A Sunset Walk on the Beach

While I'm working on a very large skyscape painting like "A Break in the Clouds", I thought I'd post a small abstract painting for you. This painting was made with my palette knives and I love the calming feel to this little gallery wrapped painting. It reminds me of that time of the day on the beach when the crowds are gone and it's just you or almost just you out there. One of those times, when you breathe in that sea air and are just loving the sounds of the ocean. And how you just wish you could bottle that moment, but it will return. 

This painting has those calming pastel shades or some might say has that beachy look to it. And plenty of texture, if fact this one is full of rough texture, which reminds me of the textures of the beach. Well, enough said, hope you enjoy it and brings pleasant memories of your vacations or retreats at the beach.

A Sunset Walk on the Beach

12" x 12" x 1" (deep) 

Acrylic

Sold!

Close Up View 1

Close Up View 2

Close Up View 3 

Thank you for stopping back, feel free to leave comments. And please return for more paintings to come. Now, you like?

Allison 

Art Collectors: The Moment That Causes One to Pause

Have you ever had that moment when you looked up at the sky after a storm and saw an unexpected break in the clouds that caused you to pause, to stand in awe? This painting represents that moment with the leftover remnants of a storm's dark clouds, while the light of the sunset is beginning to peak through. 

Now about the actual making of this painting, I decided to used a warm and cool palette for contrast. I love to blend colors and here I did quite a bit of blending to create soft look against the striking sky. There is something very soothing about blending paint or dry brushing, it's definitely therapeutic.You might want to try it sometime. This painting is a very wide canvas (40") with intense colors of blues, reds, pink, oranges, olive green, and tan. It starts with soft warm colors and and you do down the painting you see the cool palette colors that lend that look of dark skies from a previous storm. 

Perhaps this painting would look lovely over a fireplace mantle, or in a dining room, or even an office? I have to admit this is one of my favorites I have done so far, due to it's dramatic value. Let me know if you are drawn to this painting. I appreciate the feedback!

    A Break In The Clouds

30"(tall) x 40"(wide) x 1" (deep)

Acrylic

(U. S. Shipping Only, due to width)

Close Up View 1

  Close Up View 2

Close Up View 3

                                                     

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Allison Reece is an abstract expressionist painter from Asheville, NC. She has been selling her bold paintings since 2004. She is an alumnus of Ringling College of Art & Design, in Sarasota, FL, where she studied Fine Arts. Currently, she is enrolled through Northwestern University’s Social Media Marketing Course, via the Coursera website. She enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, a good cup of coffee, kayaking in the southeastern intracoastal waterways, and long walks on the beach. Her favorite color is turquoise and she loves abstract art.

You can follow Allison on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Fine Art America, and Instagram.

 

Renewal

Recently I have been changing things up a bit with my color palette. "Renewal" is from this new palette. I like how it turned out, but it's a little different from my usual work and two comments I've received so far were that it was "pretty". I started to say back to them, "Didn't you know pretty is back in?" But I didn't. I know what they mean. Perhaps, not the best of compliments, but I wasn't looking for any. I know it felt good to make that painting and the experience reflected what was happening on the inside of me. I had taken a break from painting and was bored with my usual color palette and also so comfortable with it. So this was the feminine side wanting to come out and be renewed. This painting feels fresh and energizing to me, with a strong burst of creative energy radiating out from the center.

 Renewal 

 Acrylic

Size: 36"  x 24" x  .5" (deep)

Close Up View 1

Close Up View 2

Close Up View 3

Stay tuned for more! Thanks for stopping back and feel free to leave comments! Allison

Surfboard I

Hello again,
While working on my latest water series, one eventually has to come around to surfboards. Don't you just love the feelings that come up when you think about surfboards? That era of the old woodies covered up in cool, brightly colored surfboards has become an American Icon. The music, well oiled tanned surfers in swimming trunks and flip-flops, the smell of the ocean, beach cottages, all images when I think of the beloved surfboard. Here's my version of that worn, well-used, banged up surfboard hanging on the wall, waiting for it's time to be brought out and waxed to perfection for another summer season.

