Tender Trail, 8x6 inch Acrylic Painting by Kelley MacDonald

Oooooh, a little shadow, I now see, at this late hour on the lower left side!  Will re-shoot in the light of day!  This painting is one of those many, may layered pieces.  Abstracts, for me, take so long.  The planning.  The process, the layers, and seeing how they are working, and adjustments made (cooler white or warmer white... any color really gets tweaked).  Then, as I have learned, turn the pieces on their sides and upside down - it must 'work' on all sides.  This again, has so so many layers of paint and clear acrylic.  In person you can see the depth and it draws you in.  

All the reds and red browns and red oranges.  I was seeking warmth, I guess, in bleak January!  Gray sky, gray water, even the dead grass looks gray.  Gray tree trunks.  So... RED!

:)

Yearning For Spring, 7x5 Acrylic Painting by Kelley MacDonald

Well, I'm really getting into the abstract frame of mind.  This painting, little as it is, has taken me over a week of working every day.  Believe it!  There are probably over30 layers of paint and semi-gloss gel medium on this.  I am liking how each layer of paint was a neutral off white, and the blue/green center was a different color layer.  Some times it was deep turquoise, sometimes bluey green, sometimes a lime green.. and the layers of medium between gives it a depth (you can see it better in person, but here....)

And it looks like the colors float and merge.  So much harder to get it 'right' than a realistic painting.  But I love that, too, you know it.  And get your coffee ready, there are donut paintings coming tomorrow!

Come on, dip your toe in...

True Neighborhood, 4x4 inch acrylic painting by Kelley MacDonald

True Neighborhood, 4x4 inch acrylic 

$65 & $10 S&H

Click HERE To Purchase

Day 7 of the 30 in 30 challenge

While solitude is good, there is something to be said for connectivity.  I like a neighborhood where you can be yourself, hang out in a yard and just think, just be, paint, entertain or read without the 'eyes of the world' upon you.  ("I saw you painting in your yard this morning, how long were you out there?""Who were those women you were sitting on your porch with?""Hey!  Are you sleeping or just thinking?")  Yeah.  

But people can be wonderful, nuturing, joyful, too.  I'm playing with types of painting.  This is all flat shapes with an outline.  I'd LIKE to say this was easy, but it took much much longer to do than a realistic painting. The darn lines would disappear, the colors would fade out, or thin out, the color beneath would bleed through, and with a swipe of the brush, the outline could get covered.  But I liked being free of the colors of reality.  I just made colors I LIKED.  :) Fun.

Also... if you are in the area... we have a couple more spots in the class - I guarantee you you will enjoy this class.  The people are amazing, and we will do some really focused exercises, and subjects that are bound to break you out of your winter blues! Info HERE

Swish, 7x5 acrylic painting by Kelley MacDonald

  

Day 6

Here it is, the first week, and I'm a day behind already!  Well, not in the PAINTING, but the posting of the painting!  I am loving, but still exploring, this particular method.  I cover the board with one color.  When it is dry I apply a semi gloss medium and let that dry - that will protect the first layer.  Then I add the second color - in this case, the blue, and when IT is almost dry i add droplets of water, trying for a pattern, a direction.  When the blue is dry I absorb the water droplets, leaving a clear view through the medium, to the bottom color (green).  At this point I look for my 'direction' and use the whole tube of paint to paint the red droplets with.  FUN!

Sparks, 5x7 inch acrylic painting by Kelley MacDonld

Day 5 of the 30 in 30 Challenge.  I'm very intrigued with the different types of abstract painting you can have.  Eschewing form in favor of motion, of interplay between colors, I've got a few more coming. Today I am loving black and a creamy white.  Black, of course, is a mixture of a lot of colors, and the red was just the ticket. I've kind of taken over the dinning room, with drying paintings, pots of mediums, glazing mediums and paints.  What a ride this is!  

Here are the details.....

Universe Unfolding, 6x8 inch acrylic painting by Kelley MacDonald

"Universe Unfolding" 6x8 inches

$100 & $10 S&H

Click HERE To Purchase

Day 3 of the 30 paintings in 30 days.. this week I'm doing all abstracts... I feel somehow I can't ever get out of the story that a painting tells... You can take what you want from this... and I can't promise that I won't go back in on this one.. codes, rhythms, colors, velvety depths, patterns, light.... that's what I was feeling here. I limited myself to a small range of colors and a range of 'blacks'.  An astral party is what it ended up looking like!  I'm ok with that.  

To see the rest of today's submissions click HERE.

See HERE for details.... you will have fun AND learn to see & paint!

Heat #1, 4x4 Inch Acrylic Painting by Kelley MacDonald

$65 & $10 S&H

Click HERE to Purchase

I've been working on a series of smaller abstracts, 4x4 inches, in all warm colors on panels.  This is an iridescent   metallic gold with red, ochre, warm yellow and sunset orange.  I'm hoping that it 'calls' to the seasons and brings Spring here quicker!!!  I love this series because you can turn them in every direction and they 'work'.  they even 'work' next to one another, if they were framed together.  Small, but with a lot of punch.  I feel these color pushing up against each other, with hot red spilling out in the cracks, hot, hot, hot.