30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 14

I wish I knew this dog personally.... she looks like she has such a quirky personality!

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 13

This one was really fun because the focus was as much on the background as it was on the dog.  

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 12

I'm a bit embarrassed by how far behind I've let myself slip.  I have about a million-and-one excuses, but I doubt you would want to hear them.  Anyways, this lovely Shepherd was very fun to paint.  I struggled to get my darks dark though so I cheated a bit and used black.  Not sure why that's such a "no-no" in watercolor other than it ends up looking a bit chalky.  I generally get pretty chalky looking paintings anyways though so I'm not too concerned.  I loved the harsh contrasts in the reference photo for this one so I wanted to try my best to capture that.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 11

I am so much happier with this one.  I finally decided to ditch the ink lines and it made a big difference.  I think I was relying on those lines a bit too much and it was not letting my paintings be as expressive as I wanted.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 10

Slowly catching up.  I learned some important lessons on good ways to mix colors and some BAD ways to mix colors haha.  This was a really fun dog to paint for some reason.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 9

First time I felt daring enough to do a full body.  It was hard to get a nice, rich color for the body without it getting dull.  I think it's about time to invest in some better paints.  I am currently using a small, student-grade pan with an assortment of colors.  I realize it wont make me a better painter to have nicer paints, but at least maybe I can overcome some of the "chalkiness" I'm seeing on my darker paintings.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 8

I'm already falling way behind on the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.  I really thought I'd be able to do it without too much of a problem, but it's a much bigger commitment than I thought.  Hopefully this weekend I will have a day where I can get all caught back up.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 7

I just love using ultramarine blue with burnt sienna.  I never can seem to get a real nice dark black like everyone else apparently can with it, but I still like making fun dark mixes of the two.  This is Kobi the English Shepherd.  Isn't he a doll?

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 6

I knew I had to paint this little guy the moment I saw his picture.  He just looked so cute and spunky with that ball in his mouth.  I think he'd be the kind of dog I would really get alone with.  I still have a lot to learn about mixing colors and blending in watercolor, but that's what this practice is for!

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 5

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I am already behind on my "30 in 30" challenge.  I guess I get to spend my Saturday playing catch-up.  This one was a pretty fast and easy paint.  I got a bit carried away with the background, but I felt more free to experiment with techniques and I was amazed how quickly it came together and how much fun I had with the process.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 4

I had a lot of fun with this painting (probably due to the delicious frozen sangria I had beforehand!).  I am unfortunately already a day behind in the 30 in 30 challenge.  Didn't figure I'd already be struggling at day 4, but I plan on playing catch-up and "work ahead" this weekend.  I really wrestled with my camera and photoshop to try to make this look like the original, but failed miserably, so I will try to take the weird color-cast and lighting issues away in the next few days.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dog: Day 3

Today's painting is a husky.  He was going to be a black husky, but the brown came out so nice that I decided to stick with it.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 2

Corgi

Here is my Day 2 entry for Leslie Saeta's "thirty paintings in thirty days" challenge.  I am much happier with this one than the day before.  Corgis are just so fun.  I experimented a bit more with how I was applying my watercolors.  I tried to be bolder with the strokes, but I often fell back into my ways of messing around with it to try and make it look like it's "supposed to".  I also used  a few different colors that I don't typically use (some of my choices were good and some I regret lol) I just keep hoping that I will be more comfortable with watercolors after this challenge is over.  That is my goal.

