Kirsten Bailey: Art

As promised (OK, a little later than promised, but still!) here’s my step-by-step for the creation of my latest painting, “Brave”.

Step 1 - OK I probably didn't need to show you this - the blank page. I've started using watercolour blocks instead of pads or loose sheets, and they're great! You dont' have to tape them down at all.

Step 2: Using masking fluid, I masked off the edge of the paper and created three separate panels.

Step 3 - Colour washes for the background. Here I've done the first two. I tried to give a feeling of the day passing - using the colours of sunrise, midday and twilight.

Step 4: As I wanted to convey the idea of the same tree and bird changing over time, I wanted my tree to look the same in each panel. I usually paint my trees freeform, without sketching them first. This time, I sketched a tree in pencil first, and transferred it to the 3 panels so each would be the same.

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It’s been a while since I’ve participated in Illustration Friday – I tend to wait until a topic really grabs me.

Last September I spent a lot of my holiday sitting outside in our patio, reading and drinking cups of tea.  It was so lovely and peaceful, that I often stopped reading and just sat and took in the scenery of my little garden.  In one of our trees, a baby bird was learning to fly.  It was amazing to just quietly sit and watch as he (or she?) spread his wings for the first time.

When I saw this week’s topic from Illustration Friday was “brave”, that little baby bird was the first thing I thought of, and was the inspiration for this painting:

I’ve posted a step-by-step about how I created this painting – check it out here.

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It’s been a productive weekend!

I’ve done lot’s of work on my lastest commission, a painting for a friend:

There is a lot of detail in this one, and it is HUGE (I can only fit one panel at a time on my easel), so it’s taking me a really long time to finish, but I hope the result will be worth it in the end.

I completed another painting this weekend, and thought I’d show you the stages it went through:

Step One: Painting taped down and ready to go. I've also used tape to separate the four panels (as opposed to wrecking another brush with masking fluid).

Step Two: Spring colours - I decided on pinks, greens and yellows to represent spring.

Step Three: Summer is orange, yellow and green. You can see the paint was still wet when I took this photo.

Step Four: Browns, oranges and reds for Autumn

Step Five: Blues and whites for Winter

At this point, I left the painting to dry before removing the tape.  I painted a tree branch going across the top of the painting.  Here’s the result:

I also made some more art pendants this week, but that’s a post for another day!

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I love holidays!  I’ve been getting so much done

Today I’m delivering a commissioned painting to its new owner.  I’m looking forward to seeing it on the wall!

I have been working on a large triptych for a friend, and doing a few watercolours.

“Summer Field”

“Bright December Day”

“Growing Family”

Hopefully in the next few days I’ll be posting up some new wearable art pendants too

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A new painting!

If you would like to purchase this original watercolour, it is $40.  I accept paypal and bank deposit.  Contact me if you’re interested!

Oh, and don’t forget about my giveaway – there’s a $25 gift certificate for KL Bailey Art up for grabs!

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Could there be an Inspire Me Thursday subject more suited to my work than “Tree”?
I have always loved trees, ever since I was a child & spent most of my free time climbing the huge tree we had in our backyard. Trees feature heavily in my artwork.

I don’t really need an extra excuse to paint trees, and was planning to paint some trees this weekend anyway. I think I’ll be contributing more than one painting to this weeks theme!

My first painting:

What I wanted to do with this painting is to represent the fact that beauty does not mean looking like everyone else.  Being an individual and being yourself is more beautiful than becoming a carbon-copy of the ideals projected by the media.

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This week’s topic for Inspire Me Thursday is “Dark”.  The first thought that came to me on this topic was one of my favourite quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars”.

This painting was inspired by that quote:

If you would like to purchase this original watercolour, it is available at My Etsy Store.

I have recently launched a Facebook fan page – become a fan for exclusive specials!

Don’t forget that my calendars make lovely Christmas presents – just click the image below if you’d like to order one!

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This week’s topic over at Inspire Me Thursday is Moon.  I immediately knew what I was going to paint (although the finished product varied slightly from what I had in my head, as is often the case).

I have titled this work “Tipped with Silver”.  It doesn’t show up too well in this picture, but the edges of the tree branches have been given a very thin silver outline.

Tipped With Silver - Acrylic Painting by Kirsten Bailey

This Sunday was my first visit to the Springfield Lakes Art Group, and I had a great time!  This week Sally Harrison came along to teach us all some techniques, and our focus was colour mixing.  We were given a strip of paper from a famous painting, and our task was to try to make the strip “disappear” by matching the colours.  I found it very challenging!  My strip of paper was from a painting by Camille Pissarro, although I’m not sure which painting it was.  This is what I came up with:

Reflections on Pissarro - Acrylic Painting by Kirsten Bailey

I had a lovely time and learned a thing or two.  Many thanks to everyone at the Springfield Lakes Art Group, and especially to Sally Harrison – you can check out her beautiful artwork here.

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