New painting in progress

I have been painting vintage style  pin up women on beaches, as of late,  and that is probably because I live in a beach town and I love the blues that I am surrounded by. The sky, the water, shutters, buildings and the list can go on forever :). So I have started another painting using acrylics, and I am trying to build my “Forever Summer” series for an upcoming June exhibition. I have been documenting the steps and the progress of my work, I have taken a picture on a daily basis since I have started because it helps me to see the painting in a different  perspective, which enables to correct some parts as I see fit. I am struggling with the eternal search for perfection and I am trying to learn to “relax” more with the brush. I am learning everyday, and that in itself is work in progress…

Day 1

 I try and get all my base colors in first, sometimes I actually prefer this very loose way of just applying where ever the colors appear,  kinda like color by numbers…

Day 2:

More dark tones to go! 

 I was also trying to get the greyto create some under tones for the clouds…

Day 3:

Still layering

and I keep layering…

Day 4:

I wanted to add some red as I find it helps with painting the hard shadows

Day 5:

 Today I tried to take down a bit of the dark shadows that seemed out of place…again its that constant need for perfection, which does not help matters sometimes! 

Sometimes we should just know when to stop painting! 

 

April Exhibition at Cervantes restaurant and bar in Barcelona

Bar Cervantes is a typical Catalan bar located in the “Gothic” part of Barcelona. The bar is easy to spot especially because its named after the street “Cervantes. Bar Cervantes has a very authentic Spanish design with beer barrels stored up on its high ceilings complete with antique fans, the only renovation that’s obvious is where the one wall that has been painted a deep purple containing long shelves which makes it a cinch to exhibit paintings or photos without having to hang them. 

The bar has been owned by the same family for at least three generations. Owner Christina is not only an extremely nice person but also very helpful and supportive of the arts. It’s been an absolute delight to exhibit here not to mention the delicious food they serve for breakfast and lunch. Here are some photos just to give you an idea 🙂 

Bar Cervantes, Calle (street) Cervantes 7, Barcelona

what’s so nice about the design is the fact that they have been able to perserve it’s original tiles which look great against the deep purple wall, and the paintings just “pop”!

French beauty 1910’s

This painting was inspired from a photo I came across while looking for some reference. I absolutely love this era, especially the make-up and the hairstyles and of course the fashion, and I adore the illustrations of French artists.
While I intend to share my work and paint something that people will like and appreciate , in this case I painted this painting for me. Yes I was a little selfish but oh well! Hope you’ll like it anyway :)


New exhibition at Spritz, Barcelona

After looking for the perfect location and painting almost non-stop, finally found a great spot to exhibit. A super busy cafe with a great wall, where the artist is free to do what he or she wants: put nails in and this makes life easier because most places want to use fishers’ line and that I find is quite difficult to hang pictures with. I am also proud to say that most of the work that has gone up is new, and I have already sold a few pieces! YAY, yay and YAY! S

Sea cap beauties finally finished

After going back and painting and perfecting and trying to make the water look like water I think I can safely say that I am done painting this piece. It was very challenging but one that I knew I would throughly enjoy and I kept going back and adding more but I needed to know when to stop, I find sometimes that I am enjoying painting so much that I find it hard to let go of it – to stop. This was also the case with the “Sea cap beauties” but I am satisfied with the results!

New painting new year…

This painting is a huge challenge for me and I am more than willing to take it on. I am reproducing a painting from a photo that I absolutely love. The girls are stunning and I do not have any problems with the features as such – skin tones are a bit diffucult but the most challenging part that I am struggling with is the water. Trying to loosen up  my strokes but I keep finding myself zeroing in and trying to “perfect” it. I need to learn to let the brush guide me, rather than me guiding the brush…still learning 🙂

Básic Barcelona where art meets urban behaviour

I have recently had the pleasure of discovering another gem in Barcelona. An artsy funky t-shirt store called Basic Barcelona. The owner David creates his own stencils for his t-shirts and the results are ab fab. Very urban yet distinctive, there’s a simple elegance to his designs and his prices are incredibly reasonable for what its worth.

While Basic Barcelona concentrates mostly on t-shirts and urban wear, David is an active supporter of the arts, there are hand made objects and variety of different items. Many different artists (including myself) also sell some of their latest works there. I wanted to share with you my Basic Barcelona experience…

 

Step by step progress of my painted cigar box

hi everyone! I’ve been away for too long and I am excited to share some new projects that I have been working on. I wanted to document the process of a cigar box that I just recycled using rice paper that I had from a small notebook and of course a cigar box that I was given from a smoke shop in town. I took a photo of my painting/ drawing progress on a daily basis, it took me exactly a week to finish. So here is what I did:

Day 1: I first primed the rice paper from my old notebook. I took just enough pages to cover the box all around, including the bottom. This was quite tedious as it took several layers of gesso to get rid of the ink on the paper, then I proceeded with the desired colour, which was a mint green. I wanted to give this box a vintage, rustic feel, and I decided that this time around I did not want to aim for perfection but rather its new “character” and its alternative use as jewellery or a trinket box. I wanted to decorate it with roses, this was my first attempt ever to paint roses, and I was really up for the challenge, I first outlined the roses and filled them in with white acrylic paint…

 

Day 2: I started to fill in the roses layer by layer to try and achieve as many undertones and colours as possible…

 

I also framed the cover and the edges with a dark green, to try and tone down the rough seams of the rice paper…

 

Day 3: More layers, adding more colour bit by bit…

 

Day 4: Adding more elements…

 

Day 5: More layering, more painting…

 

Day 6: Adding flowers and sparklies on all sides of the box…

 

 

 

Day 7: Adding final details, cleaning up edges, varnishing ( I used a high gloss varnish) and adding more sparklies and voila!

New series of black and white antique style crowns 1of 2

painted on board with acrylics

New Art exhibition in Sitges, Barcelona

Days are passing by a little too quickly for my liking but as they say time flies when you’re having fun. I have been ill for the past two weeks, and quite busy and yes having a lot of fun too. My latest mini exhibit is now in a new bar (just opened up in my town) called KVA Sitges -which stands for Catalunya’s famous champagne like drink”cava”. The bar is quite small but has a fantastic chilled out ambiance which is what attracted me in the first place, plus the owners support the arts which is just an added bonus. If you’re ever in Sitges be sure to visit this place which also features live music on the weekends.