continuity

Dawn

acrylic on canvas

6 x 8 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

Here are three small canvases that I recently completed as a part of my Mountains Abstracted series.

Noon

acrylic on canvas

6 x 8 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

Just as the square formats (from my previous post) introduced unique compositional challenges, so did these smaller sized paintings. In this case it was about how to get enough variety of shapes without being overwhelming in the small space.

Twilight

acrylic on canvas

6 x 8 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I also enjoyed working with the variety of greens that are possible to create with this limited palette of yellow ochre, teal, purple, and white.

And here, just for fun, is a snap shot of the three canvases placed together - although please pardon my poor photo, I had randomly lined them up in preparation for varnishing when I noticed that they also worked as one continuous composition. I doubt I could have worked that out so well if I had been trying!

when completed isn't finished

Moon Garden

acrylic on canvas

12 x 12 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here are what were to be the final three paintings in my Mountains Abstracted series. They are all painted with acrylic on 12 inch square canvases using the same limited palette of yellow ochre, teal, purple, and white.

Come Together

acrylic on canvas

12 x 12 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

The square format introduced new compositional challenges, but it is one I often return to for its simplicity. And I believe that with this series the square enhances the abstract quality of the composition.

Moon Song

acrylic on canvas

12 x 12 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

And yes, I did believe that with the completion of these three paintings (making a total of twelve in the series) that I would have exhausted my interest and would be ready for something else, a new subject to paint. Except that I wasn't. It seems that there are more questions for me to answer with this theme and more paintings to make.

Listen

Listen

acrylic on cradled panel

16 x 20 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

This painting is the largest in my Mountains Abstracted series. There is a challenge in moving up in scale. With this painting it was the realization that I could actually have too many small shapes, which I resolved by combining shapes to create a few larger areas that were more in keepeing with the overall size of the piece. Now, 16 x 20 inches really isn't all that big and I would like to do even larger paintings. Just as soon as I work out how to do that in my small work space.

Riverside

Riverside

acrylic on panel

12 x 16 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here is the next painting in my mountains abstracted series. It is one of my favorites yet proved to be the most difficult to get a good photographic image of, for some reason. This one was as close as I could manage. I have been really enjoying painting this series, exploring my limited color palette, and playing with shapes in these compositions. I had forgotten how much fun painting with acrylic can be. And yes, I still adore painting on these cradled wood panels.

High Road

acrylic on panel

12 x 16 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

And here I am reposting this painting because this image is a much more accurate representation of its color than the one I posted last time.

High Road

High Road

acrylic on wood panel

12 x 16 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I am starting this new year by contuining the theme of abstracted mountain imagery that I began towards the end of 2016 with acrylic paint on paint paper. Out of curiousity I purchased a couple of cradled wood panels and am over the moon with painting on this surface. They are available unfinished or already gessoed and I got the unfunished ones because we always have gesso at our house (doesn't everyone?) so I just gessoed them myself.

I am keeping to my limited palette, mostly, as I continue with this series. That palette is yellow ochre, purple, teal, and white. I am enjoying the wide range of mixes possible with just these hues including the rich grays and muted greens. These paintings have become as much about the interaction of color as they are a subject to be explored. I have a goal to complete 12 altogether. I don't know why 12 exactly, but with 6 on paper it sounded good to me to also have 6 on canvas or panels. I am already up to the 11th painting but getting good photos is proving more difficult that I anticipated. I am hoping for a sunny day to come along soon so I can get these paintings properly photographed. I'd love to hear if anyone has any tips on successfully photographing paintings.

completing a series

Golden Spell

acrylic and graphite on paper

8 x 11 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

These are the remaining two paintings on paper that I have completed with this abstracted mountain landscape theme. They are with my chosen color palette of teal, ochre, purple and white and are probably my favorite of the six paintings on paper. For the painting above it is probably because it asks more questions than it answers that I prefer it over the others.

Passing Days

acrylic and graphite on paper

8 x 11 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

And as for this painting, I am happy with the lighter values and more controlled intensity of color.

