Katie Jeanne Wood

Oil pastel portrait paintings – Rescued Series No 1-3

June 28th, 2024

Oil pastel portrait painting
sleeping bald man
Rescued Series No 1
Available here

I started a new series of oil pastel portraits on ripped cardboard a few weeks ago. I titled this series Rescued, which has a double meaning attached to it for me.

Oil pastel portrait painting
Woman with pink & orange hair
Rescued Series No 2
Available here

I’m “rescuing” cardboard from ending up in the recycle bin by creating this series. Some of the cardboard is from the cases of cat & dog food I buy every month for my “rescued” furbabies. It just made sense to call it the Rescued Series.

Oil pastel portrait painting
Man with a blue beard
Rescued Series No 3
Available here

I love the raw, primitive look of torn cardboard. I’m starting to get the urge to dig out my oil paint again, but for now, this series is being made with Mungyo oil pastels. I’ve also been experimenting with a combination of oil pastels & gouache paint. I’ll show you more soon.

There are also some pieces I’ve made exclusively for eBay, which I’m listing for $15 and up. I’m most likely not going to list those here on my website because of the labor involved.

Thanks for stopping by!

More paintings are available in my shop.

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Nuanced Personality, Low Energy & other new gouache portraits

June 14th, 2024

Nuanced Personality
Gouache portrait painting
Available here

Low Energy
Gouache portrait painting
Available here

Loyalty
Gouache portrait painting
Available here

Ranch Hand
Man wearing a cowboy hat
Gouache portrait painting
Available here

More paintings are available in my shop.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a lovely weekend.

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Starting a new art journal with a theme

June 12th, 2024

New art journal
started May 2nd

I recently finished another art journal, so it was time to start a new one. I have four of these art journals that I bought on sale a while back. These are square in size – 8.3×8.3 inches, which is perfect for painting portraits, imo.

This book has 196 pages, which gives me a total of 392 paintings to complete, if I paint on both sides of the paper.

I usually pick a theme for my art journals based on 1. subject matter, 2. style I want to paint in, or 3. the art mediums I’ll use throughout the book. The thicker the book, the looser the theme, generally.

At first I thought I might paint the entire book with only black & white, but I’ve changed my mind since I started this journal six weeks ago. I’ve had more time to think about it, and the opportunity to test out the theme.

Since this book has so many pages, I was apprehensive about locking myself into a theme that I might get bored with after a while. After creating a few pages, I felt the b&w theme was too restricting. I think neutrals will work better for me.

I’m looking at different color charts on Pinterest to get ideas of the colors I can mix.

I’m leaving the subject matter open & tbd with each sitting. For some reason, as I’m writing this I keep seeing flashes of imaginary houses I want to paint in my mind’s eye. Hm…we’ll see if it keeps happening when I’m actually sitting down to paint. Some of these visions I have don’t last, and they float off into the ether, forgotten.

The nice thing about having so many of these journals on hand is I can always start a new one if I need a break from the neutral theme.

It’s possible I might do a sudden splash of color here or there, but that will depend on my future artist self to decide in that moment.

I’m saying that because it was hard to resist the urge to add red to his lips. Now that I’ve changed the theme slightly, I can always add pale pink going forward.

The thought of creating 392 paintings freaks me out a little bit, but I love the thought of sinking into a large, ambitious project like this. If I’m ever at a loss of what to paint, this journal will serve me well. Grab the book, my neutral gouache palette, and go. Easy. It will take months, possibly a couple years to finish, but I’m up for the challenge. It will be fun.

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Stabilo pencil & gouache paint portrait painting WIP

June 10th, 2024

Stabilo pencil & gouache paint
portrait painting
WIP

Unimpressed
8×10 inches
gouache portrait painting on paper
Available here

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What I’m watching:

I recently found Katherine Bradford because Youtube recommended a video about her, so I watched while I was painting in my art journal. I find her work, and story so inspiring. This morning I googled her, and found there’s a plethora of info about her. I plan to keep exploring now that I know about her, but this is what I’ve watched so far.

Katherine Bradford – Making Things

Katherine Bradford Goes To Work (by her Son Arthur)

Katherine Bradford “Fear of Waves” at CANADA

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a lovely creative day.

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Purchase original art through me, and get free shipping.

You can message me here.

Other places to find me online.

***

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A Common Reaction and other gouache portrait paintings

June 7th, 2024

A Common Reaction
8×10 gouache portrait painting
Available here

Meditation on Life
8×10 gouache portrait painting
Available here

Cycles of Depression
8×10 gouache portrait painting
Available here

Mesmerizing Cat Magic
8×10 gouache portrait painting
Available here

Middle Age Spread
8×10 gouache portrait painting
Available here

Secretly Ecstatic
8×10 gouache portrait painting
Available here

More paintings are available in my shop.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a lovely weekend.

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More silly character paintings in my art journal

June 5th, 2024

I’m not a fan of purple,
but I have a ton of it
that came in sets I’ve purchased.
I usually use it to make black paint,
but I already have a huge jar of black mixed up.

Chalk & craft paint colors I used
along with gouache

It is time for a return to childhood, to simplicity, to running and climbing and laughing in the sunshine, to experiencing happiness instead of being trained for a lifetime of pursuing happiness.

L.R.Knost

What I’m watching:

Wendy Sharpe talks with Maria Stoljar – her painting style is so unique. Love it!

JACKIE LEISHMAN : THE WORLD IS COLLAGE TO ME – she makes large collage abstract paintings. It made me want to dig out my scraps of paper.

Thanks for stopping by, and taking a peek inside my art journal. I hope you find something here that inspired you. 🙂

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Purchase original art through me, and get free shipping.

You can message me here.

Other places to find me online.

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Oil pastel portrait of a bald man work in progress

June 3rd, 2024

Continuing on with oils pastels from last week, I created another portrait drawing of a man. This one seemed a little easier because I was thinking more in terms of drawing with oil pastels, instead of being in painting mode.

I don’t know about you, but I forget how to do things if I haven’t done it in a while. It’s been..Idk? close to a year I’m thinking, since I’ve done any oil pastel drawings, other than maybe one here or there. I’m definitely out of practice.

I’ve discovered since taking a break from oil pastels that I don’t enjoy the blending process as much as I used to..at least with a tortillon. I’d rather use a wet brush instead. I’ve tried using different oil mediums, but didn’t like the odor or how the mediums reacted with the oil pastels. I prefer using water, but that wasn’t possible with these pastels because they’re not water soluble.

I have plans of opening up a brand new set of Mungyo water soluble oil pastels that I bought a year or so ago, but never used. It’s easier, and far less work to use a brush than a tortillon, especially when filling in large background spaces. A brush gets the job done quickly without so much effort. Why work harder than you need to?