych with overall dimensions of 40x80cm (16x32) so I am working on both of them together. Whether or not they remain a diptych only time will tell.

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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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TOWARDS THE LIGHT WIP, Day 29 of the 30 day challenge

TOWARDS THE LIGHT

Work in Progress

2x50x60cm (overall 100x60cm - 40x24in)

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

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Day 29 of Jan 2017 30 paintings challenge

Click Here to see Day 28's painting

The underpainting:

I had an idea for this. I wanted lots of colour and raised swirls on this one. So  at this stage I went to the nearest town to see what I could find in the way of relief paint. The local art store was closed - it closes between 12:30 and 3pm for lunch - only in France! There is another store, part of a supermarket chain, that sells art materials, books and mixed media. Their art supplies are gradually dwindling but I did find some white relief paint. Triumphant I got ready to try my artistic swirls. The relief paint was TRANSPARENT not white. Ugh!

Undaunted I added more colour and, no surprises, I think it is turning into an abstract floral.

Will it become a floral? Or can I resist the urge and do something different?

By the way, does anyone know what to do with transparent relief paint?

AFTER THE STORM Diptych WIP

AFTER THE STORM DIPTYCH

Work in Progress

2x50x60cm (overall 100x60cm - 40x24in)

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

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Day 27 of Jan 2017 30 paintings challenge

Click Here to see Day 26's painting

Well... I failed in yesterday's task of completing my painting. What did I do instead? Created another one of course!

Living in France the expense of shipping outside of France is high and it makes it difficult to ship large pieces, as Colissimo parcel post do not take very large parcels and DHL fees would be a large percent of the cost of the painting. I would like to paint larger. Some of the ideas this month, in my humble opinion, would look great larger.  To stick my toe in the water, I am trying the diptych and maybe triptych idea, if that works maybe then I'll be ordering those larger canvasses - I told you I was addicted to art supplies.

Work in Progress Day 14, 30 day challenge

Work in Progress

40x50cm (12"x16") acrylic on mountboard

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Day 14 of Jan 2017 30 paintings challenge

Click Here to see Day 13's painting

A complete change of pace today. I found this forgotten abstract at the bottom of a drawer and I liked the way the shapes danced across the page. I had the idea I could change it to an autumn scene and call if falling leaves.

I coated the mount board with pale cream and added my shapes.
I watched another Nicholas Wilton video about Differences and Spontaneity and one of the techniqes he used was transferring paint using a transfer technique by painting on a piece of greaseproof paper and laying that on the painting. I loved the broken effect and it contrasted nicely with the larger flat painted shapes.

Oh! way too busy and too much blue. One thing I didn't consider was a quiet area versus the busy areas...

A little better.

Where it's at now. Getting busy again and the larger shapes are more or less the same size. Maybe I need to make one of them eg the red one, super large. I also have the urge to coat the whole thing with transparent white and put in some verticals. Maybe like this-

Something to think about...

Intersection Abstract Painting WIP Day 7, 30 paintings in 30 days

INTERSECTION Abstract Paining

30x30cm (12"x12") Oil Pastel on panel

Work in Progress

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Day 7 of Jan 2017 30 paintings challenge

Click Here to see Day 6's painting

I started two geometric abstract paintings today and finished neither of them.

I had the urge to use oil pastels, a medium  I haven't used for a while. I went through a spell of using them after I finished using soft pastels (my favourite medium) because the dust affected my lungs. I mainly painted flowers in those days and you can achieve lovely gradations by blending. At the time I was very hesitant to use oil paint in the belief that they were 'difficult' to use.

I had two supports ready one of MDF panel and the other of a gessoed mount board. I had coated the panel with magenta as a base and the mountboard with a graded wash of acrylic. I tested the mountboard surface with the oil pastel but decided it was too rough for the oil pastel. In hindsight this was wrong. A certain amount of 'tooth' is required, the panel is proving too smooth.

Oil pastel never dries and the surface can remain fragile to knocks and scratches unless framed behind glass, but I had heard that using liquin allows it to dry so that it what I have tries. I will let you know if it worked.

Because of my dithering and indecision about the supports I wasn't able to finish either painting.

Some work in progress images

 The first layer of oil pastel using quite a lot of liquin

The second layer of oil pastel using slightly less liquin. The painting was getting very warm at this stage, so I added the extra blue strip and made the existing blue lighter. Now I need to incorporate that extra blue so it fits better into the painting.

Autumn Vineyard painting inspriration and WIP.

I went hunting for autumn vineyard inspiration on Saturday and I wasn't disappointed. We travelled around the area between Les Arcs and Salernes in the Var and we weren't disappointed.

The Var has a lot more autumn colour than the Alpes Maritime, the area where I live, and, as we discovered, is much colder in the mornings. The day was beautiful, with sunshine and clear blue skies and luckily the temperature eventually reached 23 degC later, much more my type of temperature.

I have been inspired, with several paintings running through my head and I have started on one. Here is the underpainting - warning sunglasses needed!

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Work in progress - reworking an old painting

I am reworking one of my old paintings that has been sitting in the corner for a few years. I came across it today and felt it had some good points and was worth using as a basis for a new painting.

I didn't take a photo before I started but remembered about half an hour into it. It will give you some idea of what the original looked like. I am sure I have a photo of it somewhere but I have changed computers twice (or maybe three) times since then. I wanted to start painting so will see if I feel like wading through my old backups later.

I like how the yellow tulips fade into the background of this photo. I will try to keep that effect, but will be surprised if I can resist putting more paint on!

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