Tag Archives: Stylized Art

May 3, 2013 · 6:22 am

Elephant Walk

Sometimes I want there to be lots of interaction going on with my creatures but in this painting I decided to let the creatures speak for themselves.

Although my work looks “childlike” to most eyes, I spend a long time on composition and work out color values on paper copies before I watercolor my painting. I often do my work on aquaboard and varnish the finished work rather than use watercolor paper. I can go through 10 to 20 revisions of my drawing before I ever get to the inking stage. Once I do ink in my paintings, I am using the old fashioned technique working with a crow quill pen dipped in indelible ink. More on my process and intent in the next post.

Today I hope you enjoy the tamed wildness of sea anemones intersecting with jungle creatures and giant sized poppies.

SOLD

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Tagged as after the style of Henri Rousseau, bird painting, elephant jungle painting, elephant painting on aqua board, giant poppies, Imaginary Art, jungle painting, monkey in painting, Naive Art, painting on aqua board, primative art, primitive style, Stylized Art, Whimsical Art

April 27, 2013 · 7:12 am

Sheepish and just hanging around.

I love painting dramatic imaginary foliage and poppies so here they are combined with a family of creatures.

This painting is getting framed in a beautiful maple floater frame. This is the style of framing I did for 8 paintings I mailed to Europe today. (Ask me about the complexities of that task!).

This is on top of being woken up at 3:31AM by my cat Arthur who jumped on my head 5 times, swatted his tale on my face and cried repeatedly. I thought maybe he saw an animal as the light was pouring in from the full moon, or we hadn’t left the basement door open but when I got up to investigate, just sat at the head of the bed crying. My phone is right nearby and I had the sound turned down to one notch. At 3:39 my 86 year old mom called me from the hospital. She had been taken there by ambulance after falling.

Sometimes I know things are just coincidences but I have been reading the book Making Rounds With Oscar that my dear friend and amazing artist, Kelley MacDonald lent me. This is the story of Oscar the cat at Rhode Island’s Steer House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center who goes and curls up next to patients destined to die within hours in spite of what doctors state or predict.

I am not saying Arthur is an Oscar, and my mom is already home, with a small fracture in her neck and a few bruises but thankfully nothing more. He is a smart and intuitive cat who came into my life when I most needed to have a kitten to help me refocus my energies on joy and playfulness. And he woke me up in time to see my phone light up and be there to talk to my mom when she really needed someone to help her talk to the ER staff.

Arthur is in orange, Bitsy the calico.

And if you know of anyone who might like to sign up for my blog, I am giving away an IPhone 5 cover with one of my wild leopard paintings on it to one of the next 5 people who sign up for my blog. So, please pass this along if you think someone might be interested.

This painting is 9″ by 12″ on aqua board, varnished, framed and going to go to a new home.

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Tagged as after the style of Henri Rousseau, cats in the bushes, cats painting, egret painting, Fantastical Creatures, Imaginary Art, imaginary landscapes, Ink and Watercolor Painting, jungle painting on aqua board, Naive Art, painting on aqua board, painting plants, primitive style, sheep painting, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Whimsical Art

April 22, 2013 · 4:45 am

Monkey Business or How to Eavesdrop!

This painting has gone through several revisions over the past few weeks. I was pleased with the drawing but have darkened and lightened some areas to make a more harmonious painting. I continue to be in the poppy business.

It has been a very busy few days. I am trying to get work ready for several shows and have encountered those old framing challenges. I have several at the framer and am changing frames I originally was going to use by sanding and varnishing them.

I also hosted a meeting for South Coast Artists, an artist group I am part of on Thursday. There was such great energy at the meeting it felt like a party.

We have begun gardening and I planted 7 rhubarb plants in the lower 40. It is my favorite fruit for pies and I am hoping these plants take off and give me years of pies. I used Skype to chat with my daughter tonight who is in Hawaii for work. Now that job has some wonderful perks. She is staying at Waikiki Beach. I wish I were there. I could use some warm weather.

This painting is 6″ by 6″ and framed in a shadow box frame. It is for sale for $250.

