Painting: class work

Tiny pieces
Oil on Gessoed Matt board
Tiny

I did this for a project. I usually draw from life, but this time it was mostly from memory with a bit of photo help.

I wanted them to be painterly, and a bit vague... So... I think I got that.

I dunno. I like painting from life. These are okay, but probably aren't going to be my favorites any time soon.

These aren't all of them. I did a very large number. These are just the ones I don't want to burn.
Ja!

Drawing a Day - 4

Books a Million
Pen and Paper
Square-ish

This one took me the longest. Turned out the best too, yo. Happy!

Drawing a Day - 3

Justin Reading
Pen and Paper
Square-ish

Yep... given more than five minutes I can do pretty well. Of course this isn't much more than that. Dude wouldn't quit squirming and I had to basically give it up ^_^

Drawing a Day - 1,2

Blind Contour Drawing
Pen and Paper
Square

It's fun to do these 30 sec things without looking at the paper. I love 'em! though I don't just do the contour as you can see... adding shading without looking is hard! I haven't had time to paint or do anything except these quick things on my lunch break. And I got locked out of my house so I did two works at books a million. Drawing, of course. I'll upload those in a second!

Photo - Cat Comp

Spot always has such a great sense of composition. He does this all the time!

Painting a Day - Update

I have several I haven't taken pictures of. They're pretty cool.

If you want to find out about my job here is a good measure of how it's going.

And why I haven't exactly been in the mood to update online or anything.

Art - Quilt for Class

Quilt for Class - Landscape
1.5' x 3'
Piecework, varied fabrics

Just thought I'd post one of the projects that's taking over all of my time. I'd post the other painting I did for class, but it rather sucks, I think. And now blogger isn't working X(. This is only one of the quilts I'm working on. I'm also working on one for Art History 465: American Art in the Age of Expansion. Anyone who tells me the type of quilt I'm doing for that class gets a cookie*. Of course it's kinda obvious, but, hey... COOKIE!

I've really got to start doing painting a day again. I really want to. But three days no sleep is killing me.

And I got offered another job. 7.90 and hour to make and sell coffee beverages. I only make 6.50 to put up with all the shit I deal with putting peoples' work in frames. *thinks about it* I dunno. I like my job framing... I just wish I was treated better. And I pretty much know I'm gonna have less stress making coffee. But I'm not sure what's gonna happen. I dunno!!

Anyway, I hope this works out.

I've started doing a comic with a friend! It's fun! It's about us being clones. And it's basically an excuse for us to draw together and get used to it so we can do a real comic! ^_^ It's working, yo!

Have fun for me everyone!
Ja ^_^

*Not a real cookie, but I might doodle you eating one and send it to you. That's the best I can do for now, yo! ^_^

Painting a Day - 23

Painting a Day - 22

Painting a Day - 21

Painting a Day - 20

Painting a Day - 19

Cad Green Med, I think
Oil on Gessoed Card
Rather Small

I don't much like this color for some reason. It just seems rather fake. It warms up and cools rather well though, so it isn't totally hopeless. I'm just not feeling it now though.

On a more unrelated note, I hate framing. :)

Painting a Day - 18

Zinc Yellow
Oil on Gessoed Matboard
Rather Small

I really love this yellow for landscapes when I modify the Zorn palette. It keeps its intensity and makes beautiful greens. And this is a huge image. Oh well. You can see my brush strokes! And all the toned ground I was using.

I'll put descriptions on the others later

Ja.

Painting a Day - 17

Cad Red Light
Oil on Gessoed Card
Rather small

I just love cad red light, don't you? It's my favorite color ever. You can tell that the paint tube is almost used up. I need a new one!

I'm just sad this scan doesn't get the color exactly right. I'll do a photograph later. I just got back in from work, and I'm so tired.

Ja

Painting a Day - 16

Rose Madder
Oil on Gessoed Card
Rather small

Well, I've decided things have slowed down enough for me to try this again. "Slowed Down" meaning I've decided to not try and kill myself with a crappy workload. This one is actually scanned because all my lights (just about) are out and I can't get good light. And I don't want to use flash. Scanning is probably worse, but it is also easier for me. At least now while I'm so friggin' tired.

I did this little series to see what I could do with different toned grounds. I started out trying to do little self portraits on them, but that didn't work out so well with my heavy workload and these cute little things happened. This one is Rose Madder and I like this one. The toned ground was pretty fun. I'd like to substitute this red for cad red light/vermilion and see how it acts in the Zorn Palette. Obviously this little sketch was not done with that palette, but it worked out well so we won't hold that against it.

