Impasto is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface in very thick layers, usually thick enough that the brush or palette knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides texture; the paint appears to be coming out of the canvas. Acrylic…
Author: artbyeileen
I am a South African born artist, who has lived in 5 different countries in the last 20 years. I returned to South Africa in 2016 and I am now living in St Lucia, a small tropical village on the shores of the Indian Ocean. My rather unusual life experiences and travels have influenced my style and choice of subject matter. The rich desert colours, the vibrancy of the tropical flowers, all my paintings communicate my connection to the land and nature. Flowers are my main subject and I am inspired by layerings of colour, be it bright and ebullient, or understated and muted. Colour can evoke so many different responses in someone and my paintings speak to their viewer through their movement, colour and texture. Painting is my way of sharing the pleasure I derive from the beauty that surrounds me in nature and especially the flowers I so loves to paint. An ability to communicate all of this through granular sculptural textures, three dimensional application of paint and striking use of colour makes my art work bold and engaging.
All things painterly…
The last while I have been trying to force myself to loosen my painting style and move in a more painterly direction. I started using a combination of palette knives and colour shapers together with a brush to force myself to stop worrying about keeping things inside the lines. Rather than relax my brushwork I…
The gift of teaching
I am not a teacher and certainly never aspired to be one. I did however have incredible teachers. One of the best teachers I have ever had was my art teacher. She had a profound effect on my love of art, as well as teaching me to think critically, to observe, and to appreciate all…
Inspiration
I love flowers, I have ever since I was a toddler. One of my first memories was of me plucking my mothers magnificent dahlia’s off at the neck. I couldn’t have been more than 3. I even remember the colour like it was yesterday…. It was a deep, dark almost purple cabernet colour and I…
Studio Doggie
For the last 16 years and 10 months our family has shared our lives with our faithful companion and four legged fury family member known as Mr Pepper. He is spoiled, well travelled, entitled, loves biltong and droewors and is absolutely devoted to his humans, especially his absent childhood companion. We are in-turn devoted to…
Painterly palette
My work the last while has been moving in a more painterly direction relying more on colour, texture and stroke to express form. Using a palette knife and colour shapers have made this a natural progression in my work. Detail now needs to be simplified, and alternative solutions found to creating shape rather than using…
My blue period…
Jar #1 Acrylic on canvas 30 X 42 cm Blue and white is one of those classic combinations that I will never tire of. My passion for collecting dragons led me too illustrative ceramics where dragons are found curling around and leaping from the beautifully illustrated jars. Most of the Far Eastern ceramics, especially the…
Delft and Dutch irises
Flowers remain a passion as do blue and white jugs, ginger jars and temple jars. This beautiful blue and white jug was begging for an arrangement of Dutch Irises. Paint was also thickly applied with various shaped palette knives to create a loose impression of what I was seeing before me. Much like a flower…
A cascade of Spring
As much as I hate the heat of summer I love the spring and summer flowers. (I am a notorious winter, cold weather lover and find myself energised by low, dark skies, pouring rain, and freezing cold). The nice thing about living in Zululand is our summers, though hot and humid have a high rainfall,…
Cosmos fields
Before we were married Phil and I drove up to St Lucia (in KZN) from Cape Town over the Easter Weekend in April of 1989. We drove through the Free State and it was one of those unforgettable experiences that will remain forever etched in my mind. All I could see was sandstone mountains, flaming…
Flaming sunflowers
Sunflowers always make me think of slightly shaggy, sloppily dressed flowers with a bonhomie and lackadaisical attitude as their faces follow the sun across the horizon in a worshipful gaze. They even look the part with their haphazard bright yellow petals radiating out from a dark burnt umber heart. Acrylic on canvas 40 X 40…
Magnolias, ikebana and vessels
Flowers have had a huge influence in my life, I’m sure its why, (besides the fact that I love all things flower) they are such a dominant theme in my artwork. My father was a horticulturist, my mother a florist, and as a result we always had flowers in our home and a beautiful garden…
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