River Stories 1, oil, Conté & etching on Mylar
I don’t know where this might end up (messier, maybe – it seems too colourful, it bores me …) but it is what I’m wrestling with at the moment. Well, we’ve been wrestling for a while. Slippery fish.
© Karen McRae, 2014
draw and shoot 
It seems you are playing with psychological layer this time.
I like the gradual change of the tone. Still puzzling with scratch like lines — is there any
figure hidden ? ? ? 🙂
Nothing hidden that I know of! It’s in transition, though…
Karen, this is beautiful… you sure you want to keep ‘wrestling’ with it? It looks pretty happy as it is, to me anyway! 🙂
It’s hard to know where to stop or how to continue sometimes… thank you, Marina! I think this will keep evolving.
I like it too, but I’m not you 🙂 lovely style.
Thanks very much, Trish. : )
This is gorgeous, Karen! I love the subject, colors, composition, rendering. Absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for posting.
Thanks for your lovely comment, Elizabeth!
Beautiful painting. The stones are like eggs in those flowing layers connecting the fish to the birds. Alchemical nature. It looks complete to me.
Hi Steven, thanks for your comment. : )
I think it will have to shift some more, it seems not quite there to me. I’m glad you like it so far.
Not surprising at all that this piece shares the delicacy, the textures, the luminosity, the color palette of your photographic work. Nature reigns, water waves and it’s all beautiful.
I’m struggling with resolving this one but the process is fun! Thank you, Elena.
: )
Wow, this is beautiful. 🙂
Thanks, Nandini!
It has a lovely concept which I like, I know what you mean about the colour, it is as if it does not need it, it distracts the eye from the scene and is ?? ….. I tried on the ipad to play with different effects and thought a colder bluer temperature less saturated effect could work. IMHO of course, I presume you wanted feedback of all kinds . Please ignore if not 😉
Yes, the colour bothers me! It’s much easier to make a photograph less saturated. Thank you for taking the time to analyze and comment, Lesley, I appreciate it! It will definitely change somehow…
Nice to see some crayon! I sort of feel the same I think, with the colour ( thinking about other of your work…more softer colouring, for as far as I have seen that is) The yellow… it makes me think of making your own paint as I did a couple of years ago. Using seashells. Things I would find in and along water sides, and crunching them to fine sand and then ad Linz oil. And so…thinking about this one, ‘the river story 1’. If I would have it in my hands I would add a thin layer of ‘white’ (home made with linz) paint covering the whole thing and therfor make it a bit softer. But then..who am I. Just another blogger/wrestler writing some random thoughts.
I still think it’s lovely though, Yes!
Cheers Karen
p.s. Very nice new profile image you have
It’s very interesting that you suggest softening it with a thin layer of white – I was considering that! I like working in thin layers of paint, and sometimes I even sand down places in a painting with sandpaper, which I’ve also considered. I’ll do more work on it this week and see what happens.
Thanks very much for your feedback, Belinda, it’s kind of you to take the time to consider the possibilities. I appreciate it!
I’m glad you like the profile image, I thought it was time for a change….
I love the way you handle paint, Karen – (of course) as sensitively and acutely as you handle photographs. It’s a fascinating image!
Richard, thank you! I’m struggling a bit but I’m hoping to loosen this up somehow. I appreciate your feedback.
I love it..must be difficult to know when something is finished and not mess it up by adding or subracting things.
Yes, you’re right, I find it challenging. Especially with a painting. I think mostly I don’t push things far enough when I’m painting. Thank you, Paula.
Beautiful painting, Karen. I think it looks superb. Out of interest, how large is it?
Thank you, Distan. It’s 76cmX 101cm (30×40 inches), a good size. I meant to add the dimensions actually, I find it interesting to to know how large a piece of art is, too, it puts things in context more.
Interesting Karen! I love that crow.
Oh, stop wrestling, Karen! It’s beautiful. I love the softness and the fluidity of the colours, and the depth of the image as well. It’s so poetic, and luminous, like your photos.
Enjoy this new journey at your own pace, because the only important thing is to live the way.
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I think they are both amazing just the way they are! Beautiful work!
Flicker and brilliance of lives, chain and flowing…various layers spin various stories in the river. Great work, Karen.
Love the earth tones!
On…mylar?! Amazing.
Colorful ? 😉 For me it isn’t. It depends on the viewer, also it’s your choice. I like it. All the best