Mixed Media Artist - daily painter of portraits, flowers, abstracts and birds
To Do Without
gouache portrait painting
To Do Without
8×8 gouache portrait painting on paper
Available here
More paintings are available in my shop.
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Geno
Art journal
gouache portrait painting
WIP
I was thumbing through my art journal last night, and didn’t like the shadow on his nose. I thought it was too distracting, so I painted over it.
This painting isn’t for sale, but there are others available in my shop.
What I’ve been watching lately:
KOKKE House – THE ART OF SITTING – Ruud-Jan gained international recognition as a product designer with his designs of a museum stool and walking cane in the early 1990s.
What Happened To Etsy? – I could write about this for days. Instead, I’ll just say that my Etsy shop of 16+ years will be closing very soon. My last listing will expire in August. For now, there’s still time to take advantage of the 25% off sale I’m running there.
I apologize if you’ve stopped by, and the sale wasn’t running. US law only allows running a sale for 30 days. Since Etsy is no longer a priority on my daily to-do list, and I barely ever login these days, I forgot to start a new sale when the old one expired. The sale is back on now.
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I painted this one a few months ago, and at the time I was experimenting. I wasn’t sure if I could layer colors from dark to light with gouache. This is normally how I paint – always starting with the shadows or the darkest areas of the painting.
Some artists paint in the opposite direction – light to dark, and I thought maybe it’s because that’s what works best with gouache? I didn’t like the thought of having to completely reverse my way of doing things, so I decided to give my usual way a try. I dried the dark colors with my handheld fan, and then started layering over it with lighter colors.
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.
William Wordsworth
I know he was talking about words, but I like filling my paper with paint, instead.
I think it was in these moments of experimentation that I fell even more deeply in love with gouache. I thought by rewetting the under layer with my brush, it would make the top layer a muddy mess, but nope. I was able to lighten in the exact spots I wanted without any issues.
Gouache is incredible, and versatile, and need I say how much I loooooveeee gouache once again? Well, in case you missed it, I do. lol
The way I set up my gouache palettes is always changing, but I think this might have been the palette I was using at the time. The only thing missing is white, which I might have been using right out of the tube..not sure? Or, maybe there was a row of white that I cut off when I took this photo?
One thing I’ve learned when setting up a gouache palette is not to place the darker colors too close to the lighter colors because as you can see in the photo above, the dark colors kept dripping into the lighter ones. It turned into a real mess.
The palette I have set up now is completely different. I’ll write a separate blog post about it sometime, so you can see where I made mistakes with this palette. For now, I’ve gotta run. I hope you’re having a fabulous Monday.
Taking Up Residency In His Head
Gouache portrait painting
Available here
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Oil pastel portrait painting
Woman wearing red & black stripes
Rescued Series No 4
Available here
Oil pastel portrait painting
Man with black beard
Rescued Series No 5
Available here
Oil pastel portrait painting
Boy with bangs
Rescued Series No 6
Available here
I’ve completed 77 of these cardboard pieces so far in this series. Many are only $15 in my eBay store. I’m keeping my prices as affordable as possible during these tough economic times, so you can treat yourself to some new art without breaking the bank.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a lovely weekend.
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Black & white gouache portrait painting
art journal
Why black and white?
Because color can be too demanding.
I was going to leave her body unpainted because I like the unfinished, “who did it and ran” look of some paintings. When I tilted my art journal up to take a photo of it, her chin leaked, creating a “make lemonade from lemons” situation.
I could have left the streak alone or painted over it in white. Either way, the unfinished look I originally was going for was no longer possible, so I decided to paint some stripes instead.
I think the stripes make her hair pop, and my original idea probably wouldn’t have, so everything worked out.
This painting isn’t for sale, but there are prints available on Daily Paintworks. There are also other paintings available in my shop.
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What I’m watching:
Jade van der Mark – REFLECT / RECONNECT – LOVE her portraits. She also has a website.
