This is so cool... Abstract "Cosmos" painting

OK people... I have another one that is really abstract - it is 16x20 acrylic on canvas and I have called it "Cosmos" because it looks like the universe to me or space with all kinds of things happening out there - lots of layers in this one and colours and gel mediums with metallic pens and paints and just had a fun time making this

Am working on a 3 canvas set abstract right now and also have commissions to do - it's all coming along nicely - today is a gorgeous day and I need to take a break and get outside and enjoy the sunshine! Happy "SUN"DAY to all of you!

You can buy the original or get prints and greeting cards at a lesser price - if you go to my website you can just order from them and the quality is spectacular -go to http://claire-bull.artistwebsites.com and you can order what you like there

New Artwork with new camera

My dog and I were frog hunting and I fell in... camera was toast and I have been waiting for the new camera - finally able to take pics of my latest art and show you what I have been doing while I waited!!

Excited to be doing pencil work again after a bit of a break 

Here is my latest progress on (guess who) - I put it on my Facebook page in previous stage and three of the ladies guessing got it right away! That is gratifying as it means I must be doing it accurately enough to portray the real person (www.facebook.com/ArtbyClaire) 

I have also been working on my acrylics and florals - a new one of Spring Daffodils, Original has SOLD but  I think this would be a pretty Mother's Day card or notecard set -  It is my sixth floral in the floral series - I love doing these - I miss my garden... so this is my way of getting my flower fix !!

We used to have two acres of gardens... I spent hours out there - but life is about change, isn't it? And now I have a lot of walking trails and beautiful woods and LESS cleaning, LESS maintenance and MORE art, more free time to walk the doggy and spend some together time with my DH and of course, to PAINT and CREATE - so all is good... (it was a tough adjustment)

I have always painted flowers... My favourite classes in school were Biology and Art - so maybe that has something to do with it 

So one more for now...

I hope you all get a chance to paint and create and enjoy the sunshine !!

She Cried....

So yesterday was a great day... my lady came over to pick up the commissioned work of her dog - and when she saw the painting, she cried - she grabbed me and we hugged and then I started to cry too - she said the work was so much better in person than it was on the internet (I had shown her photos of the work) and she was soooooooooo pleased!!! I used pen and ink on the whiskers and tongue and eyes and acrylic and it was 3D fur and she said I had captured him perfectly!
When you work hard on a painting or a mixed media piece of whatever you are trying to create, it is so gratifying and such a pleasure to get a response like that and see their face light up - and to actually have all that emotion and cry upon seeing a piece of art that you have created... as an artist, that is the ultimate reward (to me) - It was a beautiful day ... showing her my art studio and my other work - she said I "think differently" and I tried to show her what I was making and she said it was so different and creative and she was flabbergasted by it all
Then a neighbour walked by and saw some of my paintings on the front porch (I was varnishing) and he wants a painting too - so basically in one day I had two sales and positive positive hugs and excitement!!
It was a great day
I hope every one of you has someone who cries with you today... in a good way ;)))))) I am working on a few more right now (a few at a time) and outside varnishing and putting some gesso on boards and even figured out how to be a seller on ebay and set up an auction of three of my works!!
My ebay store - with auctions!! Yay I figured it out
and a Zazzle store with some coffee mugs (with my art on them - so pretty - nice Mom present) binder, notecards, Tshirt, womens shoes - it's fun doing all of this!
My new Zazzle store
I hope you  have a lovely fun day too!!

So Excited and Honoured!!!

Guess What??? My artwork is featured on Imagekind in the Abstract Art Group as the group avatar and a glowing review of my work by the group leader! I am so pleased and honoured... this is great and very exciting to wake up and read her review and see my actual painting as the group image
Apparently I am a breath of fresh air - hmmm... that is lovely to hear, isn't it? I fell off my chair - now that I have figured out how to set up some websites with my work, the people out there in Cyberland are actually loving what I am doing and it is so gratifying and encouraging and just makes me want to paint and paint and paint!!!
Here is the art work and the review - you can visit my sites and see my work (or buy originals, prints, cards) and comment too! I have also updated my Facebook page so it is now
Claire Bull Fine Art on Facebook - making great progress with all this web stuff and painting too - more photos coming up - almost done three more works!!! Thanks to all of you for your support - I am flying with this ;)))

