Heather Brown Art

I’ve been loving the art work of Hawaii-based artist, Heather Brown.  She has a unique style, concentrating on oceans and beaches as her main subject matter.  Her work’s become widely-internationally known over the past few years. I even had the privelege of meeting her in person at the Wyland art gallery in Waikiki.  She was nice, personable, and really down-to-earth.  I also got to see her work on some paintings! Really unique and amazing stuff.

http://www.heatherbrownart.com/home.php

South Straddie 18 x 24 Acrylic on canvas

Diamond Head 24x36 Acrylic on canvas

More Seashells Down by the Seashore

Haven’t gotten tired of painting seashells yet! Each new shell is a new discovery, and you can approach it from numerous differnet perspectives and angles.  The possibilities are endless.

Here are a couple more seashell paintings I’ve been working on. Paintings are about 12″ x 16″:

#1

Same type of shell I was painting from. Not from this exact position/angle, but just to give you an idea.

#2

Working off of this tiny little broken shell. The shell is only about an inch long.

More Shells!: Kelsey Nicole Miller Jewelry Designs

While browsing though facebook, I stumbled upon yet another jewelry designer, Kelsey Nicole Miller Jewerly Designs.  They are handcrafted jewelry designs using primarily seashells, which, as you know am currently totally infatuated with right now.  Not only am I painting them, but I have always loved shell jewelry.  It comes for my love of the ocean, sea creatures, waves, surf, the beach, and just Hawaii in general.  Kelsey Nicole Miller Jewelry Designs is based in Hawaii on the North Shore of Oahu.  She also specializes in custom orders.

It’s a fairly new company, and is still working on getting a website up. Her stuff is on facebook, however, and you can contact her through facebook or email about purchase inquiries, custom orders, etc.

Gold assorted bangles

Turquoise Drupe Teardrop Earrings

Abalone Wave Necklace

Gold Sunrise Hoops w/ Pink Coral and Freshwater Pearls

Rings

She Sells Seashells: pt. 4 – Research & Ideas

Since I’m currently working on seashell paintings, I thought it’d be good to look at some other paintings of seashells done by other artists.

It was interesting to find what I did.  I can see and compare the methods in which these artists render the seashell objects, what kind of composition they use, and how they place it on the canvas.  It gave me some ideas that I’m interested in experimenting with my own work, and how I can push the dynamic elements in my own paintings.

Beth Kirk, Shell II on Beach, 11″ x 14″, Acrylic

I like the use of shadow and the colors in the background make the composition come together nicely. The colors of the shell are gorgeous!

http://www.bethkirk.com/index.html

Shell
4.25″ x 6″
Oil on Cardboard

Oil on cardboard is an intersting use of material.  It works well with this painting, complimenting the earthy, natural feel, as well as color palette.  The rendering of this broken shell is incredible in all it’s realism and organic beauty.

http://paulkeysar.blogspot.com/2009/06/shell-available.html

Sydney Biennale: Wilderness Balnaves Contemporary Painting

To continue more on the exhibition that was up at the Art Gallery of NSW during the Sydney Biennale…

The title of the exhibition was “Wilderness: Balnaves Contemporary Painting.”

14 leading and emerging Australian contemporary artists consider the natural world that exists in our minds, memories and imaginations.
Artists: Del Kathryn Barton, Daniel Boyd, Andrew Browne, Stephen Bush, Tony Clark, Julie Fragar, Louise Hearman, Fiona Lowry, Nigel Milsom, James Morrison, Alex Pittendrigh, Mary Scott, Megan Walch and Michael Zavros.
The subject of the exhibition was so interesting.  The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that that’s what makes interesting art – creative juices and what’s in the subconscious, in our memory, in our dreams…

Once, again, some amazing works of art! I was so inspired.

Del Kathryn Barton, Louise Hearman, Tony Clark were among my favorites of that exhibition.

Images by Del Kathryn Barton We too have been there, though we shall land no more 2009 (detail); Louise Hearman Untitled #1304 2009

Sydney Biennale

This past week, our painting class had the opportunity to go to the 17th Biennale of Sydney to see some amazing art!

We visited a bunch of different galleries such as the MCA, Art Gallery of NSW, Artspace, and even got to go to Cockatoo Island, which had some really cool installations all over the island. The highlight for me was Wilderness Exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW.  The paintings were incredible, and it was really interesting to observe the different types of materials and methods that these artists used.  Seeing all the works of art were really inspirational and made me just want to start work on my own paintings!!!!

If you have a chance, go check out the Biennale! I highly recommend it!

Trang chủ

Cockatoo Island:

This was a huge room video installation on displayed 3 different parts at one time.  The viewer sits in the middle, while the 3 different films play all around the room.  BUT, they weren’t actual films.  This work was created using 750,000 different photograph still shots, composed to create the effect of a film. Crazy cool!

Another cool art piece. I adore the colors!

Cars suspended from the ceiling with flashing light rods going in and out of them.  This was my second time seeing this work. The first time I saw it was at the Seattle Art Museum.

She Sells Seashells: pt.3

Speaking of seashells, I’ve recently been loving this new jewelry line, Reverie Oahu, jewelry made primarily out of shells. Reverie Oahu is owned and designed by Alyssa Wooten.  You can purchase her stuff through inquiry on her facebook page, Reverie Oahu.

Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000243892279&ref=ts

beautiful, cute, simple, LOVE ♥

She Sells Seashells: pt.2

Here are some of the seashell paintings I’ve been working on:

1) I start off by picking a shell to paint (using oil on canvas). I thought that this was a really beautiful, organic form of a broken shell. I was really intrigued with the shapes, curves, and inner structure of the shell.

2) Then I do a rough sketch on a canvas, which I have previously painted a burnt sienna ground. The burnt sienna ground will give the shell painting a stronger composition, bringing out colors, especially the neutral, beige and blue highlights. (this isn’t the exact same shell, but just to give you an idea of my process).

3) After several layers, and working and reworking, this is the more refined painting product.

She Sells Seashells pt.1

Recently, I’ve been working on paintings of seashells.  It’s been a really useful learning exercise, as I’m understanding more about model, form, and color.  It’s a challenge painting a 3D model on a 2D surface.  It’s different from what I’m used to, since I usually paint from photos.  Painting from actual seashells gives me a tangible object I can really take time to observe shape, analyze form, and inspect detail. I’ve been loving these paintings so far.  It’s something different and “out of my box”, and it’s been exciting being able to see myself grow and develop my painting skills.

Some seashell beauties:

Mother’s Day Love

Happy Mother’s Day! Show your Mom today that you appreciate her and love her 🙂

Sadly, I won’t be able to spend Mother’s Day with my Mom this year, as we are thousands of miles apart, she’s back in Hawaii, and I’m here in Australia on study abroad.  So, in honor of Mother’s Day this year, I decided to surprise my Mom with customized card that I made out of my painting!

I painted her this watercolor. It’s of a local flower from Hawaii.

my desk

the final painting

Then I created a Mother’s Day greeting card out of the painting:

I mailed one card to my Mom and one to my Grandma. I love and miss them so much.