Katie Jeanne Wood

Mixed Media Artist - daily painter of portraits, flowers, abstracts and birds

My 2013 favorites and Yellow Braids, Day 1 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

Acrylic Portrait Painting, Yellow Braids, Pink Cowl, Young Girl, Blue Eyes, Close up Face, Slate Blue, 4x4 mini art chipboardacrylic portrait painting
girl with yellow braids wearing a pink cowl.

Yellow Braids kicks off the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.
If you’re coming here from Leslie’s blog, hello and welcome! Please leave a comment, so I can visit your blog in return.Back in September, I did this challenge, and my theme was photo booth paintings. This time around, I don’t have a theme. I want to be free to choose what I want to do in the moment. I’m going to be spontaneous! It might be an art journal page, a large painting, a collage painting, an abstract painting or a small 4×4 inch painting. It might be a serious portrait or a raw, primitive one. I may decide to paint like a child, which is harder than it sounds. Who knows what I’ll be posting? Check back each day to see.

A little song for you by Regina Spektor.
Happy New Year!

I was going to do a year in review blog, but meh. I painted too much in 2013. There’s no way I want to go back, and collect all the photos. I painted 72 paintings in October alone!! It would take me forever to do a post including the entire year. What I’m going to do instead is link to some my favorite finds of 2013. That will be more fun, huh?
I’m not an affiliate of any of the products. I just like them.
Favorite new artists I found:  Lita Cabellut, Goxwa, Tom Birkner, Alex Kanevsky, France Jodoin
Favorite new acrylic paint I’ve been using: Soho Urban Artist Quality Paint – I like it better than Golden. It’s creamy, reminds me a lot of oil paint, has rich pigment, and it’s less expensive than Golden.
Favorite brush cleaner: Murphy’s Oil Soap..I leave hardened brushes soaking in it for a few days. Makes them soft and usable again, almost like magic.
Favorite tv show: Breaking Bad I’m a sucker for bad boys, what can I say?
Favorite songs: I Used to Know How to Walk on Water by Joseph Arthur, and The Dreamers by Josh Woodward
Favorite book I read: Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, and Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick
Favorite movies I watched: Fish Tank, Hello Lonesome, Great Expectations, Gonzo, The Future, Rid of Me, and Shameless..the UK version, which isn’t a movie, but I’m putting it on my list anyway.
Favorite body lotion: Coconut Vanilla
Favorite makeup: L’Oréal

I welcome 2014 with open arms. I hope it’s good to all of us.

Holy Cow!! I painted 72 paintings in October!!

Katherine Wood - stack of 4x4s for October 2013

26 4×4 paintings

Katherine Wood - October Collage

16 6x6s 2 8x8s 25 8x10s + 9x12s 1 10×10 1 12×12 1 16×20

Whew! This post took forever. I’m going to have a better system for November, so I’m not rummaging all over my computer for photos. I think the grand total is 72 paintings for October. !!! Why I thought I wasn’t painting enough is beyond me. I knew I completely depleted my stash of canvas, but I didn’t think much of it. Being my own boss, I always have trouble knowing when enough is enough. It’s going to take me the entire month of November to get these listed on Etsy. Good thing I’m going back to one painting a day, huh? lol

I stopped at 17 new faces

Katherine Wood - 17 faces

I stopped at 17 new faces.

Katherine Wood - 10x10 3 Sisters on a Camping Trip 01Sold!
3 Sisters on a Camping Trip Prints are available at Etsy

acrylic mixed media collage portrait painting 

It’s time to tally up the paintings for the month of October. I’m thinking I might do a video this time around, but I don’t know if that will be too boring. We’ll see..maybe just another end of the month collage?Happy Halloween! Be safe. Yes, Halloween excites me. That whole time of year, autumn, I find exhilarating. A passionate season. The others are so bland. In the fall, you see opportunities for change. Real change. Possibilities present themselves. None of the renewal and redemption cliches of spring. No. Something darker and more primal and more important than that. ~Alice LaPlante

 

Basically, I think I was crazy in the head

Katherine Wood - 9 new faces

9 new faces

So, yesterday was day three of my new studio hours, which, if you missed it, my hours are were 4pm to 8pm every night. I must say, four hours is a looong time to paint. As much as I love to paint, I found myself looking at the clock a lot, and wishing the hours would go a bit faster..just like I used to do at my office job. haha It’s true! Since I have the best job on earth, I should be ashamed of myself for admitting that I was a bored artist. It’s the first that’s ever happened, and I hope it never does again. An artist who’s bored??!! Unheard of!!
I found out I can get 9 4×4 inch faces done in my four hours of studio time. I also found out that painting for 4 hours straight makes me dizzy, but that could be because I have this ongoing inner ear problem, which causes vertigo. Or, it could have been the jello shots I started doing because I was so bored. I don’t know. Yawn.
Acrylic Portrait Painting, Collage, Girl, Face, Orange, Flowers, Abstract, 6x6 canvas panel, Free Shipping USA
From What She Knows Free shipping within the USA
Available for purchase here
 
