White Tulips, So Far (Updated)

Just started this one tonight. Had to do something to get that dumb episode of Lost out of my head!

Grapes and Pears, So Far

Grand Tetons Farm House, Finished

Well, it's finished. (Until Ross comes home and points out something I missed!) Painting water with acrylic is not easy! But it was fun doing a landscape, and I feel great about finishing 3 paintings in 3 days.

Grand Tetons Farm House, So Far

I started this landscape yesterday and I hope to finish it tonight while Ross is in the city. This is acrylic on an 11" x 14" gessoed art board.





Still have to put in the fence posts in the field on the right, finish the stream, and fill in the plants in the foreground.

Bowl of Tomatoes, Still-Life, 12"x9"

I took a break from miniatures yesterday. They are small but they take sooo much forethought that they can be a real chore. Instead I pulled out an art board an the acrylic and jumped into painting this still life. What I like about acrylic is that you don't have to be perfect from the beginning, like you do with watercolors, you just slap it on and if you don't like it, don't worry, it will be dry in minutes and you can cover it up! Makes for a much looser and more intuitive painting process. This one took 5 or 6 hours.

There are some things I need to touch up and then I'm calling it done.

Cat and Mouse (Miniature)

Ink & Watercolor, 2.5" x 3.5"
An orange tabby kitten sits in a warm, sunny spot with her favorite toy.

Pictured with lipstick for scale.

Kitten and Toy

I hoped to finish at least one miniature painting today but had such a hard time choosing a subject that I got a late start and only got this far.



Hey, at least it's paint on paper. It seems like that is rarer and rarer these days. I found a bunch of note cards that I used to keep over my desk and re-posted them today, hoping they will give me a little nudge.

One has sayings from Julia Cameron's Artist's Way. Kinda corny, but they really speak to the stupid anxieties that block me from sitting down to paint.

"Creativity is play!"
"Leap and the net will appear!"
"Quantity, not quality."

And I posted this old note card, because it makes me laugh:

Grandma Moses on painting; "I don't advise anyone to take it up as a business proposition unless they really have talent, and are so crippled as to deprive them of physical labor."

Wishful Thinking

Watercolor and ink, 2.5" x 3.5"

Amber in Oil, 9x12

And it only took me 5 months, lol! To see how it started way back in June check out this post.

Boats, WIP

I'm working on a painting and (((gasp))) it's not of a cat! ;P It's based on a picture Ross took at Kanuga. I'm doing this painting in oils on a 16"x20" canvas.

I began by doing a rough sketch in charcoal directly onto the canvas. I have learned the hard way not to use graphite because it will keep floating to the surface of the paint and then you have these ugly gray lines through your painting.

I apologize the color is so off in these pictures. This canvas is actually the normal white color ;P
After finishing the drawing I attempted to mix a gray color using alizarion crimson, cobalt blue, and white. According to an oil painting book I own this is supposed to make gray. I should have known better! Oh well, it will be a sunny day picture instead of a gloomy day picture :) Next I began blocking in the boats and the dock using white, naples yellow, ultramarine blue and raw umber. I also began painting the shadows of the boats on the water using raw umber and ultramarine blue.
Next I began correcting some of the drawing mistakes with the shape of the boat on the far left and the shadows.

I can already tell that this painting is going to take awhile to finish but it's fun doing something different and it's a good learning experience. If it doesn't turn out well I'm definitely going to try again because there are already some things I would like to do differently.

Oil Painting Update

Still working on the painting I started last week. Had a disaster with the blanket, had to scrub it off and start over. Even now not happy with the color but, who knows, it may all come together yet. Started a new painting so I'd have something to work on while waiting for layers to dry on the first one.

Moonlit Reunion

This is another one of my miniature raven paintings. I haven't developed a fascination with ravens or anything, it's just that there is a good demand for them on ebay.