Surf - Design Planet Blurp No.25

Lifeguard Station 4B, Sandy Beach, Oahu

I have previously shared a small selection of my paintings in my Blurp No.10 and No.16. I also have links to a few of my scale models and dioramas in the right sidebar, as well as a few paintings of Hawaii. I have just put photos (good, and older poor quality copies) of a large amount of my paintings, as well as ink drawings and sketches that I have produced (going back to 1959) on Flickr. Enjoy! They may be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfthearts/collections/72157605780879165/

Comments are always welcome!

Surf - Design Planet Blurp No.16

"A Painting A Day"

I certainly have not found, or made, time yet to do a painting a day, but as I mentioned in my blog no.14, I was very impressed by artists who are producing a small painting a day. So I purchased a few 8" x 10" canvas panels in early January and I was able to devote a few days to painting between modeling. I share three paintings with you below.

1. "Returning from the Market, Mykonos, Greece"

About this painting:

8" x 10" Acrylic on Stretched Canvas Frame - completed in one day.

I mixed shades of Burnt Umber, Taupe, White and Payne's Grey for most of this painting. Blue, Orange-Red and Yellow Green were added where shown.

I painted this on Sunday, January 13th between doing laundry loads.This realistic image is referenced from one of many photos I took while on a Mediterranean tour during the summer of 2006. The streets of Mykonos town are a maze of walkways, originally created to confuse any invading enemy. The white stucco homes, many linked, are accented with brightly painted blue and red doors and railings, along with Fushia colored flowers and bright green grape vines. Many streets are paved in stone with white cement grouting. I hope to create some more paintings of this town from my photos.

About Mykonos visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykonos

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2. "Diamond Head Crater Rescue, Honolulu, Hawaii"

About this painting:

8" x 10" Acrylic on Stretched Canvas Frame - completed in one day.

Landscape colors used are Bronze Yellow, Hansa Yellow, White, Burnt Umber and Chromium Oxide Green. Darks were created with Payne's Grey. Mixed blues and reds were added.

I painted this on January 20th. Another Sunday laundry day.
I climbed Diamond Head Crater just around Christmas 2006, with a friend who was visiting the island.
We heard the helicopter. Because of brush trees blocking my view, I took two photos one of the helicopter, another of the young Japanese girl being rescued. I combined both photos for this painting image.

Honolulu visitors, many from Japan, climb this extinct volcano every day. Maybe this young girl was overtaken by exhaustion, or did not drink any water? The Honolulu Fire Department Rescue Helicopter responded to her friend's call for help. From experience I know that one should never go hiking in Hawaii without a large bottle of water. Start your hike early in the morning. Diamond Head Crater is totally in the sun - no shade - HOT - but well worth the view and camera opportunities once you are at the top.

About the Diamond Head Crater Hike:

More than 3,500 feet in diameter with a 760-foot summit, Diamond Head in Waikiki is perhaps the world’s most recognized volcanic crater. It is a lasting remnant of a volcanic explosion that occurred about 500,000 years ago. Ancient Hawaiians called it Laeahi, which translates to "brow of the tuna." The name "Diamond Head" can be traced to the 1800s, when British sailors mistakenly thought there were diamonds lodged in the crater’s soil. The "diamonds" turned out to be calcite crystals embedded in the lava rock.

The .7-mile hike up Diamond Head is considered a moderate climb. It’ll take about an hour to reach the summit, and half that time for the return.

The trail climbs the inside slope of Diamond Head for about .6 miles. It’s a switchback trail with the mountain on one side and a railing on the other. After a lookout point that doubles as a rest stop, the trail takes a steep upward ascent through a series of stairs and tunnels. The last set of stairs is a 99-step climb—just take it slow and steady—that eventually leads to a World War II bunker. From there, the stairs reach an end and you step up to some of the finest panoramic views on the island of Oahu.

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3. "Ponte Vecchio, Firenze (Florence, Italy)"

About this painting:

8" x 10" Acrylic on Stretched Canvas Frame - completion about two days.