This abstract painting was created by layering process and removing paint to reveal hidden colors. This helps to achieve that worn, distressed look for all the years that have passed by, yet the memories still linger.

Oh, I've included a wonderful and inspirational video about surfing and photography.

"Surfboard I"

24" x  36" x  3/4" deep 

Acrylic

Sold!

Close Up View 1

Close Up View 2

Close Up View 3

Close Up View 4    

So what do you think about "Surfboard I"? 

Thanks for visiting my art blog and come back for more! Allison

Hope you enjoy the video!

Afternoon Sun on the Marsh

Hello All!
Hopefully you read my previous post and you saw the new color palette that I've created for my new water series. Here's another abstract landscape that was inspired inspired by my times at the coast while enjoying the simplicity of the marsh. This painting was painted by using my palette knife to create thick layers of paint. There is a slight subtle glow to this painting from gold paint.
Hope you enjoy the simplicity of this painting.

"Afternoon Sun On The Marsh"

16" x  20" x 1/2" deep

Acrylic

Sold

Close Up View 1

Close Up View 2

Hope you enjoy this painting, let me know what you think. More to come, stay tuned. 

Allison

"Going IntraCoastal". Life at the NC Beach.

I've decided to change things up a little bit with my painting. A new color palette for my new beach/water series. I'm using softer colors of pastels with hints of some vibrant color just to make the painting "pop"!
Here is one of my latest of this new series, "Going IntraCoastal". I like this painting.  It has a rough, palette knife texture, with soft hues. The colors range from pure white to lime, pinks, violets, turquoise, to light blues. This painting reminds me of the memories of living near the NC IntraCoastal Waterway and watching the boats pass by waiting for their turn to go through the swing bridge.

Hope you are enjoying this new series and color choices. This one was hard to photograph with so much bright white, but I hope you can see enough to get the idea.

"Going IntraCoastal"

24" x 18" (h) x 1.2" deep

Acrylic'

Canvas

Click Here to Buy!

Close Up 1

Close Up 2

Click Here To Buy

Hope you enjoy seeing this new painting, let me know what you think. There's more to come, stay tuned!

Allison

His Thoughts

Welcome!
I'm working with a little different color palette since my last two paintings. This painting came suddenly and easily. The paint colors are bold, bright, and the paints are slick, glossy looking.

 "His Thoughts"

36" x 24"

Mixed Media

Gallery Wrapped Canvas

BUY

Close Up View

Another Close Up View

Last Close Up View

BUY

Now, what do you think? Do you like this color palette? Would you like to see more in this style?

"Lost Landscape with Broken Joy"

I'm back!
Just when you thought it was safe....oh no, she's returned with another wild painting!
Okay, sorry, so I couldn't think of a better opening line.  


Here's the other smaller painting I wanted to show you inspired from the series of postcard paintings in the Twitter Art Exhibit.
Let's see what you think.

"Lost Landscape with Broken Joy"

24" x 18" x 1.2"

Acrylic

Canvas

Lost Landscape with Broken Joy

Cost: $250.00 USD

Close up View

Another Close up View

You can see this one has lots of texture, a very rugged look. 

Next painting will be with a totally different painting and style. 

Now, what do you think of  "Lost Landscape with Broken Joy"? 

A Creative Explosion: Raw Energy

Hello!
I really liked how the last two postcard paintings looked for the Twitter Art Exhibit. So, I decided to make two more paintings with the same color palette for a larger canvas and a small canvas. This gives my collectors the opportunities to choose from two different sizes in this style of paintings. In my painting process, I use palette knifes of different sizes to create textures and layering colors on top of other colors. I like these bold color choices, hope you do as well. I adore color and it's relationships to other colors. This is why I am a color expressionist. Do these colors excite you? Inspire you? Or simply delight you? Enjoy.

Here's one of the paintings. I'll show you the smaller painting in the next blog post.

"Raw Energy"

36" x 24"

Acrylic

Canvas 
Sold!

Close Up View

 Another Close Up View 

See slight textures and colors peeking through

Last Close Up View

 

What you do think? Do you like this painting? And don't forget, I have another painting in this same style coming up in my next post. Please retweet or email this post with your friends or family! Thank you, Allison.