However I have yet to get this series out of my system. I purchased some wood painting panels in sizes larger than the 9 x 12 painting paper and am happily continuing on abstracting mountain landscapes. When is a series complete? With this one I will just have to wait and see.

landscape abstracted

Misty Morning Song

acrylic and graphite on paper

8 x 11 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

In continuing with my abstracted mountain landscape theme, this painting may be the most abstracted in the series so far, or the most nearly non-objective painting depending upon how you look at it. I used my same limited palette of teal, purple, ochre, and white but also introduced ultramarine blue. I like the tension created with the ultramarine and teal in the composition.

When It Rains In November

acrylic, Inktense, and graphite on paper

8 x 11 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

This painting was made on the first rainy day we had experienced here in months. After weeks and weeks of drought and wild fires too close by for comfort, the rain was such a relief and wonderful to listen to all day long. I think it was that sound of rain that influenced the abundance of little shapes and patterns in this composition. Here I also used a little magenta Intense to liven up the teal, ochre, and purple palette. I am enjoying the challenge of keeping my palette limited with this series, as you probably know by now that if left unchecked I do have a tendency to use ALL the crayons in the box, I like color that much. So by keeping my hues limited I am more conscious of how I am using value and intensity, adding to the challenge, and ultimately the fun, of painting abstractly.

acrylic - that other water media

untitled

acrylic on canvas

9 x 12 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

If you follow me on Instagram you may already know that I have begun a new journey with acrylic painting. My explorations in mixed water media have led to the desire to really push paint around on canvas or whatever surface I can get my hands on. I see the approaching winter solstice is a time to draw inward, as a good time of year to step out of my routine and take an inward retreat. A time to try something new, without pressure, and just for me. I have a new crochet pattern to try with some wonderful new yarn and I may even attempt a macrame wall hanging for that piece of drift wood I brought back from the beach last spring. And I painted two acrylic landscapes on canvas. The one above was the more successful of the two. At this point I felt more exploration was in order so I went back to the acrylic painting paper. I like this paper in that it is sturdy, acid free, and not all that costly so I don't worry so much about wasting good art supplies.

Every Road Home

acrylic, graphite and Inktense on paper

8 x 11 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I began this series with the intent to paint non-objectively. I wanted to explore compositions that were about color and shape, texture and line, but without the constraints of subject. Except what happened was that mountain landscapes kept showing up. So I just went with that.

The perimeters I am using for these works is to keep the format vertical and use a limited palette. My palette as shown above is white, purple, teal and ochre acrylic. I just love those gray-greens that come from these three colors. The crayon is a Lyra water soluble graphite crayon, and I occasionally threw in little bits of magenta Inktense.

Where Mountains Rise

acrylic and graphite on paper

8 x 11 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Again, the limited palette, while exploring using a variety of shapes and marks, and there are those mountains again. I have lived here so long that the landscape has become a part of my subconscious visual language!

Now one of the biggest road blocks I faced when working with acrylic was how to dispose of the waste water. This was a big issue when I was painting with water soluble oils. I liked painting with them but was worried the plumbing in our house wouldn't. From my previous trials with acrylic I was keeping a bucket for the waste water hoping that the liquid would evaporate and I could throw out the solid acrylic skins. Except that here in these southern mountains nothing ever evaporates and I was stuck with this ever filling bucket of paint water. But I kept looking for a solution and eventually found this delightful artist who had found the answer to this problem. Kitty litter! It's simple and brilliant. The only issue with the kitty litter is the sickening synthetic "air freshener" smell. So if any of you cat owners know of a brand of kitty litter that clumps but has no perfumey odor please let me know!

departure

I seem to work in cycles. After playing with abstracted images in my Edisto series, I have returned to my familiar mountain landscapes with the aim to take them beyond the literal. This is something I have attempted in the past with watercolor but this time I am exploring other water media as well.

So these two pieces are the first in this exploration. I began with a scene in mind and a few sketches where I focused on what is most interesting to me about the landscape- the movement of the undulating hills receding into the distance, defined by the lighted and shadowed areas.