Claire Bull hails from Toronto, Ontario Canada. Her art is like a breath of fresh air to me. In her worked entitled I See Birds she has managed an optical illusion. I was a bit slow on the uptake but when I focused and saw the birds I was so delighted! What a great effect! Her colours set the mood sometimes fiery and others light and breezy. So glad she’s joined us on IK and in our Abstract Art group! Thanks Claire and Cheers!   I SEE BIRDS find@ artbyclaire   SUNLIT FOREST find@ artbyclaire   ORANGE find@ artbyclaire

Websites - This is just the start

OK - so FINALLY I have figured out the websites and how to set them up ... I am excited
I have a few - am trying to work on all of them and do blogs on them and make these paintings and mixed media creations available as originals and prints and cards - it has involved a lot of photo work and cropping and uploading with internet problems and learning how to work a website
It has certainly been a learning experience and taken a lot of time and effort but a necessary endeavour as I want to be able to sell my work online
So I have a few site links - and am working on adding photos and making things available for purchase through Paypal - also painting each day and meeting a lot of new artists on internet networking sites and Facebook so this is fun and interesting...Please let me know if you have any comments or any trouble with the websites and what you think of the progress so far (or if you want to purchase)
Thanks for all of your support, it means a lot and very encouraging, I appreciate it

ImageKind website - prints and cards

Claire Bull Fine Art

My Artist Websites site

My Artspan Link

and working on some more sites - as well as ebay and Etsy so I will be ALL OVER the web and you can find me in lots of ways - Thanks guys!!! Making progress.... off to paint for a while

Long Time Passing but Life is Good

Hi everyone - just celebrated my grandmother's 105th Birthday! What a wonderful family celebration and so great to see everyone ... I have been painting and working on a website so not updating the blog - trying to work with Photoshop and figure that out too - lots of computer time and not enough studio time
Here are some of the new works and within the next month I will have a website up where you can purchase originals and prints - it takes time
Am enjoying meeting fellow artists through the internet and seeing all of the wonderful art work in the meantime... walking my dog in this beautiful summer weather and seeing family and friends - Life is GOOD  - love to all of you

Some beautiful roses - acrylic on canvas 24x24 gallery size - this is like a Monet painting impressionistic and palette knife was fun for this - It is so pretty

My friend's dog "Rufus" he is such a beautiful dog, we would walk the trails with him and he has grown into a gorgeous dog - on your left is canvas board and on the right is an 8 x 10 on canvas - this is mixed media and I used acrylics and pen and sponge - this is a commissioned work and both SOLD to a lovely lady so her dog is immortalized forever and he is so beautiful - it was my pleasure to do this

I have called this one "Walk With Me" - this is out of my head... no reference photo - but it is where I walk each day with my dog... it is my impression of our daily walks and how I see the world - I love it here acrylic on canvas

This one is so pretty - like a Spring Meadow - it is full of wild flowers and I have given this one away as a gift to a very special lady... she just about died and her wonderful husband said it will have a special place in their home - I am blessed by their love and am so pleased to give them a treasure... this was a fun painting and very beautiful - prints will be available on the website

I think I will add a photo from the family celebrations this weekend - this is unusual for me as this is an art journal but turning 105 is unusual too 

This is a wonderful lady who has been a huge part of our lives and we all adore her - part of another era... she has lived through a CENTURY of changes and has so many stories - always a positive person, full of love and laughter and hugs... calling us "dearie" and supporting us all - this lady is so special - here is a photo of my grandmother who will be 105 years young tomorrow - love and congratulations to this beautiful woman

Love and Congratulations to my grandmother on her 105th birthday

Updated Art and New projects

Its been a while... revised some work and started new projects - internet was down for a few days so I took advantage of that and lots of new photos from long walks
Am pacing myself a bit more with the painting which is frustrating (as I would rather paint 24 hours a day) but necessary due to my back and neck injuries and the Fibromyalgia and arthritis sometimes won't allow me to paint the way I want to or do other things...

