Painted cabinet

Finished

Video of finished cabinet

The moment I saw this old cabinet I knew this wold be my new project.  Its octagonal shape reminded me of Moorish architecture; hot nights in Morocco or Andalusia. I decided to paint it in bright colours with stylised oriental ornaments.

This is the cabinet before:

Old cabinet

Demaged surface

I followed the curves and lines of the cabinet and painted it with blocks of colors. Masking tape was used to make lines. Paint wasn’t applied very neatly, becuse I wanted to show that it was handpainted. It also looks a bit shabby, like it is the old piece of furniture.

Blocks of color and lines

Masking tape

When the background was completely dry, I used the template to make the ornaments. I made template by printing the ornament on the transparent foil and cutting it with scissors. I’ve traced the tamplate with the pencil to the cabinet, and paited with the acrylic paint and brush.

Painted background

Template

When dry, I used 2 coats of mat finish. This is final result:

Cabinet

Detail

Detail

 

Carnival in Venice

Just a few photos from this years Carnival in Venice.

Gondola

Mask

Mask

Mask

Mask

Mask

Gondola

Masks

Me

Mask

Calla

Mask

Confetti

Gondola

Sunset

Elder Futhark – reused wood & clay tiles

Elder Futhark (Runes)

Most Runic texts are found on hard surfaces such as rock, wood, and metal, and this might explain its angular shape. Because of the resemblance to Mediterranean scripts, it is very likely that Futhark was adapted from either the Greek or Etruscan alphabet. Even though the earliest Runic inscriptions are from the 3rd century CE, its origin may lie much deeper in the pre-history of Northern Europe. …

The Futhark of 24 letters is called “Elder Futhark”, and was used mostly before the 9th century CE. But as languages changed and more Germanic groups adopted it, Futhark changed as well to suit the language that it came to write.

Source: Ancientscripts.com

I spent this summer at the seaside as usual, on the Island of Pag , at Croatian Adriatic sea.  I’ve been collecting pieces of driftwood, pebbles, sea shells and other items modeled and shaped by the nature.

As the civilization gradually infiltrates into every bit of this planet, thus the construction sites  invades the shore. But the sea is the builder, the sculptor and the destroyer, so it takes from the land into its  depths then returns something scared, changed but beautiful. Walking down one of this deserted construction sites by the sea, I found pieces of planks, and bricks and roof tiles. But most interesting were those tiles fragments,  modeled and rounded by the sea,  looking like little pebbles. Sea made contemporary everyday objects look like ancient pieces. I wanted to make something with them, something that has an air of history.

So  I thought of runes…

Materials

Background and runes

Finished

Details

Details

Back

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Zodiac – acrylic painting

Zodiac, 40×50 cm (12 pcs 10×10)

The soul of the newly born baby is marked for life by the pattern of the stars at the moment it comes into the world, unconsciously remembers it, and remains sensitive to the return of configurations of a similar kind.
― Johannes Kepler, Harmonies Of The World

Music theme: Zodiac – Talamasca [Full Album]

This one was fun to create! I thought of zodiac signs, their symbols and colours. The idea was to make them archetypal, simple and suggestive. My intention was to capture the basic mood of each sign with colours.

I used one big canvas 40 x 50 cm  for background, on which I’ve painted 4 elements: fire, earth, air and water. I’ve made elements in columns as the frame for their associated sign. Little remainder: Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) – Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) – Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) – Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces).

I used 12 little canvases 10×10 cm to paint each zodiac sign. When dry, I hot-glued them to the big canvas.

4 elements

Sign background

Finished

Finished

Details:

Aries

Taurus

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

Pisces

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Helix Nebula – acrylic painting

Helix nebula, 40×50 cm

The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.

– Sermons of Meister Eckhart

Third piece from series of painting  Nebulae. This  nebula, known also as God’s eye nebula is maybe one of the most popular occurrences in the space.

It seems appropriate to show this painting trough these coming  days: Day of the Dead, Halloween, All saints,  All souls day, Samhain… Days when we remember our dead, think about our mortality and higher purpose in life. Days when we look above us to reach out to our God, Creator, Universe and HE looks upon us. Days when we transcend eerie sense of prescence to holy union of souls.

About the painting:

This painting was made with dry brush technique, as described in article about painting the Seahorse Nebula  and  Eagle Nebula.

I’ve panted the canvas black and added circles of blue shades – grading from lighter in the middle to darker to the end of circle. Than, while still wet, I’ve pulled the brush firmly over the circle to create rays. I kept adding other colors (white, yellow, orange, red)  with circular movements of brush to create hazy look of gases. Finally I splashed white color with wide flat wet brush, to create stars.

 

Blue circles

Rays

Nebula being born

Finished

Details:

Right-bottom

Left-bottom

Right-top

Left-top

Seahorse Nebula – acrylic painting

Seahorse nebula, 40×50 cm

It may look like a grazing seahorse, but the dark object toward the image right is actually a pillar of smoky dust about 20 light years long.

Source: NASA

Second piece from series of painting  Nebulae.

This painting was made with dry brush technique, as desribed in article about painting the Eagle Nebula.

Finished painting and details:

Nebulae

Finished

Top-lefr

Top-right

Bottom-right

Bottom-left

Eagle nebula – acrylic painting

Eagle nebula, 40×50 cm

The Eagle Nebula is 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens. It contains a young hot star cluster, NGC6611, which is visible with modest back-yard telescopes. This cluster is sculpting and illuminating the surrounding gas and dust, resulting in a huge hollowed-out cavity and pillars, each several light-years long.

Source: www.universetoday.com

It was really fun to paint this series of painting  Nebulae. I love the play of light and colors and space fascinate me.

This painting was made with dry brush technique. Firstly, I made black background. Than I gradually added layers of paint. When dry I splashed white paint with large flat brush to paint stars.

First layer

Lighter shades and hues

more layers

Splashes

 

Finished painting and details:

Finished

Side

Bottom-left

Top-left

Top-right

Bottom-rigt

 

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Personal

Someone told me that it is easy for me to write a blog when it is not personal.

Do you really think that showing my art isn’t personal? Can’t you se it?

Can’t you see that in very piece of that is a pice of my soul?

Than you are blind. More blind than you could ever be, even though you are given the gift of sight.

I have shown you, it is yours to see.

 

Lonely shallow – acrylic painting

Lonely shallow, 40×50 cm

In shallow waters, shrimps make fools of dragons.
-Chinese Proverb

Music theme: Shallow waters – Chris Norman

It is summer here and time for rest and fun by the sea. Still, most beautiful time of day for me is sunset. And here by Adriatic sea those sunsets are amazing and spectacular.

I tried to capture one of these silent and peaceful moments with all the shades and hues.

Technique I used  is ordinary – canvas, paint and brush. I felt that simple, yet beautiful scene like that, doesn’t need any special effects.

 

Process of painting and details of finished work:

 

Burning sky – acrylic painting

Burning sky (sunset), 30×24 cm

“You know– one loves the sunset, when one is so sad…”
“Were you so sad, then?” I asked, “on the day of the forty-four sunsets?”
But the little prince made no reply.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Music theme: Sunset – Avalanche City

 

Often I look to the sky and see more beauty than in any art ever made.

I took a photograph once of the beautiful sunset and it was an inspiration for this painting. This is rather small painting but it’s very dear to me, and I like it for its colours and contrasts.

Photo

I didn’t make much texture, only bold strikes of the brush, because the contrast and warm colours create life, even drama on this scene.

Sky

Vegetation and trees

Details:

Top-left

Top-right

Bottom-left

Bottom-right