How to – Katie Jeanne Wood

Mixed media painting using acrylics and oil pastels – how I combine the two

Oil pastel portrait
acrylic paint background

Most of my work these days is a mixture of oil pastels and acrylic paint. These two mediums don’t mix well together, but still can be used in the same painting.

When using oil pastels, it’s the same basic rule as using acrylic & oil paint together. As long as the acrylic paint is underneath the oil pastels or in an area alongside the oil pastels, it’s fine.

Oil pastel portrait
acrylic paint background

You shouldn’t paint with acrylics over oils because the paint will crack as it dries. Same rule applies for oil pastels & acrylic paint. I’m not sure if oil pastels crack, but they are water resistant, which means acrylic paint won’t stick or dry if painted on top of the pastels.

Oil pastel portrait
acrylic paint background

Oil pastels are slightly different than oil paints because they never dry fully. It’s more like the pastels set & firm up a bit over time. Varnishing them helps give the painting a protective coating, but oil pastel paintings can be scratched if not taken care of properly.

I leave my paintings on my drying shelves to air out for a few days before I varnish them. If you try to varnish too soon the oil pastels will smear. I didn’t know this when I first started using varnish instead of fixative spray. I tried to varnish a painting right after I was finished creating it. The oil pastels didn’t have time to set, and I smeared one of my portraits a lovely shade of orange. Oops!! Lesson learned.

The varnish I use is Liquitex. Clear gesso also works well, also, and gives the surface a grungy, gritty feel, which I love. I’ve been using it in my work for years.

I don’t recommend using the clear gesso between layers of oil pastels, like you can with acrylic paint. If you use clear gesso on acrylic paint, it sets those layers, and you can easily paint more on top. Doesn’t work the same with oil pastels. I’ve tried to go back in and fix little areas, but once an oil pastel painting has clear gesso on it, it doesn’t accept new layers easily. So make sure your oil pastel painting is completed before using clear gesso on it.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a lovely creative day.

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I’m posting new artwork every day here in my shop. Shipping is free within the USA, if you purchase art directly from me. I also sell originals & prints on eBay and Etsy. You can get some great deals on my weekly eBay auctions and/or on some of my flash sales I have on Etsy.

As always, if you want to say hello or have any questions you can write me here. I love getting email, and hearing from you.

Other places to find me online.

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Start a habit of creating your life story

We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act,
but a habit.

Will Durant

Art journaling has been my “habit” now for 20+ years. I’ve also had paper journals for writing, which my mother encouraged me to start when I was 13 years old. I’ve kept a written journal on and off since then, at times favoring writing over art making.

I guess you could say, in one way or another, I’ve been expressing myself on paper most of my life. My art journals are my dearest friends – always there when I need them. I can’t always depend on people, but I know my journals are here to get me through each day. No matter what mood I’m in, no matter if the sun is shining brightly or if it’s pouring rain on my head.

oil pastels over acrylic paint

Some pages hold my deepest secrets beneath the layers, things I could never say out loud. When I look back through an old art journal from 10 or 15 years ago, I might not remember the words I wrote under the paint, but I do (sometimes) remember the mood I was in, what I was thinking about at the time, and what was going on in my life.

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
Pablo Picasso

I’m pretty sure the only reason I have boxes & shelves full of finished art & handwritten journals is because of my mother’s encouragement. I still have my first paper handwritten journal in my possession. It’s written in pencil so faint, I can barely read now, but it is hilarious to read. I think I had to be the most naive 13 year old kid on the planet. haha!

I’d like to pass on my Mom’s wisdom, and encourage you to start your art and/or written journal. 🙂 It doesn’t matter if you’re 13 or 113, I recommend starting today. It doesn’t have to be fancy. You can start where you are, and use what you have. You don’t have to buy expensive books, pens or art supplies. I often art journal in Mead notebooks that cost .50 at Walmart. I buy them in bulk, so I always have one on hand. They’re so cheap, and affordable. It’s hard to think of them as precious, but I do..because they’re mine, and each one holds a chapter of my life story.

