MY INSPIRED BY WINE RANGE NOW HANGS IN MY HOUSE.

Time for a wine



A few of my "Inspired by Wine" paintings now take pride of place in my loungeroom, nestled near our bar.

With a change in color scheme to the house ( a beautiful sandy beach color- to remind us of our time at the beach in 2009), i have tried to compliment the artwork to the room.

The collection features both women and men, seated at the Bar.

Light up time at the bar

All inspired, once again, by my favourite artist Fabian Perez and the beautiful women in Argentina and those illusive mysterious men hidden in the corners of those smokey pubs.

Thinking over a drink

Each female piece, features textured clothing (just beautiful to run your hand over) and backgrounds have been designed to match the color scheme in my loungeroom.

THE BUILT IN BAR IN THE LOUNGEROOM HAS INSPIRED ME

Waiting at the bar

With a Bar taking pride of place in our loungeroom, and with my earlier artwork of the ocean at aspendale filling up my walls, i decided that the room could do with a "new theme", so i drew inspiration in the bottles of red that kept hanging around.

My "inspired by wine" collection have been inspired by my favourite artist Fabian Perez (once again).


below is a few of my drink inspired artwork pieces

 





TANGO PASSION NOW HANGS IN MY BEDROOM

Tango passion

Tango Passion

Well i ended up out in my paint studio at home today, couldn't wait until next tuesday's art class to finish my artwork piece. I know, impatiently little bunny, aren't i?

With the sun shining in and with my ipod blaring my favourite tango and pop songs, i picked up my brushes and went to work.

I added alot more light and dark shades to the background, and worked on those tricky skintones.

I hope you like the finished product.

RON MCDOWELL'S TANGO REBORN HAS INSPIRED ME

My pencil draft of tango passion

In my neverending quest for stunning Tango paintings to practice painting in class, i stumbled across an artist called Ron McDowell
(Ron is another artist who has an online store with fineartamerica.com.-
i can be found on this site too- the link to my fineartamerica website can be found on this blog- you can then type in Ron't name in the search engine on the site.)

I simply loved his artwork piece called Tango Reborn, so i have decided to complete an artwork piece of my own, inspired by this painting in class over a two week period called Tango Passion.

Below is Ron's original painting- Tango Reborn

Ron mcdowell's tango reborn

I just LOVE the lines of the bodies in this painting- and the shine in her patent leather shoes is stunning- soooo want a pair of red shoes like that!





So whilst away at the Weekend Retreat in Shoreham, i set aside time to pencil in my initial drawing based on Ron's painting one evening.

First week back in painting class, i set about creating my own version of this painting- based on my favourite color schemes.

So this is what i finished in my first 2 hour class on Tuesday night. I painted the background in a range of dark burgandy to lightened red tones-

Mon Amour now has a new home

Mon Amour (gifted to the the winner of the comp, Terri)

Congratulations to Terri Day who kindly read my blog and shared it with a few friends via facebook.

I am pleased to announce that Terri's name was drawn by my niece Mikaylah and Terri is now the new owner of this original artwork piece called "Mon Amour".

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who took the time to have a read of my blog, for those who ventured into some of my older posts- i hope you enjoyed the artwork and learnt a little about what inspired me to create that piece.

Most importantly, I would especially like to thank those special few friends that shared my blog on SEVERAL occasions. I REALLY appreciated your love and support.

If you haven't had a chance to have a REALLY good look at my blog, you are welcome to come back anytime and have a look at all the posts and don't forget to have a look at my links to my other blog "artists on the Loose" as well as my interactive facebook page "My friends keep telling me where to go".

If you are disappointed that you did not win this artwork piece, don't forget that copies of Mon Amour are available through my online store links on stretch canvas, in frames with matts, as laminated pictures, posters and of course on greeting cards and postcards. Prices start from a low $4 for a card.

Cards available on my Red Bubble online store

So i hope to see you back visiting me in the future, as i DO intend to offer up more artwork during the year as prizes to blog readers who share, as i am  really hoping to increase my blog following list.

So sign on as a follower, encourage your friends to check out my blog and sign on too, and come back and visit me every now and then, and in the meantime i will try to stay happy and inspired.

My painting now has a name!

Most recently, i completed the artwork piece shown above. And to encourage friends and family to join my art journey, i invited everyone to suggest a name. And now the winner has been chosen (see below).

