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Jane Stroud’s selection of works from our PaintersOnline gallery
Self-taught artist, Lynn Parkins, enjoys painting most subjects in a range of media. Here she explores a scene she came across while on holiday in Devon. To see more of Lynn’s work, post a comment or upload your own images, visit www.painters-online.co.uk
Lynn took up painting many years ago, learning techniques by observing other painters, watching videos, reading books and attending courses. ‘Belonging to a club is a great way to get inspiration and try out different ways of painting,’ she writes. ‘The club I belong to has a topic for each meeting, which means that sometimes you tackle something out of your comfort zone. My favourite subject is animals. I have painted many pet portraits to commission and for friends, for which I use soft pastel on velour paper inspired by Vic Bearcroft, or oils on canvas. My other love is flowers and I admire the work of
Georgia O’Keeffe. I am currently painting a series of close-up portraits in acrylics, for each of my friends, depicting their favourite flowers.
‘This painting was inspired by a holiday spent on the edge of Dartmoor. On my morning walks I passed this wall. The variety of plants growing on such a small section of it made for a pleasing image. I photographed it so that I could capture it in paint when I returned home. It’s painted on canvas board, using Atelier Interactive acrylic paint. I built up layers of colours to create the stones, paying particular attention to the crevices and shadows. Texture was applied by splattering the wall with an old toothbrush loaded with very liquid paint. I added the flowers and leaves afterwards, using a limited palette, picking up the greens of the lichens on the stonework to harmonise the picture.
‘The painting was sold at my local art group exhibition to a lady who said it reminded her of a holiday in Devon. I was very pleased that it meant the same to her as myself. I enjoy looking at all the paintings posted on PaintersOnline; there is such a lot of talent out there. Seeing how other artists work gives me ideas for future paintings and I find the comments posted very encouraging and useful.’