I will say I don't like how I did the cast shadows. I didn't open them up enough and the colors are a little more bright than I'm used to working.

I like how the little tubes of paint have lots of specks of color from being in the paint box. Some have clearance stickers that are perfect! This one was pretty basic, full, not very dirty though it did have some nice green paint specks on it. I love grumbacher and I'm lucky that all the colors I wanted to try were. I'd hate to have a series where they were all different. Of course I did tone with gold acrylic and paint that container as well. Oh well.

I've also been working on some more writing on painting and the work I'm doing. That's going rather badly. I might post a paper I'm working on about quilts, though speaking of going badly, that's probably going worse.

Also, everyone should watch Howl's Moving Castle. It made me happy. I am probably the only person in the world who hasn't seen it.

I was hypnotized today, but I wasn't supposed to be. They were hypnotizing the teacher and apparently I'm pretty susceptible to it. I figured I would be. Hell, I spend half of my life in a paint induced trance. I never realized I had such a specific happy place.

Anyway, I'll have another of these up tomorrow.
Ja, yo!

Craft: Chain Maille

Chain Maille Jewelry
Goldish and Silverish rings
Long enough to wear

Yeah, I couldn't help it, I saw the kits and I bought them and the next thing I know I have these two things done in a couple of hours. So I scan 'em in to show a friend, and I decide to post 'em.

I like 'em. They aren't real gold or silver because they make me break out, so I might give 'em away or sell 'em or something. Maybe not the necklace, I can wear it when I wear collared shirts. I dunno. I should be painting more... but sometimes ya just need a break in the monotony. Or the insane job from hell.

I have been painting, I just haven't been taking pictures of any of them. I don't much like 'em. They're for people and not just something I'm doing. I'm going to go finish them today. That will leave one more piece that has to be done before school starts (Eghads! only one day!) and then I will be done until the Christmas crunch.

I'm a tard.

And I'll get back to writing articles too. I really miss that. Yeah, I have only written one, but I like doing it, kay?

Commission: Design: Wooden Plaque

Wall Plaque
Wood, Acrylic, Gold Pen

Well, I haven't been doing a painting a day, but I have been doing several commissions. I've just finished this one.

This one I did for my dad. It is free handed, no stencil or template. And it's scanned so you might not be able to see the gold. It actually looks like gold. Very nice and glittery gold. There is a neat kind of border, but it wouldn't fit in the scanner so I just cropped it down to the name.

That I actually finished this with work going on is amazing... and since I've been painting on a large commission as well... I feel down right productive. Except nothing is getting finished. So I don't feel productive at all. Oh well. I'll post the large painting once I'm finished. I've only been working on it for.. oh... EVER.

Or that's what it feels like.

I'm not going to complain about my job, because I actually don't dislike it. Just Monday. I love everything else about it. Well, just about ;D.

Painting a Day - On Hold

I'm sure everyone's noticed that I haven't been updating regularly. Well, it's because I got a job and it is wearing me out. I'm not used to working and being on my feet all day. I usually just come home and go straight to bed and then wake up to go to work.

But it is fun. I'm framing stuff at Hobby Lobby and now I'm in charge of all the needle art and fabric art coming in. So far everyone's told me the big thing is preserving the needleart so it automatically gets acid free everything, but they are using Nylon and Polywhatever thread to lace cotton fabrics. It's insane. And then they leave the metal pins in the foam board. I had to take everything they had done and redo it. And I'm not sure what some of these people who bring in this stuff are thinking. Take care of your fabrics people!!

I used to think the saddest thing would be to see $10 prints in $500 frames. No, the saddest thing is seeing really wonderful works framed cheaply. It just makes me want to cry. And people make me want to cry. I love everything about my job except working with people. I had one lady tell me that I was terrible. Yes, I am slow, but I've been working three days. Yes, Jared's is going to look better because you are a cheap little ho and won't spend and extra .75 to paper the back. And, no, I am not a bad artist. Multi Award winning artist, professional artist, and a really good artist. Not bad artist. You are just too cheap to go for the mat board that will actually look good. I told you what would work, but NO. And it's like that day after day after day...

There are good people too. They are just more sporadic. Ah well.