This painting is referenced from several photos I took of this extraordinary bridge on my Mediterranean tour.
While watching a TV movie, I sketched the bridge and buildings with an ordinary pencil lightly on the canvas - an outline.
The next morning I chose Burnt Umber acrylic and painted all the lines with a number one fine brush - each line was about 1/16" thick plus or minus. I let this totally dry until the next morning.
Then I mixed and painted between the lines - filling in all the white spaces in colors using my photos as viewing reference. I used Yellow Ochre, Taupe, Burnt Umber, Payne's Grey with White. Accent color of reds, orange, green and blue were used for windows, roofs, shutters etc. I added some of the warm building color to the greys of the bridge. I completed the water areas and the sky last. I tried to limit my amount of shading of the color except where I thought it was necessary to show the form.

About Ponte Vecchio visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Vecchio

I hope you've enjoyed my little 8" x 10" paintings. I'm looking forward to creating more!

Surf - Design Planet Blurp No.10

"It's Christmas Time!"

Well, I haven't had time to do any modeling this week. I have been looking after my grandson while my daughter finishes up her school semester studies. Three year olds are so much fun! But with Christmas about a week away, I did start some shopping today. I also took time today to take pictures of the new snow that we received over the last few days.

A view of our neighborhood (Westbank, British Columbia, Canada) and Okanagan Lake, with fresh snow - picture taken from the forest behind my house.
*Please note you should be able to click any picture to enlarge it.

For this blog, I took a view quick photos of my paintings, that I have completed over the years, and that my wife and I chose to put up in our home. Most of my paintings are painted with Hyplar acrylics on Masonite panels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonite); and a few on canvas. I add ground marble, or pure sand, into the acrylic for creating textural effects in some of the paintings.

I have added a note on "Hyplar Acrylics" at the bottom of this post.


So, please enjoy the paintings below ...and I hope you all have a great ho-ho holiday season - "Merry Christmas"

Sun on the magnificent rock cliffs of "Bon Echo" Provincial Park in the province of Ontario, Canada
Hyplar acrylic (palette knife) on Masonite Panel - 2002, by Murray E. Breen

Our family camped at Bon Echo a couple of times with friends. I had started this painting around 1990. I then put it in a corner. I took it with me when I moved to Hawaii and finally completed it in 2002.

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"Cockroach Cove", on the island of Oahu, Hawaii
This little cove is also known as the "From Here to Eternity" beach
- taken from the movie's famous love scene with Burt Lancaster and Debra Kerr.
Hyplar acrylics and ground marble on Masonite panels - 1997 by Murray E. Breen

This view is from a cave under the highway above. I took photos for reference and then created the painting in layers by cutting the cave and certain rock groups out of separate sheets of masonite with a jig saw and gluing them together for depth. I then applied acrylic modeling paste mixed with ground marble and dark colors to create the lava rock texture base before actually painting the scene. I also added some found real small driftwood to the cave floor.

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"Peggy's Cove" Lighthouse, Nova Scotia, Canada
Hyplar acrylics on Masonite panel - 1990 by Murray E. Breen

In the summer of 1990 our family traveled from Toronto, Ontario (in a Dodge Caravan pulling a tent trailer) to Canada's beautiful east coast where we visited Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Cape Breton. We returned through some of the US north eastern states. Incredible scenery and a wonderful family trip!

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"Blue Heron", P.E.I (Prince Edward Island's west side)
Hyplar acrylics on Masonite panel - 1992 by Murray E. Breen

The fine wind blown grass was created by applying a layer of Hyplar modeling paste to the surface and then quickly dragging a toothbrush upwards on an angle. When this base application had dried, I painted the detail grass colors.

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"West Point Lighthouse", P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island's west side)
Hyplar acrylics on Masonite panel - 1994 by Murray E. Breen

A beautiful restored lighthouse with an inn attached. My wife and two daughters are in this picture. This image was a lot of work in fine architectural rendering and painting, which took me several months. "Not a three hour painting!"