Kinetic Interior

Hello again!

Hope you saw the first postcard painting that I'm sending to Norway for the Twitter Art Exhibit, "Purpose and Dream". Now, I'm ready to post the second painting to be included in the exhibit.

So, here is "Kinetic Interior". The process of creating this one was layering the red and allowing it to dry and doing the same with the darker blue. Then adding other colors on top and wiping some away with a large palette knife. Then I may have to add more color, but I work it into the paper. I'm very pleased with the results of both paintings. I hope they sell at the exhibit. Let me know what you think. I'm planning on expanding the look of those mini paintings into larger ones on  canvas, that will be available for purchase. So, stay tuned!

"Kinetic Interior"

6" x 4"

Acrylic

Paper

 Close Up 

Another Close Up View

So, would do you think? 

Purpose and Dream

Hello,
Just to update you, I was asked to participate in a charity event organized by a talented artist from Norway, David Sandum. The Twitter Art Exhibit has been a dream of David's. He asks Twitter artists from around the world, to participate by donating their art to raise money for causes close to his heart. This is the second year of his Twitter Art Exhibit and this year's purpose is to raise monies for the Women's Crisis Center. Each artist's works are done on paper about the size of postcards. Each postcard painting or drawing will be exhibited in a public library in Moss, Norway, and can be purchased at an affordable price which is a donation for the crisis center.
If you want to read about David Sandum's Twitter Art Exhibit or would like to participate as an artist click on the link.

Here's one neat connection in all of this. When I was a little girl, my parents had a foreign exchange student from Norway stay at our house.  She made such an impression on us, we've never forgotten her. Now, I've found a dear friend in artist David Sandum in Norway. So, as you can see when asked, I had to be involved in his great idea to raise money for his local library's childrens section and this year, for the womens's crisis center. 

I wanted to offer two small paintings for their patrons to choose from. Here is one of the abstract paintings I did and I'll post the other in my next post. 


If you like the style of these mini-paintings, you can look forward in the future to larger paintings in this same style. I want to further this work and make it available for you, as well. Please stay tuned.


So in honor of David Sandum and his passion to improve other's lives, I've named this mini painting.....

"Purpose and Dream"

6" x 4"

Acrylic

Paper

Close up 

Another Close Up

In my next post, see the second postcard painting that I'll be sending to Norway. Thank you.
Allison

Do You Surrender To Your Art Journey? Part 2

Hello!
I was so delighted by the intriguing responses from my first post of "Do You Surrender To Your Art Journey" that it's requiring a part 2! I definitely want to continue this conversation and hope if you're game, I am. 


First of all, to recap the post if you haven't read it, I was basically saying how I was trying to go deeper with my art, to the point where something else happens. It's as if the paint becomes "alive" if you will, and takes over and I give it the room to move as it may. No longer do I have an agenda, but I watch to see what the paint wants to do, where it wants to go. I'm no longer the frustrated artist, because my plans didn't get executed as I expected, but the art said, let me take YOU where I want to go. The journey has surely been more interesting. I have had new experiences, I doubt I wouldn't have had before. And I'm seeing new surprises right before my eyes, especially when I walk away and come back to the painting, as if the painting fairies showed up and finished the painting. Crazy, I know. 


Here are a few of the comments I've received, including this one from my Twitter friend @Peteshootspix: "Often, I 'allow' an image to go where it will when in Photoshop. Then arises the question, who or what is creating the art?". Oh, I just loved that, good one Pete! 


One artist on Google Plus, Kris Schirmer, wanted to know what I thought of her statement, "Art Objects Are Living  Beings" in which she wanted to have a discussion exchange. I'm still contemplating that one. But yes, I do think there is energy embedded in one's art.


Another artist, Susan commented, "drawings were as if she mediating". An excellent perspective.