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Tagged as after the style of Henri Rousseau, Aqua Board, Fantastical Creatures, flowers on gold, imaginary landscapes, Ink and Watercolor Painting, jungle painting, Monkey Business, Naive Art, painting on aqua board, painting with luminescent paints, poppies painting, primitive style, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Whimsical Art

April 15, 2013 · 5:22 am

Flower Jungle and Joy

OK, I hope you smile. This is my way of making someone happy. Art gives me joy and joy is happiness.

I have spent several days working on this picture. It took quite awhile to work out the patterns and colors. Swirls and spirals always intrigue me and I like to see them in my paintings. The bunny is offering flowers to the elephant and my cats are hanging out in the tree. I often add a Mother Goddess to my work. She takes care of overseeing each little world. This time she is communing with the flowers oblivious to the curious cats and the animals paying homage to the wonderful elephant. This continues to fit in my jungle series although the creatures are tamer. I do love the color combinations and the sky full of poppies.

Here is a close up of this curious constellation. And we did not get to see the Aurora Borealis here due to cloud cover. My former office mate lives in Fairbanks, Alaska and I would love to see what the sky is like there. I also hope to go back to Iceland to see the Northern Lights (which we did not see when we were there both times we went).

If anyone out in the world of painting is working on aqua board, I would love to hear how you are framing them. I have searched the internet, watched videos on framing them and haven’t quite come up with a good solution. I am going to try a suggestion by Kelley MacDonald and see how it works. I will have to get more creative on the best way to frame a flat varnished board in which the painting goes right up to the edges.

This is a 9″ by 12″ Ink and Watercolor on aqua board. It is varnished and framed in a black and maple shadow box frame. This painting looks really lovely and is for sale for $600.00.

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Tagged as after the style of Henri Rousseau, bunny painting, elephant jungle painting, elephant painting, Imaginary Art, ink and watercolor paintings, Luminescent paints, Mother Goddess painting, Naive Art, painting of cats in jungle, painting on aqua board, poppies painting, primitive style, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Whimsical Art

April 11, 2013 · 5:16 am

Petting the Human!

When I drew this, I began putting my usual suspects into the painting rather than some of my more recent jungle creatures. Painting the background on aqua board is challenging. I find I need to work with all the strokes going in one direction. I must be sure the paint stays wet enough so the background stays even. On this painting I worked in the background first. I decided what colors I wanted to work in and painted out a few color combinations on xeroxes of the outlined drawing. Once satisfied, I began to work on this 8″ by 10″ painting.

Mr. Gray Pants and Purple Polka Dots remind me of cartoon characters.

This painting is framed in a maple and black shadow box frame. To purchase click here.

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Tagged as after the style of Henri Rousseau, Aqua Board, bear painting, Cat in tree, egret painting, Fantastical Creatures, Imaginary Art, Ink and Watercolor Painting, jungle painting, Naive Art, primitive style, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Whimsical Art

April 8, 2013 · 5:15 am

The bunny part of a new work.

I have been working on a few pieces, taking time out from each to let them sit before I continue to work on them. I haven’t finished any recently as I have been moving in between them but thought I would post part of a 9″ by 12″ work on aqua board.

Thanks to all who signed up for my blog. I have a winner from the last 20 blog followers. It is a lovely woman who bought my photo through Etsy. Well that is a nice surprise.

I love seeing the April daffodils and the early white forsythia blooming in our yard.

Happy Monday to all.

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Tagged as Aqua Board, cat in jungle, Dreamlike, Fantastical Watercolor, Henri Rousseau type painting, Imaginary Art, jungle painting, Naive Art, painting on aqua board, poppies painting, primitive style, rabbit in jungle, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Visionary Art, Whimsical Art

April 4, 2013 · 5:06 am

Petting the Human

I am working on a new piece with some of my imaginary creatures. I have figured out the color scheme and am doing something I haven’t done before. I am painting the background in first. This is the most tedious part of painting on aqua board as the strokes all need to be in one direction and with the same consistency of color. I look forward to posting the finished piece later in the week.

Happy Thursday to all. Yesterday it was breezy all day and then last night the north wind blew for hours. I hope everyone stayed warm. We lit a fire which kept the house very cozy.

