New Paintings

Here are a few of the paintings I’ve completed in the last few months -

"Otter"

This portrait was commissioned as a Christmas gift.  It was done on 300 lb 12 x 16 paper with fluid acrylics.  I used violet oxide for his primary color with highlights of burnt sienna and  transparent red oxide.  Also, dioxazine purple for shadows and violet oxide mixed with burnt umber and some sepia for the very dark shadows.

Reference photo

In the process of working on this painting I found an old table easel of my mother’s, it works beautifully on my counter height drawing table.  I find sitting too confining as I need to be able to get up and down to look at my work as I paint.  Easy to do when working on a standard easel but with watercolor its a more bit difficult.  The table is high enough for me to stand while painting and the table easel  leans back far enough so it does not create runs in the paint.  This allows me to do the two step easel dance – one step back, squint – one step forward paint – one step back squint!

   The following day, after I completed this painting , I became a brand new grandma!!  Needless to say, all painting was put on hold while I fell in love with this beautiful new little baby girl!!

In January I returned to planet earth, the holidays were over and  I was ready to paint again.  I started with this little piece called “Up?”  Look at those seductive eyes saying, “you know you want to pick me up”.

"Up?"

An artist friend of mine told me about Aquabord and I thought I’d give it a try.  This was done on a 6 x 6 square in fluid acrylic.  It has the same absorbency as the watercolor canvas, which means the paint floats on top of the surface (not my preference).  However, it does have the benefit of easy correction with a Mr Clean magic eraser.  I was able to easily remove a lot of the acrylic paint with little harm to the surface.  ”Up?” was completed in a few hours, world record time for me!!  I purchased several of few of these little boards and over the next few months I will do more of these little paintings and have them available for sale at my shows this summer.

Reference photo

I am a member of a wonderful little art blog called Artcolony, this year we are doing art challenges every month.  For the month of January we had the “White Challenge”.  As I didn’t have a lot of time to do a new painting after the holidays and I was struggling to come up with something new,  I turned around one day and realized I already had something in the works!  This will be completed in the next few weeks, winter will be over soon and the grass will be calling once again.  Stay tuned.

White Challenge

For February we had a Red Challenge and I had the perfect painting.  Once again, Jack is in the starring role…… hope it doesn’t go to his head.  Murry would not be pleased.

"Undercover Spy"

This is 8 x 12″ on 140lb paper in fluid acrylic.  I used raw sienna for Jack’s base color with burnt sienna for his stripes and a little transparent burnt sienna for the yellowie fur on his leg.  For the blanket I used pyrolle red as the base color and pyrolle orange for the highlights.   For the shadows I used dioxazine purple and the for the deeper shadows I used a combination of paynes grey mixed with violet oxide.  I also used  dioxazine purple with sap green in the darkest parts of the shadows.  It’s always an experiment for me.

Reference photo

Live your dream.

“Classical Blues”

I’ve been working on this painting off and on for about 5 months.  A friend gave me a watercolor canvas to try so I thought, “what the heck”, give it a shot using fluid acrylics.  I won’t be using it again.  The paint floats on top of the canvas, I much prefer the absorption of paper allowing more detailed work.  The canvas worked great for the more fluid background washes.  I was able to layer multiple glazes and get that old world feeling for the steps.  I saw this fellow in Florence, Italy, several years ago playing in a piazza totally absorbed in his music.  It was magical.  The photo I used was taken at a much wider angle showing lots of people wandering and sitting behind him.  However, I preferred cropping it to create a more intimate moment – a man and his music.   Cropping out the top of his head created some interesting negative spaces for a better composition.  This is 18″ x 24″.  It was a challenging experience …. think I’ll return to using paper now

Will be posting more often now that summer is over.  I love winter, I get to hide out in my studio and paint!!

