"At Rest"

"At Rest"

Oil on canvas 12" x 16"

This painting is based on a photo my friend Sue took near Chase, B.C. I loved the softness of the mountains behind the dilapitated barn. It has a peaceful feeling, almost as if the work is done and it is now time to rest. The painting was almost to dull until Deb suggested I add the bold yellow/gold ground...just the pop I needed.

Kristen`s World

This is a  gift I painted for our daughter. She had changed jobs and just completed West Jet's rigorous Flight Attendant training. She has travelled quite extensively outside of work and would like to see a lot more of the world. This painting is based on seeing the world without borders, just as colourful continents.

I have painted the outside side edge of the canvas with the English words ``Travelling the world, growing and meeting many new friends that become one family``. These words are then repeated around the side edge in Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, German, Italian and Swedish. These are languages from countries that she has yet to visit.

"Kristen's World"

Mixed media on canvas 32" x 24"

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This painting was hard to photograph as it has 2 layers of high gloss epoxy finish which is thick and shiny. I also put some glitter over the water areas within the first layer of epoxy to make the water sparkle. I am very happy with the way this came out and so was she.

Fall Memories - Encaustic Painting #5

"Fall Memories"

16" x 16" on cradled board with 1 1/2" sides

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This painting was done at an FCA encaustic painting workshop with Ken Bourassa. The great thing about a workshop is the variety of art everyone produces. Over the 2 day workshop I did 5 paintings, this one was the last. As you can tell I had fun with textures. As a reference, I used a picture of 3 flowers that had been frozen with the first frost in the fall. The shiny parts reflecting in the painting is gold and bronze paint.

This is a closer view of part of one flower head just to give you an idea of the texture.

"Winter Blooms" - Encaustic painting #4

"Winter Blooms"

16" x 12" encaustic painting on board

Some of the artists in the FCA Encaustic workshop with Ken Bourassa were doing very smooth layers for their painting but as you can see, I was really enjoying making and developing textures. The whole board was covered with coloured paper and ironed into the wax base. I negatively painted around the vase with various layers of colour. The flowers are made with cheesecloth, wax and paint with 1/2 circle glass beads for centres. The stems are made of string. I even had to carve my name into the wax layers as a signature (bottom left).

The picture above shows one of the blooms in better detail as well as the varied background. The painting below is a side view to give you an idea of the thickness of the flowers. The flowers also have bronze and gold highlights to match the vase.

Beach Games - Encaustic painting #3

"Beach Games"

12" x 16" Encaustic on board

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I took a FCA workshop with Ken Bourassa on Encaustic painting. I wasn't sure I would like to work and paint with heated wax, but really enjoyed myself. Painting this way felt like fun playing and made me think of the games we played in wet sand at the beach.
I layered the board with different colours of tinted wax, one colour at a time and then drew into it with wet wax and paint to get the tic tac toe lines. I added sea shells, sand and more layers until I had the texture and look that I was after. This painting itself was like a game and you guessed...I won!

"Stormy Okanagan Lake" - Encaustic painting #2

"Stormy Okanagan Lake"

12" x 16" Encaustic painting on board

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This is the second painting I did in the FCA Encaustic workshop with Ken Bourassa. I grew up in Kelowna B.C. and boating was a family pastime. The Okanagan Lake can become stormy very quickly and the waves get very large which made for a lot of fun playing in the water, but down right scary in the boat. We would try to get near the shore quickly as the waves would come over the front of the boat and up the windshield. The hills are very dry in the summer and I always loved the "dry & wet" contrast of that beautiful area.

"Natures Force" - Encaustic painting #1

"Nature's Force"

16" x 12"  Encaustic painting on board

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This was my first attempt at encaustic painting. I took a 2 day FCA workship with Ken Bourassa instructing.

Beeswax is mixed with a hardener and melted together with slow heat. A thin clear mixture is applied to the board. It is very strange using a brush and having the mixture harden on the brush before you can get it on the board! It is then ironed into the board to melt the wax mixture into all spaces of the board. It hardens into a milky colour. Next the beeswax mixture is added to pigment in small tin foil dishes and you use brushes to paint it on your picture. Between each layer it has to be sealed with a heat gun (or blow torch!). I prefered using a heat gun and had fun with moving some of the layers with it.

This painting was inspired by the ariel photographs our son has taken while working in the Arctic as a pilot for Kenn Borek Air. The yellow is the sun's reflection on the snow caps with the blue iceberg peaking through and the darker ground below.

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This is a closer look at part of the painting to get an idea of some of the colours. It has beautiful bronze highlights with touches of gold.

Spanish Cycle

"Spanish Cycle"

Water colour 15" x 20 1/2" double matted to fit 23" x 31" frame
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This water colour painting is of an old bike/motorcycle (cycle) that we came across in Spain. I loved everything about it from the rusting paint, old seat and turned handlebars. This was a very peaceful painting and kept me thinking about our wonderful biking holiday in Spain.

This painting can be found for sale on my website: KarenOliversFineArt.com

Continents Unite

"Continents Unite"

Acrylic on canvas with glass beads

10" x 8"
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I painted this with very thick and thin acrylic paint. It is very textural, with a glass heart and four round glass beads. The different layers were allowed to dry and then a layer of expoxy was laid on top which added to the melted look. The 1/2" sides are also painted with the design continuing over the edge. The bottom right also has some thick paint lifting off the edge looking as if it is dripping off.

I was thrilled when my two kids saw the painting as continents coming together.  It would look great in a black floating frame. This painting was great fun and very freeing, getting away from an "object" to shapes and colour!

This painting can be found for sale on my website: KarenOliversFineArt.com

Wishing you a Happy New Year - 2013!

I painted this water colour painting and another with slightly different colours. The other one was the first painting I sold. I had it in the Sicamous Art and Craft summer sale fully expecting to bring it home. I hadn't even taken a photograph of it! This journey is all about learning!

Thank you to everyone who has looked at my blog, commented with encouragment or suggestions, and bought my paintings...all very much appreciated! The view count has been over 4200 and it has encouraged me to continue to post and share my art journey.

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy 2013 filled with laughter, fun, work and sharing. For my artist friends...a year of wet brushes!