The best part is that I get mat board scraps! The big pieces have to go back to Greco, but I get to buy pieces that are smaller than a 5x7! We used to throw them away, but I asked if I could have 'em and the manager said I had to buy 'em, but at a really, really cheap price for a pile of them.

So now I'm getting more pieces for the painting a day, and they are cut well! A bit smaller than I've been working on, but I'm so tired I might only be able to do that. Of course on a day off I might do two or three! Oh! And different shapes! Circles and such. Fun! I still have to buy 'em though. I might have enough at the end of the week. I need to buy shellac too. I'm out of that. Or I might just gesso. But I really like the way shellac looks. But since I'm working with different colored mat board, gesso might be the best option.

I might paint some tomorrow, but I'm going to try and get my room clean. It's really messy since I've just been waking up, going to work, coming home, sleeping, repeat, all the time. Gah. But I have the day after off too, so I'll definitely get some painting done then.

Ja

Painting a Day - 15

Tech Farm Road
6"x 8"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board

The color is off and I'm not sure why. Oh well. I think I got the values right. Had to do a bit of adjusting.

Other than that I just realized that I hadn't done any landscapes. This one is not done in the Zorn Palette but I kinda wish I would have tried it that way, with a different yellow. But I like it! Still got my looser style that I've been working with, and the colors aren't bad in the original. I'm happy!

Hay bales and red dirt roads. They are everywhere I live.

Painting a Day - 14

The End of Childhood
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board
NFS

I just made it huh? I woke up late since I was reading all night and then I didn't feel like doing anything, and I wasn't even on the news and I waited all day to see and then I didn't feel like painting, but I did anyway.

I'm glad I did. It looks pretty cool No rotten strawberries (They're so gone I couldn't paint them) but I like books and this one turned out pretty well. I like having artwork in paintings. Seeing it as we see the objects that we turn into artwork.I was glad I was able to do this one in the zorn palette. I had my reservations because Marie Grand Pre has those wonderful colors and that soft geometry style going for her, but I think I managed to work it out well. I might do some more stuff to the lettering. It starts to slant a bit wrongly on the 'ter', but nothing I can't fix.

I am not sure if I can sell this piece. *looks around* So... right now it's NFS.

If you noticed I redid some things on the blog, and moved all my "what's up" and random stuff to my other blog: violinagin.blogspot.com. This ones purely going to be for articles and painting a day and other artworks I do. I hope y'all don't mind that. It's now less cluttered, so I like it already! Though I was happy being closer to fifty posts than I am now. Back to less than thirty. Sigh.

I'll be able to paint tomorrow, and I won't do something extremely... pop culture. I just had to. I mean, I grew up with him!

Ja!

Chibi Fish?!

It's a doodle of a chibi fish!

See what work I have for sale!

Painting a Day - 13

Still Life with Fork
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board
Sold

I didn't post a painting yesterday because I went ahead and published the article, and then before I finished setting up the still life my heart started to go about 130bpm and I had to go to bed before I passed out.

Now I'm better so all is well.

The idea for this one is just I have yet to do a fork. I've done a spoon and a knife, but no fork. And as there was always something red, I added the cup because the other tomato got eaten and the strawberries were rotten. There were some cool colors in the rotten strawberries, They might be even cooler tomorrow!

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'm going to go back and fix some problems with the background, and I added much warmer highlights than were there. It was way too cold. I might do a rotten strawberry in north light. This whole west light thing isn't working out.

I hope you enjoy it!

Article: Zorn Palette

Self Portrait in Red Coat
Anders Zorn


For about three months now, I have been working with a limited palette my painting teacher refers to as the Zorn Palette. For about as long, the only thing I knew about Zorn or the Palette were the colors that were used: White, Ivory black, Yellow Ocher, and either Vermilion or Cadmium Red Light or Med. I had never even seen a painting by Zorn, or if I had, I had not recognized it for what it was.

Anders Zorn was a Swedish painter, famous for his portraits of people of Delarna, Sweden and his nude figures in nature. Though what I am using is referred to as the Zorn Palette, his work is not limited to just those four colors though you can see how the palette gets its name. The high chroma reds and the low chroma blue grays all cooled by yellow and white show a mastery that most artists cannot get even with tubes of forty modern colors at their disposal. To see more of his work, I'd suggest here and here. And, as I knew next to nothing about him or his personal life until about a week ago, I'm not going to try and do his history justice. I'm just going to tell you to do some reading. It's quite interesting.