New Project

polo ponies in progress

It’s been a busy summer with art shows, craft fairs, family trips and little time to paint.  But I’m am back at the easel – at least for a short time before the next groups of fairs and shows begin at the end of August.  This is a 29 x 21 full sheet fluid acrylic I started last week.  I’m very excited about this one!  I haven’t painted a horse in a VERY long time, we won’t say how long.  Let’s just say the last time was when I was in elementary school.  Horses were the ONLY thing I drew in those days.  This will be  a little trip down memory lane for me.  I had been waiting to find just the right image for my next painting and my daughter very generously granted me permission to use this.  We both attended a polo match at a winery in Charlottesville, VA over Memorial Day.  We took oodles of pictures of all the action and she caught this great shot of the players shaking hands after the game.  Made us both think of all the soccer games we attended when her brother played in high school.  We  would watch them line up and walk past each other saying “Good game, good game, good game ….”.   Could be a title in there somewhere

   

“Fra-GEE-lay”

"Fra-GEE-lay" 14 x 10

I’ve spent the better part of last week weeding, mulching and sweating, not getting a whole lot of painting time in.  However, on Friday the mulch pile finally disappeared and I was free to return to more fun things  - painting!    Jack is now complete!  I  titled it “Fra-GEE-lay”, if you look closely there are references to  ”A Christmas Story” in the newsprint.  The inspiration for the title came from my daughter.  I was going to call it “Fragile”, she being a fan of “A Christmas Story” immediately said “fra-GEE-lay”!  That took me in a whole new direction with the newsprint and made it much more fun.  Thank you Tara

To finish the painting I continued glazing with the same colors listed in my previous posts.  Creating layers of value and interest.  The secret to fluid acrylics is to lay in your details in the early stages,  as you add multiple glazes on top to build depth and value, the details remain, moving into the background.  The transparent nature of fluid acrylics allows those background details to add more depth to what might otherwise be a blank negative space.   The final details added were the white whiskers and the highlights of his eyes.  Whites always come last.

I’m finishing up a portrait of a friend’s chocolate lab named Hershey, very appropriately named.  Will post when completed.  After that I’m thinking of veggies at a farm stand for my next full sheet painting.  Something different with lots of color …. I do like my color!

This was a fun painting to do, the newsprint wasn’t as daunting as I thought it would be.  Hope you enjoy it.

Models or Critics?

Models or critics, I’m not sure.  I think they’re both just looking for attention.  Kinda like kids when you get on the phone, they know you can’t run because you’re in the middle of a wash so who cares if there’s a footprint or two in the middle of it.  Just as long as they get the attention they so desperately want!

Noodling

I’ve been working on the tissue paper and newsprint  today.  This is when I turn up the music and, as my sister calls it, “noodle” – painting itty bitty details.  Some artists find this tedious, I find it relaxing.  It doesn’t require a whole lot of thinking, just a little bit patience.  If I have some good music I’m good to go!

I’m using a mixture of pthalo blue (red shade) and  violet oxide for the dark shadows and print.  Working wet in wet for the shadowing and dry brush for the lettering,  adding water in the areas I want the lettering to fade.  I’ve also been adding more detail to Jack, deepening the shadows creating more depth.  Ok, back to noodling!

Back to Jack

I’ve been working on Jack for the last couple of days, so let’s catch up.  When we left off I had just started painting the tabby lines on his face using Golden Burnt Sienna and Da Vinci Raw Sienna.

Next I began to bring in the coloring of his body, working wet in wet with burnt sienna, raw sienna and some Golden Transparent Red Iron Oxide (a favorite of mine) alternating these color glazes.

Using a light wash of Golden Dioxazine Purple, again working wet in wet, I begin to define the warm shadowing around his head and body and continue to build the colors in his coat. I’m slowly “sculpting” his head with very light glazes of color to build the shadows that will define the shape of his face.  It’s a slow process but I love watching them come to life as the layers of paint build and begin to glow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent the better part of the day yesterday, laying down glazes of color, sculpting his face, shaping fur and developing Jack’s “fluff factor”.  Using Golden Paynes Grey I started to work in the cool shadows of his head and  began to loosely develope the newsprint.   For the warmer shadows I’m using purple and Golden Burnt Umber Light. To sculpt the fur on his body and under his chin I am using light glazes of purple.  For his little pink nose and ears I used a mixture of Golden Yellow Oxide and Da Vinci Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone which makes a lovely flesh tone.  For the finer fur details in his face I have found a 1/2 inch grainer brush  comes in quite handy.

 

Supplies used:

Golden Burnt Sienna

Da Vinci Raw Sienna

Golden Transparent Red Iron Oxide

Golden Dioxazine Purple

Golden Burnt Umber Light

Golden Yellow Oxide & Da Vinci Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone = flesh tone

Golden Paynes Grey

 

Photographers Note:   The coloring in these photos vary due to weather conditions, mostly cloudy with rain ……. maybe the sun will return soon and I can get a more accurate photo!!