Art Expressions - Andrea Colby Fine Art

Annual VAAA Members Exhibition

2009-05-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

This week the jury for the Visual Arts Alberta Association members' exhibit chose my watercolour painting "Blue Water Beach" (see the painting back 2 previous posts). For one month, from June 19-July 19 at the Harcourt House building, the exhibit will be presented as part of Edmonton's annual "The Works" art festival. I'm exited to once again be part of this show!

Right now I'm in the midst of developing some new paintings, and searching for new ideas in both watercolour and oil. My skills have been getting rusty lately, and it's been difficult to keep working when the results turn out to be less than stellar. Hopefully soon I'll be able to create some pieces worth keeping.

Watercolour Still Life

2009-04-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

This is a watercolour still life, painted from a photograph I made of an arrangement of fruit and vegetables. I usually don't enjoy painting still life, but this one turned out well. The paper I used was nice to work on with watercolour, but unfortunately is discontinued. I spent a long time working on this to make sure I had the details finished correctly.

Blue Water Beach

2009-04-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is a watercolour I painted, which was inspired by a vacation in Mexico several years ago. I will be submitting it for a group member's exhibition, which will be included in 'The Works' art festival in Edmonton. Hopefully it gets chosen!

The size of this one is larger than ones I usually paint in watercolour, 18x24 inches.

Watercolour Sunset

2008-11-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

I really like the look of sunsets, and I enjoy painting skies, clouds, and especially sunsets. This painting came together quickly and smoothly, and I thought I captured the look of the water quite well.

My technique is to apply the paint wet into wet, so that I avoid any hard edges and get a softer look overall.

Scottish Castle Watercolour

2008-10-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

This watercolour painting was done at the same time as the painting in my previous post. This image was from an original photograph taken by a family member when on a trip to Scotland.

I considered giving this one to be auctioned at the Visual Arts Alberta Association annual fundraising gala. Instead, I decided on the painting in my previous post, of a stormy Scotland coast.

Watercolour Painting - Scotland

2008-09-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

This watercolour was painted from a photograph taken in Scotland. It is one of my favorites.

I exhibited it this year in June-July at the Visual Arts Alberta Assocation's annual juried members' exhibition. It is also under my consideration to choose, to be auctioned at the VAAA's annual fundraising gala.

Dark Castle Sunset Watercolour

2008-09-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

This was a watercolour I sold at auction for the Visual Arts Alberta Association fundraiser last year. This is an organization in Edmonton that supports art and artists by providing information and exhibition space for the arts community.

I always find it difficult to say goodbye to one of my pieces, but I hope that the new owner of this painting is enjoying it.

Watercolour Painting - Horse Sunset

2008-07-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

I've always enjoyed painting sunsets, as the colours and abstract shapes of the clouds work very well in an expressionist style.

Your creativity can be explored by painting wild skies. Watercolour works well to create cloud shapes, as the paint softly blends together if you paint wet into wet. Layering the colours also gives depth and dimension. The only challenge is to try not making any hard edges, so you have to strike a balance between wet and dry paper to get the softness of blending and control of where the colours go.

Horses in the Abstract

2008-01-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

This is a smaller piece, painted with oil on Masonite board. I was experimenting with painting several horses in one image, making each one gradually more abstract until it merged into a totally abstract background. I was also contrasting warm and cool tones of green and red, to manipulate the space in addition to the abstraction.

Two Horses

2007-11-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

This painting is done in oil on a Masonite board, about 4'x4' in size. I used a photo reference just to get the pose of the horses, and improvised the colours to portray the spirit and movement.

I thought this piece was successful in achieving the mood I was after, of horses in motion and of heightened emotion because of the unrealistic colours.

This is one of my horse series, and was exhibited in my graduating class group art show.

Dark Horses

2007-10-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

This painting was completed in oil on hardboard, and it is a large piece from my horse series (4ft.x4ft.). I was experimenting with darks and lights, and levels of contrast between the two, to produce a mysterious mood. I was also trying different thicknesses of paint, from very thin layers in the background to thicker paint layers in the highlights on the horses' bodies. I also restricted the colours I was using, to create a monochrome effect, so that attention would be focused more on the forms in the horse bodies. I enjoy using bright colours, but I found that this painting turned out very well even with the restricted palette of colour.

Abstract Horses

2007-10-14T16:36:00.001-07:00

This is a small oil painting (about 8" by 10") from my horse series, done on Masonite (hardboard). I was in a free and experimental mood, and this piece was completed fairly quickly. I tried to capture the essence of the form of these horses with as few brushstrokes as possible. It's interesting to see how little detail is needed to convey the visual representation of an object.

Largest Oil Painting

2007-10-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

This painting, titled "Three Horses", is the largest oil painting I ever did, part of my 'Wild Horses" series. The size turned out to be 5 feet by 7 feet, and I painted it in an expressionist style, for my vision of the power and beauty of a horse's physicality and movement.

I worked carefully on this painting for several weeks, to capture the feeling of being overwhelmed by the presence of untamed spirit. It is one of my favourite pieces.

Welcome

2007-10-05T11:42:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the first post on my new art blog. This blog will feature thoughts on art in general, examples of my own art practice, and thoughts on the life of an artist.

This piece, titled "Two Horses", is an example of an oil painting in an expressionist style. I was not aiming to paint the horses realistically, but I wanted to use bright colour and looser brushstrokes to emphasize the feeling and the spirit of the horses.

In the next few posts I will continue with a few more examples from this series of paintings, which focus on an expressionist style of portraying the horse.