Now, using this palette is what I do. It may seem at first that yellow, red, black and white can't get you a wide range of colors, but it can. The Palette, as I have said, consists of just four colors and is based on a Red, Yellow and Blue scheme. The red is bright, warm Vermilion or Cad Red Lt. It can be cooled with white or tempered with black down to a wooden brown. The yellow is yellow ocher and this cool, muted yellow is perhaps the most important color for portrait painting I can think of. It can be enlivened by white, and turned into a green by black. Yellow ocher and the Cad Red Lt. can make oranges that can be turned into beautiful skin tones in light with white. Ivory black and white create the softest low chroma blue tones that are absolutely beautiful. Add a bit of vermilion to the mixture for a smoky purple, or yellow for an even lighter, cooler green. There you have it, a range of color from warm red to cool purple and a range of value from white to black.

But that isn't really what makes this palette special. You have to know about color theory to mix the colors that you need, but you also need to know enough color theory to know what colors to put next to each other. Simultaneous contrast is an effect that results in the complementary of a color being generated spontaneously. What this means is, if you take a gray square and place it in a yellow field, the gray square will take on a purple cast. If it's in an orange field, it will look blue, and in red, it will look green. And vice a versa for all of these. If you mix a bit of blue in with the gray, and then put it on an orange field, it will look a lot more blue! By contrast, adding orange to your gray will almost negate the simultaneous contrast and turn your gray lifeless and dull if put on the exact same orange field.

Knowing this is crucial if you want to use this palette. Yes, black and white does make a gray with a slightly blue cast. If you put this in a field of orange, or say, Cad Red Light, it will look even more blue, and give you even more of the color you want. If you want the smoky purple to look more purple, a field of yellow ocher will make the color purple pop!

This is also important when it comes to value. If you want to have a very white highlight, make sure the area around it is dark enough so the highlight stands out, if there is a shadowy area, keep the chroma low, and, while it's good to find darks within darks, make sure they are dark! Don't go too light! Save that for the lighted areas of your subject!

Another thing I've found is that knowing about optical blending is important. What is that you ask? Think of Seurat and Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte. By using dots of pure yellow and blue pigment next to each other, Seurat tricks our eye into seeing green. With small dots of red and orange, the green is muted even with these high key colors. This helps when I want a more intense green in this palette. By using dots of pure blue and yellow ocher inlaid with my yellow/black green, the green looks brighter. And, if you put that green next to cad red light... or a brown if your green is lighter... wow! It's amazing what it can look like. I did this in my Chakra Stone picture. The green moss agate is blue and yellow ocher and green, with a bit of cad red in the yellow stone right next to it. Plus it's on that yellow red card. I slightly modified the colors around each of the stones. While it looks mostly like a solid color, it is anything but!

The best thing about this palette is that it's perfect for figure work from life. I like it because I don't have to remember a bunch of reds and yellows and their properties and what happens if I mix this red with white, or this red, or this black or this color and so on. There are four tubes of paint, and it isn't an earth tone palette without a strong color. I can get amazing results and respond almost immediately to my subject. It is also easy for me to carry around. I like being able to pull out four tubes of paint, a metal can of odorless spirits and a shellacked card and painting straight from life just about anywhere. Of course I could just do everything the normal way and carry around watercolors. This palette also makes you think. Painting under the worst of circumstances is still an act of thought, but this really helps to internalize color theory and makes you stretch to solve problems.

The obvious problem is that there is no blue. It's possible to do a landscape, but it is hard with this palette. I modify this palette slightly when I have high keyed blue objects or a spring landscape in front of me. I might also switch my ocher with a more modern zinc yellow. The greens I can mix with that and black are perfect for landscape.

While the lack of certain colors can be seen as a problem, the ease with which the palette can be modified by a sensitive artist really makes up for this slight flaw. The only other flaw is that none of the colors are good for glazing. The red, yellow, and white are opaque and horrible glazing colors and black would just serve to give a Caravaggio like effect, but wouldn't be good for helping with warm/cool color modulation. I've seen people go back in with burnt sienna and glaze that way, and it really is very beautiful. I'm still working with wet into wet ideas, but I love what can be done.

If you have any questions, or would like to post a link to a piece you've done with this palette, or another similar one, please do! I've just started working with it and I'd love conversation on it, or examples of what can be done, or to see your process and answer whatever questions I can.

Also, I've been selling some of my paintings on eBay, please see which paintings I have for sale here!

