Art: Summerbike

[hrymfaxe]

To battle the Monday gloom, here is a piece of original art I did last week. I wanted summer and sun, and if the universe will not deliver, we have to make it for ourselves. :D







Watercolour on hotpress watercolour paper, 300 gms. Colours used: cadmium red, ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow.

Inspiration from this image.

Comments

[wildeagain.livejournal.com]

Wow.

That's really spectacular. Can it be us?

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

\o/

It was always us, bb!

[wildeagain.livejournal.com]

It's for reals good.

I'm the one pointing.

Are you impressed with my language today?

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

What? With your hair you have to be the one doing the biking, and I'll be doing the drinking and pointing. ;)

I am.

[wildeagain.livejournal.com]

O.K.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Oh! I love this one, it's beautiful, dynamic and yes, it makes you long for spring. Am even pondering to ask how much you'd want for it...

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! It was exactly me longing for spring and lighter clothing. ;)

Let me get back to you on that one, honey. I'm completely overwhelmed that you'd want it. *hugs*

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

It resounds with me immensely well, I can't explain it. I think it also has to do with my longing for more sunlight and brightness after these past weeks. This piece of art brings warmth, friendship & companionship somehow. :)

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

I'm sure this speaks to you even more because you also come from a country with lots of bikes! There is nothing more summery than biking through the city in a t-shirt and skirt, chatting with your best friend all the way. :)

[zia-montrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, WOW. This is really gorgeous! From the triadic color scheme to the way you've let the colors run to the capture of light. The woman in red really steals the show though, being equal parts femininity and flight of fancy. She reminds me of some of the classic woman-on-a-bike advertisements. What a great way to daydream of spring. Will you hang it somewhere?

[zia-montrose.livejournal.com]

Did you mean for her skirt to look like a flower, I wonder?

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! If you had seen the panic on my face after I poured the background colour on... I'm glad it turned out as well as it did, because for a minute there I thought I had ruined it.

I agree - there is a classic advertisement feel to this one. (and I had only planned that her skirt should be flowing behind her - I let the colour washes decide the rest. ;))

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's impressive! I love all the colors and the way you've worked with light and shadow so everything sort of flows together. Brilliant!

(Not exactly an art critic, am I? ;))

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! What you mention is exactly what I wanted to show in this piece, so you are an art critic after all. :D

[train-lindz.livejournal.com]

That is beautiful!

Can I be you for a day and paint pretty things?

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Be me for a day and avoid going in to the living room for fear of seeing the painting you should be working on, more likely... ;)

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

I LOVE this: it's beautiful. So full of light and colour and movement, and I was thinking flowers for her skirt even before I saw zia_montrose's comment. It makes me think of a tulip, and her hair streaming out like that could almost be a snapdragon...

Glorious! ♥

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Flowers and light and summer - I told you I was going for the positive interpretation of that photo. ;) I needed some spring in my life.

♥

[cha.livejournal.com]

I love that! It's gorgeous!

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you so so much!

[clodia-metelli.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's an amazing picture! Love the tones in that. So beautiful, wonderfully summery and sunny! Thank you for brightening up the day!

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so happy it brightened your day - I really enjoyed making it (apart from the time when I panicked about the colours), and it has made me long for summer even more.

[paulamcg.livejournal.com]

I don’t know what to say. First of all, I got tears in my eyes as soon as I saw this. This image shows so perfectly something I’ve longed for. And then I have to continue to stare, also wondering how you’ve managed to combine your control of details with freedom for the colours to flow.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you. I'm so glad this moved you - after a long winter we all long for warmth and sun, don't we?

This was a fun (and panick-inducing) experiment in colours and light. I have taken pictures of the process, and if you'd like I can throw together a demo of how I did it?

[paulamcg.livejournal.com]

Yes, please, that would be lovely – and potentially useful, even though I’ve got a long way to go before I could try anything close to this.

[bright-blonde.livejournal.com]

sooo beautiful. i do love watercolor. =)

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and me too! There is something about the way the colours are transparent that just lends itself so very well to creating light and shadow....

[bright-blonde.livejournal.com]

and you did a really beautiful job layering them! i meant to mention that, the whole thing seems very three dimensional.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you again! :D I love it when I hear that!

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

My goodness, that is gorgeous!

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

This is lovely, and just what I needed to see on a gray drizzly day! This is just full of sunshine and warmth and a little summer breeze. I love the way the colors are separate from the shapes, making me think of sunbeams. And I didn't realize until I read your note that there are only three colors involved. They definitely work together in a way that's more than the sum of the parts!

*uses summer icon out of season*

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm so glad it cheered you on a gray day - it has served its purpose then. :) Thank you!

I love the way the colors are separate from the shapes, making me think of sunbeams.

I really like how you said this! I haven't been able to articulate why I like this technique so much, but I think that is exactly it. And I love just using the primary colours - and seeing how they mix and create all these lovely nuances.

Come on summer!!

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

THIS is gorgeous and I would love it as a print.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) This is a painting I sell prints off, but I have to admit that the task of doing it here from Africa where I live for the next year and a half is very daunting. Let me get back to you when I'm home for holiday and we can see if you are still interested?

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

Here via the lovely wildeagain. I'm not terribly articulate these days, but I had to leave a note since this is just so gorgeous. You are so immensely talented.

If you ever think of offering prints, I'd love one. Would you mind terribly if I printed it out as a gift?

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! It means a lot that you took the time to stop by and leave your thoughts.

I'm going to look into this whole printing business. I've never really tried it. But yes, it is completely ok for you to print this small version out as a gift.

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful; thank you!

[jobey-in-error.livejournal.com]

Damn, this painting just blows me away every time. Just so spectacularly warm. I love the mix of colors, like... like rainbowy shadows (I don't have a lot of experience describing the visual here). I also really like their clothes, shallow as I feel noticing that in a piece that speaks of so much warmth and love.

And ooh--I never noticed the inspiration before. I think it's amazing how you saw a cold, chilly, understatedly romantic picture like that, and produced something this warm, bright, and bold from that prompt. :D

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

♥

It's still one of my favourite paintings that I've done and I'm glad it has resonated so well with others too. Thank you so so much for leaving all these comments.