Story of the Red Fish

This red rock fish emerged from my canvas late one evening as I was spattering paint.  It began with a big swath of color; some yellow, some blue, some red.  The paint dried and I stared at it for a long time.  I rotated the canvas and stared some more.  The yellow and blue and pooled together creating a deep, rich green, but the red just stood alone and grumbled.  The next morning the faint outline of a fish began to talk to me.  It said, "Give me an eye."  With a little help from my brush and some yellow paint, an eye appeared.  Then the spots, then the fins. Eventually the fish said, "Thank you," and I put my brush down.

Visit here to learn more about this abstract fish painting.

Temper Tantrum

Summer is quickly passing.  I hope everyone is enjoying the season, relaxing, and recharging their batteries.  I've been doing some of that myself.  In spite of the title, this painting is one that created a lot of pleasure as I painted it.  Splashes, swirls, and lots of color were fun and allowed my creativity to exert itself.  The original painting is 9x12 inches, but can also be purchased in larger sizes in the form of a canvas print, framed print, art print, acrylic print, or metal print.  The most exciting part for me is that I can also offer this painting in the form of an iphone case.  It makes a really cool iphone case. Click here to view purchase options.  Hope you continue to enjoy your summer and take some time to relax.

Wolf Country

Today's painting came from my imagination, reading Jack London stories, and a childhood in the wild country of Alaska.  Using a palette knife, thick acrylic paint, and a lot of scratching around on the surface brought my idea to life.  I imagined hiking in the snow of a dark evergreen forest, with wolves lurking on the boundary  as I pass by.  In addition to greeting cards, reproductions prints are available for purchase on fine art paper, canvas, and as framed prints in a variety of sizes at my website.  I hope you will visit.

Summer Morning

Sometimes planning just doesn't work.  I try to be organized when creating a painting.  Sketching thumbnails, creating value scales, and choosing appropriate colors in advance is the way things are supposed to work.  When I paint with oils, that seems to be the case, but when I paint with acrylic paints, some kind of crazy mind altering vibrations seem to take over.  I'll spend the morning planning, preparing, and doing all the things I know should happen for a successful painting.  Then I paint and it doesn't work.  I wipe out the work and try again.  It doesn't work.  I wipe it out.  Finally, I figure I've ruined a canvas, so it doesn't matter what goes on it.  I start to doodle with shapes and colors and something magical emerges.  This abstract painting is the result of one of those days when the muse took over and I quit thinking.  If you are interested in purchasing the original 8x10 acrylic painting, please contact me at smallimpressions@hotmail.com. This painting is also available as a canvas print or art print in a variety of sizes up to 23.5x30. Visit my website to make a purchase. Or click here.

Underground

One of the things that I really like to do when creating is to combine representational and non-representational work.  At the top of this canvas is a landscape, but the foreground became the underground where flower petals, mud, roots, and all kinds of structures took over.  It was fun to mixed it up with color, texture, and design.  The painting was created using acrylic paint on an 11x14 inch canvas.  Contact me at smallimpressions@hotmail.com if you are interested in purchasing the original.  Greeting cards and fine art prints on canvas, paper, and metal can also be purchased here from my website.

Spider and Fly

Today's painting is the final result of layers and layers of paint, glue, paper, paint, and ink.  There are quite a few different media below the surface of this painting.  It began as an experiment using glue to create texture.  I drew the outline of a dragonfly with black glue onto an 11x14 inch canvas.  Then I added some texture with clear glue.  Then I got the idea of adding color with torn paper  and collage.  Then I decided I didn't like the way the dragon fly was looking, so I painted the entire surface with red paint.  The outline of the dragonfly still was showing and the more I looked at him, the less I liked him.  My next step was to draw some random geometric shapes with black paint.  Using some additional paint in yellow, blue, and white, I painted in some of the geometric shapes.  Finally, I splattered some alcohol ink on top.  I think the dragonfly has been annihilated, his corpse is hiding under a web of all those layers of paint, paper, glue, and ink.  Now I'm satisfied.  I must have been a spider in my previous life.  Reproductions of this works are available from my website.  Fine art prints, canvas prints, metal prints, or greeting cards can be purchased in a variety of sizes.  If you are interested in owning the original, please contact me at smallimpressions@hotmail.com.

Playing with Color; Playing with Texture

This is one of my recent adventures with color and texture.  It was fun blending colors, shapes, and texture.  When I started it wasn't clear where the painting was going to go or what would be created, but I am pleased to say that this is the result.  The work is 11x14 inches on a stretched canvas.  Fine art prints are available for purchase at my website, Nancy Merkle Fine Art.