Painting a Day - 12

Glass Swan
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board

Well, I say for fifteen minutes this isn't bad at all. I was thinking it was looking pretty bad while I was doing it, so I didn't really worry with it to much, but now that I see it more objectively, I have to say I kind of like it and wish I would have dealt with the edges some more. I'll probably revisit the swan tomorrow.

I mean, it kinda does look like glass! Well, I think so anyway.

I've been gone all day, so I didn't work on that article. Been thinking about it, though I know that doesn't count for much.

Oh! And also in the news, I got a job as well! I'm now a framer at Hobby Lobby! I plan to do better than the framer who decided to staple through the painting I was having them frame. I'm so excited! I start training Tuesday! Woo!

Painting a Day - 11

Pitcher Fish
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat board

Well, I did this one quickly. And I really like it! I wanted to do my other pets, two betta fish, but I didn't want them to be painted together. I chose this one because his house is cooler looking. The other one is a basic 2 gallon bowl thingy. I might paint them flaring, but I don't want them to attack the sides of the glass for over twenty minutes and get hurt... I might do 'em with something between them, then take it away to let them flare for the bit it takes me to paint 'em.

Zorn Palette once again. I got my little article on how I use the palette outlined, and I'll type it up soon. And I have a website in the works so it's not just a blog and it's easier to navigate. I'll also add an artist statement.

Well, leave a comment, tell me what you'd like to see, or not see, or... well... just to let me know that you have seen!

Painting a Day - 10

Chakra Stones
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board

I wasn't sure what to paint, and I'm out of the groove thanks to camp, but I found this sack of stones (I'm sorry Shakespeare readers and scholars) that were a gift and I decided to paint them. They are shiny! I might do them again, but really focus on the stones.

I used a modified Zorn palette, I added permanent blue for one of the stones. I think I'm going to try and do it without blue because I did the green stone without a special green. I do need to work on the purple amethyst and the tigers eye. It doesn't look like it should at all. Oh well.

I'm actually pretty happy with it considering how long I've been away. And I'm extremely happy with the colors I've managed to get. All except with the large blue stone was done without blue. I'm happy!

Since I've been talking about the Zorn Palette, I'll do an article on it and how I use it. I don't know much about the history, or who used it, or any kind of fun info like that. But, I do use it, and I can at least explain what little I do know.

Ja!

Sketches: Camp Kids

Ok, these are small sketches and you have to realize that the kids did not know they were being sketched and all three happened in under 2 minutes. They were moving and talking and actually doing stuff. The first is a picture of all the girls in our cabin during devotion time. The second is a girl who was working on a drawing/poster thingy... I missed what it was about. The third actually did realize he was being drawn, but was one of the most fidgety people... with friends that kept 'helping.'

I did other sketches, but most of them were to amuse the children, or teach them something. Do you know how hard it is to teach the concept of Giacometti sketches to a ten year old? Really helps you think about what you're teaching though. And with all the questions they ask as well...

Oh well, thought I'd show what I have been doing, since I haven't had time to paint.

Ja!

Craft: Camp Project 2

Alice in Wonderland Magnet
.75" ish
Glass, paper, glue, modge podge, super glue, magnets

It's hard to get pictures of these little things!! Oh well. I didn't do a painting a day today because I've been working on getting a bunch of craft things together for camp. I have to have a few examples ready. So I've been working on this, and a bottle I'm decorating. I'm not going to have a cheesecloth angel done, but the kids are just going to have to deal and use their imaginations. It'll be friggin' wonderful for them.

Tonight I have to pack, pack the craft supplies, maker sure I have the paper cut out for book binding, scrape all the labels off all the bottles, and then load everything into my car.

And then drive to where there will be no internet for five days. Whoopee. But, I'm bringing all my painting supplies, so I should have some work for when I get back! And I might escape long enough to find an internet cafe someplace. Doubtful, but I TOLD them I wasn't going to be a freaking councilor. The kids would be scared for life! And they didn't listen to me so they are going to have to put up with me.

Wow, I sound like a real witch.

Anyway, I don't like kids and putting off painting and not getting any sleep. I'm just grumpy! See you in a week!

Ja!

Painting a Day - 9

Portrait of Spot
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board

Isn't he CUTE?! It's my little kitten (uh, big cat?) SPOT! You can see I put a photograph of him up as well... he moved... a lot. I wish I wouldn't have been able to paint the spot... ah well. I guess I should add more darks as well, but I didn't really like how that looked. He's supposed to be light and fluffy!!