Basically, I think I was crazy in the head to think I could paint for 4 hours straight every day. What was I thinking? I know I have the attention span of a gnat, so how did I think I could focus for 4 hours straight? I guess I thought because it was painting, and I love to paint, it would be no problem. ha ha I laugh loudly at myself.It was the clock thing that threw me off tho. I’ve painted waaaay longer than 4 hours before..I’ve had some days that I didn’t put the brush down for 10 or 12 hours straight, and it wasn’t a problem at all. But, I wasn’t on any time schedule then. I wasn’t telling myself I HAD to paint for so many hours. Ahh, see what’s going on here? I’m deathly allergic to the clock, and having it tell me when I’ve painted enough for the day. Sooo, no more clocks, time checking, and schedules. That’s for 9 to 5ers, and there’s a BIG reason I’m not an office worker anymore. Omgosh, I hated hated hated being told when I could eat lunch..what if I wasn’t hungry??, when I could go home for the day..what if I need a nap at 3pm??, and all those stupid rules to follow..like don’t eat other people’s food in the fridge..what if it smelled and looked delicious??? Oh, and how those minutes before 6pm would drag ooooooon for sooooooo long..because y’know..I couldn’t leave work until 6 on the dot. Ack!! I don’t want to live my life like that ever again. I guess it doesn’t matter what job I have, if there are too many rules to follow, and I’m watching time slowly tick by on the clock, I balk. It’s just my nature. So, no more of that..instead, I’m going back to what I was doing last month, and that’s a painting, and blog post a day. If it takes me 1 hour or 10 hours to paint, it doesn’t matter. No more clocks!!! No more checking the time. I quit!! ha ha Yeah sure..can’t stop! Won’t stop!!

Some paintings have a mind of their own

 
on the easel

I thought she should be pale. I was in a muted color kind of mood. She screamed back at me, “I want to be colorful.” So, she’s more colorful. Who am I to argue with my paintings? 😉
 
 
Acrylic Portrait Painting, Woman, Pink, Rose in Hair, 12x12 Canvas
 
 

She Wanted to Be Colorful
acrylic mixed media collage portrait painting
12×12 on canvas 
SOLD!

Miss Me a Little and more talk about my painting schedule

Acrylic Portrait Painting, Original, Woman, Blue Bonnet, Green Shawl, 8x10 Mixed Media, Canvas Panel
sold!
acrylic mixed media collage portrait painting
Miss Me a Little Prints are available here
 
Yesterday I was writing about blocking out some time in my day for painting because if I don’t make time, I end up sitting at my desk all day. Having an online presence is vital to my job, but so is getting into the studio and painting. I’d love to spend every day just painting, and have someone take over all the online work for me, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon. So, I thought  a lot about it, and decided that 4pm – 8pm are going to be my studio hours. That means no answering emails or Internet during those hours.
Henry, 4x4 Mini Acrylic Portrait Painting on Chipboard, Original, Boy, Winter Coat, Scarf, Peachy PinkHenry Available for purchase here
 

Being an artist, and working for yourself, is no different that any other job. You have to show up, and work. I honestly don’t know how I’ve been accomplishing anything lately. I paint for ten minutes, then I’m back doing computer work. Four hours later, I remember I was painting something, and I paint for 20 minutes. Back to the computer. I need to rein myself in, and focus for longer periods of time. It feels great knowing that later today I’ll be painting for 4 whole hours, nonstop. Yes!!

Rambling on about autumn and video of Sweet Pea purring

Acrylic Portrait Painting Collage 9x12 That Look, Original, Mixed Media, Girl, Piercing Eyes, Face, Orange, Colorful
 
That Look!

Sold!

We’re finally starting to have autumn like weather here this week. The high is only going to be in the 60s and low 70s, and that makes my little heart go pitter patter. YES!! My favorite kind of weather. That will make the pollen go down, and maybe, just maybe, for the first time in many many months, I’ll start to get some relief from outdoor allergies. I might be able to breathe through my nose again, stop having migraines, put the neti pot, and nose sprays away for a couple months. A girl can hope.
 
