Marie Flynn Fine Art ~ A Collection of Best Works

More shows to come

The Joys of painting in an RV while on vacation...

The comfort of being inside if and when the weather turns bad. And it always does...

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Bringing lots of painting supplies. (but I always forget something, Oh well..)

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Relaxation and Privacy when painting. (Unless your neighbor invites you to tea or wine!)

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Listening to music while painting. (Do the dance of joy during a break!)

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Making coffee and lunch, or a nice glass of wine will do too. 

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Able to take bathroom breaks without leaving the RV.  (Yes, very important!)

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Taking your time at it. (Also Important!)

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Enjoying the scenery and the subject while on location.  

My tools to create my art...

I use the best quality professional paints. Two that I use are Golden and Liquitex and most recently, Holbein. They offer the highest pigment, have the widest of color choices and color shifts are limited.  Price range varies. Of course everyone has their preference in paints.

The canvases I use can vary according to availability. My favorite canvas brand is Gotrick, specifically, Apollon-Gotrick Delux stretched and Delux Gallery.  They are high quality double and triple primed with enough tooth to hold paint well, and are Canadian made.  My other most recent favorite is West Coast canvases. They are very good sturdy supports and are made of high quality materials and workmanship. I love them as well.

My brushes are primarily Ruby Satins by Silver Brush. ( I have other brands but these are my favorite). Short handle and long. I have both. They are the only ones I will use most and the reason is the quality. These are exceptional synthetic brushes with exceptional snap and color control which is why I love them, but they are a little hard to find in my area and the only store that I have managed to find them is at Mona Lisa's art supply. They carry a small range of them. Other supply stores in Calgary don't carry them, not sure why, but you can find them on Amazon. However, Amazon sells them individually and are pricey. Silver brush also have a website where you can buy them. They can be used for oil, acrylic and watercolor. I highly recommend these brushes. 

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I also use a variety of mediums to add to my acrylic paint to incorporate into their properties. I will often use a retarder medium for instance to lengthen the drying time of my acrylics. I often use a glazing medium as well. For example, you can see that on a few of my paintings where rocks are featured. Gels are also used when I want to apply thicker paint on my canvas and enhance the appearance of brush strokes. There's so much that can be done with mediums and fun to try some of them. Lastly, I varnish my paintings using two or three coats thinly applied as a way to protect them. 

My painting method.....sometimes it varies

I thought it might be interesting to show just how I go about creating a painting in my studio. Just like everyone else, I start off in search of a good subject, but before I do, it starts with an idea.  I go through many of my own reference photographs. I sit down and do some planning. This is often how I get inspired to start something. In Alberta, winter is long and hard and often difficult to paint on location.

The first thing I look for is a good composition and at times I have seen through my camera lens. Having good color in the image is important too. I adjust settings on my camera to allow for this. Once I have a good image, I can do the necessary adjustments on my computer. I print off two photos. One in color, the other in black and white to see the values. Depending on how close I am to my subject as I am taking the photo, I usually will print off a 4x6, 5x7 or an 8x10 to see the details. To actually start my painting from a photograph, I make sure the dimensions are right in accordance to the size of the canvas I'm using. My computer comes in handy to view the colors from the image. 

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A simple color wash over the canvas...

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I always draw my image in pencil on the the canvas first and I always give my canvas a background color as a base.  I find by doing this, I can see the color values more clearly and it seems to help minimize colors going too dark or too light. It also seals the canvas so colors don't bleed through I'm told, although I've never had this happen.

My favorite colors to tone are Yellow Ochre (opposite), Raw Umber, Neutral Grey N6, and Ultramarine Blue. Lately, I've been using Quinacridone Burnt orange and it works well.  I use Titanium white mixed in to make the paint lighter if needed and mix a little water to thin it all out if it's too thick. With a large 2" brush, I cover the whole canvas.

After I've completed all the prep work, I begin by choosing what area to paint first on the canvas. I then choose a color and start painting. I don't squeeze out all the paint colors I need on my pallet like some artists do. You see them spread around the perimeter of the pallet. Probably this is more for oil painting. I prefer to squeeze out one or two colors at a time rather than possibly waste paint that I may end up not using and watching a blob of paint dry out. It's a waste. What I do is arrange my paint tubes in a row beside my pallet, that I know I will use. That way I can see the colors indicated on each tube.  I have my retarder fluid handy and I use a large ice cream bucket to use for water, to clean brushes. My painting techniques vary.  I use a combination of short and long strokes to apply paint and in different directions. No rhyme or reason here, just working to get the color down is my intension. I do a lot of mixing too because I love to play with color and see what I end up with. That's about it.