Pond – a New Botanical Painting.

Pond is a new botanical painting. It is an intimate macro representation of a pond created from a series of photos taken at the Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens. Many of my botanical paintings are inspired by photos taken and drawings done at these gardens. The gardens are filled with interesting scenes and ‘visual moments’ that are often complimented by my use of backlighting or other unusual lighting effects.

pond

The most difficult thing about Pond was achieving a balanced interplay between the curving lines of the reeds and other stalks and the simple round shapes of the lily pads. I achieved this balance by concentrating most of the reeds in the upper half and leaving the shapes of the lily pads to the bottom half.

Pond also needed subtle toning. A series of glazes helped to created the illusion that some of the reeds were in fact situated underwater. The placement of these reeds is highlighted by the inclusion of the gold fish which draw attention to them and the other subtle details under the water.

The painting is built up in thin layers of paint which gives the painting an inner glow when struck by a light. The layering has also added a lush richness and brightness to the main motifs giving the subject its moist quality, and the green is also rich, alluding to the healthiness of these plants which live in a small intimate pond and are constantly fed by the constant presence of plenty of water.

Sunday, September 27th will see the beginning of another group exhibition at the botanical gardens here in Coffs Harbour. This exhibition will continue near the entrance of the gardens for about a week. Pond will be one of the paintings I will be exhibiting in this show.

Ambrosia: Food of the gods.

Ambrosia: Food of the gods

Ambrosia is described in Greek and Roman mythology as the food of the gods. I love the idea that people can contribute to the happiness of ‘the gods’. I believe in the one God and although there is nothing we can give him that sustains or edifies Him I still believe He enjoys our meagre attempts to make Him happy.

In this painting the food of the gods is represented as a collection of lights (candles) that may or may not be lit as a devotion to Him in some way. God is light and these lights may only be flickering symbols of the light that is God, but they (lighted candles) are often a symbol of appreciation for all that God has done for us and those we love.

The use of a golden yellow in the painting alludes to the golden city of light that Revelations talks about as Heaven. The lights of the candles may not fill Heaven with any practical light, but the joy it brings God and the angels is a light in itself. Any kind of communication with Heaven is a joy to God and the angels. God created us because of his unsurpassable need to love and be loved. His light shines on us daily and it should be a pleasure to return some of this back to Him.

I love painting light. I used complementary colours (yellow, purple) as a symbol of all the colours of the spectrum – it takes all the colours of the spectrum to create white which is light. I tried to make the wax of the candles look soft and almost edible and I hope that the title suggests a kind of perfume which reaches God and brings joy to Him.

New landscape paintings coming

I am currently producing a new batch of landscape paintings. I have had a bit of a break from painting because of the masters which is now over. It’s good to get back into what I love most. The new landscape paintings will be a variety of sizes and will be mostly realist landscape paintings and fantasy landscape paintings.

I am producing a lot of small landscape paintings. Some are of the ocean and others of hills and mountains. Many of them are incorporating mist and thick clouds to produce an otherworldly atmosphere and I’m toying with the colouring of a few of the works to add even more variety.

Light will play an important part in these paintings.

I feel I’ve become a little scratchy since the break and the idea of painting landscapes to ‘warm up’ to the task has been very beneficial. Landscape painting is the best way to learn how to use aerial perspective and how to use paint as a medium itself. The combination of thick and thin paint used to create depth in a landscape painting makes experimenting with the use of paint a distinct must while creating these works. I feel this is a very useful way to get myself back into painting.

I will begin posting images of these new landscape paintings in the next few days. I am already working on about fifteen of them (mostly small) and hope to have the first lot of new landscape paintings ready in about a fortnight.

Some of these paintings will hopefully be sold at the Bellingen Markets in the coming months. I hope to start selling at the Bellingen Markets in a month or two. Hope to see you there.

Bellingen Gold $2,850 Oil on Canvas 100*120cm

Celebration $890 Pastel and Ink on Paper 50 * 70 cm

Paypal

Just reminding everyone that I have a paypal account so this can be used to buy paintings or prints. If you’re interested in purchasing any of my works just contact me by email at leonard@leonardaitken.com

Journey 3 $980 Oil on canvas 60 * 82 cm

The great thing about paypal is the security it provides to both the vendor and the customer.

Botanical Works

My botanical works are quite different from the usual botanical paintings you see on the internet.

Most botanical works are done in watercolour and show a single specimen of a plant or flower isolated on a white background. I find this kind of recording of botanical motifs rather dry and boring.

In contrast, my paintings isolate a small area of botanical nature and concentrate on creating a design which is more pleasing to the eye than the usual scientific recording of a botanical motif. Most of my botanical works are macro – they choose a small area of nature and represent them in detail, using bright but realistic colours. They are completed in oils, not watercolour, giving them a fuller more vibrant appearance.

The lighting in these paintings is a strong element of the painting – maybe even the main element. Often a backlight is used to highlight the details of leaves and the presence of small bugs and other details. Lately, I have been painting more topical botanical paintings. This is because of the area where I live – Coffs Harbour, where there are a lot tropical plants around to choose from.

I love going to the local botanical gardens, where I take lots of photos of various motifs which then are converted into paintings via which I feel have a dramatic, beautiful or interesting look.

Some of the works are of individual leaves or flowers, while others may be renditions of a part of a garden or bush area. There is usually more to see in one of my paintings than in the usual dry botanical painting done in watercolour for scientific purposes.

Please feel free to comment on my botanical paintings or any other works in my collection.

All the works not marked as sold are for sale, and limited edition prints are also available on request. Please contact me if you have any questions relating to this.

Grevillia $980 oil 60 * 90 cm

Menagerie $1250 oil 60 * 90 cm