Posted in Abstract Art, Abstract Landscape, Collage, Mixed Media, Painting(s) of the week on June 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Ethel Hills – Bands of Color #30 – Mixed Media Collage on Mat Board – 7″ x 5″
Here’s another of my new Bands of Color paintings. Now that I have these paintings finished, I’m really pleased with them. As I was working on them, I wasn’t sure they would be successful.
Posted in Abstract Art, Abstract Landscape, Collage, Mixed Media, Painting(s) of the week on April 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Ethel Hills – Bands of Color #29 – Mixed Media Collage on Mat Board – 7″ x 5″
I’ve just been revisiting a series that I started more than 4 years ago. My earliest collages are from the Bands of Color series.
The ones I’m working on now are slightly larger – 7″ x 5″ instead of 6″ x 4″, but retain the basic idea of bands of color glued onto a colored background to suggest the landscape. I love that you can suggest something with just a few strips of color.
Posted in Abstract Art, Abstract Landscape, Painting(s) of the week, Watercolor on March 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Today, I’m including an older painting instead of one I’ve just finished. This one is a bit different from my normal work, but certainly has enough elements of my style that it’s recognizable. This one happens to be up on the wall in my studio at the moment, so I’m looking at it every day.
Although I really like this piece, I’m wondering if the title is wrong. The solid blue is an important part of the composition, which is why I named it “Nothing But Blue Skies”. Now I’m not sure that matches the feel of the painting. To me, it feels more like deep woods, not sunny skies. Do you ever rename paintings?
Ethel Hills – “Nothing But Blue Skies” – Watercolor – 7″ x 7″ – Framed to 12″ x 12″
Posted in Collage, Painting(s) of the week, Shelter Series on February 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »
This is the latest in the Shelter Series. I’m almost finished with this first batch of small pieces. (Only one more still unresolved.)
It’s really kind of interesting how these are coming out. Once I’ve got these started, they seem to take on a life of their own. I add things and change things, trying to resolve the basic artistic issues and I’m ending up with little houses that have personalities. This was not intentional. The personality just sort of evolved with the painting.
While one of the earlier ones felt “brooding” to me, this one almost seems surprised. The house has a sort of “oh, my!” expression to it. Am I imagining this or is there something to it?
And of course, while it’s still very cold outside, it’s nice to look at a flower garden – even one made up of bits of paper.
Ethel Hills – Shelter #13 – Mixed Media Collage on Panel – 7″ x 5″
Posted in Abstract Art, Abstract Landscape, Acrylics, Painting(s) of the week, Shelter Series on February 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
As I explore the house theme for my “Shelter’ series, I don’t seem to be on a linear path. The work keeps bouncing around from idea to idea, back and forth from funky to sophisticated.
I’ve looked at this piece a lot and have finally decided to declare it done. Even though it’s very different from the other pieces that were started at the same time, I like it and appreciate its relative simplicity. It has no collage added, but the interest is in the shapes and the subtleties of texture within the shapes.
It’ll be interesting to see if there are more of these by the end of the series.
Ethel Hills – Shelter #11 – Acrylic on Panel – 7″ x 5″
Posted in Abstract Landscape, Acrylics, Collage, Mixed Media, Painting(s) of the week, Shelter Series on February 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Here’s the latest in my Shelter Series. This one was a bit of a struggle, but I’m pleased with the way it turned out. I wish that I had the foresight to take pictures of some of these paintings as they changed. This one has at least two complete paintings underneath the final version.
Each of these 7″ x 5″ paintings started out as a relatively straight forward line drawing filled in with acrylic paint. Each time, something was missing. Most of them have ended up with either a little bit or a lot of collage added. It’s been interesting watching these evolve. I must admit that these have taken way longer than they should have. (At least it seems that way.)
Ethel Hills – Shelter #12 – Mixed Media on Panel – 7″ x 5″
Posted in Abstract Art, Abstract Landscape, Collage, Color Blocks, Mixed Media, Painting(s) of the week, Shelter Series on February 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »
This year has certainly been slow for painting. The first week of February and this is my first painting of 2014. This is one of several small “Shelter” paintings that I have in process. These have not been going together easily, at least so far.
Although these are in some ways much more representational than most of my work, I’m still enjoying them. I’ve been playing with fairly simple patterns and have combined that with the somewhat 3-D effect of layers of paper collage.
Ethel Hills – Shelter #10 – Mixed Media on Panel – 7″ x 5″
Posted in 80 Painting Challenge, Abstract Landscape, Acrylics, Collage, Mixed Media, Painting(s) of the week, Shelter Series on December 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The painting I have for you this week is part of a new series that I’m working on. The working title for the series and so far for the paintings is “Shelter”. The idea starting in a kind of straightforward manner, but it’s blossoming into something kind of interesting. Initially, it had to do with a charity I support, the York County Shelter Program, Inc. in York, ME. Now, I’m realizing it may be as much about emotional shelter and refuge as it is about physical shelter.
This is one of three paintings that I started almost 2 months ago. They’re all the same size – 7″ x 5″. Initially, they were just stylized houses, painted in solid colors. The background was also divided up into different color and value shapes. Once I got the initial painting done, they didn’t seem to be working. In other words, they were boring. In the end, I added bits of collage to enliven the work. This piece has just a bit of collage. So maybe it’s not quite as flat and boring as it was before. I toyed with the idea of putting a moon in the night sky, but decided against it. The light and texture in the door and window seemed to be enough. What do you think?
This is #75 of my 80 painting challenge. It looks like it’s going to be kind of close, but I think I’ll make it by the end of the year. More on that later.
Ethel Hills – Shelter #8 – Mixed Media on Panel – 7″ x 5″
Posted in 80 Painting Challenge, Abstract Art, Abstract Landscape, Collage, Mixed Media, Painting(s) of the week on December 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I’ve been working on some small pieces over the last couple of weeks. These are tiny collages. I start by painting a “background” on watercolor paper. Then I tear the paper into smaller pieces, each approximately 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″. Then I look for bits and pieces with colors that seem to go together.
Once the composition is set up, I glue the pieces onto the “background” piece. Normally, I’ll glue just one piece or layer at a time. Once the piece of paper is glued down, I’ll layer it between wax paper and cover it with books and weight it down. I’ll then leave it to dry overnight.
These small pieces usually have only 3 or 4 pieces glued, so they are normally completed in less than a week. I finished these up last month. These are #61 – #64 in my 80 Painting Challenge. (I might still make it.)
Posted in 80 Painting Challenge, Abstract Art, Abstract Landscape, Collage, Mixed Media, Painting(s) of the week on November 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »
This week’s post is an old/new painting. I actually started this quite a while ago with no particular plan in mind. I just had some nice colors and some fun papers collaged onto the panel. It’s been sitting in my studio waiting for a decision. Although this doesn’t look that much like the other work that I’ve been doing, I really like it. It makes me think of the riotous color of a garden in full bloom. This is #60 in my 80 painting challenge.
Ethel Hills – Summer Garden – Mixed Media Collage on Panel – 6″ x 6″
Ethel Hills 