Twitter and Another Owl

First off, thanks to all the peeps that have started following me on Twitter...and to the ones that unfollow, you'll be OK (for now, until I find out where you live).   I've added a counter on the side, that I, so lucky for me and my absolutely free schedule >_> , get to manually update at TwitterCounter.  I figure it's just another gadget to bedazzle my utterly barren little blog, but ya know, it's like a new toy to fool with;)

Now, on to the grand finale...the new painting. This little illustration is part 2 of my horned owl series, and it's obviously a barn owl (what? you don't have a degree in ornithology?)...I adore their big heart-shaped faces and dark eyes.  I'm really enjoying mixing the watercolor and acrylic paints to give me just the right consistency. I feel like I have a whole lot more flexibility with it, and hope to be moving on to some bigger pieces soon. I also have some larger watercolor paper and more illustration markers on the way (hooray) so get ready for a butt-load of more art:)

Ibex Illustration

I guess I'm just really getting into this style....finally.  Sometimes I think that I have no idea what direction I want to go in, but with everything starting to move at least in some direction, I'll just be going with the flow for a while.  Soooo, being the animal-loving geek that I am, I saw a few of these guys on the tube, scaling the highest precipice and attempting to fling one another from the edge...I am talking about the ibexes (that's getting a bit wordy now).  They kind of, no directly, inspired me to do this painting, because for whatever reason I might have a slight obsession with horned beasts.  So here it is, in watercolor and ink.  Enjoy.

Adventures in Style

I've been experimenting lately with different styles, doing anything that fancies me.  I know I change my mind a lot when it comes to art...so here are two little paintings I did today.  One is acrylic and ink, and the other is watercolor, acrylic, ink and charcoal.  They were fun, but I'm not sure how I feel about them yet.

Time Lapse Video - Horned Alien

Well now, after much toiling, I have managed to figure out the workings of youtube (maybe) and now feel like an erudite scholar of the web (ha).  So, without further ado, here's the video! Oh, and one more thing...I know I sent everyone the link for the youtube page, but I thought I should just go ahead and post here as well! Now, really, here it is:

The music is not mine, but by a person called Stizerth...go check him out:

"Brick Wall"

Stizreth's page

Youtube Channel - Videos

OK everyone, I have some big news that will most certainly be the epoch of your existence!  I just uploaded a really awesome, totally amazing (*face palm) time-lapse video of a horned alien I recently painted.  What a mouth full (* another face-palm----my forehead is stinging) but it really is quite a weird little creature.

Go check out the video HERE and like/subscribe to my channel.

Later on today, I will be show everyone some photos of the work.... See you guys soon.

Yellow Mushroom 1

This is one of four very small mushroom paintings.  All of them will be different types and colors.  I'll be posting the next one soon.  I think these would be a perfect set to hang together or to give separately as gifts.

4"x4"

acrylic on canvas board

Desert Scene Painting Process

Tonight I have a new painting in the works to show.  I suppose this is just another thing that I have started and have yet to finish.  I'm working out what details I want to add and the mood as well, although that has already begun to develop.  I first gessoed the fiber board and then sketched out the desert scene.  The main section of desert (almost the entire bottom half) was created through a mixture of ochre and basic red with an occasional touch of a dark, red-undertoned brown.

What I have so far is a very basic painting with very little depth (in the sand anyway)and not any real focus.  As of now this square painting is sitting on my easel waiting to be completed.

^Mixture used to create basic dark desert color.

YES, at that point that weird texture was on purpose.

So, what do you think?  Boring, great, needs more, or just fine as is??? I obviously think it needs to be finished, but part of being an artist is knowing when to stop.

Strawberry

I recently finished a fruit and water painting.  I was trying to achieve the brightest colors possible with the strawberry itself, and I must say that I'm pleased with the results.

So here it is... the name of this painting is Strawberry Drops. It will be up on the originals page soon.