Write, play, scribble, draw, paint, and start creating your life story today.

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See my artwork in a new movie – The Whale starring Brendan Fraser, which will be released December 9th, 2022.

If you haven’t checked out my eBay store in a while, you should. Some artwork I have marked down to only $10 or $15. I add new stuff every single day. Same goes for Etsy.

I’m also accepting orders for custom paintings, and drawings. Because commissions take a great deal of time, Christmas delivery isn’t possible at this point in time.

As always, if you want to say hello or have any questions you can write me here. I love getting email, and hearing from you.

Other places to find me online.

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What I’ve learned about oil pastels so far

I just started to draw with oil pastels back in the spring, so it’s still very new to me. I’m sure I will learn more as I go, but I thought I’d share what I’ve discovered so far using this medium.

The photos here are macro shots I took of the bottom of my oil pastel box. I thought the little crumbs were pretty, the colors – vibrant, so I grabbed my phone before I vacuumed it out. Everything looks huge here on the screen, but it’s deceiving.

Because oil pastels are soft, they break very easily, usually into tiny pieces. Some artists break the sticks into smaller pieces before using them to avoid breakage as they’re working. I’ve done it both ways. They still break and crumble as I’m drawing.

I’ve found out that fine motor skills are necessary to use oil pastels. Most, if not all, of my drawings were created using my left hand. I’m able to grip, hold, smudge, blend, and control the tiny pieces of pastels better with my left hand for some reason. My right hand is (usually) dominate when I’m painting, tho.

Oil pastels are extremely messy! It’s a constant battle to keep them clean..again, because they’re so soft. They pick up each color they bump into in the box and on the drawing itself. Plus, any smudged pastel on my fingers is immediately transferred to the pastels – wearing gloves makes it worse because the pastels stick to the gloves. I always keep paper towels and sandpaper (very fine) nearby to clean the pastels off as I draw. It’s a constant, messy ongoing process.

I used a palette knife to scrape the sides of these pastels
before wiping them with a paper towel.

I’ve learned to keep at least one spare unopened box of oil pastels around. As soon as I open a new box, I order another one because I know it’s just a short amount of time before I’m running out of my favorite colors. I can use up an entire stick quite fast, which is something that surprised me. I didn’t know I would have to replace them as often as I do. If you’re going to use oil pastels regularly, be prepared to purchase a lot of them.

I don’t know if any of this is helpful to anyone, but I thought I’d share anyway. I hope you have a lovely creative day. If you like this blog post, please share it using the buttons below.

Artists I’ve been admiring lately:

Inside the sketchbook of Frances Ives – some day when I grow up, I hope to make sketchbooks as lovely as hers.

Btw, does anyone else look forward to receiving Jackson’s Art emails as much as I do? They have a way of photographing, and marketing art supplies, eh? I eagerly open every email they send me, knowing it’s an ad in my inbox.

Antti Rautiola paints beautiful children figure paintings

Alice Tye – Her paintings give me a 70s vibe.

Reading:

I’m still working through the reading challenge I signed up for back in January on Good Reads. Finding time to read over the summer has been challenging, but I think I picked the right number of books for me this year.

I’ve been enjoying listening to David Sedaris’s hilarious book Calypso, and reading Shirley Jackson’s book Hangsaman. I’m still trying to get through Nudge: The Final Edition, but find it hard to relate, so my mind wanders constantly or I fall asleep while listening. I don’t think I’m getting much out of it, tbh.

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How I make my own packaging to ship original paintings

DIY packaging for my paintings

Over the weekend I sold a bunch of paintings.
Thank you to everyone who made a purchase!
Your new wall art is on the way.

I thought I’d make a blogpost about how I package up my original paintings since it’s evolved over time. It’s been a while since I’ve written about my process, so here we go..

First thing first..cardboard to sandwich the painting between to protect it while in transit is a must. I could buy flat cardboard for my packaging, but I’d rather recycling and reuse what I already have on hand. I buy most everything online these days, so I have plenty of boxes lying around. I try to do all the cutting ahead of time to save time when I get an order. It’s best to do it whenever I get a box in the mail, so I don’t have to store the box somewhere. I already know the sizes of my paintings, so I know the dimensions to cut.

