Playground abstract painting series (1)

Painting/Drawing, , , , ,
Playground blue

The idea comes in when I watch my kids play in all kinds of playgrounds day after day during the warm seasons. It is interesting that when your kids constantly ask for playground and you instantly learn how to spot one just by driving around. After visiting dozens of playgrounds, I notice that they are all different in some details. They are similar but not identical. However the color theme is. All playgrounds have bold bright red, yellow, green or blue color combination. A few of them have green and purple combination but they are not appealing to me. I love the bold red, yellow, green and blue. So I want to try to paint with these bold colors. Then I search online for “Playground painting” and decide to go completely abstract.

I take some photos from my favorite playgrounds.

Playground reference photos

I start digital sketch in Procreate when my older one is in swimming practice. I want the color to be bold of course and I also want some major elements such as bars, webs and slides. In the end, I hope the painting would make you recall the time at playground as a kid.

Digital sketch of Playground blue

I paint it on a 20″×24″ stretched canvas. Once I finish the varnishing process I install the painting into a black floater frame. It is not necessary but I want to see how it looks in a frame. ^_^

In the beginning I only draw one digital sketch. Then I feel I am not done yet. Since I’ve selected four major colors for this subject, then why not paint four similar paintings with different background. Eventually they will become a series. So I did. However the other three paintings (Playground yellow/green/red) are still waiting for varnishing process. I will update them once I have formal photographs.

The Playground blue is available in my store. I will upload the time lapse painting process for this one in a separate post so you can enjoy.

Thank you.

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My paintings are an outlet to express the imagination I have inside my head that I can not put into words. After trying many mediums, I always find myself coming back to paint and brushes. In my current artistic practice, I use oil paint and mainly create portraits of mythical creatures and animals transfixed in the shifting colours of seascapes and landscapes. There is a natural spirit and magic to these creatures and their energy draws me in. Choosing to paint these creatures as real living wildlife rather than abstractions, I use bold and vivid colours to express the imaginary intertwined with reality, finding magic between the seams. Using a saturated colour palette, I create bold and striking imagery, contrasted between foreground and background, subject and landscape, and light and darkness. Weaving their bodies and the surface of the landscape into each other through organic forms and flowing brush strokes, I find beauty, strength and innocence in these creatures that reflect my inner world.