Mixed Media Artist - daily painter of portraits, flowers, abstracts and birds
If you’ve been following me for a while now, you might recognize this painting from 2010 (I think?). Annie and her horse have been living a splendid life in Germany, along with a few other of my paintings, for several years now. Ever since the day I packaged her up to ship out, I’ve missed having her in my life. So, this is what I’m doing this week..
Can I pull it off? I have no idea, but I’m trying anyway. You’ll have to stay tuned to see what happens.
I had no idea what I was doing when I started this painting. By that, I mean I didn’t have an outcome in mind. I just wanted to get some marks down on the canvas, and go from there. In the beginning, I thought it was going to be an abstract. As I worked, I saw maybe a figure to the left? I kept working, and what it turned into was neither abstract, nor a figure.
haha Yeah, I don’t know what happened, but this looks nothing like the first photo. That’s how it goes when you paint intuitively. I just followed my gut, and never stopped moving my hands. I kept asking myself if this was going to be a floral, and I remember thinking Nah! I didn’t want to do another floral, but guess what?
I’m pretty sure it’s a floral, and will stay a floral, but you never know. Things have been known to change drastically when I’m painting, so only time will tell. It’s not finished yet, but this is what it looked like, as of this morning anyway. I’ll have to let you know the final outcome later. So far, this has been a two week project, and I have no desire to rush through it. I might finish it this week. I probably won’t.
Little boy blowing on a dandelion
oil portrait painting sketch
Little Dude No 4
At this point, I was debating whether it was finished or not. I decided it wasn’t, so back on the easel he went..
The painting sat here for a couple days to dry a bit, and then I finished it. His eyes were uneven, so I changed them. He also wasn’t looking down at the dandelion enough, so I gave him thicker upper eyelids to fix that. I could go on tweaking this painting forever, especially his eyes, but I’m going to refrain and call it done. It’s time to move on.
Little Dude No 4
finished painting
Small to large prints are available here.
I enjoyed painting this portrait, but it will be the last one I do for a while. One, because I haven’t got another portrait in mind, and I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about portraits these days. And two, I’m working on other projects right now, and don’t have time. If you’re interested in Little Dude No 4, you can purchase it here. It won’t be dry enough to ship for several more weeks. Small to large prints are available now.
Have you signed up for my newsletter yet? You should! Starting next month I’ll be giving away a painting, each and every month to one of my subbies. Be eligible to win by signing up now..
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New bird paintings were painted last week. I only painted 4 of them because I ran out of canvas. Oops! I hate when that happens. I’m getting an order ready for Dick Blick now.
1. I love b&w photos, and haven’t posted any in a while.
2. Sometimes color is overrated, and overwhelming at the same time.
3. I don’t want to give away what the paintings look like just yet.
4. I’m considering doing another black and white series, and want to get a feel for how it will look.
And, that’s a sneak peek into my studio from last week.
These paintings will be shipped off to the Stage Coach Gallery in South Dakota soon. If you’re in the area, stop by, and say hello to Mary.
Have you signed up for my newsletter yet? You should! Starting next month I’ll be giving away a painting, each and every month to one of my subbies. Be eligible to win by signing up now..
Sign up for my newsletter here!
Never miss another blog post. Subscribe now to receive free updates in your inbox every time I post.
My husband bought me some large canvas for my birthday, and I’ve spent about a week working on this one so far. I think it’s 30×40..something like that. I have a hard time remembering numbers off the top of my head.
It’s almost finished. I’m going to fill in the top right a little bit, and probably call it done. This one won’t be for sale. I’m keeping it for myself, since the canvas was a gift, and I hardly ever paint just for me. I’ll probably offer prints of it at some point.
I meant to take photos throughout the making of this painting, but once I get going, it’s hard to remember to stop. My plan was a complete fail. So, all I have to show of the process is this one photo. Lame, I know. Maybe next time?
I’m so glad July is over with. Was it just me or did it seem to drag on forever?
