"Chosen" - By Belinda Lindhardt - Acrylics on canvas 30X30cms

This painting is one i started about a month ago when i was having a bit of a painting spree. You can see the smaller study that i did for colours. I didn't really know what i was going to do for this one i just knew that i felt like doing colours such as these so i just went ahead to see where it took me. I remember seeing a sky one night which was dark but had light blue clouds poking out and felt like i wanted to capture that, and i also have been seeing how sometimes the sky can have a burst of light and colour popping out behind the clouds but only in one particular area its strange how that can happen.

I appologise for the glare on the photo we have rain rain rain and more rain here at the moment apparently its here to stay for a while so i wont be taking many good photos while the light is so poor.

One oil and one acrylic, some littlies

Small Oil - by Belinda Lindhardt

I am in the process of cleaning out my life, no longer am i standing for little bits of "stuff" hanging around that only gets in my way. This includes all my art stuff and any unfinished works i have lying around. So right now i am tidying up the studio (again) consolidating getting rid of stuff and cleaning up :)

Here is the little one i did the other day that has now dried i thought i would get a proper photo. The other little one here is the acrylic which is featured in this previous post (the picture on the left) here is what I ended up with strange how these little ones are just evolving. Really i am just playing with different textures and colours and seeing how i can get them to work together.

Small Acrylic by Belinda Lindhardt

An abstract 2 landscapes and a Figure 4 new paintings

Last night I had a painting spree and started 4 new paintings. For the landscape i had the inspiration the other night i looked out into the sky just before it was dark and it had this strange dark blue / grey clouds with light blue peaking through. So i really wanted to create something like that so here was a little test run to give it a go and in doing so i think i have discovered something about the way i work.

Many artists work different ways, some use thumbnails some don't. Sometimes i do sometimes i don't, often i find especially with painting ideas from my head that i cant see whether the painting is going to work by using thumbnails as the painting often emerges during the process so to plan that out just doesn't seem to work. I think it's also to do with the application of the paint and using colours etc that you just can do without committing yourself to it.

Last night i started all the canvases as the same time. I did two larger ones and 2 smaller ones. These smaller ones I initially began to "use up the palette" i had already mixed but what it turned out to be was actually a preliminary painting to the larger one i was planning on doing for the landscape, and for the abstract one (which is still not completed) was merely a way to test out some paint effects i was going to try. It simply occurred to me as i was doing this.. that this method provides a cheap and effect "thumbnail" for me to test out my idea. This is not a new idea or way of doing things but for some reason i kept pushing the method aside as it wasn't working previously for me. It turns out that i simply needed to adapt it for a way that works for me. These little canvases are probably worth about $1.50- at the bargain store, it not quality art or something that you would sell for alot of money, its simply a step in the process to the bigger paintings. I think i am going to have to buy more of these i don't know why i haven't done it sooner.

On top of this i also tried out a new wet palette method for using acrylics. Thank you so much to Serena for posting her method on her blog. I have to say it really does work fantastically !!! and saves so much paint its going to be something i do continuously from now on.

During this painting session i also have to say after using oils for a while now i think i do prefer oil painting, just the feel, richness and application of the paint is more satisfying, but its so time consuming waiting for the layers to dry when trying to play around with the effects i wanted to for these ones i just didn't have that time. So its something to consider for future pieces. to oil or not to oil :)

Again apologies for the lack of photo quality, first drought now constant rain the weather is just all over the place atm.

Eggs for You

egg series by Belinda Lindhardt, Oils and Acrylics

Here are my egg series. Finally finished i cant believe these took me so long, i kept getting interrupted with other jobs, birthdays, colds etc. The one with the petal is acrylic the other two are oils. I will get some better shots tomorrow if its a nice day .. once the varnish has dried. All are 31 X31cm these ones are really cute :) i like them :) They all vary in colour slightly this was on purpose i really like how they came out they look really good on the wall, even if i do say so myself :)

Eggs with Petal and some Reflection WIP

Eggs with Petal - by Belinda Lindhardt, Acrylic on Gallery wrapped canvas, 31X31cm

Here is the second piece in my eggs series, you may remember my first one in this post.

As i mentioned in my previous post this series started with a commission and just kinda evolved. I have one final piece to do which i have already started, the final piece will only contain 3 eggs as opposed to the 4 and i am going to offer the client their choice of whichever ones they would like. The above piece is different from the other ones i will have done, this one was kind of an experiment in that it is in acrylic rather than in oils. I wanted to try achieving a similar effect with my new interactive acrylics as opposed to the oils and see what i came up with.

