Palette Knife Painting Slideshow

When I paint I hope to let others see, in a way, what I see and also hope it creates an emotional response for them. Sometimes for me it's just a impulse to run my fingers over the texture of the paint. If you have such an impulse then I feel like I've done my job. This video is a slideshow of some of my palette knife paintings and a little of me in action

'Augusta 12th' - Golf Course Series

"Augusta 12th"

This is my original impression palette knife painting of Augusta National's 12th hole.  I use a wet-on-wet impasto technique to create the layers and depth of the landscape. The texture is heavy and the colors deep.  And realistically, it could take months to dry.  

Attending the Masters is on my list of things to do before I die.  Who knows, maybe the gentlemen at the beautiful Augusta will take a trade; Painting for a ticket. Going once... going twice... I guess I'll keep my options open.  

-T

Pebble Beach 7th

'Pebble Beach 7th'

24" x 36" x 1"

I love to golf.  To me, there is nothing (aside from painting) that clears my head better than 18 holes on a sunny day.  I'm not thinking about the groceries I need to stop and get or what book report I need to remind one of the kids to finish up; all I'm thinking is it's a 7 iron to the center of the green. 

I wish I could say I'm a scratch golfer but my handicap card has a few double digits on it.  My local club is Hobble Creek.  It's fantastic!  Nestled in the mouth of Hobble Creek Canyon you're surrounded by blankets of trees, the sound of running water and the occasional wild turkey or deer making it's way across the fairway.  One Saturday morning, I remember teeing off the first hole and a moose came strutting across the fairway.  He causally wandered his way into the pond and dunked his head in the water.  It was so beautiful!   

In honor of my love of golf I started this new series this week.

-T

'Sunset Rig' - the "oil-oil painting"

'Sunset Rig'

30" x 20"

Little bit of irony... 

I painted this "oil" painting for my husband who works in the "oil" industry.  This is my Oil-Oil Painting.  

If you're interested in a similar painting by subject, design or style please inquire about a commission via the email address at the top of the page.

*Orange and yellow sunset with an oil rig silhouette painted using palette knife and impasto gel. 

Tools and Texture

I love love love the texture the palette knife brings to a canvas.  This week I bought a few new palette knives to try out. The texture you can get from a different kind of knife is pretty remarkable.  For me I always use a round circular knife for flower petals.  You get a nice pull of the paint when you lift it from the canvas that mimics the natural petal pretty nicely.  Anyone up for a knife party?

After completing a few color studies this week I was left staring at this:

and this:

Dear paint, 

Will you please stop yelling at me?  I see how those petals jump off the panel and it makes me want to break the "Please Do Not Touch" policy.  I know you're just laying there enjoying the hardening of your skin and the crispy air but in all fairness this has to stop... please.  I can't concentrate.

Sincerely, 

Your Texture Loving Artist

*PS. These paintings are available for collection at www.trishalamoreaux.com

Floral Color Study I

I wish I could come up with a word to describe palette knife painting.  Sometimes I feel like I'm sculpting more than painting.  Paintsculpting is really what it is.  I love the globs of painting to jump off the canvas and even better for me is when I fight the temptation to run my fingers across the hills of paint.  Yummy!

In working hard to up my inventory for a show in San Diego I'm experimenting with colors, florals and texture. Here is the latest.

Floral Color Study I

11" x 14"

What is impasto? And what is an impasto artist?

Thanks to our friends at wikipedia:
Impasto

This article is about the painting technique. For the pottery type, see Impasto (pottery).

In English, the borrowed Italian word impasto most commonly refers to a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface (or the entire canvas) very thickly, usually thickly enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides texture, the paint appears to be coming out of the canvas.

The word "impasto" is Italian in origin; in that language it means "dough" or "mixture"; the verb "impastare" translates variously as "to knead", or "to paste". Italian usage of "impasto" includes both a painting and a potting technique (see section below on impasto pottery). According to Webster's New World College Dictionary, the root noun of impasto is pasta, whose primary meaning in Italian is paste.
Oil paint is most suitable to the impasto painting technique, due to its thickness and slow drying time. Acrylic paint can also be impastoed. Impasto is generally not possible inwatercolour or tempera without the addition of thickening agent due to the inherent thinness of these media.

Impastoed paint serves several purposes. First, it makes the light reflect in a particular way, giving the artist additional control over the play of light on the painting. Second, it can add expressiveness to the painting, the viewer being able to notice the strength and speed applied by the artist. Third, impasto can push a painting into a three dimensional sculptural rendering. The first objective was originally sought by masters such as Rembrandt and Titian, to represent folds in clothes or jewels: it was then juxtaposed with more delicate painting. Much later, the French impressionists created entire canvases of rich impasto textures. Vincent van Gogh used it frequently for aesthetics and expression. Abstract expressionists such as Hans Hofmann and Willem De Kooning also made extensive use of it, motivated in part by a desire to create paintings which dramatically record the "action" of painting itself. Still more recently, Frank Auerbach has used such heavy impasto that some of his paintings become almost three-dimensional.
Because impasto gives texture to the painting, it can be opposed to flat, smooth, or blending techniques. For more info click here

Happy 2011!