I can’t believe a branch of leaves on the tree outside my studio window have turned bright yellow. Usually leaves around here just turn brown, die, and fall off the trees during a good wind storm (which we’re about to have today..storms are coming). ‘Tis disheartening, coming from the northeast as I do, where the fall foliage is spectacular with all the bold colors. I’ll take a bright yellow branch of leaves, thanks!
 
 
Acrylic mixed media 5x7 original whimsical painting - Fly, girl with her arms outstretched
Fly
Sold!

 
I take my coffee black, so I haven’t tried this, but did you know you can make your own pumpkin spice lattes at home? I know so many people who go running to Star Bucks at the first sign of fall to get pumpkin coffee. I mean lattes, of course. lol I can only guess it’s so much cheaper to make your own. I might have to try this, minus the almond milk because I’m allergic to almonds..but, it might be tasty, no? I have no idea, really. Never had one, but since the weather is changing, I’m starting to crave fall food.
 
 
I’m up early this morning. Had another horrible nightmare, woke up at 4am, and now it’s 6am, and I can’t/won’t go back to sleep. It’s gonna be a looooong day. Sweet Pea is also up, and racing and running around. omg..she is out of control this morning. She ran into the wall so hard (she’s blind..born without eyes, in case you didn’t know), I could hear her head making contact from the next room. Bam! Ow! Don’t worry, she’s okay, and it didn’t slow her down any. lol She’s a crazy fast kitty today.
 
 
Hope you enjoy a little 24 second video of Sweet Pea purring yesterday. Aww.
 
 

 

I’m off to get a very early start in the studio. Finished up a large painting last night. Yay! Photos later.

Throwing down some links and a new painting video

Cold Winter Day
Sold! 
I’ve been working on a gimongous canvas this week, and it’s kicking my butt. I’m not making any progress. It seems like all I’m doing is wasting a lot of paint because I can’t figure out what I’m doing. Gah. I’m going around in circles. I hate when I can’t wrap my head around a painting. I think it’s time to go back to small paintings for a while. I need to think about it.
 
 
10x10 Print, All Day Sucker, Little Girl, Red Hair, Pigtails, Lollipop, Orange, Green, Purple
All Day Sucker
Sold!
Prints are available
 
Since I’m waiting for video to upload to my youtube channel to complete this blog post, I might as well throw down some links. These are other places you can find me online. I’m on Facebook nearly every day. I have a love/hate relationship with the site, just like everyone else. I think of quitting every single day. But, I don’t. I don’t know what’s wrong with my head. Nobody really talks to me there, and I wonder every time I post why I bother, but I do.
 
I just started using Twitter again. I have no idea why. I don’t get Twitter. I have A LOT to say, and I can’t do it in 140 characters. People follow me, tho. You can, too.
 
Acrylic Abstract Painting Black Cloud Lining Original Art, Watercolor Paper, Black, White, Brown, Muted Colors
Black Cloud Lining
Sold! 
 
What else? Oh, Pinterest. I have to tell you, I’m very choosy about the boards I follow on Pinterest. I want to look at art, and that’s about it. Pinterest seems to be about FOOD and more FOOD, and well..I’m on a very extreme, limited diet. I have sooooo many food allergies, and Celiac Disease, which means no wheat or white flour, no rye or barley, no maltodextrin, dextrin, no gluten free food because gluten free doesn’t really mean no gluten. Gluten free means it meets the FDA regulations, but it can have a percentage of gluten in it. Gluten free also doesn’t mean wheat free. I had to learn this the hard way. I can’t even have a trace of wheat or gluten. I get violently sick. There’s also a HUGE list of other stuff I’m allergic to, and I don’t eat meat/chicken/fish/seafood of any kind..it grosses me out.
 
Soooo, needless to say, I don’t want to look at food on Pinterest. lol I’ve come to terms with being on a crazy restrictive diet for the rest of my life, but I don’t want to have delicious food in my face every day..especially sweets. I have a huge sweet tooth..or, used to, anyway. If you have any other interests besides food, I’ll take a look, and follow whichever boards that strike my fancy.Okay, the video has uploaded. Yay! Watch me paint this painting..
 
Original Acrylic Portrait Painting, Three Sisters, Girls, Orange, blue, yellow 8x10 wrapped canvas
 
3 sisters
mixed media collage portrait
Available for purchase here

Happy PPF!!

PS: have you checked out the new book my artwork was published in yet?
Golf Sayings Wit and Wisdom has been released on Amazon.

 

 
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