Saturday, August 27, 2016

"Coffee Now!"

Here's a bright little fella to start (or continue) your day in the right direction ... and I'm sure we can all relate to "Coffee Now!"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/291857551291?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

He's rather special to me as he was inspired by the incredibly noisy barn owls which inhabit the eaves of our 400 year old barn (renovated) where our office and my studio is located. You'd think the owls obssessively re-arrange the furniture in their nests every single night, the scratchings and thumpings are so loud!

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/291857551291?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

When they're quiet, we miss them, and when we're sitting outside on a balmy summer evening, it's the huge wing-span of owls that we look out for while we watch the stars.

I think they've invaded our hearts!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/291857551291?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 
 

Thursday, August 25, 2016

"Wild Profusion"

How on earth can two months have passed without me finding a moment to write a Paintings On Impulse blog!! I did spend a month of it in the UK doing some studies and teaching myself a new craft ... and since I've been back I have done some painting ... but even so, time seriously needs a bit of anchoring.

I have a lot of photographing of paintings and crafts to do, but in the meantime, here's a fairly new painting which grew on me slowly. It's called "Wild Profusion" and is oil on canvas with the background and vase painted using mainly brush, and the flowers using palette knife. She's for sale on my WildSummers.com website.

http://paintingsbylyndacookson.blogspot.fr/2016/08/wild-profusion-by-lynda-cookson.html

http://paintingsbylyndacookson.blogspot.fr/2016/08/wild-profusion-by-lynda-cookson.html

http://paintingsbylyndacookson.blogspot.fr/2016/08/wild-profusion-by-lynda-cookson.html

http://paintingsbylyndacookson.blogspot.fr/2016/08/wild-profusion-by-lynda-cookson.html
 

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Sessions of Inks and Acrylics

I'm off, tomorrow, to spend a couple of weeks in the UK and have packed only inks and acrylics to work with while I'm away .... oh, and about a ton of wool because suddenly I'm hooked on arm knitting!! Watch this space for scarves LOL

Most of my painting time will be spent on little paintings like these ink ones

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mr-Scrabble-Rooster-Ink-Painting-on-Paper-Contemporary-Artist-Europe-2000-Now-/291808069680?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tulips-in-Blue-Glass-Floral-Ink-Painting-on-Paper-Contemporary-Artist-2000-Now-/291808071236?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

These little paintings are up for sale now ... just click on the images or on their titles.

See you in a few ink paintings and cowl scarves time!

Monday, June 20, 2016

Flowering Up

Myself and my studio need a jolly good shaking up!

Look how barren it's looking at the moment ...
 -

"Now and Zen" has been moved to a new still life set-up I'm creating, but he's presiding over lifeless territory and looks sad indeed that I haven't yet painted him or brought some fizzing and popping into my studio this year.

Finding my creative mojo is largely about finding subjects to paint which make my heart sing. And what makes my heart sing are flowers ... they're colourful (major important), they're beautiful, they generally smell good (or make me sneeze!), and they're fun to arrange into a still life - simply bunched together in their pots, or in an attractive vessel which I have found somewhere / sometime in my life and knew it had to be mine. That sounds like a good dollop of heart and soul. Just the right ingredients for a painting session.

However. I find cut flowers here in France to be rather too expensive for my pocket. So. What to do?

I was let out alone, unsupervised, when the moon was just two days off being full, whilst doing funny things with Sagittarius in the heavens (the moon, that is, not me). Off I went with freedom whispering through my hair, to the post office (to post off a painting, yay!) and to visit the Saturday morning market which you have to walk through to get to the post office.

I happened, just by chance you see, to walk past a lovely fella who not only spoke good English having spent some years in Dublin, but who was selling plants and plantlets for only between €1 and €3 each. I lie. I didn't walk past. But ping! A light bulb lit up above my head. And two and two finally made four.

My studio has a very large window which is absolutely ideal for an indoor flower garden. And I've always been one for spending money on things which are not fleeting but which give returns time after time. I could justify forever .... so to cut a lot of justification short - nip it in the bud, to flog a good pun -  I arrived home with flower heads popping out of at least three bags and the bees at home very pleased to see me indeed.

Here are my purchases, my new studio members, unpacked and being sorted for planting into their forever pots .