Both of these works are approximately 8 x 11 inches on acrylic paper. I used water soluble graphite, Inktense blocks, Neocolor II watercolor crayons, Lyra Aquacolor crayons, gesso, and some acrylic paint. Pretty much anything I could think of to throw at it just to see what would happen! This is a departure from what I have been doing with watercolor for the past several years and I find the novelty of working in an unfamiliar way energizing as break from routine and the predictable.

Edisto Series

All The Quiet Places

mixed water media on paper

10.5 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

My Edisto series is now completed and available for purchase in my Etsy shop. You can see the entire collection in my shop by clicking here.

Ending Where It Began

mixed water media on paper

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I loved this exercise of sticking with the theme of the beauty of Edisto all the while keeping my color palette and method of painting and mark making consistent.

That Alone Will Do

mixed water media on paper

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

There is so much beauty to be found on this island, a beauty that requires our strict attention in order to protect and preserve this coastal environment.

To Lose One's Self

mixed water media on paper

10.5 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

And it is a home and a second home to many who find comfort in being by the sea in a small, strong community, away from the commercial trappings found in most coastal areas.

Beckon

mixed water media on paper

6.5 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I also enjoyed the challenge of abstracting this theme just a bit. 

Haven

mixed water media on paper

6.5 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I used my feeling for the place as a starting point and allowed the paintings to develop through the common thread of beach, water, palms, and the light.

Return

mixed water media on paper

6.5 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

This is a method that I plan to explore more deeply in future works.

Rhythm

mixed water media on paper

6.5 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),

It's always our self we find in the sea.

~e.e. cummings~

Edisto series continued

Edisto II

mixed water media on paper

10 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here are two more paintings in my Edisto series, created with the same process as the first. After sketching in the composition with a watercolor pencil I lay in watercolor washes. Then I build up areas with more saturated watercolor, after which I apply watercolor gesso in selected areas. Then more washes and marks with Inktense pencils. I liked the simplicity of the composition in the painting above, and left a good deal of white paper exposed. This painting shows one of the many little cottages at Edisto beach.

Edisto III

mixed water media on paper

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I am enjoying being able to use very saturated color and then push it back with the gesso. This process adds a dimension to the layering of pigment that watercolor alone cannot. And then restating areas with marks made with those wonderfully vibrant Inktense pencils is just fun! The painting above is inspired by the walk out to the beach at Botany Bay. I have read where the Botany Bay nature preserve sustained a good deal of damage from Hurricane Matthew and that it will be quite a long time before it will be open again.

Edisto series

Edisto I

mixed water media on paper

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Since my last post I have been busy creating works based on Edisto Island, South Carolina. The painting above is inspired by the many marsh views there, this one comes from Botany Bay on Edisto.

After my sketchbook explorations, I made a suite of small images wothout working directly from a photo reference. Instead, with my photos nearby purely for inspiration, I relied more on memory and pulled some of the graphic elements to create imagined compositions based on my feeling for Edisto. These were done on 1/8 sized watercolor paper. I used some watercolor washes along with watercolor crayons, water soluble graphite, Inktense blocks and gesso.

I am finding that I do like using gesso with watercolor. I discovered this gesso and similar to a watercolor ground, it can be applied thin or thick. I like using it not only to reclaim white areas but also to push the intensity of color back a bit when applied more thinly. It also provides an absorbant surface to then layer with a wash or accept watercolor pencil.

And here is a detail showing the watercolor pencil marks on top of a thin layer of watercolor gesso. Even though I had intended to keep these strictly watercolor paintings, I am so enjoying responding to the image with mark making and the added element of layering the surface. And all of this is causing me to reconsider those acrylics that I tried a while back.

sketchbook :: Edisto series

Ever since Hurricane Matthew cruised up the East Coast a couple of weeks ago, my mind has been on our beloved Edisto Island in South Carolina. Edisto took a direct hit from the hurricane and has sustained a lot of damage. Keeping up with the news reports and seeing photos of the destruction was, and is, heartbreaking.

I began pouring through my photo inventory from Edisto with the idea of creating a new series of paintings based on that island that we love so much. This top sketch is inspired by the walking path that takes you out to Botany Bay on Edisto Island. Sorry about the wrinkles but this big Seawhite sketchbook is a bit unwieldy for my scanner.

And this one comes from the view out to St. Helena Sound.

