Nothing to do but Stay Home and Paint during 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Steve's Fields"       Acrylic, 8x8"

 I hope you all have weathered the storm safely.  We're doing fine here.  I am happy to be home with my family, happy to be home painting and doing yoga and resting.  

I want to thank Steve Lyddon once again for providing the reference photo for this painting.  He has been to some beautiful places!

Oil Pastel Version of "Long Hair" - 30 Paintings in January 2015

Oil Pastel, 7x5"

I'm repeating myself!  This is the Oil pastel version of the painting I did yesterday using Acrylics.  I am trying to rule-out/rule-in methods and materials I want to continue with, and one way to differentiate was to repeat this painting using the Oil Pastels.  I did sort of make it hard on myself by painting from the first painting rather than from the reference photo.  Since OP's give such different effects than Acrylics, I ended up having to make some Oil Pastel "moves" in order to find resolution to this painting--different than what it took in Acrylics.

I should have mentioned yesterday, I was happy with what I did with the painting because I used the reference photo only as a suggestion for composition and value.  The colors in these paintings are nothing like the reference photo, the setting is completely different (made up/abstracted) in the paintings.  I truly feel more satisfied as an artist when I feel I'm creating rather than copying a photo.  Maybe that's why yesterday's process was more satisfying than today's...

Everyone, please take care, try to get good sleep, and remember to uplift each other...

Approaching Storm

Acrylic 6x6"

Available for $95 plus shipping

Contact the Woolworth Walk Gallery

Asheville, NC

(828) 254-9234

Another candidate from my new project of getting to intimately know some landforms.   As I explained in this post, I am working towards learning to paint from imagination, or from my mind's eye. 

One of the commenters on the last post thought I had actually painted the last landform from my imagination.  I want to correct that impression, because I think I wasn't clear.

I am not yet creating the landforms from my imagination!  I am creating them from my own photos and significantly cropping to find what is to me the most interesting part of the photos.  

My plan is to paint from a photo monochromatically, then paint the same landforms using imaginative color, and eventually create my own semi-abstracted landforms from my imagination.  Make sense?

I am trying out the auction format at Daily Paintworks to put some of these works up for sale.  The auction will run for one week, starting with a lowered "teaser price."  If the painting doesn't sell during the auction week, the price will go up to my regular retail price. 

I am playing with redesigning parts of my blog (fonts, font sizes, colors), so please bear with me till I settle on what I like.  Better yet, feel free to provide feedback on any of the changes.  

Edit:  Well, turns out I have put a lot of time into this redesign---let me know what you think!  I like it, and I hope it's easier on the eye.  I know it calls for a wider header now.  Another project....

Thanks for being here, Watchers!

Lady Bug Dress

Acrylic with Palette Knife 10x8"

My latest in my new series of toddler legs.  Legs courtesy of my OTHER niece!  I am now out of nieces, so if anyone has any photos of little toddlers they would like to share as painting references, feel free to send them my way!

If you have read my blog for awhile, you will know that I am on a quest to improve the photo images of my paintings (now there's a positive way to put it!).  Thanks to Rick (photoshop guru who is helping me tremendously with my prints) at Henco Reprographics, I now know that the color and values are even affected by the ANGLE TO THE MONITOR the image is viewed from.  Artist friends, did you know this???  Try viewing one of your paintings on your monitor from various angles, and you will see for yourselves...

P.S.  Guess whose dog needs surgery on her other knee?

Leggings - Acrylic with Palette Knife, 30 in 2014

Acrylic with Palette Knife, 8x10"

This photo was shot about 6 years ago and painted sometime that year.  The owner of the legs is also the owner of the original painting, my niece T.  I wanted to see how it would work to use a palette knife to paint it again.  Unfortunately, T and the painting live far away, so I will have to rely on my sister to tell me how this one compares with the original.  Funny how an image can stay with you for years!

Congratulations to all my artist friends who are completing the 30 in 30 Challenge.  I am so proud of you.  Congratulations, too, to my good friends who decided not to do the challenge this time.  You all are also doing fabulous work!

Spiral Tree - Palette Knife (30 in January 2014)

 

 Acrylic with Palette Knife, 8x10"

 Sorry for the glare on this photo.  It is from my scanner.  The painting is quite shiny.  I need to adjust my proportion of gloss to matt medium.  In a couple of weeks, I can put some matt varnish on this piece and then scan it again.  I'll try to remember to show it to you then!

 After spending a chunk of yesterday morning on a painting that wasn't going to work out, I spent a chunk of yesterday afternoon playing on this one.  I think the playing won out over the working!  This one was purely for my amusement, seeing what moves I could make with the palette knife and just enjoying seeing colors next to colors.


I remember when I took the reference photo this fall, what attracted me to the scene was the way the leaves seemed to spiral around the tree.  I hope I have managed to convey some of that effect here...

Thanks for looking!