"Strawberry Drops"

Original acrylic on wrapped canvas

11"x14"

Old and New Paintings!

Hi, everyone!

I know it's been a few days since my last post but I'm back again and with some new art at that.  This first one is one of my first beach-ish landscapes, and I just really enjoy the color of the water in this scene.

 "Summer Breeze"

20"x16"

Original acrylic on canvas board

This next painting took me a bit of time, because I wanted to mix the colors just right. I also didn't want to have two big, perfect, orange circles sitting there staring at me.  I really wanted a bit of a skewed or stretched appearance to the perspective; to give these two some personality.

"Oranges"

11"x14"

original acrylic on canvas board

Calm Waters boat painting

I can't help but to think that writing anything with these paintings is futile....because I know you just want to see the pretty pictures.  Well, to feed you visually hungry people, I've just finished another painting.

Below is the preliminary sketch, directly on the canvas, along with the completed work.

"Calm Waters"

Original acrylic on canvas board

9" x 12"

New Art Up

I've finally got all of the work you've seen thus far up in the originals page, and it's all for sale.

There will soon be some new works in progress, so get ready for those.

Hope everyone is having a great new year!

Finally finished

This will be available soon, for sale on the originals page.

Original painting on canvas board

Little Bird Painting

Ok, so I have a song bird painting in the works.  I started it way earlier this day, and will post the finished product tomorrow.  The bird is surely going to be yellow; very bright yellow, in hopes that it will jump off the canvas, visually speaking.  Below are the first few steps I took, before becoming too tired and irritated, simultaneously, and making the wise decision to stop; that is before something undesirable happened.  You will understand my frustrations later, when I show the world the mess I made with one of the branches in this painting. .....erg

Pretty creepy snake

So, this blog has turned into all things art.  This piece is actually in acrylic, not ink, but I might just put it in the ink section anyway. I know, that would be against the law of the universe, but -shrugs-

Anyway, here it is. Hope all of my little creeps like it:)

"Lady of Scales"

9"x12"

Original acrylic on acrylic paper

Acrylic on Hardboard

I went into Lowe's the other day and picked up one 4'x8' piece of hardboard, although that's not exactly what it was called (finberboard, pressed board??).  I had them cut it at the store into 4 pieces, and brought it home, only cost about $9.  I gessoed the one board, two coats, and it didn't take much because of how smooth the surface already is.  I then used my sanding block to smooth out the edges.  

Painting on this size board can be somewhat tricky until you get the hang of it.  I used a spray bottle to keep the surface wet where I was blending, and I also do a very solid underpainting first, with all of the colors, because I find the need to make the color blending perfect, and that, for me, requires two layers of paint.

So this painting came out really well, and I'll show you some of the process.

This is after I had finished up the basic part of the tentacles.  The little plate is what I use to mix my paint on.  The main jellyfish (the round white part) was painted white first, to ensure that the colors maintained their brightness.  Below is the final painting:)

"Compass Jellyfish"

Acrylic on Canvas

2'x4'

Fur for thought:)

In my last post I mentioned that I would be writing about  painting fur and my experiences with it.  First, I think the smoother the surface, the better.  So, it is best to gesso the canvas, sanding between layers to even it out.  I also said that I would be showing my processes as well, so here goes.

I start off by making a very simple, and LIGHT pencil sketch of the subject I will be painting.  My personal preference is to also mark out some color variances.  This is right after I sketched in the bulldog figure, and had been playing around with a few coat colors.

Next thing I did was to put in the basic coat colors, a little bit darker than the true color. I didn't worry about making the fur texture at this stage.

Ok, so here is the finished product.  Details were added here; the eyes, fur texture, nose, highlights.

"Green Bulldog"

Acrylic on canvas

small?

