02 Creative Session: Landscape Painting
It's been many years since I last picked up a paintbrush and sat down to paint something, but I was recently reminded of this old skill of mine when I went home to visit my parents over the New Years break and saw a good number of my paintings proudly displayed in their home. I love that they have kept all of my sister and my own work, good or bad. Boy there are a lot of paintings - every room is filled with them!
I decided to compare some of the earlier works from 2008 through to 2013 and then the two latest paintings that I have been working on this month to compare the changes in my style and technique. It's pretty interesting to see actually, I'm more of a landscape painter as it turns out. The still life and more abstract pieces I've done haven't really hit the right note.
I decided to get back into my painting and managed to do two of them! The first is of Flåm in Norway, and the second is of a sunset over Stockholm. Both of these places were among favourites from our trip to Europe. The oil paints are tricky to work with, I like to use water mixable oil paints, as they are far less toxic smelling and means you don't have to use turps which I can't stand. The downside is that you lose some richness and depth of colour unless you use mediums with them. I'm still pretty happy with these paintings but I'm going to try keep painting throughout the year and improve my techniques.
