Picture Stories Solitary Island in Winter
- Susan Brenning
- Jul 30, 2021
- 4 min read
Introducing Picture Stories
The journey of honing the gift of painting
A little introduction
Hi, I’m Susan and I’d like to share a little with you about my painting. I started painting in Jr. high and High school and tested several different methods.
For over 10 years, my sister-in-law, her daughter, and I attended a three-day summer painting class at my former workplace, Gullbrannagården.
Before then I had dabbled in oil painting after taking a class for a term in a study circle. After testing acrylics, I soon found that I enjoyed them better as they are water-soluble and easy to clean without strong chemicals. Also, you can make it look like oil with more paint and less water, or like watercolors by using more water.
It is a flexible medium that dries quickly, allowing you to work faster and layer colors without risking bleeding or mixing. If you need the paint to dry slower you can add a Gel Medium (matte or glossy). The gel lengthens the drying time of the paint as well as making the texture more liquid and thinning the paint.
Video Introduction
In the video below I talk freely about a particular attempt at painting with acrylic paint. I have written in more detail, the thoughts I speak of, in the text below.
A parenthesis: Although I am American I have done most of my painting in Sweden. I have learned the painting terms in Swedish and have difficulties finding the right words in English. The word ‘canvas’ escapes me often for example among other words. I leave my language mistakes just for the fun of it. It might give someone a laugh who can understand the difficulties of being bilingual.
Read about Solitary Island
I painted this painting in the summer of 2018. It was one of the later paintings I had done with acrylic paint for the 3-day course.
The color of the painting on the video and photo is paler than the actual painting which is bluer. This painting was another attempt at learning to use less color and still keep detail and life in the painting. My teacher was trying to improve my abilities from my norm which is to use strong colors.
It really is in the eye of the beholder
When I painted this I was certain it was a winter motif. I thought the white on the rock under the tree was snow. Now that I look at the original again, I can see that it is not snow but the sun reflecting off the wet rock.
It was a difficult painting to paint as I thought it was a winter painting with snow and fog in the background. My teacher taught me how to make the fog. The first step was to paint the background in a pale color and then after it dried, I used a little white paint and a lot of water and painted it over the top of the area where there was to be fog. This method also helps move the background to the back giving depth to the painting.
Before the whitewash dries you can wipe off portions that you want to come closer to where the onlooker is standing. I did that with a cotton cloth toward the right of the tree at the base of the hill as that section jets out into the water a little more than the rest of the hill. See a close-up below.
The original photo is from a calendar. I often use those photos in my learning process because they are often beautiful and I love to paint landscapes.
This photo was not only a challenge for me because of the winter and more monotone colors but also because of the shadows making the colors on the water shift. But challenges are great to help you learn and it’s fun when you see that it is doable.
Sometimes you feel like an island
I named this painting Solitary Island as it is obvious that there is one island in the water and one tree on the island.
It reminds me of the winters when you are feeling lonely. You are out there in the cold. Everyone seems to be hiding or huddling up in their homes trying to keep warm rather than being out and about meeting and fellowshipping with each other.
At least in Sweden where I live, that seems to be the norm. In the wintertime, you go in and close your door and you come out in the spring when the sun comes out. That’s an exaggeration of course but it feels that way. You’re not talking with your neighbor over the fence or out having parties on the beach or anything like that. You are much more often indoors and with your family.
Reflecting God
If you have a family. Some people are alone. They are like the solitary tree on the solitary island. I just wanted to let you know that as this tree is reflected in the water, so can we think of God at times.
When we are alone, we just need to look and see. He is there if we look closely enough. He is there and He wants to support us. He is what is holding the painting of our lives up.
Without the reflection of the tree, the painting would be very boring, and it wouldn’t look real. Because we have the reflection, we know that there is depth, there is more to the painting than just a flat surface. Just like there is more to our lives than just a flat life alone. We have God on our side. He is there to support us.
He is there to let us reflect on Him and He will be reflected in us. It’s a marvelous feeling and I hope that this will also encourage you to be a reflection.
Sharing Picture Stories
I plan on sharing my paintings and a little story of each here on my website. I hope that somehow, I can inspire you to use the gifts God has given you to spread joy and the knowledge of our Lord, giving others a desire to seek a deeper personal relationship with Him.
Keep in touch
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