3 Apples

Painting a still-life painting is so relaxing. Really, you get to sit and stare at a few objects on a table, work on the lighting you want and then paint. You can get creative and put a bunch of strange objects together for an interesting composition. Since this was a requested painting, I was told to paint apples. So I found some apples with a few unique characteristics and played with how I wanted them to look. Another fun painting!

Fashionista

Unfortunately, I didn't make a video for this painting!  But, I do have a few pictures of what I did.  

 

So a friend of mine wanted something by her vanity table that would inspire beauty.  So we came up with this concept.  I started off with a sketch to make sure we got exactly what she wanted.  She looked up fashion art online and found a sketch of a girl looking to the side with a similar dress as the one I painted.  I said okay, but it would have to turn into my own style.  She agreed and this is what I sketched for her.

This painting was something I had not done before so I was excited to start.  She wanted clean lines on the painting so I taped the sides to give it a framed look. Then went with the background first and left the girl for last.  That was my favorite part.

The skin color was enjoyable to mix because I was trying to get something close to my friend's skin.   I have to say the hair also came close, although she liked the idea of making it longer.  The simple touch of the starry night sky tied the painting in perfectly.  I believe it brought a hint of allurement that she desired.  Looking at it more and more, I feel there are a few things I would change but overall, it was a delight to paint. 

 

Amber Eyes

I have a few painting projects planned and wanted to start with this horse painting I made for a friend. The next few projects will actually be paintings that I was requested to paint.

For this painting, I was inspired one night and suddenly decided that a horse painting needed to happen.  I had no prior experience in painting horses so this was great practice or at least a good start. I had to search for horse anatomy because I wanted my horse to look strong.  There was much thought before delving into this project, like if it needed to face away, toward the viewer, to the side, or just a full body view of it galloping away.  This horse in particular needed to give the feeling like it was looking into your soul.  Almost a magical snapshot of it stopping to see you before it rides off into the distance.

I hope I was able to convey the feelings I wanted.  The focus is on the face for that purpose with the wind blowing around the hair.  The background was meant to just show that it is outside but the rest is left to your imagination.  Please check out the video I made showing the process I took to paint and subscribe for more videos!  Don't forget to thumbs up.

Drawing Realistic Glass

I'm back!  This year I plan to start off with videos of everything I do (art related).  Starting off with a drawing of realistic perfume glass bottles.  I love drawing glass and since I am currently teaching an art class, I plan on posting some of the art projects I will be doing with my students.

The videos will be posted on Youtube.  Please check out my Channel and subscribe.  I have just started it so expect to see lots more videos.  Then I will move on to paintings and DIY stuff.  Let me know what you would like to see.

Click here to watch my video: http://youtu.be/-1zH8J4J3s4

Fall Door Sign

It feels so good to be back.  I missed my blog and putting my stuff on here so to be able to post today makes me really happy.  After my son ended up in the hospital, It was really hard to sit down and do art.  Not just because I needed to make sure he was doing okay at all times but I felt overwhelmed with doctor appointments and a lot of other stuff going on.  Now that life is back to normal I definitely needed to get back to art.  It's what keeps me sane!  Don't worry, I am not neglecting my son, he is currently sitting on my lap  while I type this. :)

I posted before the Summer and the Halloween sign.  I loved those so much that I just needed to finish my fall sign.  I was debating for some time if it needed to be a Thanksgiving or autumn theme.   Hey, I enjoy Thanksgiving but one of the reasons I truly love this time of the year it's because of autumn!  That is what I am thankful for.  It is a beautiful season with all the beautiful colors, the cool weather, and yummy food.  It makes me sad that it doesn't last that long.   Plus, it is right in between Halloween and Christmas, which in my opinion are the best holidays of the year.

Like always, I like to show the process.  I started off with a sketch.  I went online and looked at a few leaves and the colors so I could gather what I wanted to do.  I have found that every time I find good references, my paintings are always better.

Once I had a general idea of what I wanted, I sketched it on the painted wooden plaque.  Then I started painting the letters with white acrylic paint.

I like when leaves still have a little bit of green in them and start to transition into the yellows, oranges, and reds.  The first leaf I wanted to have some green in the middle and the rest of the colors toward the outside.

The colors are remarkable!  If you look at real leaves, you will notice patches of colors and transitions from one color to another.  Don't forget the veins, it brings realism to the leaf.  Lastly, erase the pencil marks and add some wire in the back.

