Hot Air Balloons in Abstract Style

I not only love flying in hot air balloons, I love the look of them. I’ve done a number of posts over the years on them and today’s post is of a couple different abstract techniques I used depicting them.

The first one was created using a fauvism (Fauvism: a style of painting with vivid expressionistic and non-naturalistic use of color that flourished in Paris from 1905) technique. This technique uses abstract shapes and variations of colors to create a unique look. The event is the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival in Avondale, Arizona (Phoenix metropolitan area). The balloon envelopes are inflated in the early morning hours for flights and races. After that series of events, the balloons are deflated until the evening hours when the envelopes are again inflated, but this time they stay on the ground. As evening turns into night with the darkening sky, the balloon operators shoot large flames up into the envelope of the balloon illuminating the brightly colored balloons.

Hot Air Balloons Night Festival In Abstract

Using a minimalist watercolor and drawing technique of the same evening event is the next one.

Night Glow Hot Air Balloons In Abstract

Then using that same technique depicting a single hot air balloon preparing for a day time flight.

Fully Inflated

Thoughts? As I have said before, everyone reacts to visual art techniques and looks differently, so I am not in the least offended by opinions. 

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Ready For Boarding and Up In The Air We Go

In this weeks blog I’m featuring two Hot Air Balloon art prints that I haven’t shared before. I have shared a number of my prints in prior blogs and they all go back to two locations: Coastal San Diego or Avondale, Arizona (Phoenix metropolitan area). I go back to the photo shoots from both areas and always think of different techniques I could try for creating new art. The one consistency between both is that I typically capture hot air balloons in the many stages of inflation as it creates unique art pieces. That’s not to say I haven’t also captured your typical “sailing in the air” moments. Today I’m sharing two pieces that show both inflated ready to fly and half inflated balloons being prepped for flight. I created both using an abstract drawing and watercolor technique that creates the general forms and look, without the specific detail. The colors and patterns on the balloons speak for themselves making each one a unique art piece.

The first one is “Ready For Boarding” which focuses on an inflated balloon ready to be boarded for flight. The perspective is a close cropped aspect of the gondola tied into the balloon that is “Ready for Boarding”.

Ready for Boarding

The next print is another balloon ready for flight, but in this perspective I depicted the entire balloon with a back ground of other balloons being inflated.

Up Into The Air We Go

Thoughts? As I have said before, everyone reacts to visual art techniques and looks differently, so I am not in the least offended by opinions. 

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Hot Air Balloons – The Inspiration of the Envelope

Most of us appreciate the beauty of a hot air balloon sailing gracefully through the air, rising and descending. What draws our attention is the balloon itself which is called the envelope. Today the colors are typically vibrant with bright shapes and colors. This week I’m featuring three hot air balloon art prints I created using a soft, somewhat abstract watercolor approach.

This first print focuses on the envelope being heated up, which I thought was a unique look to feature with the bright flame shooting upward. I used strong bold lines to create the overall shape and then filled in the areas with bright colors using a soft air brush look.

Evening Glow Red and Yellow Watercolor

This next one is still on the ground, but getting ready to rise. Same technique with the bold lines, but I wanted the contrast between the colorful envelope and the sky (ground at the bottom of the print) to be highlighted.

Peach Hot Air Balloon Night Glow Watercolor

This last one highlights the many colors of this particular balloon and keeps that the focal point.

The Yellow and Blue Balloon

Thoughts?

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Hot Air Balloons In Fauvism

Over the last few years, I have shared numerous art prints of hot air balloons, but none of them in a fauvism style. I like the surreal colors and abstract look of fauvism, so this week I am sharing three prints I created using that technique.

This first one is titled “Singular Flight” .

Singular Flight

The second one is simply titled “The Yellow Balloon”.

The Yellow Balloon

And last but not least, “Rising Behind”.

Rising Behind

Thoughts?

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Colorful Hot Air Balloons

I have attached four art prints of hot air balloons. With all four I used an abstract watercolor technique. The technique focuses on the bright colors of the hot air balloons and less on the details of the subject. The balloons stand out prominent with their striped colors.  The bold reds, blues, oranges, greens and yellows take center stage. The shapes are soft and whimsical setting the visual for a hot air balloon experience. The group of prints represent hot air balloons in various stages of preparing for launch and then ultimately lift off.

The setting is a group of hot air balloons getting ready for their sunset ascent. The location is in San Diego County near the coast of the Pacific Ocean. San Diego is famous for its sunset rides. As the sun sets over the Pacific Ocean, the onshore flow of winds decrease allowing the balloons to drift inland and descend for a landing before it gets dark. The trip starts close to the coast and takes you inland about 15 miles. The view is incredible as you ascend over Rancho Santa Fe and quietly drift eastward. For those of us that have lived in that area for years, we are use to seeing up to 15 balloons dot the sky just before sunset.