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"Waimanalo Beach Park", Oahu, Hawaii (view towards Makapuu)
Hyplar acrylic on Masonite panel - 1995 by Murray E. Breen

A great beach for boggie boarding in the waves. Outrigger canoes appear on the beach and Rabbit Island is in the distance.

AHA honorable mention award for "Kaaawa Valley, Oahu", Acrylic

I became a member of the Association of Hawaii Artists, and joined a Saturday morning painting group. This got me out painting regularly and meeting new aloha artist friends. The art group went to a different place, a beach or a valley every Saturday. This quickly showed me the hidden places of Oahu; especially as I was brand new to the islands. Later I became AHA's treasurer, newsletter editor, organizing exhibition set-ups, and then president of the association for two years. Great experiences through volunteering.

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"Makapuu Beach Park and view of Rabbit Island", Oahu, Hawaii
Acrylic on Masonite - 1995 by Murray E. Breen

This painting although large and detailed was painted on location over three sittings.
Prints are available at http:/www.localartspot.com
You can also view other Hawaii art.

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"Three horses a grazing", Molokai, Hawaii
Hyplar acrylic on canvas - 2002 (not dated) - by Murray E. Breen

"Three horses and a barn" - could be anywhere in North America, but I painted this on Molokai.
I took a small plane to this non-tourist island to visit the history of Father Damien and the leper colony. This required previous written permission and a hike down a three thousand foot cliff. I toured the island also for three days and took many pictures. There are no traffic lights on Molokai, and some of the stop signs say Whoa!

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"Orcas", Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Acrylics on Masonite panel - 1990 by Murray E. Breen

This is a "made-up from reference" scene. This was a gift for my wife who wanted a whaling wall!
I had traveled from Seattle through many small island channels (San Juan) on the way to Victoria, Vancouver Island. I toured by boat and was fortunate to take some pictures of local area killer whales.

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Well, I still have racks of paintings in my studio for a future blog. I hope you've enjoyed my painting world. In the new year (2008), I would like to continue sharing all of my modeling ideas and projects with you. Again, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year for 2008.

About Hyplar Acrylic Polymer Color for Artists:

The Grumbacher line of Hyplar® artists' materials encompasses a range of 35 colors . . . with accessory products which are designed to extend their versatility and meet specific requirements of the artist and craftsman.

Hyplar colors are artists' quality pigments uniformly dispersed in an aqueous acrylic polymer emulsion. In more comprehensible, everyday terms, this means that the binding vehicle consists of droplets of a synthetic plastic resin suspended in water. As the water evaporates, the droplets of resin combine to form a crystal clear film imparting exceptional luminosity and brilliance to the colors. The tough, durable film is also highly adhesive, water resistant and flexible.

Hyplar provides the artist with a tool which can duplicate effects achieved with any of the traditional painting media. The colors can be used in transparent water color washes, opaque gouache or tempera techniques and to produce heavily textured 'impasto' oil painting effects.

Hyplar colors and materials can be employed on flexible supports such as canvas and paper. They adhere well to most non-oil surfaces and this property makes it possible to work on sap-free woods, hardboards, raw canvas, fabrics, plaster, stone, brick, and many plastics. Their extreme versatility makes it quite simple for designers to execute presentations on surfaces exactly duplicating those of the intended project.

Normally, aqueous media produce a matte surface which can only be converted to a gloss by means of a final varnish. With Hyplar it is possible to control the surface reflectance. Although the colors dry to a satin finish, the use of either Hyplar Gloss Medium-Varnish or Hyplar Matte Medium-Varnish in varying proportions as a paint additive. . . or as a final varnish, results in a range of surface reflections from matte to a high gloss.

It can readily be seen from the foregoing, that the scope and versatility of the Hyplar acrylic line is truly prodigious. Within this relatively compact line, you are furnished with a creative tool, the use of which is bounded only by the imagination.