Because these boxes come from other companies there is usually print on the box. I don’t really want my paintings going out with another company’s name on them..it might confuse people, so the second thing I do is pretty up the cardboard with some abstracts or flowers..whatever I feel like painting that day. It’s my gift to my buyer – extra paintings that they can keep, and frame, if they’d like. The photo above is an example of some of the cardboard I created on Sunday.

I then slide the paintings into plastic bags, which helps to protect the acrylic paint while in transit..especially in hot, humid weather. I don’t want the paint to stick to the cardboard. Also, if it’s raining anywhere along the way, it helps protect the painting from getting wet. I’ve had buyers tell me that the plastic bag has saved the day because the outside of their packages were wet, but the painting was dry inside.

Before packaging the paintings, I scan the painted cardboard, and I make high resolution prints to sell in my Etsy shop. Some of these will be available as prints as soon as I get them edited in Photoshop.

Aw..look at these babies.
So much more pleasing to the eye than plain old cardboard, eh?
🙂

This is what the paintings look like sandwiched between the cardboard.

Thanks again to everyone who purchased my original paintings. All orders have now been shipped out, and will be arriving soon. xo

PS: When listings expire from my Etsy sale, I’m painting over the art I don’t like. I’ve given the sale a good long run, and it’s time to make some fresh art out of the old stuff. I’m doing the same with my eBay listings. If you’ve had your eye on something at either venue, you should buy it asap because it might not exist soon.

How to create a background for Etsy & eBay photos

Creating a background for Etsy & eBay photos

For months now, the background for my paintings in my Etsy and eBay listings has been a huge white abstract painting that I took off the wall in my living room. 😀 It worked great, but when I was cleaning up my studio, I decided it was time to put the painting back where it belonged. I mean, I painted it to be hung on the wall, not used as a background. lol

I found a big sheet of white poster board hiding under the painting. Ah, yes..I suddenly remembered why I was using the painting as a background. The poster board I had been using had paint smears on it. It was kinda a pain to edit it out of every single photo in Photoshop. I had saved the poster board, so I could make a new background with it.

I started out by laying down some blue and black paint. After it dried, I added some pink. I was just throwing the paint down with a palette knife. I wasn’t planning or being strategic in how I was laying down the colors.

I knew I was going to end up painting over it in white. I only wanted a little bit of the color to show through, so the background wouldn’t dominate my paintings.

Acrylic abstract
Floral No 310
Available here

I added more white, and tweaked it a bit more. The paint was thick in places, so I let it dry all afternoon. Then I took a practice shot with one of my paintings on top of it to see how I liked it. It gets a thumbs up from me. Bink!

The only thing I don’t like is that the poster board warped under the weight of the paint. You probably can’t tell, but the painting isn’t lying flat. To fix it, I turned the poster board over, spritzed it with water, placed some wax paper on top, and then heavy books to weigh it down. It worked, but it’s something to keep in mind if you try this for yourself.

Edited: sorry I’m running late with this post. I was busy yesterday packaging up paintings to ship out. My huge clearance art sale is ongoing in my Etsy shop. Some prices have been slashed 50%, so be sure to check it out. I’ll be adding more paintings every day.

Thank you to everyone who’s been purchasing my artwork. Please remember that once a painting has been sold, it’s gone forever. Don’t wait or you might miss out. <– This just happened to one of my customers, and when she came back to buy the painting a couple hours later, it was already sold.

From what I’ve been hearing, these paintings will make swell Christmas gifts. 🙂

This oil pastel artist on YT is so darn fun. I’m literally lmao at his antics, and skits. Seriously, since I found him a couple weeks back, my quarantined life has improved so much. I now have something to look forward to..his videos coming up in my feed. His silly positive vibe is much needed right now, and you gotta see the portraits he creates using Crayola pastels. Wow!! Crayola needs to hire him, guurrrl, that’s all I’ll say. I mean, seriously!!