It's been WAY too long since my last entry and painting.  It's amazing how fast life creeps by and in a blink it's been months.  I had a wonderful holiday season and successfully sold Petals, Paris Traffic, Alexandria Eve and Landscape Reflection 2.  Here's to continued growth in 2011! 

Commission

I will be doing a couple commission pieces for a collector.  She likes the Floral III- Violet and Floral II - Scarlet but will need them in larger sizes.  The Violet piece will be just a larger scale replica but the Scarlet will be going in an entry way and will be tall and skinny.  In deciding the look and feel I like to lay it out like this:

She likes the look of the middle one so this will help me determine the size of canvas to stretch.  I'm excited to get these started as well as a couple nursery paintings from a previous collector.

Weeds

'Weeds'

30" x 40" x 1"

Wet

Wet 

Petals

'Petals' 

*Extra thick impasto layers of oil paint in shades of vibrant pink, green, and yellow against a black and gray abstract background.  

This palette knife painting is pretty much my best attempt at placing the biggest globs of paint on a canvas ever.  I used big circles of bright pinks, greens, light yellows, black and white.  The depth and texture on this painting is by far the most I've done.  It turned out quite modern and fun. 

This painting came about for a little furniture store (that's a big hit) called Tammi's Finder's Keepers.  Tammi restores old furniture and creates the most beautiful home decor ensembles.  I go down to her store take pictures and create paintings to match the room(s).  It's a fun challenge and I really enjoy it.

Spring 2009 Fine Art Show

New York and Paris Traffic are now showing at the Spring 2009 Fine Art Show in Provo. April 27 – June 26, 2009. For details please contact me at tlamoreaux@gmail.com

London Traffic on Redbubble Home Page Feature

Getting your work on the coveted homepage of Redbubble is a pretty big honor.  I was pleasantly surprised to see 'London Traffic' featured today.  Redbubble is a wonderful community of artists, photographers, poets, etc that come together for a variety of reasons.  You can post your work for others to buy it, comment on it, enter it into contests, you can blog, set up a website... the possibilities are crazy!  It's a fantastic way to mingle with fellow artists and a great way to get feedback on your work.  Check it out if you have a chance.  I highly recommend it!

Hidden - Sold!

Thank you to a new collector who recently purchased Hidden! Hidden was one of my initial abstract paintings that I did NOT do with a palette knife. I've recently had a lot of interest in my abstract paintings and hope to be adding some new ones soon.

Nursery Paintings

A close family member is having her first baby and she wants to mark the occasion with something special; my palette knife paintings are among her favorite things, so she commissioned me for the job. She brought me a quilt that she is going to decorate with and asked me to use it as the basis for a few commemorative paintings we will hang on the new baby's wall....

If you have a quilt or bedding set you would like me to duplicate as a knife painting please contact me at tlamoreaux@gmail.com
 

White Flowers

18"x18"x1.5"

'New York Traffic' to be COVER ART for Indie Band

The independantly labeled New York band, Swift Ships will be using 'New York Traffic' as the cover for their soon to be released sophmore album entiled 'Nowhere to Turn'.

www.myspace.com/swiftships

Upcoming Exhibits

I'm excited to be entering several juried exhibits over the next few months. Once I know the results I'll post them here (on my blog) and in the news section of my main website. Regardless of the outcome, I'm really looking forward to attending the exhibits. Here are some details:

85th Annual Spring Salon

26 April - 5 July 2009
The 85th Annual Spring Salon is open to all styles of artistic expression. It is Utah’s premiere annual fine art exhibition. This show encourages diverse applications of style and technique. It seeks to promote varied conceptual and formal directions in art.

The exhibition will attempt to balance various areas of artistic concern, including: Traditional, Impressionism, Modern/Postmodern, Visionary, Conceptual and Western/Americana.

As much as is humanly possible, no bias toward any single approach will be made. While considering the constraints of what has been entered and the imperfection of the jurying process, we will strive for a broad-ranging exhibition surveying the spectrum of contemporary visual fine art in Utah.

Freedom Festival Fine Art Exhibit

The Covey Center for the Arts Annual Freedom Festival Fine Art Exhibit encourages visual artists to display their work locally and to familiarize the community with the diversity of the visual arts within the state of Utah. The Covey Center for the Arts would like to both recognize and encourage America’s Freedom Festival message of celebrating and promoting the traditional American values of family, freedom, God, and country.

Utah artists are invited to have their work juried by three prominent local art experts: LeRoy Transfield, Sunny Belliston and Justin Taylor.

The Covey Center for the Arts Gallery, located at 425 W. Center St., Provo, will host the exhibition during the Freedom Festival dates of June 19, 2009 through July 30, 2009. Regular exhibit hours are Monday - Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. There is no admission and everyone is encouraged to enjoy the artwork and talent of many artists throughout the state. Artwork is available for purchase during the exhibit.

Wrigley Field Commission

I completed this Wrigley Field commission for a family friend. I've been wanting to create a stadium series so when he asked about a Cubs Stadium painting I was excited to see what results I could get with a knife. I'm not sure what stadium I will work on next but this was a great start.