During the process whilst it was slightly quicker in terms of drying times between layers than with the oils, i found i did struggle slightly with getting the paint to behave the way i wanted and probably spent just as much if not more time on the piece. While the interactive acrylics are good, they do often come out as a thin wash much like watercolours so i found that i had to adjust the way i worked to achieve the smooth round effects that i was after without seeing everything underneath and I found I was reworking areas often. In saying that though i used this to its advantage in other areas and it was really great to apply thin washes over areas i had already covered and make them "pop". Maybe i just need to adjust the way i work more when using these acrylics.

"Reflection" WIP by Belinda Lindhardt, Oils on gallery wrapped canvas - 25.5 X 25.5cm

This painting is called "Reflection" its still a WIP and i am not entirely sure where its going i have no reference for this one.. its all just in my head and one of those ones i couldn't get out until i painted it. I wanted really flowing wild hair, i am not sure i will get to that, and i really don't know what to do with the face, so its by no means finished and posting lets me see bits i need to change :)
It's been fun though, I like doing ones like this with no particular structure and for it just to grow, it's a bit like my "contemplation" i did last year. i do wish i could settle on my "style" though i seem to be changing all the time, i did notice this is a bit like my monet one down in the corner where i am doing the foliage, but the sky is more smooth like my other recent pieces maybe my style is going to be a combination of all these things :)

The Craft Shop Exhibition

Saturday 23rd February 2008, 10am - 2pm.

This Saturday some of my artwork will be on display and for sale this weekend at The Craft Shop's Art Exhibition in Woy Woy.
The exhibition will be outside the shop undercover, which is at Shop 6, The Pavilion 29-37 George Street Woy Woy.
I will also be including another artwork i think maybe my "Lovely Tomatoes" (everyone loves that one), so if you are in the area come take a look at my artwork plus other artists from the local area.

Petal Beauty Framed

"Petal Beauty" By Belinda Lindhardt Acrylic on Board.

I soooo love it when i get good service and find a good product.
I love it so much i feel like i have to tell everyone to pass it on, so here is one of those posts :)
I know most of you are overseas bare with me, this is probably most interesting for my Australian readers as these guys are based in Sydney.

So, I wanted to frame my Petal Beauty artwork for a local exhibition, it's an odd size as its from my own prepared board, i have 3 other boards at the same size so i wanted to be efficient and get frames at the same time for all of them.
Off i went down to the local framers, let me just say that weren't too keen on creating frames for me to insert the artwork myself (if fact they more or less told me i couldn't do it myself and they wanted to do it as they had some special gun for staples...hmmmm) then ontop of that after 20mins of debating with them on the moulding i preferred it turned out they didn't have the one i wanted and it would take another 3 weeks for me to get that. So needless to say i decided that i wasn't going to go ahead with them. I had more or less given up framing this one for the exhibition as its next week and didn't think i would be able to get something in time that is UNTIL.. i remembered a couple of links i had for online framing places that i thought i would check out. Gosh i love the internet...

http://www.frameshop.com.au - Your one stop frame shop
Here is where i purchased 3 frames to the size of my choice and can i just say its fanatastic, while i couldnt get the exact moulding i had chosen in my local framing shop, the one i chose is pretty similar (the one i have chosen is more silver than it looks in the photo). Best of all they say delivery will be within 48 hours AND it WAS! The quality of the frames is great, and it didn't cost me a small fortune, so now i can enter my exhibition and i have my extra frames there waiting for the new artworks to slide in when they are done.

In addition to this i now know that my framing is no longer going to be a hassle, i have a matt cutter and one of the things that always puts me off with the CP work is the framing and getting frames that aren't going to cost me the earth (cause lets face it at my level, customers aren't wanting to pay a fortune for getting framing which is 100% quality done and with a framer), now i know i have this service available its like a new world has opened up :).

So there you go i can totally reccommend these guys if you need some frames :) Doesn't my petal beauty look great ?

Petal Beauty - Acrylic on Board

"Petal Beauty" by Belinda Lindhardt, Acrylic on Board, 310 X 205 mm

Here is my "Petal Beauty" all finished. I have put a couple of layers of fixative and UV fixative on it. I will do a final few coats and then i will be done. The original is a little lighter than it appears in this pic, but i think it looks quite nice i think it will looked nice framed. I am going to have to get a custom frame for this one as its a longer size than normal i might do a series of these i think they are quite nice :)

Last night worked on my art website, i am actually still working on it right now but most of the major work has been done. I was never totally happy with the way my gallery worked, now i have updated it and i think its more intuitive. So if you need to use up some time go over there and check it out let me know what you think ! www.belindalindhardt.com.