And, this artist, who is only 18, and taking a gap year from college because of covid..omgosh, amazzzzing work from both of these young men.

How to make a digital signature brush for your artwork in Photoshop

Chaos
Acrylic abstract canvas painting
by Katie Jeanne Wood

As always, the signature you see on this first photo isn’t on the painting itself. It’s on the photo only. I watermark my first photo in case the photo gets shared by someone other than me on social media. I like all my paintings to be traceable back to me or my website. If my digital signature is on the painting, my name can be googled, and my art found. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen artwork that I love, but have no idea who the artist was that made it.

Since these photos are going to be on Etsy, I’m using my name as the signature, not my website. I haven’t checked, but I’m assuming it might be against Etsy’s TOS to have your website plastered all over every photo. I’d rather be cautious, and not have to redo thousands of photos or have my shop shut down over it. We all know how persnickety Etsy can be, and how shops have vanished into thin air for no apparent reason, and without explanation.

If you have Photoshop, it’s super easy to make a signature brush that you can then use over and over again. Keep scrolling down for the directions.

How to make a signature brush in PhotoshopCC 20.0.4 (I was finally able to upgrade to the latest version on my Mac. Yay!):

Write your name – you can either use a font or you can use your real handwriting. I personally don’t like the idea of putting my own signature out there online, but if you’re comfortable with that, go for it. If you use your own handwriting, write with a dark magic marker on a piece of paper, then scan or take a photo of it.
Open the scan or photo in Photoshop, and skip down to step No 4. If you’re going to sign your name using a font instead, keep reading.
Start with a new blank canvas. Click File –> New, choose a font that best suits you, and type out your name using the type tool, which is the large T you see in the toolbar.
When you’re finished signing or typing your name, select Edit – Define Brush Preset
Name your brush something simple to identify, such as signature, and click OK.
That’s all there is to it. You now have a new signature brush to use over and over again on all your artwork! Easy peasy!! You can change the size, and use any color you’d like when using the brush, as I demonstrated in the photo above.

How to make brush cleaner for oil and acrylic painting simple recipe – Daily painting day 310 & 311

As you can see, I was scraping the bottom on my Master’s oil brush soap. All I had left was a little ring around the outside of the pan. Since it was a holiday weekend, I decided instead of buying more, and waiting for it to ship, I’d make my own brush cleaner. I can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner.

This is what it looked like the next morning, all separated.

All I did was pour some dishwashing detergent in a small jar, and add some olive oil. Shook it up, poured a tiny amount into a small pot, and tried it out. So far, I’m very pleased with the results.

As much as I like Master’s brush cleaner, I think I like this homemade soap better. Not only did it save me money to make it myself, but this mixture also conditions my brush bristles, and makes them soft.

The solution works well when painting with acrylics, also. Try it for yourself, and then let me know how you like it.

Woohoo..June 1st, and another month behind us, and I’m one day closer to the end of the 365 day project. YES!! I’m counting the days, soon to be hours.

You know what kind of day it’s going to be when it’s 85F at 10am. 107F heat index today. Can’t wait to spend the day in the pool.

How to easily revising a painting you don’t like

I painted this figure painting in oils a couple years ago, but I’ve never liked it. I offered it for sale, and it didn’t get much traction or interest. I decided last week to paint over it. No sense wasting canvas or sitting around letting the grass grow under my feet.

My vision for this one this time around was very different than when I originally started. All I could see was a floral in my mind’s eye when I looked at this figure painting, so floral was what I decided to paint. It’s really quite easy to paint over painting you don’t like. Because this one was originally painted in oils, I continued to paint in oils over the top of it. I’m still using the fat over lean rule by painting impasto style.

haha..I like this one with her legs showing through. 😀

These photos were taken with my iPhone in the wee hours of morning before it was light outside. The lighting was quite harsh from my lamp above my easel and overhead.

wip

I think it’s coming along. I almost have the figure covered up. I decided to stop here, and let it dry a few days before continuing. I hope to finish it up this week or next.

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