New Balloon Ship...

Follow The Leader

(10x10", Oil) Price: $160.00 SOLD

This looks a little washed out, I'm afraid. The colours are really deep and vibrant, but I'm still getting used to using our new digital camera.

I painted this at the last minute. I started out with the idea of painting another moon balloon ship piece that involved moonlit waves. The original working title was 'Wavehopping', but the ship looked lonely, and there was a negative space just begging for something to fill it. So I painted a little dolphin. Then I went 'hmmm, this composition needs some last thing'. So I painted the dolphin tail in the foreground. When I stepped back from the easel, I'd found that this little painting had developed a really nice flow and composition. Now the balloon ship looked like it was having fun, and the moon was joining in. Hence, "Follow the Leader".

I painted this in one sitting, as I wanted to get it done fast. The palette was a nice combination of Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Viridian, Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Pale, French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna. Lots of fluffy blending brushes, one fine detail Round brush, and a half inch Flat, and a half inch Filbert. I also found out why these paintings were drying so fast: the Cobalt Blue was actually a tube of Alkyd paint (synthetic oil paint) rather than real oil paint. They share the same paint drawer, and I'd mistakenly picked up the Alkyd instead of the oil tube. Doesn't really matter though - it will not affect the paint one little bit. And it will all look the same. Meanwhile, I've dug out the real Cobalt Blue...

More later,
Marianne

And another rocket...

Swooping
(11x14", Oil) Price: $175.00 SOLD

Here is another pointy rocket idea. I fell in love with John Harris' way of working oils and some of his romantic looking hard science fiction paintings. So I tried one of my own. Unfortunately, a lot of the viridian and pure cerulean tones have been lost to the digital camera. It tries its best, but often fails to reproduce these colours with any true accuracy. I mourn for the kodakchrome expertise of a dying technology: real film. Our local photographic lab has produced no better when it comes to taking photos of our art, because they themselves now only deal in digital photography. Needless to say, we don't visit them much anymore.

Meanwhile, I've been giving thought to my rockets and balloon ships (yes, there is another one), and I think I've figured them out. The rocket ship and the balloon ship represent 'me' - or at least my dreams and goals. So I'll keep painting them, where-ever they take me...

Cheers,
Marianne

Another Retro Rocket....

Reach III

(9x12", Oil) Price: $150.00 SOLD
Okay, this is the absolute last retro rocket in this colour scheme. I only did this one because I promised a friend I'd do an extra version, and that I actually had an idea for it. Meanwhile, it's open season on other retro rockets with different colour schemes and themes. Unfortunately, the digital photo lost all of the soft tranistional colours and brushyness on this one. I have another one on the easel at the moment, but with a cerulean/viridian green type of high atmosphere, with a highlighted view of Saturn, and with a retro rocket 'swooping' in the foreground. I'll post that one when I'm finished with it. Both paintings will be going to a science fiction convention artshow this weekend.

There hasn't been a lot of time for painting lately, as I've been really, really busy doing writing for a publisher, developing some ideas that would utilize my creative side as well as my husband's.

Anyway, same palette and brushes as the last two Reach rockets.

Back soon,
Marianne