041Petal Beauty WIP

"Petal Beauty" WIP by Belinda Lindhardt - 310 X 205 mm Acrylic

So here is the WIP so far for this one. I am finding it difficult to achieve the softness and delicacy of the petal with the acrylic than i would have done with the CP but i think its getting there. Still got a bit to go, the dimensions of this one are actually longer than i am showing here which looks quite nice, but it wouldnt fit on my scanner.

Will post more soon :)

Atelier Interactive Acrylic

I started two new pieces today, both were supposed to be coloured pencil on board. One was on pastelboard and the other was on a board that i had prepared myself with colourfix paint.

I began layering my cp on my prepared board and well lets just say it came to the point where i just thought this isn't working and i am not going to fight it. I am not sure whether i hadn't put enough layers of the paint on the board or i used the wrong board, or the error was in my application of the paint but the cp layers just weren't happening. At this point i could have given up but decided i wasn't going to abandon the piece i was going to try painting it.
So i got started, decided that acrylics we the go, i watered them down alot and was using it abit like watercolours with lots of layers and washes. It was working out ok until i realised i was missing a colour that i just couldn't mix and i really need to buy it for the artwork to have the colour it needed to work.

Recently, I read an article about Atelier Interactive Acrylics , i have seen these for ages in the shops but never really could work out what they were about. The article made them sound good so i thought well nows the time to give it a go. Can i just say that i think i am now converted !!!

This paint allows you to work wet in wet, allows the paint to dry and for you to go in and blur / blend the edges on dry paint, it blends easily with the other non interactive acrylics (tho i dont know if they reccommend that) and depending on the ratio allows you to use them a bit like the interactive ones. Its much like watercolour except its opaque so you can paint over areas if you need to and seeing as i was working on board its not like watercolour where you are worried about getting the paper too wet and causing problems. It means that you can go back and correct, pull back and soften your lines and it suits me perfectly. This is what i do with my coloured pencil work as well. I am working with very light washes and also thick areas of paint. I am really liking it for this type of detailed work i am doing on this piece.

I will post the full pic of what i am working on tomorrow.

It's been a long time between acrylics

What has happened to this painting ? I don't know.. really i don't but my gosh i had fun!

This painting is one i started about 3-4 years ago i really liked it actually it was based on a previous coloured pencil piece i did previously :) I never quite finished the piece and i wasn't happy with the bottom half of the painting so the other day after doing some really detailed work i decided to tackle it. Having used oils alot recently it was a little strange switching back to acrylics i didn't mind it particularly but i think maybe my style of painting is better suited to oils. However, i will give the acrylics another try on another fresh piece.

As i mentioned, i had just finished some detailed paint work and i felt like i need to work large and thick and let something out, and so the painting evolved to what you see above. My other half was bitterly disappointed when he saw it as he said it was fine to begin with and one of his favorites. :(
I am a bit disappointed in it too i was hoping i would have made it a better piece but on the plus side it felt good just having "fun" with the paint and it doesnt matter its not a "glory" piece or has good composition or anything it just was a good process. You cant quite see it on the photo but it has lots of thick paint in the swirls the kind that look like they are hanging off the painting. I used some impasto in the paint and it was good fun :)

This week i have also been busy working on a new design for my graphics / web design
business. I have the skills sitting there i really need to utilize them and promote my services better to other business. Previously i had just taken the work that has come my way but now the boys are older, my expenses are increasing and i just don't have the luxury of sitting back anymore. Plus i enjoy it, in a different way to my art and i like being able to deliver something to the client in a direct way. So stay tunned for a new design site coming in the next few days. (i hope)

Three Red Pears

" Three Red Pears" by Belinda Lindhardt -Acrylic on Gallery wrapped canvas

As promised here is the Three Red Pears pic.

I could be tempted to put more red there (it was brighter prior to it drying) but i need to move on... so i think i will leave it for now.

Messiness Achieved! Pears Completed

Well my goal to get more messy in my paintings has finally for one piece been achieved. It's not quite to the exact standard i had hoped but i really need to call this one done and move on (i was overworking things AGAIN). So anyway i kept it messy despite myself trying to keep it neat and finished this one.

I will get a better pic for you in the morning but i thought i would also show you my lastest investment this box easel. I have been eyeing them for a while and been meaning to pick one up but always hesistated. Today on my visit to the artshop they had a sale and i wasn't in the mood to resist one little bit!

I also picked up a projector to project drawings / photos onto larger canvases & paper WoooT ! i have also been eyeing these for ages they usually retail for about $230-but today price was right $90- in a stocktake sale so got this also ...i guess i better get on with doing more work and maybe selling something to pay for all this !!!

