Tag Archives: acrylic

Taking a Stand

This is the first painting that I did in my new series. All of the paintings in this series come from my imagination. When I started painting this first one, I knew I wanted a group of trees in some kind of orange-ish motif with a limited palette. I started by painting the entire canvas in turquoise. As I remember, I then divided it roughly in thirds for the sky, trees and foreground. Next came the large group or trees in the middle. I randomly drew a few trunks and then built the tops of the trees as I added more trunks. Then I added white/ochre to the trees on the left. The foreground took on a life of its own.

It sometimes takes me a while to come up with a title of a painting. I don’t think that I have ever started a painting knowing what the piece would be titled. As soon as I finished this painting I titled it “Taking a Stand.”

Taking a Stand, acrylic on canvas, 20×24 inches, 2014. ©Ann Hart Marquis

Now that I am writing about my paintings I can’t help analyzing why I painted what I painted and then realizing that some of my titles and paintings have more obvious meaning to me than others. So in this painting I realize that it reflects my, dare I say, personal and political leanings toward my personal well-being as well as the environment. I am now writing more about the plight of our natural world, contributing more to environmental causes, signing more petitions, and concluding that I must “take a stand” in a more direct way than I have before.

All of my paintings require that I ask myself and therefore, the viewer, to consider the beauty, fragility and health of our environment.

This painting is currently available. If you have questions or want to purchase please contact me. It is 36x24x1.5-inches, acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas with sides painted to continue the scene for a finished look. The price is $575 plus shipping.

Contact me if you live outside the continental USA for additional shipping charges.

Painting for the Complete Beginner II

Here are some additional paintings from my class at the University of New Mexico, Continuing Education, Painting for the Complete Beginner that ended last week. As you can see the work is quite diverse and quite good for new painters.

African Sculpture. Mark Koson, 2014

Clay Pot. Mark Koson , 2014

All of these paintings were done with the greatest care and diligence. It was such a pleasure to see students learn beginning techniques and then to create such interesting and inspiring pieces. I hope that they all continue with their painting experience. They should. There certainly was talent in the group.

Mac. Vanessa Gonzales, 2014

Twin Towers, Gone But Not Forgotten. Linda Faust, 2014

Crow. Jane Nelson, 2014

Untitled. David Robbins, 2014

My next class starts the first Thursday in June and I get to experience the fun of playing with color and shape again with many more hard-working artists.

Painting on Paper

I usually paint on canvas or panel. Until recently, I have not had significant experience working with either oil or acrylic paints on paper. This year I began experimenting with acrylics and water color paper. I decided to do a series of simple bouquets of flowers in vases. I started with tearing a large sheet of Arches paper into fourths so that my paintings were 8 1/2 x 10 ½-inches. I gessoed the paper, applied random paint marks all over in my favorite colors and then used a negative space technique, thereby forming a silhouette. I filled in the background color leaving the shape of the vases and flowers.

The Finished Product

Since I had already applied the original colors for the vases and flowers, I had little left to do except finish the details of the flowers and create shadows in the appropriate places on the paper. It was an easy and fun technique and one that I will use again in the future. After finishing the paintings, I matted them with an outer border of 11×14-inches for easy framing. Here are the results:

Portals to the Unconscious of a Nature Lover

When I think about what I want to paint I have many choices that appeal to me. I always like to paint trees and not so realistic landscapes. Usually, my trees and landscapes have a metaphorical aspect to them. Occasionally, an idea will come to me straight from my unconscious with little awareness of meaning to me. When that happens, it is always a challenge for me to try to intellectually and psychologically explore the concept that I have decided to paint. Many of my paintings have given me and others an idea of what may be lurking in my unconscious. For example, I have painted chairs in a jungle, ladders in a meadow and a tree leaving home.

Portals

Heaven’s Door, acrylic on canvas, 16x20. ©2012, Ann Hart Marquis

Last year I had such an experience with four paintings that I completed. They were of doors that were somehow associated with water. Some people saw the doors as monoliths or pillars. Perhaps they are. While I was paintings this series, I gave little thought to the meaning of individual images. After I finished four paintings my practical self told me to stop. I stopped. I did not allow myself to explore more images of portals, thresholds, or entrances although I now see that there are hints of doorways in subsequent paintings.

Untethered, acrylic on canvas, 24x24. ©2012, Ann Hart Marquis

Passage, acrylic on canvas, 16x20. ©2012, Ann Hart Marquis

Stone Voices

Adrift, acrylic on canvas, 24x24. ©2012, Ann Hart Marquis

Much to my surprise this was a successful group of paintings. Two sold before I could formally show them and two were in my last show. One of them Adrift (left), received the Best in Show award for “The River” competition in the art and poetry journal, Stone Voices, Summer Issue.

Once in a while I look at these images and still try to figure out what I was trying to say. Sometimes doors are the opposite of entry ways. They can be blockades, barriers, obstructions. I am not sure what metaphor they represent or why they are in the water.

Do you have any insights for me?