I spent a full day playing at planting. My faithful studio pal, Bridie, spent happy hours drinking up all the fresh water from my watering can every time I filled it, pouncing on all the new insects I brought home and unwittingly set free in the studio, and sniffing each new plant arrival out as it was placed on the shelf. She tried to insist that playing ball was an integral part of the proceedings as well, by dropping it into the bag of soil as I was digging it out and filling pots, but I'm the boss and she had to wait for another time.

Here's our day and progress in images:

The hanging Petunias went up first ... and because both the
medieval lamp and ancient dark wood beams look so good
here's another shot ...


Each plant was thoroughly soaked in water in
my large green tub which is usually upside down
under a white sheet as a still life support!

As so often happens, stems snap off in the handling.
Whenever this happened I trimmed it suitably and
popped it in a jug or bottle to see if it will grow roots -
see jug next to African Hornbill sculpture.
And don't you love my miniature orange tree at the top back?
That was a naughty one, purchased from a florist
opposite the post office, for more money than
I ought to have spent!

Done! All in place and ready for inspection by Bridie


 I'm not quite sure if that look is saying "Well done Mum!"
or "What the hell? Are you going to remember to water
these and can I help test the water?"
 
 These little purple beauties just looked so stunning
next to "Symphony" an unfinished sculpture which I
created with my special Australian artist pal Heather.
Got to finish it one day ... or maybe not ... sometimes
things are more beautiful in the incompleteness!

As in all spring cleaning exercises where the dust gets swept
under the carpet so too did all the art equipment end up on the
back table ...looking rather good in all its glory.

Watch this space for new paintings now!
Well, I have a couple of commissions to complete first.
Then .... watch this space for new paintings!



Friday, June 10, 2016

Prices and Commissions

I'm happy to report that in the last couple of years I've received requests for a number of paintings on commission. Talking money is the hardest and yukkiest part of it! So in that regard, I have set it all down on a page on my formal website at www.WildSummers.com including a bit on what an artist generally has to take into account when producing a painting.

You can find the Prices and Commissions page HERE.


This is the latest image I am working on repeating .....

"Summer Storm"

..... and lamenting "Why, oh why, is it so hard to reproduce a painting!!" 


Collage of Floral Paintings

Still looking for my creative mojo which I seem to have misplaced recently. I've been making collages and videos of various paintings from years gone by. Here's one of some floral paintings.

Off to search for that mojo again now ...... I know I'll find it soon!

Collage of floral paintings

Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Collage of Watercolour Paintings

Pimp My Art Websites has been the name of the game recently.

For looking-after-old-Mum reasons, I've lost my creative mojo temporarily (going to get it back pretty soon though!!) so have been catching up on hours and days of marketing, which comes with being an artist these days.

Part of that has been discovering how to make collages of my work (below) and using a programme called TweetEye.com  to promote individual paintings as well as my WildSummers.com website. Initially there's quite a lot of work in setting TweetEye up, but already I've noticed a lot more activity on my Twitter accounts.

See you on Twitter ... look for me here ... @wild_summers

A collage of some watercolour paintings by moi :






Friday, May 27, 2016

"Spirited" by Lynda Cookson

Paintings by Lynda Cookson: "Spirited" by Lynda Cookson: "Spirited" by Lynda Cookson   Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas 40 cm x 120 cm x 2.5 cm (approximately) 16" x 47" x ...

Thursday, May 26, 2016

"Blue Teapot Arrangement" by Lynda Cookson

eBay have re-introduced loads more Auction listings rather than Buy Now listings ... yay! Much more fun! And so much easier to work with in combining postage for clients for buy more than one painting at a time.

Tea to celebrate ... so here's "Blue Teapot Arrangement" - with flowers instead of tea!

Just click the image or its title to go through to the sales page.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blue-Tea-Pot-Arrangement-Contemporary-Oil-Painting-Paper-Artist-France-2000-Now-/291773902297?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT


 

Friday, May 20, 2016

"The Core of My Soul"

I absolutely love abstract work ... but it's not that often that I post it. My love of flowers usually takes over! So, here for a change, is an abstract oil, with a touch of gold acrylic, on board called "The Core of My Soul". I wanted it to be complex yet simple when you reach the centre.
For sale HERE or click the image or its title.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Core-of-My-Soul-Abstract-Oil-Acrylic-Painting-Contemporary-Artist-France-/291764661636?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Friday, May 13, 2016

Collages of Paintings

I've had a bit of fun today finding out how to make collages of paintings. My first one ... of some abstract paintings ...