 

 

“Half Ready Half Not”

“Hot Air Balloon Almost Ready”

“First Up”

“Up, Up and Away”

Thoughts?

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More Hot Air Balloons in an Abstract Watercolor Look

I have featured hot air balloons from my gallery here a number of times using actual photography and various digital painting styles. Today I wanted to feature three I created using a soft abstract watercolor technique and then going back in and drawing lines to create the shapes of the balloons.

Subtle Abstract Hot Air Balloons

Hot Air Balloons In Red

Hot Air Balloons In Subtle Abstract

Not shy with color, I love the end result! Thoughts?

Side Notes:

1. Those of you that follow my blog, I had mentioned that I would be off all of August after having total knee replacement surgery August 8th. Recovery and Physical Therapy has been going well. It’s a long and steady process over a number of months, but I am up and around…walking without assistance (no walker or cane). End of last week I was cleared to start driving (bummer…I was liking being chauffeured around by my wife). So, bottom line getting back in the swing of things!!

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Desert Glow – Hot Air Balloons Simplistic Abstract

This week I’m going back to a subject I feature periodically and that’s hot air balloons. Having been fortunate enough to live in a couple of locations that have hot air balloons frequently, I have seen many different balloons during various stages of flight. This week I wanted to feature three balloons I have done using a simplistic abstract approach. All three are inspired by a “Desert Glow” event we went to in the Phoenix area a few years back. Fully inflated balloons are tethered to the ground after the sun sets. As the sky darkens, the balloons illuminate themselves as they turn their flames on and off to music….incredible sight to see. Keeping true to the dark background of night, I kept the colors of the balloons bright as the envelopes are lit up by the flame at the base. The simplicity of this technique allows the eye to focus on the color of the balloon envelopes.

With this technique, I start with ink strokes creating the envelopes of the balloon and the basket. I use strokes of different widths to keep it more suggestive rather than just a linear sketch. Using the same technique, I add just enough at the bottom to suggest a crowd of people and keep a focus on the flame itself. The fun part is recreating the colorful designs of various balloon envelopes I encountered at this event. Of course I was going to replicate the balloon with the large Saguaro Cactus on it since this was inspired by an Arizona event.

Peach Hot Air Balloon Night Glow In Abstract

Hot Air Balloon Evening Glow Red and Yellow In Abstract

Hot Air Balloon Cactus Night Glow In Abstract

Thoughts?

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Hot Air Balloons – Old World Charm

I have featured Hot Air Balloons a few times on this blog. I find them fascinating and have presented them in a variety of fashions from colorful abstracts to actual photography. Today I am featuring four art prints where I used a “gothic” technique that replicates an oil painting style of that same name. For us today in paintings, the style generally creates an old world look with rich and warm earth-tone colors that we generally associate with medieval Europe into the  renaissance period.

I did this series for a client a number of years ago and featured one of the prints (not one I am posting today) back in 2014. I liked the series so much I ended up using it in one of our guest rooms.

“One Up Two Down”

“Hot Air Balloon Gondola”

“The Yellow Hot Air Balloon”

“First and Second”

Thoughts?

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Hot Air Balloons – Bright Colorful Fun

Over the years, I have featured a number of prints from my Hot Air Balloons Gallery. I love hot air balloons and especially love to create prints that are not typical for them. You usually see pictures of the balloons floating in the sky, but I like a different approach. I find the process of preparing these big, bright, beautiful balloons fascinating. Watching them get unpacked, stretched out and then inflated creates an interesting visual experience which I have tried to capture. Over the years I have used a variety of techniques in my presentations. Today, I am using a technique that creates a slightly abstract approach, using bold ink pen strokes to outline the balloons and then filling in with bright colors and strong brush strokes.

“Triplets”

“Stand It Up”

“The Blue Balloon”

Thoughts?

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Bright Colors – Abstract Watercolor – Hot Air Balloons

This week I’m featuring three of my hot air balloons. The technique I used creating these three art prints was an abstract approach. I used the sketching to define the subject matter of the balloons and then filled them with bright colors. Not being one who every stayed in the lines when it came to art, I let the bright colors bleed into each other, creating an abstract look.

 

“Inflated”

We are all attracted to hot air balloons rising and floating in the air. The serenity of the scene as one looks skyward and sees these bright colored balloons quietly drifting through the sky. What drew my eye when my wife and I did the adventure in San Diego, was the prep work of getting them inflated and launched. To me there was an incredible beauty watching these large bags of color transformed into what we see drifting across the sky.

 

“Bright Colored Balloons”

As the balloons slowly fill with hot air, they go from laying flat on the ground to slowly rising and when you see the different stages of inflation with a group of balloons together…it really is a beautiful sight.

 

“Three Balloons”

Thoughts?

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