So I'm actually quite happy with it. I like it!

I'll be doing another one. This is kinda yesterdays. I like doing 'em early when the light's good, but mom doesn't like painting too early. So I might be doing two a day. I don't know thought... just depends I guess.

Ja!

Book: The Art of Looking Sideways

I suppose I should have checked the price on Amazon before I grabbed the book off the shelves at Books a Million, but once it was in my hands I couldn't let it go. But the good news is it was worth every bit of forty dollars and I probably would have bought it if it was sixty.

Now, to say what this book is about is impossible. The book IS design. The book does not tell someone how to become more creative, or how to design a book, or how to look at something differently. The book is creativity and is a look at the world differently. I told my boyfriend that I wish I would have done a book like this first, because it was exactly how I envisioned what I wanted to put together. Too bad I never got as far as a scrapbook.

I'm reading it all the way through, but I also can't help picking it up and savoring each page at random. It's the kind of book you can do that with.

Look it up on Amazon! You can find it used for about $16.00 last time I looked.

Ja!

Painting a Day - 8

Portrait - Justin Reading Philosophy
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board

Mom was out enjoying the fireworks, so I tried a harder subject. I know I promised something uber special, and while I like this, I was hoping for me, my mom, and my grandma to all paint together. But it didn't happen. Rats.

So Justin was here and it hit me that I have yet to paint him... ever. So I told him to sit down, read his new book, and try not to move so much.

So about a hour into it he started fidgeting and I wrapped it up, threw in a... well... I guess I could call that a background, and decided it looks just like him. I really had to work fast on this one. But I love the painterly style I get. Hopefully mom and I will start painting together again soon.

Ja!

P.S. Tune in tomorrow where I review a book. Kinda.

Painting a Day - 7

Ice
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board

I left the crop to show that it is, indeed my picture taking skills that have skewed the image, not my painting job. I swear it's straight on the board. And I took it miserably in all 10 shots. I am a horrid photographer.

I am happy because this is the first one that has taken less than half an hour. All the others took two. This one took about 21 minutes. It had to with the ice. You can kinda see where the ice is melting and forming a fog. So I'm happy considering the amount of time.

Why didn't it take too long? It couldn't. I just got back from Transformers, and being the first Transformers /anything/ I've see, I was mildly surprised at how enjoyable it was. I could have done without the scatological humor during the one scene, and I still can't imagine making out /in/ a sentient being... or on one... But it didn't seem to bug my boyfriend or his brother (geeks). I can understand why Bay gets his reputation. Those fight scenes could have been more enjoyable if they could have been seen. The lights?! What the hell? But besides those things, it was really fast paced and I enjoyed it.

I forgot what it's like to get hit on by... uh... fan boys to be nice. While waiting for my boyfriend and his brother while they were at the concession stand, I had three boys (uh, men) ask me (hopefully) if I was there to see the movie alone. Because I guess most girls wouldn't? I don't know. It was kinda creepy, actually.

Oh well. I got home, and got to painting. I might try it again. Can't get any worse :P

Ja.

P.S. Mom's not here because she's watching Rat A 2 E with Sam and Dad. But tomorrow I should have a real treat!

Painting a Day - 6

Still Life with Thrown Bowl
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board
Top piece has been sold

Yesh, I feel bad about missing yesterday, so I worked pretty hard on this one. At least time I can say it's my ceramic throwing that's lopsided and not my painting. My bowl is really thick, and though this is the most circular of my bowls... it really isn't. I got that bowl painted right, yo. Actually, I'm happy with everything, surprisingly enough.

Mom really hates her spoon, but I really think she is getting better. I've decided we're going to be doing fruit. Lots of fruit. Maybe a landscape just to see if she likes that. I keep throwing things in there to challenge her and see what she does with 'em. I don't think she's doing bad at all. I'll let her paint fruit so she can see she is definitely getting better.

Well, that's all I can think to say. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will have a job framing, so keep your fingers crossed!

Ja!

Painting a Day - 5

Still Life with Sandcastle Sculpture
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Mat Board

And a picture of me taking a picture of the pictures... yay!

Mom is back! This time she chose to paint a sand sculpture and a shell, and a starfish. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Mom thinks the color is off on the photograph (no surprise) but likes the actual painting.

