Painting my world

TWO ROCKS DRAWING-COLLAGES

While reorganizing my studio (here in Montenegro) I found two small drawings-collages made in 2007 when I was living and working in Tokyo,Japan.Drawings were done in soft pencil and pen and then collage pieces with Chinese characters were added. These small artworks and my photos will illustrate my current ‘rock mode’ nicely,I think.Both artworks are framed and available for sale.Shipping free. Contact: majdapainting@gmail.com

ROCK IN SILVER,2007, 14x14 cm, drawing/collage on Japanese hand made paper. (Framed in silver 17x17 cm).

BLACK STONE, 2007,15x15 cm,drawing/collage on Japanese handmade paper.(Framed in black 24x24 cm)

‘Nothing is wasted. nothing is in vain;the seas roll over but the rocks remain’  (Sir Alan Patrick Herbert,1970)

FALLING ROCKS

I love rocks and stones-that is why I often sketch them on my travels.My house is full of ordinary,colorful and irregularly shaped rocks, I even have a big piece of lava from Japan.

Japanese believe that a rock has a soul.

‘Geologists have a saying-rocks remember ’ (Neil Armstrong)

Here are details from my latest, rather big rock painting:

FALLEN ROCKS, 2013, oil and gold leaf collage on canvas, 100x79 cm.

Available.Contact:majdapainting@gmail.com 

BIRD ROCK

My recent BIRD ROCK painting was done in oil and gold leaf which I bought in Kanazawa,Japan.I applied Japanese traditional gilding/gold leaf technique on canvas and I used 22 carat gold sheets. Kanazawa in Japan is famous for producing gold leaf which was first made in 1593, over 400 years ago.Gold leaf is made of alloys consisting of pure gold, and a very little amount of silver and copper. The gold leaf is pounded evenly to a thickness of 0.0001 mm.Even though gold leaf is so thin that we can see through it, the brightness of the gold is not lost.I think gold leafing adds a special effect to more traditional oil painting.

This painting was inspired by a rock with a bird image carved on it.I saw it in Croatia.

BIRD ROCK, 2013, 50x50 cm,oil/gold leaf and gilding wax on canvas. Available.Contact: majdapainting@gmail.com

TULIP sketches-studies-painting

I`ve been sketching tulips for a long time,but seldom painting them.I have the whole book of tulip images that I created: 2003 in China, 2006 in Slovenia and 2009 in Japan.Yes, some are really old and never made into a painting.Some are more sketchy,being done intuitivelly and some are more like careful studies where I was thinking about composition, values, color balance and contrast. These invaluable informations stored in my subconscious helped me created my recent painting

RED TULIP, 2013, 62x21, oil collage on canvas.

Available.Contact above.

Is it abstract or-

This small painting started as collage.Random brush strokes were added later when I was planning to make it completely  abstract.However, after finishing it and thinking about the title, I suddenly noticed mother and child on the upper part of collaged paper.It thus became

MADONA and CHILD, oil collage on cardboard, 29x24 cm,2013.

Available.Contact: majdapainting@gmail.com

Look what Picasso said: …’abstract art is not far removed from the random brushstrokes or carvings in a wall…we always imitate something, even when we don`t know we are doing.’

How long does it take you to complete a painting?

I am often asked.

Give anyone who asks this, the answer that Whistler gave to someone when asked how long it took to do his “Nocturne in Blue and Gold”. He said, “It has taken me a lifetime to get to where I can even begin to do this”.

My story:few months ago I found this small piece done in oil and copper leaf in my studio.It was made in 2005 when I was living in Japan and practising traditional technique of gold leaf.I did sign the piece but was never quite happy with it.I completed it few days ago by adding more oil colors-and this is now 

THE SIGNATURE, oil and copper leaf on wood panel,19x14 cm. NFS

A sketch and a painting

My recent sketch of Dalmatian coast,Croatia

inspired my painting DALMATIAN COAST,48x35 cm, oil on Masonite. Available.

‘An idea is a point of departure and no more….Certainly, if the painter has ideas, they come out of how he paints things’ PICASSO

Sketches,sketches…Dubrovnik and beyond

I`ve been away on holiday for few days cruising on our boat around Dubrovnik,Croatia.Here are some of my sketches to illustrate what I am truly interested in…

I used  PEBEO watercolor set for the first time.Colors are not so intense,but the palette is so French:

Here is a quote from the book I really like:

Frederick Franck from The Zen of Seeing: ‘I have learned that what I have not drawn I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is, sheer miracle.’

Tuscany-Geometric shadows

Tuscany-Geometric shadows, oil and gold leaf with glitter glue on Masonite panel,96x80 cm, 2013. SOLD.

Wisteria story-Dubrovnik,Croatia

Last weekend I was in marina in Dubrovnik (where we keep our boat) and came across large  wisteria tree,about hundred years old.Wisteria was in bloom, full of purple-pink-cool and warm blues…

Wisteria vines climb by twining their stems either clockwise or counterclockwise round any available support…

A challenging subject to sketch-but I quickly discovered too complex for me…so I ended up sketching something totally different:

and this is what caught my eye:

This was above me:

This was around me:

Nice spot to do more sketches:

Although native to Korea, China and Japan,the largest wisteria (or wysteria) vine is surprisingly in California, planted in 1894 and weighing 250 tons!

How big will this one grow?