Five Things I Know So Far about Acrylic Palette Knife Painting

Acrylic with Palette Knife, 8x10"

 "You can't hurry art..."  Like this one--this one took two days of my spare time to complete.  I've actually painted from this photo before, with brushes, oil paints, and the help of a teacher.  Yesterday, I was staring at the GOBS of leftover paint I had on the palette from doing the quilt painting.  I recognized that the palette was perfect for this reference photo!  Of course, I couldn't find the earlier version of the painting until today, so I didn't have the benefit of what I had learned the first time until round two, today.

This kitchen belongs to one of my blog readers.  Extra points to you if you figure out it's yours!  Don't worry, though, if you don't figure it out.  I just got my artistic license, and I used a lot of it with this painting...

I missed a few days of the 30 in 30.  I wasn't feeling well, and needed downtime with my family.  But don't feel bad for me--I'm not mad at myself or anything.  In fact, yesterday I bought myself some presents as rewards for what I have accomplished so far.  I am now the proud owner of a new ArtByte from DPW and two out-of-print art books from Amazon.  I respond well to rewards!  I'm so encouraged, I'm going to continue to paint--maybe I'll deserve even more...

This is the most ambitious palette knife painting I have completed.  Here is what I have learned so far about Acrylic Palette Knife painting:

1) Use medium!  I am still experimenting to determine my favorite medium--what I do know for sure is that medium adds body to the paint, which makes the paint behave better for palette knife painting.  As a bonus, the medium really stretches the paint!

2)  The paint stays wet a long time.  I have to learn to use wet-on-wet techniques, for at least part of what I am doing.  I am used to wet-on-dry!

3)  And when the paint does dry, those palette knife ridges can sometimes get in the way of what I need to do next!  I don't mind any of the ridges once the painting is complete--the ridges are just a function of having used a knife.  But the ridges can be tough to work with when I still want to do some overpainting.

4)  Sometimes I want to use a brush in the middle of the palette knife painting.  So I do.  And that's ok.  Except when it's not.  And then I can fix it.  

5)  I have a lot to learn about Acrylic Palette Knife Painting, but am so excited to practice and learn.

Thanks for visiting and Watching!

Stormy Sky - 30 in January 2014

                                           Acrylic with Palette Knife, 6x6"




I started this one with 20 minutes of my lunch hour yesterday and finished it last night when I got home.  This one is from one of my photos.  I found it very difficult to get soft cloud edges with the palette knife and ended up using my finger, which is very strange for me, since I normally paint with gloves on to avoid touching the paint.  I wonder if I can prevail upon two friends who usually paint with palette knives to do a demo of clouds on their blogs--Carol, Jacklyn? 

How is everybody who is in the challenge doing at this point?  I find myself needing to be more into my own thing and having less time to look at everyone else's work.  Yesterday morning, I used my time before work to scan and blog the painting on yesterday's post, and that is what I will need to do this morning, too.  Then, my next time to check email and Feedly is normally my lunch hour, but I painted on my lunch hour.  And last night, I also painted.  I haven't had time to look at all the paintings on Leslie's blog in a few days.  I know it's a good thing for my painting life to be more focused on my own process, but I do miss all the inspiration!  So, how are you guys doing???

Sunrise Landscape from December

                                                                                                    acrylic, larger than usual

I think my mother would like to see another landscape.  This one was painted on a canvas board, which I rarely do (I paint on archival hardboards) and is no longer in my possession, so I can't measure it.  It may be around 16x20."  It was painted from a photo that I took in my neighborhood.

Here is what it looked like framed (the frame was straight, it's the photo that's crooked):

As an aside, I know a wonderful woman who lost her home and most of her pets in a house fire, caused by a piece of paper falling on a power strip.  Please, everyone, be careful about your power strips/surge protectors!

Happy Mother's Day!

                                                    An older one               Gouache, 8x10"ish

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope everyone reading this has as wonderful a mother as I do and gets to see or at least talk to their mother today.  My mother is very supportive of my art and anything else I do, so I am happy to show this post in her honor.

This one was painted around December, when I first started my painting practice but was still playing around with various mediums.  It was painted in goauche, from a photograph, of guess who.  And guess who else...

Just when I thought I had my blog figured out, Blogger is telling me that my browser is no longer supported by Blogger and that I may experience problems and should switch to the browser Google Chrome.  Obviously, Google (who owns Blogger) is trying to get all the Bloggers to switch to their own browser.  I am having some problems with the blog now, so I may choose to switch this blog to a service other than Blogger, instead of switching my browser to Google Chrome.  Guess why.....

I have scheduled this painting to post tomorrow morning.  I hope that works.  I never tried scheduling a post when Blogger did support my browser.  I did try to save this post this afternoon, and it did not save, so I am a little nervous.  Fingers crossed.  If it doesn't save now and post in the a.m., I will just have to rewrite it.  With love....

(Editor's note:  It did "Save."  It did not publish as scheduled.  I am going to try to publish it manually now, fingers crossed)