I think mine could be better. I've been completely wiped out since my brother had three nights of people spending the night... AND WOULDN"T GO TO BED! *Ahem* Sorry. So... I felt more like sleeping than painting and I see all my usual mistakes. Hopefully it will all be better tomorrow.

We're thinking of different things to paint, anyone have any ideas? I've got the Squido Painting a Day page bookmarked (http://www.squidoo.com/paintingaday if you are interested) and we're getting ideas from it. Yay! So, enjoy until tomorrow,

Ja!

Painting a Day - 4

Self Portrait
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked Matt Board

I'm sad to report that mom will not be joining us today. So, I thought I'd do something a bit difficult... well, something my mom doesn't want to do at all. Whenever she's tired from work, I'll probably end up doing portraits. And as I'm the only willing subject... *sigh*

I've got to get better lighting. Bathroom, full frontal, crappy florescent, ugh! Best I could do though. At least without digging another mirror out of my closet. But, enough of the crap I had to go through to paint it.

I used a limited Zorn Palette: White, Yellow Ocher, Cad Red Med, and Lamp Black. It should be Ivory black but I keep picking up Lamp because I can never remember it's MARS and IVORY I need. So I have five tubes of Lamp and no Mars or Ivory. I'm a brilliant human being.

It looks just like me though. Asymmetrical features and all. I have just one highlight to correct and I think I'll do that now. *Goes and does it*

It looks better now. Wee. That highlight under the right eye... It's actually a highlight now. Yay!

*edit* Yeah, in all the excitement about the highlight, I forgot to explain some things. I painted this without my glasses on, which is why I'm not wearing them. So... it really helped me with putting down large value shapes and it's one of the reasons I'm so happy with it. I have also started working with my best friend Katy on writing and painting a day. She's writing, I'm painting, and we're trying to work together. One thing she wrote described this princess (Sleeping Beauty) that had just woken up. It was described perfectly so I thought I'd work on an expression. And as I'm the only model... faux shizzle. I was going for just woken up, having a bad day already, yet trying to at least act like a princess and not let everyone know I'm completely miserable. I think it turned out pretty well. I got the expression pretty much (I think I started with the mouth slightly open and I think it would have worked better... but... yeah) and it looks like me so I say, yay. I'll go get what Katy wrote and post it. *nods*

Enjoy!
Ja!

Title Troublesome: Behind the Times (frontrunner)

sleeping beauty Ella Enchanted style (not same universe)

I very nearly screamed.

It was not the quaint, romantic scene that most people seemed to believe in the days and years to come. For one thing, he’s just fought through a surprisingly dangerous hedge and killed the dragon then sprinted (though I would have walked) up several flights of stairs until he reached my bedchamber. He’s sweating like a pig, breathing hard, and there’s blood everywhere. He looks like he’s about to collapse on top of me any moment in exhaustion.

But he was still beautiful.

He’s too charming to admit that I wasn’t, but I know the truth. I’d been asleep for a hundred years, tossing and turning in nightmares occasionally, hair in knots it took me a week to fully work out, eyes bleary, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had keeled over from my morning breath. I had been struggling and running before I finally collapsed too.

He was also too charming to allow me to walk down the Tower. However exhausted he was from hacking into the Enchanted Castle and battling with a dragon, he picked me up and carried me down from the tower room where I had slept through the last century. Truthfully, I would have rather stretched my limbs a bit.

There was a particularly lovely moment on the way down when he nearly fell and sent us both tumbling down the stairs, saved only because he toppled into the wall, which caught him. Despite this brush with injury, we burst into the bright sunlight and I could barely see for almost ten minutes.

In the meantime, there was the ferocious smell of dead dragon mixing with the sickeningly sweet smell of what I would soon see were the two to three foot tall orange blossoms that over the years had tricked dozens of knights into approaching the hedge without fear. It was a truly revolting combination, and I felt the distinct need to barf. If he had put me down, I might have run behind a corner and done it, dignity be drowned. Just about everything else had happened to me at this point.

When I finally could make out the scene revealed in the relentlessly dazzling sunshine, I saw the last three familiar faces I would see from my old life.

Anna had tears in her eyes. Laura curtsied gracefully, having politely saved her greeting until she knew I was able to witness it. Rachel had simply gracefully extended her arms.

“Will you put me down, please?” I asked politely, surprised at how well my voice worked. I hoped that he wouldn’t be offended, but at that precise moment I could not bear to remain in the limping, painfully slow grip of even my gallant rescuer. The moment that he set me down, I took off and ran into the arms of the last three people I would know in my new world.