Another St. Helena Sound view. I love those tall sea grasses.

I am using a variety of water media with these sketches, watercolor pencils and crayons, Inktense pencils and blocks, a water soluble graphite pencil, charcoal, and a little gesso sometimes here and there. I am exploring imagery from Edisto that is something other than my usual seascapes. You know how I love painting water and waves! But for this series I am looking for a different perspective on that beautiful island, so I plan to explore ideas through lots of sketches and studies.

Raven Rocks

Raven Rocks

watercolor

10.25 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

Here is one more painting in my Raven Rocks series. With this series I have challenged myself to limit my palette in order to use color that is more expressive and interpretive as well as explore a more expressive painting style.  Although I will not post every painting in this series, overall I am satisfied with my results and I am now excited to carry this over into a new theme for paintings. Below are the other three paintings making a suite of four Raven Rocks paintings.

The View From Here

Daydream

From Where We Stand

The View From Here

The View From Here

watercolor

11 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

Here is the next in the series of Raven Rocks paintings coming from my sketchbook studies. I am enjoying working with this theme of mountain vistas from the Blue Ridge Parkway. I am finding that I am making paintings that feel more like "me" in terms of color and style. And that's a good thing as it keeps me returning as a curious explorer to the subject.

sketchbook :: a new Seawhite sketchbook

I am continuing with the Raven Rocks overlook theme by exploring compositions and color in my sketchbook. Above is one of the last sketches that finished my Strathmore 500 Series 8.5 x 11 inch Mixed Media sketchbook. Here I used charcoal, watercolor, watercolor pencil, Neocolor II watercolor crayons, and Inktense blocks. Although I like the Stathmore Mixed Media sketchbooks as a sturdy studio sketchbook I had found another, new to me, sketchbook to try.

It's a sketchbook made by Seawhite of Brighton and I chose the 10 inch square format. It is cloth bound with a hard cover and has a whopping 190 pages, so it's a hefty book. One of the first things that I noticed is that it stays flat when opened so there is no struggle with clips or holding the pages down when trying to work in it. The paper is 140gsm(95lb) all media cartridge paper, and it is a nice, bright white. So far, it has held up very nicely to everything I have thrown at it. There is some buckling when the paper gets very wet (and I tend to do that) but I don't mind because it is a sketchbook after all. The sketch above was also done with mixed water media.

I was curious how it would be for straight watercolor painting and I was very pleased with the way the paper in this book handles paint. I like to paint very wet and drop in color to allow it to mix on the paper and that method worked well with this paper. I have had sketchbooks that were so heavily sized that the paint would just sit there which was very frustrating for the way I like to work. I also found that lifting paint was not a problem on this paper either, so the sizing seems about right. This sketch was done with watercolor only.

So all-in-all I am happy to be working in this sketchbook. My studio sketchbooks do become a mix of studies, notes, quick visual thinkings, an occasional watercolor or pencil sketch, and more notes. I like that this has a lot of pages to accommodate all of that. Although because of its size I doubt I'll be hauling it around very far for plein air painting, but I already have a nice watercolor sketchbook to fill that purpose. The sketch above is also with mixed water media. I have more exploring to do yet with this Raven Rocks theme.

Use cheap colors, if you will, but buy good paper - fifty percent and more of your watercolors depends on the paper you use. 

Work very wet and don't be afraid of the colors running into each other. 

Use more color, play with it, yell at me with color. 

Give me something dripping with sunlight - make some horrible free studies.

~Charles W. Hawthorne~

Daydream

Daydream

watercolor

11 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I am still exploring compositions gathered from Raven Rocks overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This painting comes from my first batch of sketchbook studies, looking for those spots of sun and shadow on the mountains while exploring more personal color choices and methods of paint application. I am enjoying the process of seeing where these paintings will take me.

It is not the sentimental viewpoint but the earnest seeking to see beauty - in the relation 

of one tone against another - which expresses truth - the right attitude. If you're a thoughtful humble student of nature, you'll have something to say - you don't have to tell a story. 

You can't add a thing by thinking - what you are will come out.

~ Charles W. Hawthorne ~ 

from Hawthorne on Painting