Updated the previous version of the abstract artwork with the eye - it has a lot more colour and not as dark now
This painting has SOLD but prints cards and reproductions available here

Also updated the Orange canvas I had done previously - this painting is sold

It was great to work with the bright colours and this has a lot of copper glow to it

And a few more but this is enough for today - am working on a website and it is frying my brain - Happy Painting and have a great day 

Orange Featured Art of the Day

This 24x24 acrylic abstract was awarded Feature of the Day on Milliande's Art Community - I am honoured

It is bright and beautiful - it reminds me of the sunsets here - hopefully it starts off your long weekend with some sunshine

I am working on a collage right now (3D effects) and some impressionist series
Hope everyone has a good weekend

Something Different

Decided to try something different - this one was painted entirely with my fingers

I am calling it my Spirit Tree ... acrylic on canvas 18 x 24  - it was healing and therapeutic, totally creative from my imagination 

This next one is Mystic Circles - can you see the theme here? It is brightly coloured acrylic on canvas 14x18 using a gel medium so it has lots of texture and gloss 

I am experimenting and creating and you can expect the unexpected ... it feels good to be able to do this 

Please email me if you have any requests - some of you have been wanting my artwork which is great - am so happy you like it

Peonies on 30x40 canvas

This painting was difficult for me physically but creatively I had a great time with it ... this is totally from my imagination - I wanted a fun floral featuring Peonies in soft tones
It is the largest canvas I have worked on and my neck, back and arms are suffering for it so am resting now
I have to pace myself a bit better - smaller paintings are difficult because I cannot bend my neck or back over to sit and work on them, and this size was good because I could stand and use my entire arm rather than wrist and hand motions but it took hours or work and I am mentally and physically exhausted so I think I was a little too enthusiastic about it - this painting is for a very special lady who loves Peonies and has a birthday coming up soon

I hope you like this ... I miss my peonies so this painting is really fun to look at each morning 

Floral progress

The floral acrylic canvas is coming along - building up with sponges and light washes and background

Above is a close up of the flowers being put in and the background leaves starting to come along
There are quite a few layers of work here and I have been experimenting with different items to get more comfortable = amazing what you can do with a canvas and some paint - this painting is not from a photo reference - it is being painted with music and my imagination which is the way I love the most
Thus no predicting how it will turn out and I do not feel locked in to any particular way of painting -- there is more freedom of expression and creativity this way
Here is the painting in full 30 x 40 inch canvas

Remember this is an Art Journal, so I post progress pics and am keeping this as a journal of my work as it comes along - Today is classical music I think - for a nice change
Thanks for all of your support and hope you are enjoying this - also wondering if the lighter background is better for you - A happy day to all of you

Laying down the Base for the Floral Peonies

Hi everyone - I have read that people prefer LIGHT backgrounds on blogs with dark text... rather than the black background that I had -Will be playing around a bit with it but would love some input
Also have some recent progress pics

In the previous post I showed you the setup - did a wash of acrylics in a really "watercolour" fluid without mixing so it had pinks lilac darker purple all flowing into each other

then a sponge with some more purples and pinks and mixed in a bit of soft yellow

Now I am doing the saran wrap again....

just along the bottom so the green leaves (see how some of it is pale yellow and different shades of green - I mixed and drizzled and sponged and then put on the saran all wrinkled) and it dries like that so I can't do much now... I guess I have to go make dinner and knit - but fun to see it tomorrow and how it turns out 

Also used some masking fluid tracing along the previous stems formed with the saran wrap - and glazed over with another shade of pink  - I want it to be soft pastel but the music today - Supertramp - is dictating otherwise and we are getting lots of fun colours - the brush and the music paint the canvas, and today the music was adding some great colours - DREAMER played quite a few times... I wonder if that might be relevant and the music is talking to me - I know my teachers used to say I was a dreamer ... hmmm... I don't actually have a problem with that 

Let me know what you think of the brighter blog - maybe it is easier for you to read - apparently a lot of folks prefer it 

Thanks to all of you for your comments

New one 30 x 40 inch

oh my goodness.
starting off with a wash of light purples and pinks so it mixes in with mauve and lilac - pinks showing through
then while wet, I applied saran wrap all over in crinkled bits - so it will dry with patterns I can work with - I am thinking a "floral with PEONIES" for someone very special ... my grandmother will be 105 and her favourite flower has always been the Peony - this will be a tribute to her and how wonderful she has been to all of us...this lady... I could tell you some wonderful stories

You can't tell the size of it from this photo but it is the largest canvas (30 x 40 inch)I have ever worked on - more freedom to experiment - so this is the canvas covered in saran wrap all crinkled up in bits
here is a close up of what it does to the colours ...