Then it is ready to hang on your door.


If you are not careful and leave your sign on the floor, then someone might think its a welcome mat.

Ha ha ha ha!  I love those funky toes.



Thanks for reading!

Decorative Door Signs

These last two weeks have also been fun.  I have been having a lot of fun lately.  All thanks to my friend Corinne who comes up with great ideas for crafts.  Plus the holiday seasons are near and there is always a lot of crafty things to do around that time.

So we started working on decorating our front doors, perfect place to start.  We went to Hobby Lobby and bought these wooden plaques.

Yes, they were $2.99, not bad unless you are planning on making a lot of signs.  We also bought ribbon and some wire to attach on the back of the plaque.

I decided to work on the "Happy Halloween" sign and I knew that a jack-o-lantern would be a great design.

I didn't want it to have a cute face like most people would expect an inviting door sign to have.  It needed to have a scary one, it just makes it more interesting.  I also wanted it to look like it was glowing from the inside.  First you add the orange-red color to the inside parts of your pumpkin and make sure to let it dry. Then lighten it up with some yellow-orange but make sure you leave  the top area of the eyes with your first color.  Finally bright yellow on the bottom of the eyes.

The letters were the easiest to do.  Why?  Well if you want to go for creepy dripping letters, you don't have to make it look perfect.  The more you swivel your brush around, the better it looks.  The final touch was the border to tie everything together.   We then added two nails in the back and attached a wire so it could hang. Corinne was so nice to add that part for me and made those cute little bows with her ribbon.

My next sign is this super cute watermelon design.  I LOVE watermelon.  I think I am obsessed with it.  I even took the time to paint my nails in a watermelon design.  Sadly I can only enjoy during the summer time.  This is my memento to my favorite food.

Our goal for these signs is to make them all simple but attractive.  I wish I could post the signs Corinne made but I forgot to take pictures of the ones she came up with. Maybe I can do a post of all our signs at the end of the year!

My next sign will be a fall/thanksgiving design.  I haven't decided yet.  We did start off by painting it a dark taupe.

It's perfect for that rustic look.  I made sure to get into the grooves on the side because I sort of missed a side on my minty watermelon sign.

Beautiful right?  I love this color for fall.  I haven't decided what design I want to do yet but looking forward to painting this one.

Thanks for reading!

My "Happy Little Accident"

I had tons of fun last week.  On Tuesday I went to G'nosh!, it's this art studio where you can paint an easy, fun, and breathtaking painting... in one class.   They have an instructor that takes you step by step from blank canvas to a masterpiece.  The best part is that you can take your drink of choice and a snack.  Now, you don't have to be a great artist to take these classes, they were made so anyone can follow along and paint in their own style.
I was lucky to go with my friend Corinne who appreciates art as much as I do.  I wish I took my camera so I could have taken a picture of us holding our paintings.  Here is a picture of the painting I made.

 The class instructor did a little introduction of herself and what they do in the studio.  I liked how she described the environment and compared it to what Bob Ross said,

“We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”

 Love it! So I titled this post "Happy Little Accident"  because I had one of my own this week.  A long time ago I bought this wooden sign from Savers.  I didn't buy it because of what it said... something about golf being serious and not a game... don't quite remember exactly.  I bought it because I knew it would look great on my wall with a favorite quote.  So I took off the vinyl lettering and painted my wood black.

The edges were already sanded down so I decided to leave it that way and I am glad I did.

I used my Silhouette and some vinyl to cut out this really cool quote I found and placed it on top of the wood. I only used the vinyl as a stencil and painted the letters in white.  My happy mistake happened when I decided to use water to delude the white.  I was trying to go for a white-wash color against the black.

The water seeped under the vinyl and created a bleed effect on my letters.

When I peeled the vinyl off, this is what I saw.  My first thought was, "Oh no!  Now I have to paint over it again."  Then I remembered about happy mistakes.

So instead of doing it over I decided to just clean it up a bit.  Enough to where it still looks distressed but you can read what it says.  Then I wanted to add paint droplets.  I made sure they were around the main words, the ones I had made bold.  I added the droplets by dripping a brush soaked in watered down white paint.  Using a paper towel, I twisted a corner and like a pencil I lightly touched the droplets.  This sucked out most of the paint leaving behind a faint water droplet.  

  This was my finished project and I have to say that I LOVE my happy little accident!

Thanks for reading!