Gloria Landenberger – MEDITATION / CLARITY – As young as 8 or 9, Gloria developed a passion for creating little ornamental ships out of paper. Showcasing pieces as small as a grain of rice, her dream was to create the smallest ship in the entire world.
Do You Still Believe ART Should Be Beautiful?
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8×10 dark gouache portrait on 135 lb paper
This painting took me a few sittings to complete, so I’ve spent quite a few hours staring at it. I couldn’t decide if her smile was sincere or a little creepy. I kept going back & forth. One minute I’d think yes, it’s definitely creepy, only to end up back at – no, it’s a happy smile. I never did come to an absolute conclusion, so I will leave that up to the viewer to decide.
I think that’s what I love about this painting. My mind makes up a different story about it every time I see it.
I used 135 lb paper & gouache. The paper is slightly turned upwards on the outer edges, as you can probably see in this photo, but it will lie flat once it’s framed.
I painted this one back in April, and really like how it turned out. It inspired me to start my new neutral art journal the beginning of May.
Mechanical Smile
dark gouache portrait painting
Available here
Shipping is free if you purchase it through my website.
More paintings are available in my shop.
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Gouache b&w portrait painting
with a cartoony, primitive housewifey vibe
Women artists… they made their art on the back porch, they made it on top of the washing machine, they made it next to the kitchen sink, and they made it anywhere they could, for the hour and a half while their kid was taking a nap, and for the two hours while they were at the play group. They made it in between…. There was no time… for the ritual of getting into your work! You just snapped into that taking 10 minutes and making 3 lines on your drawing or whatever was possible.
Eleanor Coppola
I don’t have little kids, but this is my mindset about creating art, also. If I’ve only got 10 or 15 minutes, I grab my art journal. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy..just get something down on the page.
It quiets down the chatter inside my head that keeps nagging me to paint. There! 5 minutes, and done..now I can focus on other things without my brain giving me a hard time.
Sometimes, I do actually stand at my kitchen sink, and use the water from the tap to clean my brush quickly. I often leave my art journal or painting on the stovetop to dry, and 2 days later, my husband’s like..um, what do you want me to do with this? I need the stove. Eh, whatever..he’s used to it.
This painting isn’t for sale, but there are others available in my shop.
I hope you have a fabulous 4th of July holiday, if you celebrate. I’m most likely going to be hanging out with my furbabies when the fireworks happen later tonight..tomorrow night? Idk? None of us are really into loud explosive noises, so we’ll just be quietly keeping each other company until it’s over. I bought a new Miranda July book to read, which will help drown out the noise. xo
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Every Which Way
Bald man
Oil pastel portrait
Glazing an oil pastel portrait
When I’m glazing or varnishing paintings, I turn the painting in many directions, so the medium gets into all the little crevices of the oil pastels.
Turn, glaze, let dry.
Turn, glaze, let dry.
Don’t use a hair dryer to speed up the process.
You want the glaze to dry at its own pace,
and heat might melt the oil pastels.
I don’t glaze the paper itself, only the oil pastels. It helps the oil pastels settle into place. Then I finish it off with 2 or 3 coats of varnish on top. There’s a lot of work and time involved glazing, waiting, varnishing, waiting, but I rather enjoy the process. Unless I’m rushed on time, it can be a meditative practice.
In the summer, when an oil pastel painting sells, I usually varnish it again before I ship it out. I want to ensure I’ve given the painting as much protection as I possibly can, since it’s going to be sitting in hot mail trucks for several days.
Every Which Way
8.5×11 in oil pastel portrait
Available here
It’s 108F here as I’m writing this. I’m a bit paranoid that the oil pastels will melt & smear before the painting reaches its new home. So far, knock on wood, that hasn’t happened. I think this is my third year creating & selling oil pastel portraits. I’ve sold a lot of them, so what I’m doing must be working.
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