Pebble Beach 7th

'Pebble Beach 7th'

24" x 36" x 1"

I love to golf.  To me, there is nothing (aside from painting) that clears my head better than 18 holes on a sunny day.  I'm not thinking about the groceries I need to stop and get or what book report I need to remind one of the kids to finish up; all I'm thinking is it's a 7 iron to the center of the green. 

I wish I could say I'm a scratch golfer but my handicap card has a few double digits on it.  My local club is Hobble Creek.  It's fantastic!  Nestled in the mouth of Hobble Creek Canyon you're surrounded by blankets of trees, the sound of running water and the occasional wild turkey or deer making it's way across the fairway.  One Saturday morning, I remember teeing off the first hole and a moose came strutting across the fairway.  He causally wandered his way into the pond and dunked his head in the water.  It was so beautiful!   

In honor of my love of golf I started this new series this week.

-T

'Sunset Rig' - the "oil-oil painting"

'Sunset Rig'

30" x 20"

Little bit of irony... 

I painted this "oil" painting for my husband who works in the "oil" industry.  This is my Oil-Oil Painting.  

If you're interested in a similar painting by subject, design or style please inquire about a commission via the email address at the top of the page.

*Orange and yellow sunset with an oil rig silhouette painted using palette knife and impasto gel. 

Tools and Texture

I love love love the texture the palette knife brings to a canvas.  This week I bought a few new palette knives to try out. The texture you can get from a different kind of knife is pretty remarkable.  For me I always use a round circular knife for flower petals.  You get a nice pull of the paint when you lift it from the canvas that mimics the natural petal pretty nicely.  Anyone up for a knife party?

After completing a few color studies this week I was left staring at this:

and this:

Dear paint, 

Will you please stop yelling at me?  I see how those petals jump off the panel and it makes me want to break the "Please Do Not Touch" policy.  I know you're just laying there enjoying the hardening of your skin and the crispy air but in all fairness this has to stop... please.  I can't concentrate.

Sincerely, 

Your Texture Loving Artist

*PS. These paintings are available for collection at 

www.trishalamoreaux.com

Floral Color Study I

I wish I could come up with a word to describe palette knife painting.  Sometimes I feel like I'm sculpting more than painting.  Paintsculpting is really what it is.  I love the globs of painting to jump off the canvas and even better for me is when I fight the temptation to run my fingers across the hills of paint.  Yummy!

In working hard to up my inventory for a show in San Diego I'm experimenting with colors, florals and texture. Here is the latest.

Floral Color Study I

11" x 14"

What is impasto? And what is an impasto artist?

Thanks to our friends at wikipedia:

Impasto

This article is about the painting technique. For the pottery type, see Impasto (pottery).

In English, the borrowed Italian word impasto most commonly refers to a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface (or the entire canvas) very thickly, usually thickly enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides texture, the paint appears to be coming out of the canvas.

The word "impasto" is Italian in origin; in that language it means "dough" or "mixture"; the verb "impastare" translates variously as "to knead", or "to paste". Italian usage of "impasto" includes both a painting and a potting technique (see section below on impasto pottery). According to Webster's New World College Dictionary, the root noun of impasto is pasta, whose primary meaning in Italian is paste.

Oil paint is most suitable to the impasto painting technique, due to its thickness and slow drying time. Acrylic paint can also be impastoed. Impasto is generally not possible inwatercolour or tempera without the addition of thickening agent due to the inherent thinness of these media.

Impastoed paint serves several purposes. First, it makes the light reflect in a particular way, giving the artist additional control over the play of light on the painting. Second, it can add expressiveness to the painting, the viewer being able to notice the strength and speed applied by the artist. Third, impasto can push a painting into a three dimensional sculptural rendering. The first objective was originally sought by masters such as Rembrandt and Titian, to represent folds in clothes or jewels: it was then juxtaposed with more delicate painting. Much later, the French impressionists created entire canvases of rich impasto textures. Vincent van Gogh used it frequently for aesthetics and expression. Abstract expressionists such as Hans Hofmann and Willem De Kooning also made extensive use of it, motivated in part by a desire to create paintings which dramatically record the "action" of painting itself. Still more recently, Frank Auerbach has used such heavy impasto that some of his paintings become almost three-dimensional.

Because impasto gives texture to the painting, it can be opposed to flat, smooth, or blending techniques. 

For more info click here

Commission

I will be doing a couple commission pieces for a collector.  She likes the Floral III- Violet and Floral II - Scarlet but will need them in larger sizes.  The Violet piece will be just a larger scale replica but the Scarlet will be going in an entry way and will be tall and skinny.  In deciding the look and feel I like to lay it out like this:

She likes the look of the middle one so this will help me determine the size of canvas to stretch.  I'm excited to get these started as well as a couple nursery paintings from a previous collector.

Weeds

'Weeds'

30" x 40" x 1"

Petals

'Petals' 

*Extra thick impasto layers of oil paint in shades of vibrant pink, green, and yellow against a black and gray abstract background.  

This palette knife painting is pretty much my best attempt at placing the biggest globs of paint on a canvas ever.  I used big circles of bright pinks, greens, light yellows, black and white.  The depth and texture on this painting is by far the most I've done.  It turned out quite modern and fun. 

This painting came about for a little furniture store (that's a big hit) called Tammi's Finder's Keepers.  Tammi restores old furniture and creates the most beautiful home decor ensembles.  I go down to her store take pictures and create paintings to match the room(s).  It's a fun challenge and I really enjoy it.