Judith Kittel

I painted this artwork using Atelier Interactive as a watercolour (but I also did another rendition of it using traditional watercolours)

I was at the spot early one morning while staying in Auburn - it was such a pretty sight & I wanted to capture the scene in a spontaneous painting.  I filed the scene in my memory, took some photos to help recall the scene & the light & hoped that the painting would work

I was happy with it even though I would make some changes if I painted it again - maybe i will

Recently I had an opportunity to attend the opening of the Reconciliation Week Aboriginal Art Exhibition organised by my local council, Tea Tree Gully & a demonstration of Aboriginal painting done by Raylene & her daughter Samantha who are both involved with Marra Dreaming at Salisbury.

Raelene's painting was done as a collaborative piece so that those attending could have a turn to paint, wow what an experience!

Toward the end of the week, a workshop was held for anyone who wished to attend.  There was a good turnout & everyone enjoyed doing their rendition of  Aboriginal artwork.  Most were non painters & they were thrilled with their accomplishments & everyone was impressed with each other's paintings. 

I enjoyed it immensely & my niece Belinda, who was staying with me at the time, did basket weaving & took home a beaut small basket for her Mum, along with three other starter baskets to finish off for her friends, kindly given to her by Judy one of the Aboriginal ladies who showed them how to weave.

 My painting is not yet totally finished.  I have been very busy so look forward to finishing it soon but i wanted to put it up on my teacher/artist pages on the Chroma site as part of the blog about my ongoing involvement painting with Aboriginal people.  See more about that on my class & workshop page.

We all did our own "thing" at the workshop & my painting may not be totally traditional & may show glimpses of my past painting history.   There are though, some significant parts to it.  The groups of white & dark coloured shapes grouped around a central circle represent men, both aboriginal & white meeting together sitting in a circle. I also didn't clean my brush so that the mixes were not just pure colour, it was mixed colour which I felt represented how cultures have "melded" together throughout history.   It was my statement about working together to build relationships - a thing that should happen between us all, not just different cultures.  I learned the significance of this from Freda an aboriginal lady whom I painted with at a workshop recently. Freda taught me which shapes were male & which shapes were female.

I look forward to my next steps of painting with aboriginal folk @ Nepabunna & with the ladies @ Marra Dreaming  :-)

This watercolour was done using Atelier Interactive as a watercolour paint.  It was done on a hot press watercolour paper and I was happy with the strong lines of the clouds using the Interactive combined with the hot pressed paper, even though I usually prefer a cold pressed textured paper

 

If you go to my links page you will find a link to Chroma's Video Library where you can choose from a great selection of painting demonstations to watch

 

 

 

 

 

Another watercolour , this time using Absolute Matte with a limited palette - again on hot pressed paper.

 

If you go to my links page, you will find a link to Chroma's Video Library where you can choose from a selection of painting demonstrations to watch

This painting was done using Atelier Interactive painted in a wet on wet technique as you would an oil painting.  I wanted an impressionist look that was warm and vibrant, to capture the essence of the warmth of the countryside at a moment in time as well as the warmth of the day.

 

If you go to the links page of my site, you will find a link to Chroma's Video Library page where you can view a selection of excellent videos of painting demonstrations

This painting was done using Archival oil paint with a limited palette in red, blue, yellow and white.

I did a workshop at Gawler Art Society yesterday with John Lacey, a well known South Australia painter whose work is just "my cup of tea." I have admired John's work from the first time I saw his paintings.  Yesterday's workshop was a tonal workshop so we did a tonal chart first and then we painted a monochromatic tonal study from a photograph John gave us of some sheds in a farmyard at Mt Compass, Sth Aust. 

 I finished the tonal painting but hardly got any of the coloured painting done.  I only had time to sketch in my outlines in washy paint and add a little of the shadow colour before it was time to pack up so today I did this colour study of my monochratic painting.

I will paint it again and aim for a different interpretation of the scene and try it in some different colourways

 

This landscape is a mixed media piece, painted with Jo Sonja paints was done to capture a simple scene which had a lovely touch of morning light.  I wanted to create a vibrant look with strong tonal variation to add impact.  I was unsure of how I felt about the finished painting as the darks are very dark but everyone loved it so I am feeling more content with it now.  I have taken artistic licence and turned what was a modern fence and gate into old ones.

I used Jo Sonja paints to show their versatility, they are excellent paints with proven archival qualities and are not limited to using them for Folk & Decorative Art only.

Before painting, the canvas was primed using Atelier Binder Medium and texture was added to the foreground area.

 

was done using Chroma Absolute Matte paint as a watercolour paint

Was done using Chroma Absolute Matte paints as a watercolour paint

This painting is a mixed media piece. I have used Jo Sonja's Artist Colours as an underpainting with a pastel top layer. I love to experiment trying out things to see what works & what maybe doesn't work - I usually find though that things mostly seem to work maybe not always for the present artwork being painted but at some later date it may work for something else. This comes from product knowledge about the paints & mediums one regularly uses. I have been painting since 1995 with Chroma products, essentially with Jo Sonja paints & mediums for all that time and all the other Chroma products in the later times of my painting life.

The piece is painted on textured (cold pressed) illustration board

I wanted the painting to be representational & what I wanted to achieve was to capture the light. The colours are not the real colours of course but because I was aiming to capture light & not the colour that doesn't matter. I really like the colours nonetheless. It breaks many painting rules but as Richard Rogers say's "Its the results that count" & I was happy with the end result with its resulting atmosphere & light.