On the easel
16×20 acrylic impasto palette knife floral painting
Flower Series 148
Sometimes, I find that with larger canvases, it’s easier to lay them flat on the table, rather than use my easel. I can move around the painting better this way. The easel comes in handy when I think the painting is finished or when I want to examine the painting in its upright position to make sure everything looks right. Sometimes, when I work flat, I fail to see the vase is crooked or the flowers aren’t placed as well as they could be.
It helps greatly to place the canvas on the easel to get an idea of how it will look hanging on a wall. If I need to add more to the painting, I usually leave it on the easel. I paint a little, then step back. Paint a little, and step back. You should always do that to get a viewer’s perspective of a painting because you can’t always trust your view as an artist. Most of the time, an artist stands way too close to a painting to be able to really see it as others do.
This is the painting I posted last week titled Time Tested. I didn’t realize I had taken photos of it in progress or I would have posted this first. Oops!
I used to do a series called On the Easel, and I showed progress shots of a new painting just about every week. I fell out of doing that, but I’m thinking I should bring it back. I’m always looking for something to blog about. The hardest part for me is remembering to pick up the camera or phone while I’m working. Usually my hands are completely covered in paint, so I don’t like to stop, and clean up every few minutes. It interrupts the flow, and I tend to work very fast. I’ll try, tho..it might be fun, at least every once in a while.
In case you’re wondering, the kitties are home, and doing fine. They are even more hyper than usual, and keeping them quiet for the next 2 to 3 days is going to be tough. I think, at best, I can keep them away from Sweet Pea, but keep them quiet? I highly doubt it. So far, all they’ve wanted to do is run around, and wrestle, as if nothing happened. Maude just had Harold around the neck, choking him so hard he started coughing..I had to go separate them. haha
I have them up here in my office, but it’s a constant “dodge Mom and run FAST” every time I try to open the door..they want out, bad!! Other than feeling cooped up already, they seem like nothing ever happened. The only weird difference is the noise Harold keeps making..it’s like a constant little mrrrrow noise. He doesn’t seem in pain or anything..maybe it’s the meds making him more vocal than usual? Or maybe he has lots of stories he’s trying to tell me of his adventure to the vet for the first time?
Lady in Pink
on the easel.
It looked like this before..
I never liked this painting. It was one of that I did back in September last year during the 30 paintings in 30 days. I didn’t have a lot of time then to make decisions or change things because I had to hurry on to the next painting, but now I’ve got time. I tried working on the man, but eh..eventually, it came down to my hair being pulled out or him. He had to go. She had potential, tho. I think she has a pretty face, I just needed to build up the layers a bit.
I’ll have more photos later. This was just a quick one shot with my new iPad, to test out the camera a little bit. Yes, someone had a birthday last week, and got a super cool pressie from her sweet husband. ::insert GIANT smile here::
I have to eat crow here a bit. I’ve never been fond of Apple, or so I thought. Love Steve Jobs, and his whole story, but meh..I’ve had my share of iPods, and bought them as gifts for other people. None of them ever lasted long, and I wasn’t at all impressed. A couple years ago, I completely uninstalled iTunes from my computer. I had had enough.
However, five minutes after becoming a new iPad owner, I was wondering how I ever lived without one for so long. Seriously. It makes Android look like a joke. Now I’m thinking about selling my laptop and desktop and getting an iMac. Instant fan, just like that! I’ve been loyal to Microsoft for years, but Windows 8??!!! Or, how about Vista? Need I say more?
Found out who’s been eating the cat’s food.
I thought it was just this guy, but I’ve noticed we also have a Mama and little baby toad living in the backyard. I’m so in love with the baby. I need to get his picture before he’s all grown up. Kids grow so fast, y’know?
Whoa, last day of July. Where does the time go? For the month of August, I’m going to mix it up a bit, and shoot for 3 blog posts a week, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. If I feel like blogging more than that, I will, but I’ve been tired lately. It’s time for a little summer break. See you on Saturday. 🙂
Happy PPF, if you’re visiting on Friday. I was so happy to see this post by Sherry last week. She was featured on PPF, which gave me the biggest smile. To think I was the inspiration for all this artwork makes me say awww!!! Can’t wait to see what she comes up with this week.