Pears WIP Updated

"Red Pears" - WIP by Belinda Lindhardt

Two posts in one day ! wow :) boy you guys are lucky !!! :)

I have been meaning to give you an update on this one, i worked on it the other day and forgot to post a pic, so here it is :)
I am relatively please with the way this one is turning out. I still have alot on the first pear to do and going to brighten that background a bit :) Enjoying the white cloth tho that was a bit of a mistake which worked out well- dont you love it when that happens.

Some Lemons Unfinished?

"Lemons" Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas by Belinda Lindhardt

Ok so i forgot to mention in my last post that during the no power outage weekend we also did and had planned a house renovation. It was just a small one but basically we knocked down a wall between our living room and dining room. It has made an amazing difference to the place and we all are loving the extra space. So i can hear you thinking thats nice for you but what has this with art ?

Well for 1. now the house is back together i feel inspired i am "liking" my space much better so i feel happier and can do some more art :) But for 2. during the deomolition we moved furniture around and i was going behind a dresser which had a couple of half started canvases behind and what should i find but this painting :)

I knew this one was there and i had planned to finish it but i got stuck on where to go next and just couldnt ... during our activity for today which included some much needed cleaning and finding new places for things .... my hubby hung it on the wall in replace of a clock that i had wanted to be hung elsewhere (you dont really want to hear that story LOL) ... anywho its now sitting there quite happily and you know what .. i think i am going to call it done and leave it at that !!!... there is a few things on it i could change on it and i really wanted to add something more under the lemons.. but i have a habit of overworking things, and its not bothering me overtly much ...

so the morale of the story isnt it interesting what some time moving a dresser will find you ? a whole new pic for your wall that you thought wasnt done but really works just fine :)

Three Red Pears

Tidying up loose ends.

Three Red Pears WIP - acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

by Belinda Lindhardt

This is another one i have had hiding in the closet...

About a month ago i found some beautiful pears at the supermarket i just had to photograph and paint. So i started whilst having the urge setup the still life and started the painting with an underpainting... I had to put it down and havent been back to it until last night.
My vow at the moment is to tidy up loose ends and get some paintings finished. This one will be for sale and hopefully available soon !

Puppy love final

So .. i found my "zone" again..i decided that i had enough messing about with this one and i just needed to finish it today (if i were billing my hours i would have gone way over budget without any real achievments). that forced me to get into gear and here i am all done.

There are a few things i am not ofcourse happy with.. but i am fine with it really .. its alot looser than i normally go ... and thats something i really want to work on ... its a cutey . i really enjoyed doing this one.. i think i should defiantely do more portraits .. what do you think ?

Puppy Love update 2

Here is another update .. i have managed to paint over the face about 5 times since my last post .. the eyes just werent in the right position ... and i still am not happy with it ....

i also have redone the background and some of the blue shell in acrylic .. i think i still need the face lighter ... :( ... so hmmm ... not sure on this one ...

here is a close up of the shirt .. i must have been on a roll that day .. as i am still really happy with that bit ..i cant get into the same "zone" sigh ...

more to come .... sorry for the lenght in between posts atm ... i have had a few major events going on as late ... so .. the creative juices just havent been there .. i think i am on the other side of all that will be coming back to you all soon :)

Puppy Love update

Sorry i havent been around much of late. I have had some design work come in which is keeping me away.

Here is an update of this one tho.. i am quite happy with how it is turning out ... I am annoyed tho .. i had the face including the colours etc ... working soo well .. then i decided to just add a few more touches here and there .. and wrecked it :(.. so then i tried again with it... its a bit better but not back to what it was :(... sometimes i wish so much life had an "undo button".

Puppy Love

Ok here is my confession, I started this one back in march, i wanted to try something new and was going to display it when i had a bit of success with it. BUT, that didnt work out and i was upset with it so i put it back into the cupboard never to be seen again.

So, it started off as a coloured pencil peice on some of my Colour Fix MDF board but i found as i went that some areas just werent taking the pencil very well i was also using solvent and i think it took some of the surface away. So i tried patching it and that didnt seem to work so i basically decided that i couldnt save it and was perhaps going to try it again on paper.

.BUT.. here we are..my brain had a lightbulb moment and i figured seeing as i had it all mapped out on the board so why not just paint over it !!! all the drawing part is done .. it would make quite a nice little painting.....

so here it is so far.. the blue "shell" is coloured pencil .. and there are fragments of coloured pencil underpainting for the sleeves etc.. but the background and the dog are acrylic and i have started on the face. I am going to continue with the acrylic all over ... its been a really good process as i am painting in values and thinking about the process as i do with CP but doing it with paint ... its great.

and i feel better about myself as i am "recycling" materials i think i am learning to relax about technique and just get the piece finished .... i have lots non art stuff going on atm ... but hope to post more on this soon.