Five Winter Paintings

Winter 4

I've completed five tiny (8" x 10") winter scenes for a local realtor, who gives them to clients as good will gifts at the holiday season. Your can see all five on my website and also the ones I produced last year. These would also make good xmas cards and, as artist, I hold the rights to reproduce them as prints or cards despite their sale. Contact me if you are interested.

Some New Paintings by Pam Coulter

The following paintings are newly completed except for signing and edge painting. I thought you'd like to see them. Each of these paintings was done as a "demo" over several sessions. The first was done for my class in oil and acrylic painting at the Reston Community Center (Fall, 2010). It was done from a reference photo of the sun rising (or setting?) seen through the mist. It has a peaceful mood to it.

Mist on the River, 16 x 20, acrylic on canvas

The next painting, Still Life with Apples, was set up in my studio for a studio lesson with only 1 student. I wanted to keep it simple, and that simplicity is endearing, I think, with dominant browns and reds against a pale neutral backdrop.

Still Life with apples, Jug, 14 x 18, oil on canvas

For the second still life in the studio, I got a little more daring, with blues and greens dominant, offset by the brilliant orange. I am particularly pleased with the result. The book shown in the painting is a small book featuring the German Expressionist school of art.

Still Life with Oranges, 16 x 20, oil on canvas

The discovery of Prussian Blue

Browsing the web, I discovered a fascinating piece on the discovery of Prussian Blue on About.com/painting. You can read the article here.

I should say that Prussian Blue (and its more modern counterpart, "Thalo" or Pthalocyanine Blue) are very strong, staining pigments, not to be used in large quantities. They will overwhelm any color with which they are mixed, and they will overwhelm any painting if used in any quantity.

That said, Prussian or Thalo Blue is a warm blue which, mixed with lemon or zinc yellow, makes a bright, jewel-like green. I include it on my recommended limited palette because of that, but it should be used sparingly and with caution.

Current shows

Two of my paintings (one large and one small) were accepted in the Art League of Alexandria November show at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA.

"Uhaul" is 30" x 40" and painted in Acrylic. As reference, I used a photo I took in Florida of a Uhaul truck drawn up to a warehouse. The contrast between the very bright and controlled shapes on the truck and the truck itself and the shades of gray in the rest of the scene interested me.

Uhaul by Pam Coulter

"Rainforest, St. Kitts" is a very small ink and watercolor sketch done while on a cruise to the Caribbean. It is matted and framed to 8" x 10". I use watercolor for casual sketching and visual notes because it helps me "translate" what I see from the sometimes rather confusing "reality" of the photographic world to a more poetic one.

Rainforest St. Kitts by Coulter

They will be on display through December 6 at the Art League Gallery.