Marleen Olive is a watercolor, mixed media and collage artist who lives in the Sierra Foothills of California. She's an art instructor and sells her paintings online and at Gallery 10 in Sutter Creek CA.
My art comes from a deep rooted desire to be creative. My objective is to share that with you. The one constant in my work is using experemental techniques with the more traditional method of painting. I find that my work is constantly evolving, it keeps my creative jucies flowing and I hope this process engages you my view.
"Leaves of Many Colors"
I wanted to convey the changing colors and textures of fall leaves. I laid in abstract washes of watercolor then did some negative painting around my shapes, in my finial stage I used oil pastels to get the technique I wanted. Texture is an important element in my work.
"Spring Palette"
I love to play with color and shapes and see where it leads me, I let the painting tell me what I am painting. I worked in watercolor first laying in colors wet into wet and then after that dried, I went back in and did negative painting to find my shapes using a neutral gray to unify my painting.
"Driftwood Sculpture"
Realistic meets experimental painting. I painted the driftwood on location, not bothering to paint a background. Then one day I was going through some of my ink pour papers that I made and noticed the few color areas that matched the driftwood and the other colors and textures in the paper that enhanced the textures in the driftwood. I tour my back ground paper to create a dramatic composition. Happy to say this won third place in a Watercolor Society of Oregon Show.
"Feathers"
This is an experimental ink pour.
I put down my feathers to make a nice design on my paper, then mist with water and pour on my inks, letting the colors mingle. When the painting is completely dry I remove the feathers and added any details needed. In this process you are never quite sure what you will get. This was one of my lucky ones.
"Three Koi"
This is a watercolor that I did using lots of glazes to get the effect of deep water with the rocks below the Koi and the feel of them swimming in water. I love the effect I was able to achieve.