30 in 30 - Watercolor Dogs: Day 1

Day 1: Basset Hound

I decided to join the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge to force myself to start painting again.  Of course I had to make it very difficult for myself and pick a medium that I don't get along with (ie watercolor).  About halfway through I thought, wow... I should just toss this and try again with pens or color pencils because I'd do a much better job.  But I want to learn watercolor and practice is the only way I know how to do so.  I also used pen and ink.  I haven't decided yet if I will continue using the ink on future watercolor paintings, but I figured I needed it for now ;)

Digital Whippet

Whippet
Digital Media

I have been experiencing quite a bit of frustration with my art lately and feel like nothing I do looks like I want it to.  I think part of the problem is when I look at other artist's paintings.  They always look so simple, but when I try I make an expensive mess.  I keep piling up more and more unfinished painting because I don't have the confidence to finish them and risk "wasting" more art supplies on something that isn't headed in the right direction.  To get out of the rut, I decided to do some easy studies in photoshop.  Working with digital media is so much less frustrating to me because I have more control and don't have to worry about wasting anything other than my time haha.  I am fairly satisfied with this one, but the more I look at it the more I want to open it back up in photoshop and mess with it more.  I really need to invest in a timer and only paint until it goes off so I am not tempted to over-work everything.

English Cottage

English Cottage
Oil on Canvas
Palette Knife Painting
12" x 16"

I just completed this painting two weeks ago in a palette knife painting class with Thomas Stotts.  I had so much fun in this class and hope to continue using only a palette knife to create thick, colorful oil paintings.  It was hard to get used to the technique because I hate using so much paint.  Once I let that thought go and got lost in the process it was a blast though.  There are places on the painting that have almost half an inch of paint on it.

Color mixing was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  I've mixed colors before and not really thought much of it, but when I was trying to get very specific colors I was often disappointed.  Unfortunately perspectives are a huge weakness for me.  I should have spent more time on the initial sketch to ensure that everything lined up the way it should, but I got a little too excited to start with the paint!

Palette Knife Adventure

Clydesdale Foal
Oil Paint on Panel
6" x 6"

Today was a day of firsts.  This is my first completed oil painting... and my first completed palette knife painting.  I used no brushes when creating this.  This cute little Clydesdale foal was just begging to be painted.  It is painted on 6"x6" panel so it's pretty small.  Probably took me around 3 hours because I didn't really know how to control the knife or paint yet.  I enjoyed the process though and will hopefully continue to make small palette knife paintings like this one. 

I'm not used to paint not drying very quickly so I've never been very careful around my paintings.  Well unfortunately that resulted in me dropping my phone right in the middle of it.  So after all the cursing, crying, and cleaning a phone with mineral spirits, I had to repaint a good chunk of the face. 

I tried to get the colors as exact as possible, but this still looks darker on the left-hand side than it is in person.  I keep thinking that one day I'll be better at photographing my art, but it hasn't happened yet. 

Christmas Gifts

I am sad to say that it has been a very long time since I have updated my blog.  I now have a full time job and find it hard to put the time towards anything but lounging around or playing with my dog when I get home.  I have still been doing some art here and there, but mostly small sketches and watercolors just to relax.

I wanted to share the two Christmas ornaments I painted as gifts this year because they were so much fun to do.  At first it was very difficult to paint on the shiny, smooth surface, but once I got a base coat down in acrylic it became much easier to layer up my paint.  

This first one is Gigi the cat.  She is well loved by my grandparents, but I can't say the same for the rest of the family!  She can be a bit grouchy, and if you walk past without giving her some space you might find yourself with a leg full of claws.  I believe she is a Russian Blue. 

This is Scooby the yellow lab.  I have never actually met him, but he sounds like such a goof (then again, what lab isn't?).  His nose isn't really that squished in the painting, but this just illustrates the troubles with painting on a rounded surface.  It gives it a real fish-eye look.  Hopefully I will be able to combat it better next year.  

This is a giant terracotta flower pot that I painted for my grandpa.  He LOVES flowers and plants, and he spends a majority of his time outside planting things.  His yard has more flowers in it that many butterfly gardens I've seen.  He has such a beautiful garden in the spring.  I am not very good at painting flowers, but I know that he likes birds as well so I decided to stick with that.  I included some of my favorite birds (except for the blue jay because I know not many other people like them).  It's hard to see how large this pot is, but I imagine my grandpa will put a bush, or plant with big colorful leaves in it.  It was hard to get good consistent color on the pot initially because liquid paint soaks into the pot and dries dull.  I put a protective spray on it that brought back a little shine and vibrancy but not much.