It's not possible, most of the time, to fit the whole painting in (sadly), but you do get a general idea of the work.


Please remember to visit my new website: http://WildSummers.com

 

Thursday, May 05, 2016

WildSummers.com

I fell off the radar for a few weeks there ... because building a new website is an incredibly time-consuming activity! It's almost up and running ... I've uploaded all the craft items but am only now, this week, finishing uploading all the paintings. It should be complete by the end of this week ... phew!

These are the three images I've used on my welcome page of the website and you can have a sneak preview here : WildSummers.com

 
 "Tulips and Gypsophila"

 "Single Minded Flowers"

 "A Sunflower Greeting"



Friday, March 11, 2016

Abstract Collage

I recently had need of finding out how to make a collage of various painting images for the Palette Knife Painters group. It's not as easy as I thought but I finally found a site called Fotor.com which does a limited amount for free before you have to pay an annual or monthly fee. Paying annually is cheaper of course. And it's easy to use.

So here is the first collage of three of my own abstracts.




Sometimes it doesn't show the image in full - as in the lower two images of this collage - but you do have a few layout designs to choose from. Not perfect, but useful.


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

"The Old Geranium Chair"

I'm up from being in bed for a couple of days with a nasty flu bug ... and ready to continue with the formal portrait for The Sunflower Wedding Couple, and another painting in the #dreamlovepaint course ... as soon as I've cracked the last of the admin lurking in my left brain.

So, on to right brain stuff ... here's the last painting from the #dreamlovepaint course and I've called it "The Old Geranium Chair". Next in line is a bunch of daisies and mini-roses in a glass jar.


Tuesday, February 09, 2016

"The Purple Bow"

I'm doing a six-week online painting course at the moment with Dreama Tolle Perry ... and this is week three's painting. I've called it "The Purple Bow".

I would highly recommend her course - I'm doing it to help me find more light in my paintings and to train me to use a brush as much as I usually use palette knives.


 "This Little Cup Cake" was my effort from week two.


Monday, February 01, 2016

The Sunflower Wedding Couple formal portrait 1

For a few months now I've been working on a formal portrait for a couple I call The Sunflower Wedding Couple. They were married recently and sunflowers were their flower of choice at the wedding.

Formal portraits are usually scary paintings to create - well, for me anyway! Even if you've had previous successes in painting people to actually look like themselves, it's always a fresh challenge and a fresh risk that things might just not come out as they should, and be difficult or well nigh impossible to correct. One of the tricks is to take a lot of time over it, considering each stage and getting used to it before you progress to the next stage. This gives you time to correct errors before it's too late.

This is where I began:
 

The image below is where I'm at right now ... needing to work more on his hair and face but needing paint to dry before I go at it again. His shirt is also in the "being considered" category and is likely to be toned down a wee bit - but I'll only know whether that is necessary or not, and by how much, once I've completed his suit. It's a constant juggle and puzzle, waiting for the stage ahead to be put in place before you know how to complete the stage before it.

You can find the full process from beginning to end - well, where I'm at right now anyway - on the Painting Progression page on Facebook : www.facebook.com/PaintingProgression/


Friday, January 29, 2016

My world is alive with challenges!

I absolutely thrive on pressure and challenge ... as long as I can get long nights of sleep and the occasional day where my wheels simply fall off and I have to sleep the afternoon away. I'm obviously loving a life of extremes ... either totally exhilarated or happily snoozing on a sense of achievement.

There's a lot on my plate this year .... the new aspects being a demanding new brush painting course, and administering and marketing the Palette Knife Painters Group which takes up two almost entire days a week at the moment. I've still got a formal, large, portrait painting to complete, a trip to the UK (family visits) and Ireland to take work to three galleries there, marketing my own work and keeping a high profile in cyberspace ... and, of course, my fair share of looking after my 92 year Mum who has Altzheimers.

