Abstract Landscape Painting

Incandescence – 18 x 24 inches – acrylic on wood panel – reserved for Mayberry

Here’s the final painting.  Very angular and abrupt – the only curves are in the trunks of the glowing trees. It is very reminiscent of the forest on that afternoon, the colours were striking and the area felt closed and intimidating.

Incandescence – 18 x 24 inches – acrylic on wood panel – reserved for Mayberry

The last bit of the dark background trees is in. It’s turning into kind of a moody mosaic – lol. I’m not sure I would want to go walking here alone, but I do love the colours.

Incandescence abstract landscape painting forest burgandy

Incandescence – 18 x 24 inches – acrylic on wood panel – reserved for Mayberry

I have completed the last of the foreground trees.  They are so nonchalant in their glow – lol. There are a few more trees farther back in the woods and more of the underbrush to do. This painting has come out very angular, I think in part because the plants are dead and there are no sinuous stems and entwining leaves. Everything is straight edges and muted reds and purples.

While I love painting in step with the seasons, I’m glad my next painting is summer and green.

Contemporary fine art abstract painting forest woods purple red patterns

While out taking reference photos and generally enjoying the Canadian landscape hubby and I also like to geocache. So of course we had to get some cool items to leave in the caches. In one of our first caches we found a trackable coin and it was pretty exciting – lol. We moved it to another cache and from there it went to the Isle of Man – and now may be on the way to Luxembourg! So of course after that we had to get some trackable coins. I don’t know if we will leave them in existing caches or use them for caches we make ourselves – we haven’t made any yet but want to. It’s too cold to play though – so this revelry will probably have to wait until Spring.

C’mon Spring!

geocache geocaching trackable coins buttons budanart

1. It’s a compass, big and solid with the trackable number on the side.

2. A sextant. A pin. And trackable too!

3. My traveling 2 cents. What more can I say – lol. Oh and trackable of course.

4. Buffalo Soldier. I think we will set a mission to get this one back to Fort Levinworth.  Trackable too.

5. We made a bunch of 1 inch budanart TFTC pins to leave as well.

Incandescence – 18 x 24 inches – acrylic on wood panel – reserved for Mayberry

I feel very Klimt with this one. All the squares and rectangles – all I need is a little gold leaf.

Incandescence – 18 x 24 inches – acrylic on wood panel – reserved for Mayberry

Now on to one of the softly glowing trees. Set against a background of burgandy and pumpkin, the yellows and purples in the trunk really do seem lit from within…

I had originally planned this to be a 12 x 16 inch painting, but once I started the sketch I realized that it needed to be bigger. And maybe 18 x 24 isn’t big enough either!

Incandescence trees forest dark purple autumn day by Mandy Budan.

Incandescence – 18 x 24 inches – acrylic on wood panel – reserved for Mayberry

We were walking though the woods a few weeks ago, looking for hidden tupperware containers of tiny bounty (geocaching – lol) when I came upon these trees – aspens I’m pretty sure.

And they were just glowing! On fire but with a delicate pale light. Bereft of leaves, stark against the dark slates and rusts of the background forest, these trees stood softly lit from within. The afternoon was gray and sunless and yet here they were, glowing. Wow. A mute reminder of why I paint…

trees forest aspen autumn landscape by Mandy Budan

Cleome – 9 x 12 inches – acrylic on wood – commission

This was great fun to paint. I loved bisecting the painting surface with bright thin pinks and purples and then echoing that in the background greens. And the delightful flowers bursting forth from the center of the plant provide a soft counterpoint to the more angular shapes in the rest of the painting.

Cleome flower abstract painting by Mandy Budan

Cleome – 9 x 12 inches – acrylic on wood – commission

I’d never seen these flowers before being commissioned to paint one. (My favourite part about commissions is the opportunity to paint something I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.) This plant is also called a’ spider flower’ or ‘grandfather’s whiskers’. Delicate petals in pinks and purples are offered up on long thin spikes. This is a very airy and delicate-looking plant and I think I need some in my garden next year!

cleome spider flower abstract painting green and purple

Reflections – 24 x 24 – Acrylic on Wood – Reserved for Mayberry Fine Art

Reflections is now finished. The quiet purples and greens and grays complement the more vibrant foliage in the tree overlooking the water. The reflections are more intellectual than physical, but there are enough of both kinds I think.

abstract landscape contemporary painting reflections by Mandy Budan