Starting Mark

I have finished my first piece for 2018! I started this in the winter of 2017, but then it sat dormant as my life got crazy. I picked it back up, and finally finished it:

"Small Talk" 9x12, acrylic on canvas panel, available

This is 9x12 inches, acrylic on canvas panel (with iridescent acrylics used on the moon, because SHINY!)

I have another sister polar bear piece that has the same backstory of being started and not finished that I am layering oils on and finishing it that way. I am going to compare the two and see which I like better.

I thought for a long time that I was going to dump acrylics altogether and just switch to oils because it's my preferred medium. With life being out of control in 2017, I realized I just didn't have time for oils. Not really. I didn't have time for much, so I started trying to do daily paintings. Since they had to be finished quickly, that meant I wouldn't be able to walk away for a few days while layers dried, so out came my acrylics.

Here are a few of my favorites I completed at the end of 2017, they're all little ones 4x6 inches:

Apple House, 4x6 acrylic on loose canvas, available

Cardinal, 4x6 acrylic on loose canvas, sold

Fox, acrylic on loose canvas, sold

Owl, 4x6 acrylic on loose canvas, sold

Vision (owl) 4x6, acrylic on loose canvas, sold

Raven, 4x6 acrylic on loose canvas, available

I enjoyed my dailies so much, that I realized it was a good thing for me to keep doing because it motivated me, and it is the first step in improving my skills like I want to. So, I invested in some acrylics that promised to be a little more like oils. I bought Charvin acrylics, and I have to say they are buttery and a bit more like oils in the blending which is nice, but I'm still on a learning curve with their drying process (it's a bit different than the cheaper Soho brand I had been using), and they still dry flat like all acrylics do (varnish helps this a bit, but you have to be able to see beyond and hope it causes that depth!)

I also decided my dailies are going to be on canvas panels instead of loose canvas going forward (for the most part) and that I will save the loose canvas for fast studies or trying stuff out. It's nice that you can frame loose canvas like a photo, but I think buyers would rather have a hard panel.

I finished out the year with some reindeer, because I was in a festive mood (and I have two more sketched out that I need to paint... although it feels a bit odd after the season has passed!):

Reindeer 2, 5x7 acrylic on canvas panel, sold

Reindeer 1, acrylic on 5x7 panel, sold

That's probably enough pictures for today!

I'm just happy to share my first finished painting, and I hope to be sharing a lot more going forward! Part of that is my own participation on this blog, so I'm going to do better with that.

I think... I'm going to go paint a turtle. It was my intended new years painting, to be the last for 2017, but showing up a little late isn't so bad, I suppose!

Going Digital... A little bit

Yay, my first on-time Monday post!

I started using my iPad to start off with the daily sketches goal. I'm alternating between ArtRage and ArtStudio, and I'm finding there are benefits to each. But I'm sticking more with ArtStudio. I have also found that I love layers. Layers always bothered me before, because as traditional artists we work with one surface and pile it on (in layers or not, but that's the way it works.) Digitally, if you do that it becomes like finishing a painting in one solid go without letting anything dry (which can get muddy.) Thus, layers is like letting the layers of paint dry so you don't mess them up! I suddenly LOVE layers! Plus, you can go back and add things later, and you certainly cannot do that in the real world!

Anyway, I think I finally hit on a good exercise for me to get my art brain cells up-n-at-'em! So, I'm definitely going to be shooting for a daily sketch. That being said, I'm casting about trying to figure out a character. I was leaning towards a griffin, but then I ended up with a dragon for my first one:

"Hanging"

I really like the way he came out, but I'm not certain that this is going to be my main little character. We'll see what develops of course...

Another dragon for the second, but different:

"Little Spring Shower"

I'm not too thrilled with the dragon in this one, but I love how the water all came out. It was SO easy to draw it, and I actually thought it was going to be trickier for some reason. I'm not sure why.

I'm noticing that everything is brighter on my iPad, but the finished image comes out darker online. I have this problem with my paintings too. I'll paint them so they're great under a light, but far too dark in normal lighting conditions. I was surprised to have this same problem in the digital world.

Third day:

"New Neighbor"

I fell in LOVE with the bumblebee. I don't know why, but I just love him. Maybe it's because they're outside in droves right now:

My lilac bush. Butterfly and Bumble hanging out.

So, I did another with a bumblebee!

I'm calling this one "...What?"

I think it's clear I'm doing a dragon character. But now, I know I'm definitely doing a bumblebee too!

I guess I need names for the two of them...

