Abstract landscape.

I bought The Adobe Illustrator CS5 WOW! Books for a couple months. And here is the first thing I did to learn some new tricks from it. 

Thumbnails

These are some thumbnails for my next painting. I actually have more than 50 of these. I just mix the colours randomly, scan it and zoom in to find interesting compositions.

I have been wondering if I can improvise in paintings. I think it should be spontaneous, not a project with every single step planned. However, I'm not sure if having these thumbnails prior to start the painting is still improvising.

Silent

I have been playing with words. It is fun, as much as drawing or painting.

Photographer

A very interesting photo I took at the MoMA, New York. I didn't have enough time to  see everything in the museum. Neither did I have the chance to go check that stairs out. The photographer is a total stranger to me. He was taking photo of a couple sitting on the stairs. And I was on the other side of the building admiring an installation on the lower floor. When I looked up, I realized I only have a few minutes before they walked away. I missed a more dynamic pose of him while taking my camera out of the bag but got this. We never crossed paths later.
This is one of a few photos that I will frame on my wall.

Snow storm

After the storm, Montreal is covered with a heavy blanket of snow. Brrrrrrrrr.....

aPoC

aPoC

20" x 30", acrylic on canvas.

A painting I did for a special request. It is obviously very different from most of my works. However, it is refreshing doing something out of the routine.

Solitude 1

Many people have told me my artworks would look very cool in living rooms if they were bigger. I totally agree but I just couldn't work on anything bigger than 15 inches because of many reasons. Most of my works are illustrations that need to be reproducible. Thus, they should be in sizes that can fit in the scanner I have access to, which is around 19 inches by 15 inches. 

When I frame some of my favourite works, I wish they were bigger, too. It reminds me I am an painter before an illustration. My works don't have to be reproducible all the time. I wanted to do a big painting for a long time but haven't had any inspiration. One day I think I should stop waiting for inspiration and just start it. After doing some sketches on paper and in Photoshop, I finally had an idea for the painting: a semi abstract image of a granite quarry. This is what I finish. It is not semi abstract at all, and looks like an illustration more than a painting I had in mind. It is totally not a granite quarry either. But I am happy with it. It is fun to work on something that takes shape on its on.

The size is just 19 inches. However, it is actually big when I have to paint the under layer with my fingers and colour pencils on top. I took a photo of it. The colour aren't correct but I guess that's ok for now. This is a good start. Next time I will work even bigger.

Solitude 1