Contemporary Paintings

                                             
                                                   A Man of Few Words but Read Many                                                                                                                       Acrylic on Paper

It has been good to work solely with brushes again. Big brushes. You can't get too many small details but you can make your color values work harder for you instead. This is a painting of my Dad reading the newspaper. This is a cropped section of it. When you see a photo of someone you don't always see their personality...that is what the artist adds. My recent studies have been contemporary paintings.


If you're on Instagram visit @carolyapfineart

Light and Shadows With a Smile

Bring out the brushes. One to be exact. I did some very loose portrait studies on paper in acrylic. I limited myself to one big flat brush. These were done in one sitting. The light and shadow colors play off of each other here. The light was coming from the right side so I put in dark blue on the left. It gives the composition more interest and balance. I think a bundle of books could be written on skin colors. Some artists are a little secretive about their color formulas. Mine are warm because she is a "Sunny" person!

Links to more of my work.



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Works in Progress

Inspirational wall or influential wall. What ever you want to call it, other than a mood board, that is what I am making. I could have a complete wall full of portraits of artists. There are many that have influenced my work. It could be their use of color, their brushstrokes, composition and other brilliant uses of paint. These are in the process of being painted in my style. Many didn't have photographs of themselves so I am painting from their self portraits. This Van Gogh painting is still in progress, but here is a cropped section of it. It only got 1/2 hour slot in my day. Will post more when completed. 

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Browse my paintings for sale on Saatchi Art under Carol Yap

Watercolor Self Portrait

If our lives are like a field I have many furrows on my self portraits.  But then sheet music has lines so surely our portraits can be like music which is hidden between the lines and above and beyond them as well. I did this today on white watercolor paper and then digitally gave it a background color. I would gladly paint anyone else but myself. The good points are that the model is free. If I can use the word "model" and my name in a sentence is questionable.

Learning and getting comfortable painting my self portraits is my job this week. Hopefully your week is just as fun.

More of my art can be seen on Saatchi Art

Modern Expressionism Self Portrait

If anyone wants a good laugh try painting a self portrait. They are amusing. Modern art is meant to entertain. The shocking part is that you also see some family resemblances right before you. Can that be? Yes. Very much so. So those artists of old who painted many self portraits were no doubt had a great sense of humor. They also learned valuable lessons from each portrait.

Here I am with all of my flaws and stories that show on my face...  A wonderful truth about modern expressionism is that we can put equal amounts of feeling and color in our paintings.

A painting can tell as much as a novel!

View more of my modern expressionist paintings on Saatchi Art

Hawaiiana Paintings Today

                                                                 
                                                                     Work in Progress

Today I got out the brushes and left my palette knife alone. It's an odd feeling, but keeps the cobwebs out of my brain by using them again. And everyone knows I could use a little brain help. The good part of making fun of myself is I know when to stop. Right after I've started.

Working with paint brushes gives me wider strokes that is for sure. I can't guarantee that I won't use my palette knife on this, but for now I am resisting. This photograph was taken 45 minutes after I started painting. I want it loose and impressionistic so I've stopped now in the creative process to evaluate. Most likely the finished painting will be for sale online at Saatchi Art

I've started this new group of portraits from my memories of an old store in Hawaii now closed, but I used to go there alot. It was called, "Gems." It was just a short walk away. All of the Hawaiian ladies use to sit on the benches outside in the shade while their families shopped inside or just to "talk story" and rest their feet. Ninety nine percent of the ladies had their hair pulled back and fresh flowers pinned in. Young and old alike. There were large white plumeria trees against the building that tossed their blossoms to us. Most were swept away every morning, but that didn't stop the trees from sharing their fragrant blooms during the day.

 

Just My Feet Beach Painting

                                                                        Just My Feet
                                                       Acrylic on Hardwood Panel Board  
                                                               July 30, 2015 Carol Yap  



Yesterday was one of  those days where I got the run around trying to get a simple document. I was told that I would need to get additional documents even though I brought what I was told to bring. So one quick stop turned into many stops. Now the good news....it brought about this painting.

One way to unwind for me is to paint. Paint something calming, soothing and make the churning colors look like they were made for each other. Being energized can yield some creativity on the canvas as I unleash it rapidly with a palette knife and paint.

There is something calming about walking on the beach. The waves throw themselves at my feet and yet the ocean is so powerful. The sand crabs scurry along in bursts. They are some of the tiniest creatures that call the beach their home. Their safe haven.