Another portrait.

I tried painting my husband's portrait.  It's not quite him yet, but I'm going to leave it for a few days and see  if I can figure it out.  I often have to live with a painting awhile before I get it right, especially portraits.

A Floppy Poppy ACEO

"Being Open"

ACEO 2.5"x3.5"

Oil on 140lb. water colour paper with an acrylic border

For sale on ebay auction.

SOLD

I decided to try again with the ACEO.  I learned my lesson and tried something less detailed.  Just for fun I put a gold border around this floppy poppy to set it off a little more.  It was great fun going back to it several times today just to add a few more strokes while I did my house cleaning.

I can hardly wait for the spring flowers to start blooming around here so I can get some more reference material.  I haven't painted flowers in a while and I miss them.  Maybe I'll go blogging and see how many others have painted flowers lately.  Let me know if you have one posted and I'll come visit.

Art Trading Card or ATC

I've been wanting to do ACEO's and Art Trading Cards (ATC's) for a while now.  I also have a painting I want to paint large.  Soooo, I had this light bulb moment where it seemed like a good idea to paint the scene on an art card, 2.5"x3.5", then on a small board for practice and then on a big canvas.  This may end up being a good idea as far as getting the painting organized but my chosen scene was way to complicated for this small format. The water colour paper made it hard to paint tiny detail as well.  Lesson learned.  My next card will have less in it.  I decided to post it anyway just to let you fellow bloggers know that I have been doing something in the last couple days.

Using oil like water colour.

I didn't realize the challenges I'd have when I started this portrait.  The oil was fun to use but having only one colour meant using washes to create depth.  It also meant no covering up a dark area that should be light.  I did find I could go in with a cotton swab and lighten some areas but I couldn't alter any place that included the background.

My son says he's not that heavy but this picture was taken several years ago... besides, after all the years that I heard the tune for the A&W root bear being hummed by my two, then, teenage sons... call it my revenge.

"Nathan"

5"x7" 

oil on board

Painting with water soluble oil.

I normally use Genesis oils.  I like them a lot but as I mentioned before, I love change.  With that in mind I bought ONE tube of Winsor Newton's water mixable colour.  Make that, color, for you US folks.

In honour of my eldest son, who sent me a really cute birthday card, I used my new tube of oil to paint his portrait.  The trouble comes with the fact that it doesn't dry right away.  It's not finished but I can't go any further because the paint starts to lift off when I go back at it.  Did I ever mention that I'm also a tad bit impatient.

"Nathan"

5x7 

oil on board

Oh well, I'll attach what I've completed so far and finish it later on.   It looks like him a little.
 I hope you have a good couple of days until I talk to you again.

I'm back!!!

Hi everyone.  Just a note to let you know I'm back home and to thank the many people who sent me the birthday and anniversary wishes.  No, I didn't get any painting or sketching done while I was away.  I did do a lot of reading and visited an awesome used book store with a great art section.  I bought a book on figure drawing that I'm hoping will help me with my current project as well as in my future paintings.

I'm truly enjoying this year of experimenting and discovering different things in art.  Starting this blog and meeting so many other artists has become the biggest treat of all.
Thanks again.