Masking Scapes

Since finishing my first year at university I now have loads of 'free' time to do some of the things I have wanted to do for a while; Get better at cooking, visit new places around Leeds and of course, make some art that isn't directly related to Uni. So far the cooking has been going well, I have successfully made some tasty meals without killing anyone. The traveling has been steady as it costs money I don't really have. And the art has been productive; I have kept a sketchbook going and painted a series of landscapes so you could say it's going well, but I want to know what you think?

Following on from my theme of landscape paintings I finished at the end of the academic year (which I posted about here) I decided to experiment with other ways of painting them. The aim was to also try out painting on different surfaces to see which I prefer; Paper, MDF or Calico, and after finishing the paintings, the answer is Calico. This is because even after the priming process, the surface is smooth meaning you can get a flat finish with your paint, leaving you with a surface that is easy to paint onto. This of course is my personal opinion based on my style of painting, what do you prefer to paint onto?

I then spent a few days collecting images of exotic or interesting landscapes I came across on Instagram until I had a small reservoir to paint from. I was drawn to landscapes with lots of water, sky and/ or mountains because of the shapes and colour they contained. I then did a small series of watercolour sketches on scrap bits of paper to test out colours and compositions before going onto doing the real deal. Is this something you do before you start?

Then came the actual acrylic paintings. I went for a technique of using masking tape as a stencil to create the shapes, hence terming the series Masking Scapes. I used a craft knife to cut out the contours of the mountains and delicately stuck them onto the surface before painting in the section. Next was the best part - peeling off the tape to reveal the crisp, sharp edge of the mountains, sea or rocks. I found it best to work from back to front, starting with the sky and ending with the sea or land in the foreground, layering up the colour on top of each other, and I am pleased with the results.

So what do I think of the series of paintings? I believe they are successful because they are different to how I would normally paint landscapes; bright and minimal. They have a contemporary feel with the vivid colours and block shapes which is what I was going for. I love the intense coloured ones but I also really like the monotone ones, such as the black and grey one and the blue one (bottom left and bottom right). This is because I liked the challenge of painting with a limited colour palette, changing the colours whilst keeping it looking relatively realistic.

In the future I plan to do a similar thing - experiment a limited colour palette, possibly black and grey. I would also like to try and keep along the minimalist style, maybe using collage, cutting shapes out of painted paper to form my compositions. Until then though, I want to know what your opinions are of this series. Do you prefer the bright coloured paintings or the monotone paintings? Would you consider using masking tape like a stencil in your own practice? and what do you think of my ideas for future projects?