I suddenly felt old, beyond the sixteen years I looked, beyond even the hundred and sixteen years since my birth. It didn’t matter in that moment that I had been asleep and unaware of the past hundred years. I had experienced them, through dreams and nightmares so vivid that I could still remember details of the vast number I had accumulated in that time. As I greeted, after a night too long to measure, the three immortal (or nearly) fairies who had saved me and guided me a century ago, it suddenly came home that everyone else that I had ever known was gone.

It seems strange to think that it was what made me grateful to him more than saving me from my century-long enchanted sleep, fighting off a dragon and risking death, challenging the will of, I was soon to learn, an even more powerful than before mad fairy, being a gentleman and savior. In fact, it may well have been the only thing that kept me from hating him for waking me up from my long sleep, where at least the losses I had had were not fully real, and thrusting me into a new world I did not understand. My rescuer approached where I sat collapsed in sobs on the ground and gently put his arms around me, murmuring the nothings people always said to comfort the grieving in my ear. He did not ask why or for whom I was crying. His understanding meant more than his bravery.

After a long moment, I managed to compose myself. I turned to face my rescuer and gave him a long look. I brushed some matted hair out of my face, wiped the tears from my eyes, and stood to face him. He stood in front of me. I extended my hand. “Princess Audrea of Camarca, thank you for rescuing me.”

“Prince Charming of Mitica,” he replied, taking her hand gently and kissing it with the utmost delicacy. “Delighted.”

“Your heroism in coming to my aid has been truly remarkable and you have my eternal gratitude,” I added, straightening up and assuming a more refined, proper form of speech for a royal daughter.

Prince Charming shook his head at me. “And you were doing so well,” he said, pulling her toward him with the hand he had clasped. “Shall we endeavor to attempt a formal reenactment of said heroism?” he asked, adopting a playful imitation of her formal court speech.

Sweat and exhaustion or not, he had the most amazing bright blue eyes and his sandy blonde hair looked almost artfully disheveled. Prince or not, he was a handsome and very strong knight. And he had rescued me. “It was entirely my pleasure,” he whispered, barely an inch from my lips.

“Perhaps things are moving a little fast,” I protested.

Prince Charming moved away quickly. “I apologize, I suppose I will have to adjust to a more conservative courtship style.”

“And I will have to adjust to being considered conservative,” I replied with a small smile. I didn’t quite feel like laughing though.

Painting a Day - 3

Still Life with Flowers
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked MattBoard

Ok, this time I'm not totally pleased with mine. And looking at these photographs they look even more awful. But it is 9:27 and it's dark and I have horrible lighting. I will get better pictures of these things soon.

Mom's looks pretty good in real life. She's getting better at this 'value' thing. I think I'm going to get her better light. Definitely needs something better than a desk lamp.

I was a bit distracted. I might have a pretty cool job lined up at Hobby Lobby. I'll know more tomorrow. I do know my picture is tilted, so the bowl looks more off than it actually is. I won't say it's perfect, but it doesn't look /that/ bad.

Well, we got 'em done and I got 'em up. Three done! We're doing this thing, yo!

Ja!

Painting a Day - 2

Still Life (S)hell
5"x7"
Oil on Shellacked MattBoard

This is our second attempt at this whole 'painting a day' thing. I think it's coming along really well. As per last time, the top one is mine, and the bottom one is mom's.

This time we had a fixed light source (instead of the sun) so it was a bit easier. But it was harder for me to get a picture. I think I got our pieces all right. We did different shells this time (obviously) because I thought mom might like a big, easier one instead of three mildly difficult ones (I didn't get the mother of pearl sheen, patina, or translucency right) but she thought it was way, way too difficult with just the mild translucency of her large pink shell.

I'm really happy with the way mine turned out despite some difficulties, but mom didn't really like hers until she got to step back from it. She said she wasn't completely happy with it, but she knows for her second painting ever it wasn't too bad. I say a month of this and I'll have competition :P!

I've got to get better pictures. It was seven when I finished so I have to put light on it and then take a picture, and one side ended up darker than the other... I think I'll wait till they dry and take another picture and upload them. I think it'll be better once I do that. The color isn't showing up exactly right.

Enjoy!

Digital: One Million Masterpiece

This is my drawing that I've done for One Million Masterpiece. You can read the story behind it if you click on "Bulletins" and see it played back a bit more slowly. I love the frog on it!