In the last couple of weeks, I’ve done more painting than I probably did during the whole of last year.
There were lots of reasons for it including work (my day job is teaching) as well as some difficult things I was going through. I just wasn’t in the mood to paint, and when I did give it a go I wasn’t happy with the results.
For one reason or another, I seem to have gotten my ‘groove’ back, and have lots of new ideas for paintings running around in my head. I’ve decided to finish off any unfinished work before I get to the new stuff.
You might remember a while back that I started a commission for some friends of mine. The challenge was to create a large acrylic on canvas version of my painting Colours of Nature. Well, I finally finished it! All those little swirls took quite a while but I’m very happy with the result. I can’t wait to see it hanging up!
![Rainbow Trees - Commission Rainbow Trees - Acrylic on Canvas painting by Kirsten Bailey](https://www.klbaileyart.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/colours-of-nature-2-small.jpg)
After finishing this painting I felt such a sense of accomplishment, I wanted to do more!
First I painted this one, which I’m calling “Rainbow on a Cloudy Day”. It’s a LOT smaller than the one above – it’s only 4″ x 6″. It can stand up on its own so can be put on a shelf instead of hung on the wall.
![rainbow on a cloudy day Rainbow on a Cloudy Day - Original acrylic on canvas painting by Kirsten Bailey](https://www.klbaileyart.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/rainbow-on-a-cloudy-day-300x201.jpg)
After completing this one I really wanted to have a go at some other new ideas in my head (and play with some new paints) but I thought I should finish off some unfinished work. So…
![Evening Bloom - mixed media on canvas painting by Kirsten Bailey Evening Bloom - mixed media on canvas painting by Kirsten Bailey](https://www.klbaileyart.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/evening-bloom-small-300x242.jpg)
I finished this one, which has been sitting and waiting patiently for more than a year for some attention. Well, it’s nearly finished anyway – all I have to do is spray on a coat of sealant and it’s done. I have done many watercolour paintings in this style, but it was a challenge to create the same effect with a canvas! I’m eager to try to do more like this.
Finally, I also finished this painting:
![Golden Autumn - Watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey Golden Autumn - Watercolour painting by Kirsten Bailey](https://www.klbaileyart.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/golden-autumn-small-300x216.jpg)
There was really no excuse for not getting this painting finished earlier, as all that was left to do was the tree trunks and branches – all of the detail work in the swirls was already finished. I’m very happy with how it turned out in the end!
Hopefully I will be able to keep you up-to-date with lots of new work in the future!