Contemporary Abstract Oil Textured Painting by Brad Rickerby

Colors2

9" x 12" x 1.5"

 Abstract Oil on Canvas

$47.00 (with 10% donated to charity)

Painting by Brad Rickerby

Available for sale.

Pretty much the same as the last painting. I have to admit that the work of Gerhard Richter wasn't far from my mind when I created this.

This painting is for sale and 10% of the very low price will be donated to charity.

For more information, please contact me at brad@bradrickerby.com.

Contemporary Abstract Acrylic Palette Knife Painting by Brad Rickerby

Brilliance #2

6 x 6 x 7/8" Acrylic on Canvas Painting

Ready to be Hung

by Brad Rickerby

Available for sale, prints also available

This will be a short description. I set out to refine the techniques that I used in Brilliance #1 (see below). First, I knew this is what I wanted the outcome to look like from the beginning. So I set out with a plan that follow the experiment that I had previously used. I wanted more of the undertone dark colors to show through (which provides more depth and dimension to the creation) and I wanted the knife strokes to mix more colors within themselves.  Lastly I wanted the composition to be less linear. The idea was to let the more tightly planned painting look freer. I think I accomplished what I set out to, but that both paintings have qualities that are respectively better than the other.

Contemporary Abstract Acrylic Palette Knife Painting by Brad Rickerby

Brilliance

Acrylic Abstract on Canvas, 6 x 6 x 7/8"

Painting by Brad Rickerby

Available for Sale

I admit to looking at the paintings of Gerhard Richter before sitting down to paint this one, so his style was in mind. I love his work, btw. And think I could be, stylistically following him. Richter and  Hans Hofmann. Both of them have the colors and the expressionism that I aspire to.

This is a small painting that started out actually being something else completely. A canvas retread if you will. I painted over the old painting with just white acrylic with molding paste. I was looking for texture that create unevenness in the paint to follow. I also let a little of the old show though, but in the end you can't see it. 

Next, after the white had dried and using a palette knife (everything in this painting was done with palette knives) I  put on olive green and a cobalt blue paint here and there to give some depth and the feeling of a background. Finally, after the blue and green had dried, I applied mixtures of reds and yellows and an orange and a white. I left some thinly applied so the background color could show through.

I out more light colors and more whites closer to the top of the canvas and made the bottom darker and heavier in the application in the application of the paint. This gives the painting a feeling of release and openness at the top and security and weigh and of being anchored at the bottom. Most side to side color streaks are run on a diagonal to give the painting more energy and tension.

Contemporary Abstract Watercolor Ink Painting by Brad Rickerby

Passion 2, 9 x 12" Abstract Watercolor Painting

Painting by Brad Rickerby

Original available for sale.

Fine Art Prints also available

I adore vivid colors! I also adore letting the paint do most of the work for me. Properly applied, the original paint will mix and intermingle and form marvelous, deep second and third levels of colors. I don't know if I have ever posted my artists statement here. If I have, it hasn't been for a while.

Chaos

 The colors go where they want. You talk to them, you tell them the plan, you cajole, flatter and plead. You think you have come to a meeting of the minds. You apply them. And - The colors go where they want. It's best not to corral them. It's hopeless anyway. Best just to make soft suggestions and watch with childlike glee as they intermix and mingle.

The colors go where they want and they know where to go. They always arrive at a sensual, vibrant, complex beauty.

The colors go where they want.

Chaos.

So that is my artists statement, written when I was doing lots and lots of this style painting.

The process of creating this is relatively simple to describe, but kinda hard to get a good outcome from without a bit of practice. I use minimum 140 lbs watercolor paper. I make sure it is fastened down really well. Any buckling of the paper is a real problem. I wet the paper completely then wipe off excess water with a paper towel. The paper is soaked, but there is no extra water hanging out on the surface. I use watercolor ink and drop it directly on to the paper with an eye dropper. Then I cover the whole thing with saran wrap. I push the colors around and into each other to cover the entire paper with color. Then I push and pull the saran wrap so that the colors run up the folds. I leave the saran wrap alone when I have the look I want.

When to take the saran wrap off is an artistic choice that you will have to make. The sooner you pull it off, the damper the paper will be and the more the ink will run, creating effects of color blending that are totally uncontrollable. The longer you leave the wrap on, the more the ink will have dried. You have less chance of the paint running, and will get more of what you see through the wrap. However, the more the ink dries, the more you will get hard edges in your painting.

That is the simple version. The more you play around with this technique, the more you will have control over it and the greater the chance that you are able to get what you are looking for. That may not be as much fun. Sometime just letting the colors go where they want produces the best result.

Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Acrylic Painting by Brad Rickerby

The Three of Us, 24 x 18 x 7/8", Acrylic on Canvas

Gallery Wrapped, Ready to Hang

Painting by Brad Rickerby

Available for sale.

I wanted to paint something that looked like a Rothko, a painter I really love. I took a bigger canvas than I normally use and layered large areas with red and blue paint. I used no purple paint in the background of this painting. I used two inch brushes first and then moved down to one inch brushes.  Next came the yellow, three different colors of yellow in each block. I created the darker areas by blending in just the smallest amounts of yellows compliment, purple. Really, just the smallest amount. I painted the large block first. Realize that I had lost Rothko, but liked the painting. I my creation sit on its easel for two weeks trying to determine what to do next. Then the bottom blocks filled themselves in (well, not really). 

I like the final product and I enjoyed creating it.

Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Landscape Watercolor Painting by Brad Rickerby

Lots O' Flowers, Watercolor, gouache and dye on paper.

Painting by Brad Rickerby

Sold

This painting represents such an emotional contrast for me. I was very depressed when I created this painting, yet the painting itself is very positive, filled with colors and life and positive energy. It always pleases me that I keep creating life affirming imagery while I am in despairing moods. It lets me know that my life is going to go on and that success and happiness are just around the corner.

On to the technique for creating this painting. The first was crucial. First I put some soothing jazz on the stereo and poured a nice glass of wine. I cleared my head, let myself come closer to the surface, then I started painting. The painting itself was large, 16 x 20".  I wet the paper then spread powered clothing dye on the bottom. Use brown, when released by the what multiple colors come out and the grains of dye remain that have the look and feel of dirt. Next I put landscape colored watercolor across the bottom and scraped it upward with a palette knife. I did the same with blues for the sky. I use the same knife to created lines that represent stems for the flowers. Finally I took watercolor and gouache for the flowers. I used mostly round brushes of various sizes to place the flowers.