My tip for the day:
The days are just flying by .... so I've set out a timetable for myself, just like I was in school. And it's really helping to keep me on track and stay focused. I've used a spreadsheet programme with each day of the week and it's duties highlighted in a different colour. Yay me!

On a high today, so have chosen a busy painting for this blog :

"Henry"

Monday, January 18, 2016

My Art Marketing Addiction

I get such a buzz from marketing and networking online.

For a self-professed hermit, as I am, I have a fair number of Friends on Facebook (and growing daily), twelve Facebook Pages which are either mine or I am involved with, two Facebook Groups, and at least three blogs which I monitor daily. I don't post daily but I do keep an eye on them and promote them regularly as well as when I get the chance by default. I have a few other blogs as well but use them more as my private notebooks than public platforms.

I'm passionate about it all!

My latest Group is the Palette Knife Painters Worldwide Group where I've used one of the members' paintings as our page image. I just love it! It's called "Free Already", is by Carrie Jacobson, and sadly only the top part of the image is able to appear on Facebook, but here's the whole thing:

"Free Already" by Carrie Jacobson

Networking online is, for me, another creative activity. Sometimes I feel a bit like the conductor of an orchestra ... what a feeling of power! Organisation and displine are key to all this music, otherwise all hell breaks out and it takes me a while to catch up.

Believe it or not, there is time to paint in amongst all this marketing stuff, although more in the warmer months than right now in the chilly depths of winter. As I type, my fingers are stiffly protruding from fingerless gloves and I'm thinking .... hot chocolate.

So, to prove my networking and marketing addiction, these are my pages, groups and blogs:


Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Painting and Art Sales Blog

Once a week I'll post an update from the Painting and Art Sales Blog. It's building up to be quite a strong platform from which to promote your painting sales.

You find find the Facebook page here :  http://Facebook.com/PaintingSales

And the blog here : http://PaintingAndArtSales.blogspot.com

How to participate on this platform is easy to find on both the Blog and the Facebook page. Just look for Terms and Conditions.

Some latest posts:

"Fly Free" by Roisin Duffy
For sale. Please click  :  HERE
http://roisinduffy.com/RoisinDuffy.com/Fly_Free.html
 "Fly Free" by Roisin Duffy (Irish Artist)
info@roisinduffy.com
http://roisinduffy.com

"Cosmos" by Brenda Mackay

"Cosmos" by Brenda Mackay (South Africa)
For sale. Please click  :  HERE

Please contact Patricia Brown, UK agent for Brenda Mackay

Monday, January 11, 2016

Palette Knife Painters Group

I'm happy to report that I have recently been handed the reins of the Palette Knife Painters group and blog. Yay! What a challenge and what a lovely group of artists to work with.

I'm busy getting the hang of it all - how to network this valuable gem so that it becomes part of a strong linked-system working Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter - as well as other blogs and platforms.

We're on the lookout for new palette knife artists .... hopefully loads more from Europe, Africa and Australia - as well as anywhere else in the world we can find them. And there must be a treasure trove more palette knife artists in the USA too. In this way we'll bring together a host of different styles influenced by different cultures and environments. Just think of that energy!


You can find the main blog here : http://PaletteKnifePainters.blogspot.com

Here is a sample of paintings recently uploaded:

 Artist : Karin Tarlton

 Artist : Jane Boyd

 Artist : Judith Babcock

 Artist : Carol Schiff

Artist : Mark Bidstrup
lyndacookson@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/MySoapBox

Saturday, January 02, 2016

"Told You So!"

It's a new day, it's a new world, it's a New Year!! And I thought I'd start it with a little bit of Attitude. I present to you: "Told You So!" a charcoal drawing on oil monoprint.

I have a few of these types of sketches, inspired by two separate life drawing classes where I found the models (a male, then a female) to be particularly grumpy and unresponsive during the class. I just couldn't relate to the essence of who they might be ... so resorted to humour and character drawing instead. I had loads of fun ... even if they didn't!

Have a delightfully wonderful 2016 everyone! Enjoy all the Highs, and kick all the Lows into the place they belong!

"I Told You So" - in all his glory - is available HERE (or click the image or title below)


lyndacookson@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/MySoapBox