Evolving styles

I'm not sure what prompted it, but I've been doing a fair bit of painting over the last few days, including an afternoon painting with my good friend and fellow artist, Catherine Emile. I've been trying to push myself, trying different styles, and seeing which direction I'd like to start moving in with my painting. 

For some reason, I'm really drawn to pieces that are monochromatic, especially those with an icy blue feel to them. This first piece, completed on Friday July 4th, is acrylic on 20"x16" canvas. I struggled to come up with an appropriate name, but it alluded me. For the time being, at least, it's being called "Study in Blue #1".

Study in Blue #1
Acrylic on 20" x 16" Canvas

On Saturday, July 5th, I spent the day painting with Catherine Emile. The first piece I did was another piece using a similar palette and a similar technique. Once again, a proper title alluded me, so I decided to call this one "Study In Blue #2". It is on 20" x 28" canvas.

Study in Blue #2
Acrylic on 20" x 28" canvas

After having painted two fairly similar pieces, I decided to break completely from my normal style, and ended up with this next piece, also on 20" x 28" canvas. I'm sure that if you're familiar with my work, you'll agree that it's a departure from my normal style. Originally I was planning on naming this one "Wind from the East", but decided instead on "Bending The Truth".

Bending The Truth
Acrylic on 20" x 28" canvas

Continuing in that same simple style, I painted one more piece completely different than my normal style. I've titled this piece, also on 28" x 20" canvas, "Between The Lines".

Between The Lines
Acrylic on 28" x 20" canvas

I only had three blank canvases available, but after painting those, I was still in a painting mood, and Catherine was still busy on her painting. I decided to pull out an old piece that I was completely unhappy with, and see if I could salvage something from it. I'm not sure if I'll be keeping it, but it is an improvement over the mess that it started out as. This piece is on 18" x 24" canvas, and is titled "Shroud".

Shroud
Acrylic on 18" x 24" canvas

I have no shortage of canvas pieces waiting to be re-used, so I started on one more piece as Catherine was wrapping up her piece. This work in progress is called "Obscured". I was quite pleased with it when the paint was still wet, but as the paint dried, it lost much of it's vibrancy, so I'm afraid that it will probably see more paint before it's considered completed.

Obscured
Acrylic on 24" x 24" canvas.

It's been months since I painted, and I must say that it felt great to be creating once again.