Coming Up: Fine Art Monoprinting!
I am running a free live broadcast Gelli Plate Meets Fine Art on Wednesday, May 23, 9 AM BST (London), 6 PM AEST (Sydney). This session is for you who loves old paintings from Renaissance to Impressionism but who also likes to play with Gelli plate or other mono-printing tools.
Inspiration from Historical Paintings
Old art is full of nuances and inspiration. I will show you how you can get more out of old masterpieces and apply the lessons to your art too. I will use two pieces as an example of how you can stretch Gelli plate’s limits. The first one has brushwork in addition to printed motifs. The second one is a still life that was made with a Gelli plate only. The pics of this post show some details of them.
Gelli Plate Meets Fine Art – Come Along!
Reserve your spot here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/gelli-plate
You can watch the replay via the link or here on my blog if you can’t make it.
Artist Statement, Portfolio, Prints – Presenting a New Website for My Art!
I have a new website for my art! It has an online shop filled with originals and prints, a portfolio, pictures of the paintings in progress, and my story. Go to paivieerola.com!
This Peony and Parakeet site will also continue, as well as blogging, classes, etc. but I wanted to have a better presentation of myself as an artist, not only as an art teacher. First, my intention was just to update this site, but it is already full of information, many of which I would like to bring more rather than less visible. So I decided to keep this site for art education and create a new site for selling art. Time will tell if having two sites is too confusing, hopefully not!
Artist Statement or Not?
I re-wrote the About page tens of times! It was quite easy to pick the things that I wanted to say, but it’s still difficult to not to be too boring! I decided not to put it in the form of an artist statement because I didn’t want to alienate anyone with long and grandiose sentences although the first sentences under the title could be seen as one:
“When Paivi Eerola is painting, she is a scientist who plays with the reality. Ducks can become plants, a fruit can replace fabric, and flowers can form a factory that produces glass. In this new world, everything is changing and moving, and it’s all celebrating the lushness of life.”
I wrote my story in the third person so that it can be used easily on other occasions too. While writing my story, I questioned if it’s really how you see me and my art. But in the end, everyone has their interpretations of the images, and this is just how and what I think when I am creating them. One thing that I left out is how I test my paintings.
Original Canvas Paintings and How I Test Them
When I paint on canvas, my goal is to create a treasure rather than just an image. I test the painting so that I lay it flat on the table, walk away from it and then turn back to see what my gut reaction is. If I just make a mark that there’s a painting on the table, I need to continue working on it. If the painting looks more like a thing, a glowing treasure box, then I have achieved my goal.
It’s really important to me to make paintings that stand the test of time. I have spent tens of hours painting these, and I hope that they will live longer than me. Sometimes I wonder if I have this strong aspiration because I don’t have any children.
Nothing beats the luxury of an original painting, especially when it’s varnished and the colors glow like the paint would still be wet. See the originals that I have currently available!
Prints from Me to You
So far, I have sold prints via Saatchi Art. It’s great for US customers especially because the prints are delivered directly from there, and they also provide canvas prints. However, I also want to have few prints available directly from me, and there’s a small selection at my new store. I have printed them with an inkjet printer on a lovely fine art paper.
I am selling one of the prints as a limited edition. Every copy of it is signed and numbered. The painting in the print is called Healing Power. The original painting is sold, and I only produce 40 art prints from the image. So if you wish to have some healing power, would like to give that to someone, get your copy!
Portfolio
To show a big picture of what I have done, I wanted to include a portfolio that is like a small art gallery on my new website. I tried to pick the pieces that present my style but there was a lot to select from.
For example, I didn’t pick this one because I didn’t want to add too many. Anyway, I have a gallery on this site too, and it can be less curated!
Picking pieces for the portfolio is a really good exercise. It made me think about my artist’s path and see how my ideas have merged and grown to produce new work.
Paintings in Progress
I always aim to be as transparent as possible. Being very secretive has never worked for me, it’s against my personality. So there’s a section called In Progress which shows the paintings that I currently work on. Now it shows my first series of oil paintings. Here’s one of them so far:
Oil paintings take even more time than acrylic paintings because I need to let them dry properly before adding a new layer. You can follow the progress at the new site. I also have a separate mailing list for all who are interested in buying my paintings. Subscribe to the list here!
Hopefully, you enjoy the new site!