See how it pushes the colours around and then leaves stems and shapes as it dries - I just peeked and there are little bumps and circles of purple and it is all working perfectly - no rules - I LOVE NO RULES

Also today I joined a women's art community and met some wonderful artistic creative ladies from all over the world - some of us are freezing cold, some of us are boiling hot, some of us were going to bed and some of us were just waking up - technology is great - we can now connect with people and share ideas and resources and inspiration - I am excited to have a whole new world of friends out there - thank you all for being part of this art journey with me
I am working on setting up a website so I can sell my art online - right now am working on commissions and you can just email me if you would like anything and we will discuss canvas size, prices, colours etc - THANK YOU to all of you

Exploring Creativity PART 2

Finished...
This is 20 x 24 mixed media on canvas - acrylics using sponges and random materials out of my imagination
Part 1 showed you how it was coming together - this is the final piece
If you enlarge it, you will see words floating in the painting and a butterfly and a man (wearing a scarf for those of you who knit out there, that is important) with a horse - I love how the glow of light is coming from the door and the lattice work and fence were made with masking tape and an old credit card
The music made this one happen for me and it was great fun!!

Exploring Creativity

Exploring creativity and art expression through exciting new techniques means taking a leap of faith

This piece (20x24 inch canvas) is being created as a collage with acrylic (Golden OPEN) and gel transfer

I have masking tape, paper towels, saran wrap, magazine pieces and found items

using pen and acrylic and sponges to paint this

Lots of great music playing as usual... today the music is from the GLEE cast - all the songs just keep comin' and the inspiration from them

The music makes the painting for me


Yesterday I spent hours cleaning up the studio and cleaning brushes and organizing

 What do you think?? I have two easels - the Mac is fabulous for the music and reference photos - the lace table hides my printer and cleaning products - it is finally organized and I am free to explore - I would rather be painting and creating so off I go... This studio is my favourite place in the world

Beach Dreams

Good day to all of you... a change of scenery today - a beach scene "just because" it is getting warmer and summer is on the way. This was a requested painting for a very special lady and hopefully it will help her drift away and dream of the beach and relaxing
This painting was really different for me - it was done ENTIRELY with a PALETTE KNIFE
I had a good time with this and enjoying using the palette knife and all of the effects one can achieve without a brush

This is oil on canvas board 12 x 16 - perfect size for her wall 

Many of you have enjoyed reading about the process of painting and seeing the stages of the work - my work usually takes a lot of time and many layers - 

The palm trees were interesting to try to paint with a palette knife but I think they were fun to do and would have been difficult to get the 3D effect with a brush - these palm trees are really thickly painted and stand out in the painting

I am trying to experiment with styles that are more loose and expressionistic or impressionist - with more of a focus on colour and light so using the palette knife was an exciting experiment and I am pleased 

I have been reading a lot of wonderful blogs by different artists and enjoying learning how to make an art blog - thank you all for your support and your comments 

I am off to create more ...

Second Verse, Same as the First

Ok so we are doing a REVISED edition of the painting which has SOLD now... if it doesn't feel "done" then it doesn't feel "right" = there is a possibility of overworking it, but also there is this unsettling feeling

I will paint a number of these and some of you out there might like a painting as a reminder of the cottage...

I took a photo of some of the pieces of the ROCKS here... you can see the colours and how beautiful they are. So imagine huge rocks that you can walk across with the blue of the water and the big ol' pine trees leaning and the wind blowing - it is so lovely - so here are the rocks... if you enlarge it you can see all the beautiful colours

Now here is some of the scenery...

and this was not a sunny day, it was brutally windy and cold - I actually wore my winter hat and mittens with the windbreaker pants today to walk out here
You have to wear long pants because of the snakes (I don't paint them)