I am happy to announce, that the winner of the "Name this painting" competition managed to not only capture the love i was trying to show being displayed by the couple but also captured my love of all things french.
Her suggestion of "Mon Amour" (or "My love" in english), was inspired.
So, i would like to thank Julie Richardson for naming this painting.

"Dancing through life"- my most personal artwork piece/My Motto

Dancing through life

"Dancing through Life" is my most intimate artwork piece, to date.
This painting is extremely significant to me, as it carries a very private message to myself, which i draw strength from each and every night and every morning when i awake.

The original canvas HAD been illustrated in pencil with a very dark self portrait of me seated crying in my art studio after everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong in my life. I had drawn the original illustration when i was in a very bad place, following the most horendous 18month period of my life.   After battling the traumatic effects of our house fire, my own personal health problems, my numerous surgeries, after helping my dad battle with his bowel cancer scare, helping with my mother's relocation to full time nursing care as her dementia escaladed and as i currently dealt with extremely personal issues now, i realised the illustration that hit that canvas reflected exactly how very down i felt.

As i sat there looking at the distressing looking illustration that had emerged from within me, i became both startled and confused, as i really didn't believe my self portrait should look like that!

I suddenly realised that even during all this adversity,  i had still managed to grow and develop and that my self portrait SHOULD be an uplifting, joyful painting, not a sad, sorry crying mess.
I realised that I was a positive person, that even though adversity, i still had a sense of humour, and that i still wanted to surround myself with postive experiences. I had lost weight, i was feeling good about myself, and i believed that i was in the best condition than i had ever been in, i was strong and that i deserved better in my life, so i decided  that i would not let these events bring me down.

So, my decision to not proceed to bring my original illustration to a completed painting was my breakthrough!  I actually chose to no longer be a victim of my circumstances any more, so i painted over the top of it. My conscious decision to "dance through life",  is (and will be) very significant, as i approach my 50th birthday in the next couple of years.

This painting will be a constant reminder to myself that i am strong woman, a positive person, that i am a funloving person that people WANT to spend time with, that i deserve to receive love & respect and that i deserve good things to happen in  my life and that i needed to stop allowing bad stuff to destroy me bit by bit.
So even while i still battle some private demons today, i do so with the knowledge that i CAN overcome all that is thrown in my direction. This new painting reminds me each morning to seek out others who WANT to share my journey, it will bring me the strength to release those who do NOT support me,  it reminds me to surround myself with happy people, to listen and dance to joyful music and to only be drawn to those people and things that are a positive influence on my life, from now on.

My niece LOVES Edward from Twilight

Edward by moonlight (gifted to my niece Mikaylah)

My niece's birthday is coming up on Anzac Day, so i thought i would paint her a painting of Edward from Twilight as part of her birthday gift.

So this is how i created her painting called "Edward by Moonlight".

Firstly i found a photo of edward to be my starting point:


Then i sketched onto my canvas:

Then i started to paint the details:

Then i added the skin tones.

                                                            

  And the final touch- moonlight (using a 20c piece) and added the odd star in the night sky.

Edward by Moonlight

I hope you enjoyed viewing the making of "Edward by Moonlight".

I have just been inspired by Fabian Perez's artwork!

When i returned to my Art Class after my surgery, we were told that the group was no longer going to all paint the same thing, we were not longer going to follow our teacher by example. We were to bring in our OWN favourite photos or photocopies of our favourite artwork which we would attempt to copy with individual instruction from our teacher, Clive Sinclair of course.

Clive believes the best way to learn painting techniques was to develope them yourself.

So, i started to troll the internet for some inspiration, and what did i stumble across:

The most beautiful artwork by Fabian Perez!

Fabian's website address is : http://www.fabianperez.com/

Do yourself a favour and have a look at his absolutely beautiful work!

Shown here, is one of his lovely paintings. Absolutely stunning!!!

Fabian paints the most beautiful women in the world.

My all-time favourite from his collection, would have to be his flamenco dancers.

So with paints, brushes and a canvas sheet attached to a board and a photocopy of his beautiful red flamenco dancer in hand, i travelled to class........... and below are photos of MY finished artwork. I was really proud of this painting, as it was the very first one that really showed potential in class.

This is Fabian Perez's original artwork piece.