Sorry, not sure on the size of this one, because it's not nearby at the moment.  It is smaller than the 9"x11".  Ok now to talk about the fur, which got it's texture in the final stage.  It's important to note that fur typically moves from top to bottom, and from the center out.  So, to paint fur, because it overlaps, I started from the bottom, worked my way up, and from the outer edges in.  I used a frayed filbert brush to achieve the effect shown.  I kept the strokes very light, and lifted the brush at the end to make the pointed ends seen in reality.  

Thanks for reading:)

Acrylic cows....again and more please

So now that I have a found a more decent way to take photos of my work, I would like to share how I achieved the results I did (photographing).  Here are a few pointers: First off, I find that natural light is the best, and will achieve the truest colors possible.  I opened my blinds and have the paintings leaning against something, facing the window.  You definitely don't want it in direct sunlight!  Now, I also noticed that if you get the camera too close, and use the flash, you're going to get a terrible glare right in the middle.  The key thing is to get the photo as close to the original colors as possible which might mean changing the brightness, contrast, or saturation just a bit afterwards.

The following 2 paintings were completed within a few days of each other, and on both I used just one brush.  I had found a very interesting article that contained tips from professional painters that said it could be a good idea to use one brush in order to get to know exactly what can and can't be done with it.  It's also easy to start developing different styles when you're limited in the tools you're using.

"A Red Cow Gathering"

Acrylic on canvas

11"x14"

 "A Red Cow Gathering" was completed using a dabbing effect throughout.  I changed the ground about 5 times because I couldn't seem to get the perspective right; to make it look like it was one, continuing under the fence, or two, receding into the background.  Eventually I worked it out:)

"A Cool Sip"

Acrylic on canvas

11"x14"

Later today I'm going to talk about my experience with painting fur, and show you one of the first dogs I've ever painted!  I'll also show some of my painting processes, like the early stages of the painting:)

See you soon!

Cow and other things.

Hi, everyone.

As I make new discoveries in painting I will be showing them to you, but at the moment I have a month's worth of paintings to show you guys.  Sometimes I find it difficult to decide what to paint, and this requires me to spend a bit of time finding inspiration.  Last month (november) I got lured into painting a few cows.  I have to say I wasn't so keen on the idea at first, but then I found some brahma pics, and I ended up loving the elegant face shape and hanging ears they have.

So here is what came of this.

"Red field, White cow"

Acrylic on canvas board

9"x12"

On a side note, I found a very amazing art blog, that some of you may or may not be familiar with.
http://williamwray.blogspot.com/ << This guy's art is wonderfully colorful, and has a unique quality.  Go check it out, I'm sure you'll find it quite amazing:)

Tomorrow morning, err later this morning, I will be posting two MORE cow paintings.  Bye for now...

Acrylic Adventure

While I catch up on showing you my newest paintings, I've been trying to improve on my color mixing skills.  A painting can be completely abstract or even downright ugly, but if the colors work together, and they are captured correctly, it will catch your eye.  I used to be so focused on the technical aspect of painting, like brush strokes, and glazing, but I could never capture a scene or photo the way I wanted.  Turns out that I needed to learn how to truly understand color.  I had been missing the big picture, no pun intended, on how colors work together in a composition, from reflections, and lighting, to knowing that shadows are definitely not just black.

This acrylic painting is of a brightly colored little street, that seems to have seen quite a bit, completed about a month ago.

"Yellow City"

Acrylic on Canvas

11"x14"

Starting a few days ago?

I've decided to start this blog to show my progress as a painter, and also as an artist in general.  I hope to put up some new art every day, get better at this blogging business, and show some of my travels along the way.  I'd love to get some feedback and meet some like minded, or not so like, artists.


This is the first painting I completed upon deciding to paint full time.  It's painted directly from a photo, as are many of my initial paintings, for learning purposes.  I'm mostly a charcoal/ pencil, and ink artist, and somehow find painting, other than some easy stuff, to be quite alien.  This took me about an hour.

"Beached"

Acrylic on canvas

9"x12"