Georgian Bay Through My Eyes

Sorry people - I said I would post yesterday but this painting was a struggle... from previous posts you can see how it started and how much it changed - that is the beauty of working with oils and of spontaneity ... with most of my paintings I walk and think about what I will be painting - then look at reference photos and then just paint - I paint from the heart and out of my head without looking at the photos again ... put on some music and CREATE - so sometimes what comes up is totally different from my original idea
Most mornings I wake up thinking about the colours - to me, the colours and the light and the actual "ACT" of painting and creating is more important than what I am painting, and oil gives me the freedom to do that and change it up - the music for this painting was Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen and some Robbie Williams songs - on my previous paintings I was working with Johann Strauss and a lot of classical music
Also the theme music from "Dances With Wolves" was a big part of the creation of this painting - I seemed to play the "John Dunbar Theme" over and over

I still love the sky on this one - tried to carry the soft purple through into the water and the rocks were tricky ... Alice and I walk these rocks every day and there is A LOT of pink granite but so many colour variations

I am going to paint many more of these because obviously it is what I see every day and I want to share with you and show you my little corner of the world...

The previous post had the "beginning" of the painting - here is one of the progression pics so you can see the trouble I had with it... See how they look like almost totally different paintings? Except for the sky of course - I have so many of these pics in my head and paintings that NEED to be painted - I did not want to give up on this one and was not happy with it.

Happy now and moving on to another - hope you like it too - it is so beautiful here - I think some Annie Lennox and Stevie Wonder might help for this new painting ... a beach scene (I think - haha - you never know with me...) Here is the start - will let you know what happens

I found a quote from a book called Art & Fear - to me the process of creating the art is more important than the painting itself... this quote makes sense to me
”To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork. To you, and you along, what matters is the process.” Art and Fear, page 5.

From meadow to rocks and water almost done

Have been working on the painting with the beautiful sky from the previous post - I love that sky so I am NOT giving up on this painting - but it has changed from a meadow to water and the beautiful pink granite rocks... now I wonder why? haha (for those of you who do not know, I am surrounded by them here where I live)
I probably will be painting a lot of rocks from now on... am working on the trees and almost done
A bit overenthusiastic with the painting which caused some real suffering and I will have to pace myself - I should have known better... so I am painting in little bits each day, walking to take photos for reference and get out there and enjoy all of this scenery, and then painting with yarn (some call it knitting) at night and I think rather than painting all day and all night with walks in between, I was just too exhausted and in too much pain
Also I have learned that keeping a blog and talking to people and trying to go on other sites and make comments on their work as well as answering emails and facebook is so time consuming and I need to try to juggle and learn how to balance this new lifestyle a bit - I am very excited about the painting and happy to share with all of you - I am happy to do more commissions, and happy to answer any email questions about work you might like to have done.
Tomorrow I am starting a new painting and will have this present finished one up for you - and it will hopefully be a nice surprise - interesting that I had trouble painting one day and then with the music playing, it is much easier and the creativity just flows so nicely - but it is frustrating not to paint for hours at a time and stay "in the zone" - for now, I need to just slow it down a bit - I will definitely not disappear and will continue to paint every day (I wake up and immediately need to paint - I dream about it... so don't worry about that happening) but I may just blog once or twice a week rather than a daily blog - and tomorrow there will be a painting to show!! And another one started so I'm excited..,goodnight all

A Good Day

Sunshine and long walk with my dog all through the rocks and woods today... and painted a wonderful happy sky full of colour and clouds with laying down of groundwork for some kind of landscape - I actually paint without a program, using numerous photos and my imagination and everything I have absorbed from the walks so I guess you could say I paint intuitively and spontaneously - squeeze out the paint and put on the music and just do it... so today was GREAT - painted to Rod Stewart (every day different music - from waltzes to country to classic rock) and today Rod helped me paint a beautiful happy sky

This sky is dramatic and was fun to paint - I have seen so many of these skies here

This is oil on canvas about 16x18

Now I can focus on the land - it looks like it might be another meadow

I usually end up with a path somewhere (probably because I make paths every day on my walks with the dog - so it is symbolic but actual) and each day we walk a new path
This next photo shows the progression of my work and how I develop the painting

But tomorrow's photo might look totally different - with oils you can paint over everything and I have done that many times - completely changed it

but I think I will keep this sky for sure - does anyone else like it?