Wild Radishes by Alabama Artist Angela Sullivan

Wild Radishes by Alabama Artist Angela Sullivan

I took a photo of these a couple of months ago and while looking for something to paint ran across them again. I painted this kind of loosely with a build up of thick rich paint. Vegetable painting oil on canvas panel 6x6,art,still life painting,art

The process of creating a painting....

I wanted to make my granddaughter, Ava, a birthday painting. I began by using the technique of a photo transfer where you take a photo and transfer the image into a gel and transfer it onto canvas.

Well, I have to admit.....it is starting out just awful. This isn't working. I'm taking a photo now to show you this "not working at all" stage. It would be easy to quit now and I am okay with throwing this away.
But I'm thinking.....in the area outside of the criticism of my mind..maybe if I can add enough layers of interest to this piece, I will then be able to distract the viewer from the fact that I can not paint. :) What I'm thinking is that the essence of Ava is her creative energy. Energy. I'm not really only wanting a picture of her. So it's not about painting well...it's about capturing my experience of Ava.
I think I'll keep taking another step and stay open to the possibility that, if I just stick with this,
it might work itself out.


I love Ava's art and her stylized way of drawing. I did a photo transfer of some of her pictures so they could be included on this painting.....
Adding the red doesn't do much........adding the white makes me feel a little better because I think I will add a verse that Ava was given to recite for her 7th birthday. At Waldorf school each child is given a verse on their birthday and each week they recite it in front of the class. I want to add Ava's verse on the white of this painting. But still......I don't really care for primary colors of red, white and blue. Hmmmm.....



Okay, here's my strategy....divert the eye from the painting technique by giving it other design elements to study.
The whole is better than the individual parts.
And it seems that by adding dots and stripes and more color, I am adding energy and movement which is the intention of this piece.
This just may work out......I'm kind of liking it now. :)




Now I think I'll add off white circles in the white area.... More is better :)


and more little dots on the green lines....


Now to add her Birthday verse in black felt tip pen.....


and now some paper leaves and a couple of flowers and a couple of rhinestones.....

Yea! I like it and I hope she does too.



Do you remember when you turned 8 yr. old?

Transfer Painting Class open now

For anyone interested in creating a photo transfer painting, my online class is now open for registration at That Creative Place.

A salute to a young goddess.....on her 8th birthday

Here are some other photo transfers that I've done.....

From a photo into a faerie....

Kobain's birthday is coming up very soon.
She will be 8 years old. My mermaid has to wait while I take a photo of her and turn her into a faerie queen.

I am not a painter. I started to paint when I was in my early 20's but when I turned to clay, I never turned back to painting.

And I am into instant gratification....so creating a painting by the use of a photo transfer gives me a sort of hands up, and allows me to have fun and get a great result. I'm going to put a class together on this method because it's so easy to do.
So I'm photographing each step along the way.

Here's the 3x5 photo.
Come back tomorrow to see the finished painting. It's so much fun!!!

A French lady ... and me!

When I was at a fleamarket, in Paris, I purchased a painting of a beautiful French woman.  

It's done in black and white with just a touch of red.

The seller told me the story of the artist, who lived in Paris, and who has only painted one subject for his whole career...and that was always his wife.  AND....he only sees and paints her now as he remembers her, and as he sees her in his mind's eye....beautiful and young, although they've been married 50 years.  Isn't that precious!   

I just picked up the painting from having it framed and I remembered that my husband took picture of me, long ago when I was 18 yr. old...and printed it in black and white....and when I held it next to my French lady painting, we were both at the same angle...the same black and white....the same photo of a young woman in profile.  

My husband and I have been married 41 years now, so this photo was taken a long time ago....but I like to think that he still sees me, as the French artist views his bride and muse....

as the woman he fell in love with all those years ago.

Van Gogh exhibition in a rock quarry....

 It was the hottest day of our journey.... and the sun was high in the sky.  

A store owner in St. Remy had told us to be sure to stop by an exhibit of Van Gogh's work in an old limestone quarry and so, in search of some possible cool air, we headed down the road.

Wow!! 

We bought our tickets and stepped inside....yes, the air felt cool and so welcome...but more than that.......projected onto the walls of this huge cavern space was a themed light show which used over 50 projectors and featured between 2000 and 3000 images of the art of Van Gogh, set to a specially written soundtrack of amazing music.  The sheer size of the images, and the originality of the setting made for an unusual experience, to say the least....and one where we were put at the center of the action ( literally ).