Dreams of Friesians

After several long months I finally finished up this big boy.  It had been hogging up my drafting table since November.  This is the largest colored pencil drawing I have ever attempted, and I am quite happy with how it turned out.  I have no idea how many hours were spent on this project, but it's probably safe to say that I won't be pulling out the colored pencils again for a long time. The thought of how much faster and easier this would be to complete in paint soured my thoughts on more than one occasion during the process.  This pretty boy has a happy home in my living room for now.  

American Pharoah

American Pharoah
9"x12"
Acrylic on Canvas

Sooo excited that I got to witness a triple crown win! American Pharoah is an incredible horse, and I might have shed a small tear or two when he crossed the finish line. So of course he became my artistic inspiration for the day. I'm not entirely sure if it's finished or not, but I figured no good things could happen from continuing to paint after 1am.

Dakota

Dakota
8" x 10"
Acrylic on Canvas

Here is a painting of a very dearly loved dog who is no longer with us.  She was a very sweet dog who brought her owners many years of love of happiness.  She will be greatly missed, but hopefully this painting will help them remember all the happy memories.

Farm Animal Birthday Sign

16" x 20"
Acrylic on Canvas

This is a Birthday sign I made for a boy named Tyson.  He loves farm animals! I wanted to make this a quick, easy painting, but when it was all said and done I had clocked about 10 hours on this!  Oops!

Jan 2015 30 in 30 - Day 6

Emma
Acrylic on Canvas Panel
5" x 7"

This is Emma the Dachshund.  She is just a pup.  I just love her split-face marking.  She is a unique dog for sure.

Jan 2015 30 in 30 - Day 5

Roxy

Acrylic on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

This is the dachshund, Roxy.   I had fun painting her this small.   I hope to do more small acrylic dogs

Jan 2015 30 in 30 - Day 4

Lounging
6" x 9"
Watercolor

Another demo painting out of Pat Weaver's Watercolor Simplified book.  Despite using the colors she suggested, I could NOT very my painting to have the vibrance that her cat had.  Again, each time I tried to "fix" something I made it worse.  But if I hadn't tried to fix things then the painting would be very pale and unfinished looking.  I guess trying to learn to paint from a book isn't really a good idea.  I wish I could watch her actually work with the paints in her palette and how she applies it to the paper because I believe that is where the disconnect lies.  Practice practice practice.... I just feel like maybe I am practicing the wrong techniques.

Jan 2015 30 in 30 - Day 3

Rooster
6" x 9"
Watercolor

This is another demo I did out of Pat Weaver's Watercolor Simplified book.  I am trying to get through all of them before I have to return the book to the library.  I would just buy the book, but it is unfortunately out of print and would be expensive to purchase used.  This was a painting that seemed to have everything going for it and I was so happy that I was finally "getting watercolors".  Then it dried ugly!  I'm not really sure what happened, but me trying to fix it only made things worse.  I can't decide if the issue was due to me not having the colors that Pat suggested, or if I applied the paint wrong.

Jan 2015 30 in 30 - Day 2

5.5" x 9"
Watercolor

This drawing is from a demo I did out of Pat Weaver's Watercolor Simplified book.  I was very frustrated at first because I didn't want my painting to have so much purple in it, but I think it ended up looking okay in the end.  I hope to do more buildings and structures because I would love to keep an urban sketching notebook someday.

Jan 2015 30 in 30 - Day 1

Droopy
9" x 10"
Watercolor

I checked out Pat Weaver's book Watercolor Simplified from the library and decided to try out some of the demos that she included in the back of the book.  The way she works with watercolor seems way too fast-paced for me.  I am in a constant panicked rush to make sure I add in the right colors before it dries.  I don't really feel like I am working much differently with watercolors than I was before except that I am working on bigger pieces of paper and using artist quality paints.  I'll be honest and admit that I haven't noticed much of a difference.  I guess maybe I convinced myself that if I followed the direction of one of my favorite watercolor artists that I would suddenly be really good at it.  I am happy with this painting though, so I will try to stick it out and see where watercolors take me.