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Tagged as after the style of Henri Rousseau, bear in jungle, bird, cat in jungle, curious creatures, Fantastical Creatures, Fantastical Watercolor, Folk Art, Henri Rousseau type painting, Imaginary Art, Ink and Watercolor Painting, jungle painting, Naive Art, painting on aqua board, poppies. sky of poppies, primitive style, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Whimsical Art

March 31, 2013 · 5:26 am

Jungle Glow and Giclee Give Away!

This seems the perfect painting to post for Easter morning. I continue with my Henri Rousseau jungle theme a la Medyn. I am really getting into creating new foliage. It seems like life presents us with patterns everywhere we look and I am noticing oriental rugs, flowers, furniture, building adornments, fabric, cloud patterns, Film Noir and just about everything I look at.

Here is a close up. I often find that parts of my paintings make quite interesting works.

I had been in Asheville for 10 days visiting my sister and while I did get some painting and drawing done, I also really enjoyed spending time at the Grove Park Inn, riding on the steep mountain roads, and going to the fabulous galleries and shops in downtown Asheville. There is a tremendous arts and crafts community there. It would be easy to spend months there. The later part of my trip was affected by our mom becoming ill and spending 5 days in the hospital. My sister drove home to upstate New York and is with her now as are my children. Arranging services has been quit time consuming but I continue to paint and work at expanding this series of paintings.

I only need 7 more people to sign up for my blog for me to randomly pick the name of one of the last 20 followers and send a gicleé to the winner. If you haven’t signed up, now is a great time to do so.

This is an 8″ by 10″ Ink and watercolor on Aqua Board. This painting hasn’t been varnished yet, but I will get to that tomorrow. It will be framed in a maple shadow box. It is for sale for $ 500.

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Tagged as after the style of Henri Rousseau, Art that glows, bear in jungle, Folk Art, Giraffe in jungle, giraffe painting, Henri Rousseau type painting, imaginary landscapes, jungle painting on aqua board, Jungle Scene, Luminescent paints, Naive Art, panther in jungle, Panther on Aqua Board, primitive style, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Susan Medyn's watercolor's, Whimsical Art

March 11, 2013 · 5:13 am

Bearing Strait and Gicleé give away for new blog followers.

I have been working on this painting for quite a while. There is so much going on in this painting, that I have spent a long time trying out colors and working out variations in the patterns and ways to accentuate the creatures that I want you to notice.

This is another painting on aqua board. I am finding this leopard keeps making an appearance in my paintings. I think I need to give him a name.

Corner detail.

This painting is sold.

And……I would love if you haven’t already signed up for my blog for you to do so!

I am giving away a gicleé to one of the next 20 followers who sign up for my blog. If you are already signed up, consider asking a friend to follow my blog. Just email me who signed up and your name will be entered in this raffle.Email sign up is near the top right of the blog post and then you get an email in your spam that you must click on to activate your subscription. I promise you that you won’t be disappointed

Enjoy the beautiful weather that is coming up this week. Our witch hazels and snowdrops are blooming. Here is hoping the earth awakens in New England this week.

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Tagged as After Henri Rousseau, after the style of Henri Rousseau, Aqua Board, Fantastical Watercolor, Henri Rousseau type painting, Ink and Watercolor Painting, jungle painting, Naive Art, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Whimsical Art

March 2, 2013 · 5:28 am

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

This is the latest painting I have created. Wow, this took days to do given the detail and the need to work with the brush in one direction to get an even surface. This painting will surely be going to my exhibit in Europe this summer unless it sells before then.

You might notice that the background sparkles. The patterns are done in copper so there is a lovely glow to the painting depending on how you look at it and whether there is light shining on it.

I’m adding a few close ups as the patterns are quite intricate and surprising to look at.

This is the upper right corner.

These creatures are all having a caucus.

This is a 9″ by 12 ” Ink and Watercolor on Aqua Board. The largest painting on aqua board I have done to date. It is varnished and framed in a shadow box frame. They would really love to come live in your home.

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Tagged as Aqua Board, bear in jungle, Henri Rousseau type painting, Imaginary Art, in the style of Henri Rousseau, Ink and Watercolor Painting, jungle painting, Jungle Scene, Leopard painting, Naive Art, ornate foliage, painting of cats, primitive style, Stylized Art, Susan Medyn, Whimsical Art