Tag Archives: flowers

Art by Lillian Connelly

Waterlilies – A Fantasy Landscape Painting

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I painted Waterlilies in a pond at night. I think I am just going to revisit these fantasy landscapes for a while. I’m a little obsessed with trees and ponds right now. I probably just miss trees and water and this is the only way to gratify that deep longing!

Water Lilies fantasy Landscape Art Painting By Lillian Connelly
Waterlilies Fantasy Landscape, alcohol inks on Yupo paper, 26×20, $240.00.

 

I’m more excited than usual about this painting because it is the biggest painting I have created on Yupo paper with alcohol inks. This painting is 26×20. That’s a lot of ink. I actually have a piece of Yupo paper even bigger than that waiting for me in my studio. It’s 26×40. That is going to be life changing to paint on. I’m really excited and also a little terrified when I stare at that white abyss, but with alcohol inks you really can’t make a mistake so that takes away some of the pressure!

Water Lilies Fantasy Landscape Painting by Lillian Connelly
Waterlilies close up.

 

I am working on expanding my range of paintings so I have some big, some small, and some sizes in between. I’m keeping presentation in mind in case I get accepted into one of the juried art shows I have applied to. I think the large paintings might draw people in from across the room and the small paintings might draw people in even closer once I have their attention. It will all be a big experiment!

Close up of Water Lilies by Lillian Connelly.
Water Lilies closeup.

 

In the meantime, painting large with inks is a new challenge. I like switching back and forth between painting small and painting large. I think that keeps the experience fresh.

If you want to see how I painted this I made a quick video on Instagram. It’s not perfect, but you’ll get the idea. I need to work on keeping the camera steady with one hand while painting with the other. What I really need to do is get my tripod out and attach my cell phone to it.

 

Happy Thursday!

Art by Lillian Connelly

Visiting The Tea Garden Day 22 Of 30 Paintings In 30 Days

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I have no idea what kind of flowers these are, but the reference photo I used was taken in a Japanese tea garden many moons ago.  I liked all of the branches. I don’t know if I did them justice, but I had a lot of fun painting them. The colors were nice too. It was an old photo so it wasn’t as vibrant as the digital photos we have today. The muted tones seemed appropriate for the subject. Of course, I did brighten up the pink flowers a bit. I just couldn’t help myself.

I’m posting this late on a Thursday night. It’s been an incredibly long and somewhat bad day. It all started with Tiny-Small waking me up multiple times in the night. Then we had a snow day, but not really any snow. My lap top got water in the keyboard because Tiny-Small wanted to help me clean it. I even burned dinner. I never got a chance to take a shower. Tiny-Small looks like she is getting sick. Seriously, this day should end! I am, over it.

I’m working on a windows laptop right now after years of using a Mac. I have to say, it’s a steep learning curve. When I first got my Mac I couldn’t do anything. I had to learn to use it. Now that I am hovering over an HP, several windows updates later, I feel the same way about my windows computer. Maybe after today I will be bilingual in computer operating systems! I’m trying to look at the bright side here. That isn’t always easy. If I can speak Mac and Windows I can be an ambassador to two seemingly opposed worlds. I’ve already created a very romantic job for myself. It would require me to visit artists and business people in Paris and Italy where gourmet chefs would insist I stay for dinner and I’d always be dressed in fashionable clothes, but I digress.  To tell you the truth, I can’t wait to get back on my Mac. I really hope it dries out and magically works again. Nothing against Windows, but it’s kind of clunky and slow on my lousy internet. Plus, weird things keep happening. One minute I’m typing and the next I am on another screen for no reason at all.

A Vistit To A Tea garden Day 23 of 30 Paintings In 30 Days
Japanese Tea Garden 5×7 alcohol ink on Yupo Paper.

Anyway, it’s kind of funny to start and end your day with the serenity of a tea garden. In the middle it was all chaos. At least my day has beautiful, peaceful boundaries to contain the nonsense in the middle. I’ll take it.

I hope you had a much better Thursday than I did!

 

Art by Lillian Connelly

Orange Tulips Day 8 of 30 Paintings In 30 Days

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Tulip Garden Day 8 Of 30 Paintings In 30 Days
Tulip Garden 8×10 acrylic paint and acrylic marker on canvas.

Orange Tulips is a bit abstract. I was thinking about my dog Rumples when I painted this one. Every time I plant bulbs and they grow he sleeps on top of them. He loves the nice cool leaves. The way the leaves are bent and sticking out in all directions in this painting reminded me of what my plants look like when he gets up from his nap.

To begin this painting I squeezed acrylic paint straight from the tube onto the canvas and used a flat paintbrush to swirl the colors around. I used a lot of paint so there is quite a bit of texture. As I was painting my daughter looked over my shoulder and said, “You are copying the way I paint , Mom.” She was right. I wanted to come back later, stare at the canvas, and see what shapes I found.

Immediately the orange tulips stood out so I started outlining the flowers and leaves with a paint marker. Then I darkened some areas to give the painting some depth. It was a very relaxing project!

Thank you for following along as I paint 30 paintings in 30 days!