Anyway, for my first digital paintings/drawings, I think they came out pretty good! I think I'm going to switch to paper for a bit to see if I can't get myself to move faster. I've spent hours and hours on each of these, and the real intention was to really spend a maximum of up to two.  Ooops. But I learned a lot!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Little Progress

I'm ready for Spring, is anyone else?

I had a few hiccups in getting my Daily Art exercise up and running. It seemed like the moment I announced it, it became almost impossible to do. It was just life interfering, but it was annoying nonetheless!

Still, I have a few pieces completed for it:

"Moongazer" ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches) acrylic on illustration board. Started out with a cat meeting the dragon, but the cat and I had a disagreement, and he was turned into a moon.

"Little Light" ACEO (2.5 x 3.5 inches) watercolor and acrylic on cold pressed paper.

"Old Man Tree" ACEO acrylic on cardstock

One of the things I realize I need to do is to let go of the idea that every daily art piece has to be a perfect and complete piece. Some of them can be sketches! They don't have to be so heavy handed with every "i" dotted, so to speak! In other words, I seriously need to loosen up. That's why I'm not giving up on my daily art idea. I need it. I need it to get things moving with the work and to loosen up my grip on my art. I need to play! I've said it before, and it's still true!

I've also found now that ACEOs are funny when it comes to posting online, because people think they're a little sloppier than normal when the picture is blown up - not realizing that the actual painting is much smaller than the picture they're looking at. It's hard to paint that tiny!

Of course, this is also why you shouldn't make prints available that are bigger than the original work, but a lot of people don't realize that. On that tangent, it's one of those things that makes me consider working in the digital world as well. With those images, you can increase the size of the print, so long as you have done the work on a very detailed level. It allows for a lot more latitude in prints as well as merchandise. Something I've been thinking a lot about! For my birthday, I received a waccom pen for my iPad that is supposed to have around 240 different pressure measurements and so on, to make drawing on the digital art programs better. I've only played with it a little, but I have to say I miss actual paint... so I've wandered back to my easel instead (and now I have guilt for not using the gift, so I have to go back and try again every evening, just to put in my time on it. Maybe something will click and it'll all be worth it!)

In other news, a group I am participating with on facebook has the theme "Secret Garden" running, and it's made me dig out the painting from last year that I lost interest in:

I don't know why I lost interest in it to start with, because I actually like it and always have. So, I'm working on completing that right now, along with my morning daily art exercises, and I have my queen of hearts right next to it as well (I figure if I'm going to be painting a lot of "dress" on this fairy in the garden, I'll be in a good clothing groove to work on the queen's gown at the same time!)

And... as you might notice from the picture, I'm still at my kitchen table. I didn't get my studio organized. The more I considered options for the room, the more I realized I'd be causing myself even more grief. If I brought in shelves, I would lose drying space, etc.

I need a new house. That's all there is to it! *wink*

Daily Exercise

I'm in the process of a sort of deep clean and reorganization of my life. It started with my studio, as I said before, and I admit I haven't made any progress there. I have a baker's rack in my basement that could potentially serve as shelves, but the truth is that the footprint might cost me more in the long run because of the canvas storage situation. I feel like I'm in a catch 22 with my studio. I may simply have to put everything away and just deal with working at the kitchen table for the time being, because a move is most definitely in our future and a studio space will be HIGH on our list (I can say "our" because my art spilling out into the living space tends to motivate everyone in the family to find a better working space. *wink*)

However, it isn't all just about cleaning. I'm looking at all sorts of aspects in my life. When it comes to my art, I realize I need to do a few things to get the ball rolling in a better fashion for me. I have come to two decisions, one big and one small.

The first decision is to do a daily drawing/art piece Monday through Friday. An ACEO, a sketch, a little watercolor, it doesn't matter. I will start each work day off with a little something fun (and I'll be selling those on Etsy, in a new category in my shop I'm going to call Daily Art.) I need this as a sort of warm-up as well as a way to feel more accomplished and to grow. I'm really looking forward to it, and I decided to do it after playing with ACEOs last night:

I realized I wanted to do more, but when I sketch out more than one, I can get bogged down by how much work that will be when I still have big paintings I need to work on. But one a day? Yes, I can make that happen!

On the big side of things, art-wise, I have decided that instead of picking a new fairy tale this year to explore (even though Alice is still on my easel, now going into three years *facepalm*) I am going to create my own fairy tale. I'm going to still explore other fairy tales in paintings most likely, but my main focus will be on closing out Alice and opening the door to something completely new. I don't have everything nailed down just yet, but I have a general idea and I'm very excited!

So, I may not have cleaned out my studio and organized everything, but I have made some good, clear decisions that will most certainly be in my best interests. That feels pretty good too!