Relief Paintings (1) of David Ehlen
Oil Paintings Drawings Sculptures Digital Arts
Introduction to the Relief gallery of oil paintings
David Ehlen
David Ehlen
Selected works can be viewed at
davetheartist.com

NEWS:
Featured Artist
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David Ehlen
Press Enterprise, Riverside, CA
August, 2008

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Relief oil paintings the title is Field of Vision Relief oil paintings the title is Primary Relations Relief oil paintings the title is Desire Relief oil paintings the title is Face of Nature Relief oil paintings the title is Icons of My Age Relief oil paintings the title is Ghosts Relief oil paintings the title is Grasping for Life Relief oil paintings the title is Oregon Girl Relief oil paintings the title is Party Relief oil paintings the title is Camping Relief oil paintings the title is Nancy and I Relief oil paintings the title is Family Relief oil paintings the title is The Crowd Relief oil paintings the title is Climbing Out Relief oil paintings the title is Face of Chaos Sort by

This is my introduction page to my Relief paintings. The thumbnails above are all of the relief paintings that I have created. All of them have oil paint as a finish but have a range of materials that I have used to raise the surface and/or texture the canvas.

The Relief Gallery displays oil paintings that have raised surface from the canvas. I use a combination of materials that make up the solid forms. I have used Styrofoam and mat board to project farther off of the canvas.

Texturing canvas turns in to a lot of work when you consider constructing it to last. I texture my canvas with gesso and a power mixture. Because the gesso I use is waterbase I dry the textured canvas in the direct sunlight. This evaporates the water from the wet gesso mix and forms a rick solid, oil paint ready surface. I usually wait a few days before actually applying the paint just to let it set solidly. Take a look at the illustration below to see how the textured canvas looks before applying the paint.

Raising the surface of the canvas and sculpting the surface was a natural progression to my style of art. I enjoy the accents that I'm able to bring out on the canvas and in some cases I separate the main subject from the background. Grasping For Life is an example of that. I have a piece in the surreal gallery titled Creating Infinity that has a relief in it that does not reveal itself as clearly but is an intricate part of the painting.

I enjoy creating shapes of faces in relief paintings. I learned a long time ago that i don't have to stay 'between the lines' and make something look exactly as it looks. I like being able to tell stories about these paintings more because the inspirations are not as personal. Many of the relief paintings displayed on my site talk about how I constructed the artwork. I have included developing photos and more information on many of the pieces.

New! I've added a comment box for each painting and I welcome your thoughts, critiques, expressions and comments.

 
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