Monday, May 11, 2015

Someone asked me about where my creative mind comes from

 

Where my creative mind comes from? Truly from wherever I look now and then. From the nature of all natures and the unbearable lightness of a visual poem with endless colors and textures...  Only I paint If it feels right to me. Hopefully this clears up a bit.

Last week the French ship L'Hermione was in Las Palmas port. On that beautiful tuesday afternoon, I took my pastel sticks to draw this boat. Sitting in a bench by the harbour drawing nearly 2 hours. While I was concentrated on my artwork, people were visiting the ship and passing in front of me. Some artlovers stopped by to watch work in progress quietly and gentile, trying not to disturb me. Even a little boy asked me if he could take the photo of my drawing with his camera. It was a lot of fun to be out there working and sharing my artwork with them.

Work in progress

"L'Hermione in Las Palmas" by Birsen Ozbilge
Sakura Cray-Pas Expressionist oil pastels 
on Rembrandt cream pastel paper, 30 x 24 cm, 2015
(Available, click on SHOP to purchase)

Last week I started to another still-life oil painting for "Kitchen Stories" series. Zucchini is the main subject along with three eggs in a bowl which I will share my special zucchini fritter recipe in my book. To create a classical triangle composition, I needed something tall so I used a wooden African figure sculpture that we bought it in a flee market in NYC about 15 years ago. I laid these objects on a pink silk scarf which was a gift from my mother-in-law. Once I set the composition, I prepared my new recycled wooden palette, using the palette vertical direction is very handy and practical. I toned my canvas sheet with raw sienna color and directly drew the outlines, than blocked the mid tones and darks first and added the light colors afterwards. This first layer needs to dry now. I have several unfinished oil paintings which I am painting them back and forth at the moment. 

"Zucchini with eggs" work in progress

Today, I worked on a new oil pastel drawing with green flowers and carrots along with "La menina" figurine. If you remember the famous Spanish painter Diego Velázquez's "Las meninas". I used Sakura Cray Pas Expressionist 50 color set on a black toned paper. Using dark tone papers gives a very nice texture effect on finished work. The trick is not to cover the surface totally and use it as contrast with pastels. Objects can be painted with several layers in order to stand out more.

 Work in progress

 "La menina with carrots" by Birsen Ozbilge
Sakura Cray-Pas Expressionist oil pastels 
on Rembrandt black pastel paper, 24 x 30 cm, 2015
Available, contact me for purchase details


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