How to Add Depth when Creating Abstract Mixed Media Florals
When I started drawing and painting as an adult, it took quite a long time for me to understand the power of creating visual depth. Before that, every time I wanted to highlight a particular element, I added more lines to it and it just looked stiffer and stiffer. When you add depth, your art is not like a sentence where every word is underlined.
Instead, your art becomes more like a paragraph that invites the viewer to dig deeper.
How to Add Depth – Create with Me!
In the video, I create a floral painting without any reference photos and give you some basic tips along the way. I use a mixed media approach and combine pens with paints to make the job easier!
Come and Create Unique Floral Treasures!
Level up your skills, find the process you love and let flowers show the way to expressive art! You don’t want to miss this class!
Floral Fantasies in 3 Styles begins on Feb 19th – sign up now!
Flower Art Inspiration from the Students of Floral Fantasies
Today, you will see beautiful art from the students of Floral Fantasies in Three Styles!
In this online workshop, you play with three different approaches and pick the best from each of them.
Week 1 – Designs to Spark the Imagination
I think we all have browsed Instagram or Pinterest and found inspiring images from illustrators and pattern designers. In the first week, I show how to use flower photos to create simple designs that still look lively and unique. You will build designs from simple shapes and get inspiration from art nouveau, art deco, mid-century modern, and Scandinavian retro.
What I love about the students’ designs, is that they are all so original and express personality as well. I have included my favorite detail in the images.
Stephanie Carney:
Cathy Cale:
Diane Williams:
Jenny Baeta:
Gill Turner:
Nancy Kvorka:
Week 2 – Watercolors to Bring Up Expression
In week 2, we go to a different direction but use the idea of simplifying as a foundation for painting intuitively. The best media for quick, intuitive painting is watercolors, of course!
Tina Mitchell:
Darci Hayden:
Christy Tattersall:
Wendy Holmgren:
You can be less or more abstract when creating flowers with watercolors. You can adjust the theme to paint a still life, scene or landscape. See how Lisa Wright’s and Pirkko-Liisa Mannoja’s styles are different, yet both have their strengths.
There are so many different kinds of energy that you can express from quiet power to bubbling bursts, or maybe you want to splash boldly as Darci did in her piece.
Weeks 3 & 4 – Acrylics and Glazing Medium to Create Softness
In the next two weeks, we use all the things we have learned from watercolors as a new foundation for painting with acrylics. If you like to create quickly but get frustrated with the result, these weeks can be ground-breaking to you. Instead of rushing, you will calm down. You will see nuances and softness that you hadn’t noticed before. You will learn to use glazing medium so that it will make acrylic paints speak the language of flowers.
This old technique has many applications. You can use it for intuitive art, and it’s especially good for figurative painting. Practically most of the old pieces from the 16th to the 18th century use the technique with oil paints. I have adapted the technique to acrylic paints. I also have experience in oil painting so I can give you some tips if you prefer oils instead. These pieces created by students are made with acrylics and glazing medium.
The first layers are painted with umber and white. It’s called underpainting. Martha Winslow shows you an example of that:
Mackie d’Arge’s underpainting and the painting after some color layers:
Susana Trew shows the softness I talked about earlier:
Leena Meinilä’s piece shows the romantic approach with glowing details that was popular in Renaissance:
Marie Jerred shows how you can still play with colors even if you are painting like old masters:
Paula Snyder said about the class: “The old masters portion was earth shaking for me. Really good material I’ll use all my life. I feel like I am turning a corner in my artistic growth.”
See how her painting is full of delicacy in shapes and colors, and still so captivating in simplicity.
Many contemporary painters use this old technique, especially the underpainting part. It helps you to get away from the flat look, and bring depth and 3-dimensional impression to your work. Wendy Holmgren’s flower is a beautiful example:
Marion Berkhout said: “I found a way of working which I didn’t expect at all. And it gave me the confidence to trust myself in art. The class gave me the opportunity to develop myself as an artist and learn new skills.”
Marion’s painting takes the old technique to the contemporary era:
Come and Create Your Floral Treasures!
Floral Fantasies in 3 Styles begins on Feb 19th, and the early-bird registration closes this week. Get the reduced price – sign up now!
More Art Inspiration – Join the Free Webinar too!
Tomorrow, I will broadcast live from my studio in Finland and talk about finding your visual voice. Welcome to the webinar! >> Save your spot here
The webinar will be recorded. If you save your spot, you can also watch the replay later!