Playing with Paint

Yesterday morning I played around with paint.  On an under painting of light blue, this prowling bear emerged.  I imaged him in a spring forest just after leaving his cave, looking for a meal.  The original 9x 12 inch painting was created in acrylics on a gallery canvas.  The original can be viewed or purchased here and greeting cards or fine art prints are available here. 

Little Oak Trees

It has been a while since I've painted small.  Although that is what I used to do all the time, I've kind of drifted away until these little creations.  Each little oak tree painting was created in oil paints on a 4x4 inch canvas.  They are for sale at my Etsy Shop and make a cute little collection.  Visit the shop here, or view them closeup here, here, or here. 

As the Crow Flies

My experiments continue!  As I mentioned in my last post, I've been playing with textures.  This painting was created on a stretched canvas.  What I liked about the canvas was that it had been painted on before--many times.  It was a canvas that I experimented on and then just painted over again and again.  Eventually layers of texture built up.  I added some tissue paper, some gel medium, several more layers of paint with a final couple of layers of glaze.   Finally, I painted the silhouette of the crow.  I really like how the color and textures work together.  The original mixed media painting was 11x14 inches.  Fine art prints on either canvas or paper are available for purchase here. 

Sunsplash Abstract

 Today's painting is a new direction for me.  I've always loved color, but I've never done much experimentation with abstract images.  This image was created on paper with acrylic paints and modeling paste.  It was fun to play with textures and colors.  The painting is not on an archival surface as are most of my works, but it has been preserved digitally and art prints up to size 36x48 inches are available.  Don't worry, if you don't want something that big, you can also purchase it as a greeting card. Check out the sizes and prices here where you can also view a larger image of this fun abstraction.

From Portland

Today's painting was inspired by recent travels from Washington State to Central Oregon.  As travelers move across the Columbia River into Oregon, Mount Hood begins to watch over all.  The original painting was created on an 8x10 inch canvas, but with the marvels of modern digital photography, fine art prints up to size 28x30 inches can be created.  To view the different sizes and surfaces on which this painting can be reproduced, visit this link.  You can view more oregon landscape paintings at Fine Art America.

Abstract Chicken Painting

This abstract chicken painting is the result of a recent journey in experimentation with acrylic paints.  I've always painted in oils and that has been my paint of choice, but it does have draw backs.  It takes a long time for the paint to dry.  If a painter fusses too much, the colors become muddy.  There are health issues associated with many of the chemicals used, but I've always been more comfortable with oils.  I guess because using oil paint was a very early and pleasant experience in my life.  However, as you may have noticed if you keep up with my blog, I've been doing a lot of work in acrylics.  Acrylics also have disadvantages, but for me the biggest one has always been that they dry too fast.  But, since I discovered the Stay-Wet palette, that issue has disappeared. With that obstacle out of the way, I've discovered some wonderful advantages that are starting to steal my heart.  If a painting doesn't turn out like I like, I just paint over it.  I can fuss and fuss and fuss, and if the colors get muddy, wait a few minutes, the paint is dry and I can start all over again.  So this chicken is the third painting I've done on the same canvas.  The first two were ugly disasters that I freely covered.  No wasted canvas, no regrets and a wonderful texture covers the canvas.  I love this abstract chicken. I've nurtured him, and now he is finished.  Both the original 11x14 inch painting and prints in several sizes on several surfaces are available for purchase.  Visit here for details and a larger image.

Not Alone

Although we sometimes feel alone, actually we are not. This tree, though seemly isolated and alone, is really surrounded by the beauty of nature, the sky, the ground, the textures of the earth. The painting was created on an 18x24 inch gallery canvas using acrylic paints. The sides are painted black and it can be hung with or without a frame.

The original painting is for sale or prints can be ordered here.

Fire and Ice

There is a story behind this 24x30 inch abstract.  It starts this way:  Last week I took a much needed vacation to Central Oregon, one of my all time favorite places to visit.  I had planned to do many things:  paint outdoors, hike, take lots of reference photos, bicycle, and relax.  First day there, I enjoyed a delightful mountain bike ride through the desert scrub of the Central Oregon landscape.  There is a lot of dust, scrubby pine trees, and rocks.  It was glorious until I hit a rock that threw me off the bike.  I landed on my knee and that was the end of the ride.  I limped back about a mile to the end of the trail.  With a fractured tibia, the rest of my plans went on the shelf.  Today I am back home.  I wanted to paint something large that would help relieve my frustrations at the slow pace I now keep and the loss of a well-deserved vacation.  The result is this painting which I call Fire and Ice.  It is metaphoric on many levels as you might imagine.  Prints are available here.