slow cooking...

Exact

Mixed Media on 16"W x 15.5"H watercolor paper

Ready to frame

Available

I've had this one setting on the back burner, so to speak.  Adding layers, this and that from time to time for the last several weeks.  Decided with the addition of the large circle that it was done this morning and photographed it to post/list.  I have another large 30" x 40" painting on the easel that I've been yearning to get back to work on.  Thursdays/Fridays are reserved grand daughter time and I had a few extra days this week as she was sick.  We played and played and played some more! So sweet when she wakes up and the first thing she says is "grandma will you play with me?" ....of course. 

So, shifting gears now...back into artist mode and hope to spend the next 3-4 days in the studio, painting, painting and painting some more!  The painting that is setting on the easel should be ready for your enjoyment, soon!

My paintings can be purchased directly from my web gallery:HERE using PayPal or other arrangements can be made by emailing me: elizabethchapman@artlover.com

Elizabeth Chapman

Contemporary Abstract Artist

go ahead, play....

Inspira

Acrylic on 36" x 36" x 1.5" wrap canvas

Available

I've been working on creating some paintings with thin layers of paint.  This one began that way...and as you can see it ended with thick layers of paint. Next to color,  I enjoy having textures in my paintings. Kinda difficult to get away from. The something new that I learned with this one is that an interesting contrast can be created by having a textured shape next to smoother areas.  As the paint continued to be added and I had switched over to working with a palette knife, I decided to squeeze some Liquitex coarse sand texture directly into the golden yellow paint. Then mixed it in with a palette knife.  (Ordinarily I will layer my textures on the canvas first, letting it dry before painting or the texture is built up by the paint itself.)  Pretty much only used it in those areas and left it to dry.  Loved the contrast it created in texture on the surface of the canvas.  Playing more with different types of shapes as well....so overall, it's just time to play!  Perhaps I'll give the lighter layers of paint another try... ?? or not!!

"Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play." Henri Matisse


More abstracts can be seen and purchased directly from my Web Gallery: HERE
or email me: elizabethchapman@artlover.com

Elizabeth Chapman

Contemporary Abstract Artist

free time.....

Natura

Acrylic on 30" x 48" x 1.5" wrap canvas
Ready to hang.

SOLD

Remember when you were given "free drawing time" in art class.  Actually, I really don't remember this as a student.  Must have thought it was all free time! lol  But, as a teacher, working with kids at the elementary level, I so enjoyed watching the natural creative flow that came out when given "free drawing time".  This simply meant it was a time in which you were free to draw your own subject matter, totally using your imagination, choosing whether to work with pencil, markers crayons, etc, going all out with color or maybe just black and white and there were no rules to follow.

After having done several commission paintings back to back....this is how I felt with the approach of this painting.  I am not complaining at all, as I do appreciate and enjoy very much working with clients in creating their own custom ordered visual expressions.  However, there are still some perimeters to work within.  Just as each mark leads to the next and then the next, etc., so does each painting lead to what will be created on the next canvas.  Abstract Expressionism.


My abstracts can be purchased directly from my Web Gallery: HERE
or by contacting me: elizabethchapman@artlover.com


Elizabeth Chapman
Contemporary Abstract Artist

making the switch...

JUNCTURE

Acrylic on 36" x 36" x 1.5" wrap canvas

Ready to hang

SOLD

At a loss for words as I just got through painting.  Not this one, but another canvas.  It's kinda like answering the phone while painting and I'm fumbling through trying to find words, quite embarrassing!  I was raised bilingual and would have to go through this transition time of finding either words in English or Spanish to speak, depending which culture I was living in.  It is like that too when I am painting.  I'll have to admit though, it is much easier making the switch back to the left brain side of thinking than it is getting into the right creative side.  But once there, it is wonderful!!

For your enjoyment, please visit my website: HERE

Elizabeth Chapman

Contemporary Abstract Artist

summertime blues....

Akin

Acrylic on 24" x 36" x 1.5" wrap canvas

Color palette testing

Testing the colors for a commission painting that was completed recently and posted in the previous post.  Playing around, warming up to the blues I used in "Wanderlust".   Later I came back to this canvas and painted on it, but the color palette of the previous painting was still with me. As these two paintings were completed back to back, there is an overflow of colors and similarities between the two.  

Akin...having the same properties.


Want to see more?! ..... HERE


Elizabeth Chapman
Contemporary Abstract Artist

a love for traveling....

Wanderlust

Acrylic on 36" x 36" x 1.5" wrap canvas

Commissioned Painting

Preliminary sketches

This was such a special painting to make as it was created as an anniversary gift for a first year of marriage.  It was unique in that I was contacted by the husband inquiring if I would be interested in creating a work in which I envisioned and was also encouraged to paint freely. Rather than supplying a photo or a another painting of mine to work from, he would rather supply me with a few details and pics about themselves.  Upon reading this initial email I thought to myself..."oh, no way".  Within minutes, though, the artist's imagination went to work and an idea had sprung forth.  It was then that I realized, yes, this is doable and such a wonderful challenge.

And so was born the inspiration for this painting.  The couple in celebrating their anniversary both had a love for the international life, having traveled to four continents and six countries within there first year of marriage.  They had been engaged in London, married in South Africa, lived in China the majority of the time and had a home in San Antonio, where this painting was to be hung.  The only suggestions given were that they both loved colors in the blue range.

I guess you could say that the first strokes of a painting actually begin in my head, rather than on the canvas.  With this one, the first idea was that of rectangular/square shapes linked by lines as land masses.  I tossed many ideas around, but kept coming back to this.  Ready to paint, I was  held up by having to wait for the canvases to be shipped in.  As I waited, I decided to take these ideas to paper which you can see in the above pic.  The bottom left was the favored idea.  A high horizontal with warm colors mixed in to provide contrast plus the idea of sunsets and sunrises all over the world.

I also decided to take the ideas for the color palette to another canvas while I waited....just to see. That will be my next post, as it too became a painting!  The color intensified (surprise, surprise) from the original beginnings, but it laid the foundation for a blue color palette.  Once finished with this painting, I went back to that original canvas and finished it as well, which turned out to be very much akin to this one.

"Wanderlust".... a love for traveling.  The completed image was sent for the client's approval with the reply being exactly what I always love to hear.   "LOVE it!".....actually there was more to it than this, but you get the idea.

Two hearts are hidden within this painting to commemorate it as a first year anniversary.  Click on image zoom...            Can you find them?!

This painting will be exclusive to this couple, never to be reproduced.
(All images on this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without the written permission of the artist Elizabeth Chapman)


Please visit my web gallery to see more contemporary abstracts: HERE


Elizabeth Chapman
Contemporary Abstract Painting