You can find plenty of trained artists in the world. In fact, in art school, they know they can teach anyone to draw. There are the basics, the techniques one can learn to draw and draw well. But when an artist can "move" you emotionally in their art and create such positive ripples in the world, anhe energy is happening. You can attain head knowledge of how to draw or paint, but once you surrender after the techniques of knowledge are applied, then hopefully, something incredible happens. I think those are the artists that stand out from the pack. It's no longer just about the artist, but the "creative force" that takes over. Okay, so that's about as profound as I get, but I am going to leave you with two artists  interviews that have experienced more as an artist than myself from youtube. Hope you enjoy them, Allison.


An inside look at abstract impressionist artist Kathryn Henneman, her studio and her artwork.

Learn about the technique and philosophy of artist Linde B. Martin. See her amazing artwork. 

Do You Surrender To Your Art Journey? Part 1

I want to say, "Thank you!" to everyone that has been validating my newest Intuitive Series. It's been good to finally give myself the freedom and opportunity to go where I've never gone before with my art. Yes, the final frontier. Sorry, I had to say it. You knew that was coming, right? Anyhow, I was talking with a very talented artist in our River Arts District here in Asheville. He was explaining the process of his wonderful paintings and I was doing the same. As I was sharing about my new project, making my art in a more intuitive fashion, he made an interesting comment. As crazy as some may think it is, I told him how I was allowing the paint to show me where it was to go. In other words, letting go of the self talk of the Left brain and trying to shut it down, giving the Right brain creativity to take over. And whatever happens, happens. He totally understood and said, "Surrendering to the painting." I said, "Yes, exactly!". Now as silly as some people might think that is...it really doesn't matter, because we artists know something bigger than ourselves takes places, once we surrender to the process. Finally, after many years of planning my art, trying to figure it out, and wearing myself out doing so, I've let go and surrendered to it. 


Now the work is improving, new styles are emerging and I'm not "the frustrated artist" any more. For me, this is a big deal and I can hardly wait to see where this creative process takes me and my art. I do hope you will continue to follow this journey, the stories behind the paintings, and the art itself.


Back to this painting, " Our Planet Earth". This one took some time to make and plenty of paint. I thought I would step out of my boundaries with color and add color choices I normally wouldn't, such as olive. I'm just not an olive person, the color or the food. I have always been fascinated by the images NASA would take from their telescopes and this painting reminds me of those images. How small it make me feel when I see photos of Earth and knowing the universe is so vast... The details of this painting are so neat and I'm not sure the photographs will show them off. 

"Our Planet Earth"

Acrylic

24" x 2o" x 1/2"

Close Up View 1 - the darker sections with

blues, olive,yellow golds, reds

Close Up View of the purples  and whites

Another Close Up View 

Side View where the paint runs nicely over the edges.

Now, what do you see in this painting?

Sunset Swim in the Gulf

Lately, I've been looking forward to each blank canvas. It is amazing when you are mixing and working with paints what can happen next.  Even though I bring the paints to the canvas, it's as if the canvas paints itself. I've been rather amazed by this process, working more intuitively. First, I'm mixing paints and deciding what colors to use. Then as I add them to the canvas, I watch the colors, designs, and textures begin their dance, swirling around. Painting is still an amazing process  and I have to take my eyes off of the canvas from time to time to focus on the mixing. When I return to the painting, I begin to see things I didn't see before or didn't appear on the canvas until I walked away. As I pour paint onto the canvas, it becomes a mesmerizing dance, watching it run down and mix into other shades that start to swirl. It's almost like watching a colorful science experiment on canvas. The science of gravity and color ruling over what I can command it to do. What begins to look like an accident turns into a beautiful move of the paint. It's as if it were saying to me, "No, I know of a better place to go on this canvas. I want to go over here". Now, I say back to it, "Okay, go where you may". And it shows off again, saying, "I told you so." And reminds me, "Just let me take the lead." 


For now, the paint is in control. No forceful brushstrokes, or calculated judgements, just sliding and gliding rolls of the paint here and there. There are no mistakes, just a better awareness of where the paint wants to go. 


So, I hope you are enjoying color's show. It's showing off just for you. Let me introduce to you, 

"Sunset Swim in the Gulf"

20' x 20"x 1"

Acrylic

Click Here To Buy!

Close Up

Another Close Up View

Another Close Up View of the Colors

Click Here to Buy!