Tuesday

Winsor&Newton acrylics video competition

The finished painting "Stones" acrylics on canvas.
I've just submitted one of my painting videos to Winsor&Newtons (artists materials) competition for artists to show what they can do with acrylics. The video has to be rated by site visitors so I hope you will take a look and vote for it. Sorry about the low res quality, the original is better but it deteriorated in the uploading process. 
My son David Elberling
composed and played the music specially for the video.

This 4 minute video is actually an excerpt from the hour long educational art video I produced in 2008 on DVD: "Realistic painting with acrylics".
I don't usually take part in competitions (I'm a bad loser!) but
when I saw Winsor & Newton were calling for entries to their competition about acrylic painting techniques I thought I might try. It took quite some time though to edit the video to fit the 4 minute limit required.
Here is the link to the video on Winsor & Newton's website. http://acrylics.winsornewton.com/en/win/entry/64/  
If you like it please click on the "rate this" tag.

Thursday

Apple tree in watercolour.

Elizabeth Tyler painting a watercolour on location in Finland.

Right now the apple trees in our garden are blossoming giving me irresistible inspiration to paint another watercolour.  I remembered the enormous amount of work I put into one of my largest watercolour paintings in Finland some years ago. I wanted to paint the whole tree with all the pale pink blossoms in every detail.   The old weathered tree trunk created a contrast to the fresh green leaves and the delicate transparent blossoms.  I painted most of it with the stretched paper on a plywood board lying horizontally on a low table, but every now and then I had to stand it up on an easel in order to step back to judge the overall impression.
The painting measured  112 cm x 83 cm, that's 44 X 32 inches



Saturday

Waves

"Waves" acrylics on canvas   110 x 140 cm
This painting is one that my husband is particularly fond of so I've decided it's not for sale. It normally hangs in our living room but I hide it away during the Open Studio event here every year.
It took about a month to paint so for practical reasons it was painted from a photograph. Although I prefer to paint on location it's not always possible so especially larger works are done using my own photographs as reference. I feel it is really important to have taken the photograph myself, not only for copyright reasons but also because it is a valuable and significant part of the creative process. Having actually been there experiencing the feel of the wind and smell of the salty air, taking in all the colours as they change in the light and being able to choose just the right moment I want to render is every bit as important as putting the brush to the canvas. I took the shot on a windy day when the sun only revealed itself as a faint warm glow behind grey clouds. The sea is the Kattegat between Sweden and Denmark and this is the only place around here where real waves can be seen rolling onto the beach.
I painted the whole background pale blue to start with and gradually built up the tonal differences with shades of blue and green. The spray in the foreground is spattered with a toothbrush. The colours used were: Titanium white, Paynes grey, Magenta, Ultramarine blue, Pthalo blue, Hookers green and a little Burnt siena.

Sunday

Parrot tulips

Parrot Tulip watercolour  57 x 77 cm           © Elizabeth Tyler
Said to be the grand finale of late spring, the parrot tulips are blooming right now.  They are some of my favourite flowers to paint and I've often returned to them as subject matter.  With their fluffy, irregular and undisciplined shapes they somehow have a special appeal to me, even more so just before they wilt completely.
 Not unlike people whose colourful character reveals itself in splendour at a mature age.
© Elizabeth Tyler

© Elizabeth Tyler
© Elizabeth Tyler