DAY 6 of 30 - GOLDEN CIRCLE Work in Progress

This construction on canvas has been evolving over about a year. I wanted simplicity, but it begged for more and so now it is a mixed media sculpture.

GOLDEN CIRCLE by Sea Dean
Copper wire, acrylic, paint pen, texture, painted wood, iridescent acrylic, metal leaf. 24” x 24”

30DCG2020 - ODP

If at first ..... Summer Breeze

SUMMER BREEZE 24” x 36” 

For a professional artist, one of the pressing questions is always what to do with paintings that have been shown extensively and not sold. Non-artists tend to assume that paintings sell soon after creation, but fellow artists will concur that is not the case. I just sold a painting from 2014, and that’s not uncommon. Depending on the size and depth of your work, storage can be a massive headache, especially if you have over 10 years excess.

Artists deal with the situation in many ways. I heard a story that Claude Monet once used a painting to patch his canoe. Other artists have used them to mend leaky roofs or burned them for warmth in the winter. Some artists have radical sales, gesso over and repaint, give to charity shops, or just have a cathartic rip and tear session. I tend to accumulate and occasionally tweak as my skills develop (hence the need for a store room).

Regular visitors to my blog may recognise this painting because it has been tweaked many times. I have loved each stage of this work, but the public has passed by. I believe it has good bones and just hasn't suited anyone’s decor and pocket book. The great thing about acrylic paint is there is no concern about cracking and no limit to the depth of paint, as there is with oil. Therefore, paintings like SUMMER BREEZE tend to accumulate a thick layer of paint, medium and gel, giving a fashionable and intriguing surface texture.

I suspect that this is exactly how Monets early works gained such depth of surface; how interesting it would be to x-ray through the layers to see the progression of composition and color before those paintings sold for millions. Below are a couple of previous versions of SUMMER BREEZE so you can see my thought progression.

SUMMER BREEZE can be viewed from 19 August at Lake Country Coffee House, Bottom Wood Lake Road, Lake Country, BC.

Solo Exhibition of Sea Dean new works
Lake Country Coffee House
during business hours
19 August - 17 September 2018
(including during Art Walk)

Forest of Dreams - #30in30 - 8

This is a painting that has been on my tweak pile for some time. I’ve repainted it several times and never been completely happy. This time I decided I would take some of what I have learned from Bob Ross in the last week and give it another go. I’ve changed it so radically that I can call it a whole new painting.

When I do this with my older paintings they develop such great texture from all the layers of paint that people love them, so I hope someone will snap this up soon.


Posted today as #5 on 30 in 30 blog

I Won! I Won!

LIGHT AND SHADOW
24” x 36” Deep Gallery Wrap



Seriously, my biggest fan without a doubt is Sheila Delgado. Every day she leaves a comment on my blog and it’s not just “Love it”, it’s a carefully thought out and informed critique. An artist is often too involved with their work to be impartial and this feedback and support has been invaluable as I move into the next stage of my art career.

I also love following Sheila, who is taking a completely different course with her art, producing amazing fresh watercolors for her print on demand sites. During September, we have been both been working hard alongside hundreds of worldwide Artists, producing a new painting each day and Sheila wrapped up her month with a fabulous collage blog that’s well worth a visit here. She really raised the bar on this one. While there, click through to Society 6 and view her huge collection of home decor and useful personal items.

To top it up I was one of her blog supporters that won an original bookmark. Yay!

I fell in love with Sheila’s painting “Mirage” during the challenge and it is one of the chosen four to become bookmarks. I love the palette and one morning I was enjoying “Light and Shadow” which hangs on my bedroom wall while it awaits it’s forever owner and I realized that it’s the same combination of colors. It is an early painting, but I still love it’s simplicity, so I thought you would enjoy a look.