Flamenco Delight-



close up of flamenco delight

Relaxing on the bed

Please feel free to leave a comment.
Don't forget to save my blog in your favourites box, so you can come back to visit me to see my attempts from the classroom and from home too.

My Latest painting- My homeage to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

I was lucky enough to visit the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra on 20th February 2010, to view the wonderful works of the Masters of Paris.
After viewing the most beautiful artworks, I decided to paint a copy of one of my favourite paintings from the exhibition:

Redhead (Bathing) (Rousse La toilette) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, completed in 1889 oil on card.

The original painting is believed to be of his favourite model (Carmen Gaudin), is thought to be set in his studio and was probably painted from real life. The setting implies that the woman was a courtesan from the brothels that he frequented.

My copy of this painting will grace my bedroom wall.

So this is how i started....

My initial Sketch

My painting will be completed on a stretched canvas on wooden frame.  I started this painting by drawing the model and furniture, with a faint view of the floorboards and wall in the distance.

Then.....

I painted in the floorboards, the wall and layed down the intial furniture in brown tones.
I then covered the background with a white wash, so they are only a faint trace, which will then hopefully bring the model to the front, once i start to paint her in.

After that, i.......
I started painting the blanket, towelling, hair and stockings in the traditional colors of Toulouse's original painting, then had an idea....





Realising the artwork would take pride of place in my own beautiful pink bedroom, i changed the color scheme to pink towelling, so it would suit my room better.

Another change of color.....

Then i added pink walls, a blue rug and softened the floorboards and repainted the bathtub and added skintone.


Being that the artwork would be displayed in my own bedroom, i chose to keep more realistic skintones, rather than the really white tones of the original.

Then a changed to the rug color....

A quick outlined the furniture, painted her hair red and yellow oche with black highlights.... and then i was done.

I hope you enjoyed viewing my painting, as it developed. Please feel free to leave a comment. thanks.

To view actual photos from our visit to the Masters of Paris Exhibition and the Portrait Gallery, visit my other blog called "Artists on the loose"- you'll find the link on this page.

A little about me and how i came to pick up a paint brush

Well after such a traumatic (yet inspiring year) in 2009, i step forward into 2010 with a goal of growing as an artist.

Introduction: A little about me and how i came to pick up a brush

2009 started relatively normally, enjoying a quick break in Queensland, family time, sun and swimming in our pool, and then on the 31st Jan while entertaining family and friends with a swim and dinner, everything changed. With those pesky mossies annoying our after dinner festivities, we reached for the citronella oil, and next thing we knew, our house was on fire, roof collapsing, fire engines, shock, horror, relief that no-one was hurt and the sudden realisation that our house was unlivable for a fair while.

Our insurance company was wonderful (nice to see after paying premiums for more than 20 years, that they would not wind us up in red tape). They arranged temporary accommodation near both mine and hubby's work and the kids school.

We couldn't believe our luck- it was the most beautiful apartment overlooking the ocean (i'm talking open the curtains to our bedroom and there is the beach!). With the prospect of staying here for around six months while the repairs took place, life did not seem so bad. (Especially given the fact that many families the following week became homeless with the terrible black saturday bushfires that spread throughout melbourne and victoria too. )



Night after night we watched stunning sunset after stunning sunset, i captured alot of the most beautiful, different sunsets with my camera and then that niggling feeling started in the back of my head.
I had always been very good at crafts, but never did art at school.
Friends always said i was arty/crafty, but i never really had the urge to express
myself like a true artist with paints.

But, with those beautiful views in front of me kept calling, finally i relented, i purchased a second hand easel and picked up a brush, i crossed my fingers and the paint hit canvas in March 2009............. and the rest is history.


I joined a local artgroup in May, have started painting in my own home made studio at home (we moved back in July 2009) and now i show off some of my latest creations on my personal facebook site. Near the end of the year i started a facebook page called "My friends keep telling me where to go" where i invite people to send me photos of holiday snaps, so i have plenty of inspiration. My facebook page can also be found doing a simple google search too.

So if you start reading my blog and want to know more, please look me up- i love new facebook friends and page fans. If you do friend request me or if you sign on as a fan of my page, please mention that you are reading my blog, so i know there are people out there reading this stuff.

i will try and update this blog at least once a month (at the minimum)- so don't forget to come and visit me again.
thanks
caroline martin
carolinemartin63@hotmail.com