Edwin, A Curious Fellow Built with Acrylics

Edwin, Day One & Day Two
5″ x 7″ Acrylics

Spending more time on a painting almost always improves it . I know this is not true for everyone! But so far it is true for me, and my novice attempts at acrylics!

In this case, I almost stopped after the first day, mainly because I am trying to finish 30 Paintings in 30 Days, but also because I wasn’t sure this was going anywhere and I thought I’d try something else. [As for 30 Paintings, I am totally considering this two paintings (9 & 10). I do not believe I will be fined for this offense – much less prosecuted. Wait. Who is in charge of this jurisdiction?]

Edwin here could stand a bit of evening of the eye ridges, but as the only one of his kind, one could hardly tell him his eye ridges aren’t properly aligned. Perhaps there is a very good reason for him to look precisely how he looks!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy January! Hello to Paint Party Friday!

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Struggles With Acrylics Yield an Orange Rabbit Beast

Rabbit Beast, 5″ x 7″ Acrylics
Painting 8 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

I have encountered some obstacles in my return to acrylics for 30 Paintings in 30 Days! I started late, the bitter (Chicago area) cold is sapping my will to art, no internet for multiple days TWICE in two weeks (now fixed! <knock wood>), and very busy at my regular job.

It is now Day 11 and I am going to claim 8 Paintings! (Even though some aren’t quite complete.) My favorite so far, which I would prefer to work on more but can’t because it’s only #8, is the silly creature above, made in a promise to Ann D’Angelo that I would try something odd and whimsical today.

I am trying to appreciate this challenge for getting me to paint a lot, even though I mostly feel these paintings are unfinished as I race on to the next one. But that’s ok!

Alpaca, Camel, Sheep
Each 5″ x 7″ Acrylics

The previous paintings were a series of ungulates in blue on red. I ended up trashing the camel (in the middle) after becoming very frustrated with it. Which is bound to happen if you don’t paint for 10+ months! The sheep (right side) has some nice qualities. But I am moving on.

I hope your January is going nicely! I hope mine ends more nicely than it started!

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Three Series of Bird, a Return to Acrylics

Three Series of Bird, 1-3 of 30 Paintings January 2015
Each 6″ x 8″, Acrylics

Yikes, I hate to be late. I was unable to start painting until today, January 5th, for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. In order to catch up, I thought I’d try a series of three, painted at the same time and in the same colors.

These are very rough! (I think the middle one is the best one) I could certainly work on them more. But it was an interesting exercise and I suppose I must move on tomorrow!

Thanks for dropping in! Some progress pics below.

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Pilar and Santos, a Tale of Love with Tequila Corks

Pilar and Santos 1

Pilar and Santos 2 

Pilar and Santos 3

Pilar and Santos 4

As mentioned in the previous post, I was challenged to do some Day of the Dead imagery on Patrón corks. These are the result (more than a year later)!

These may get hair/hats/accessories, but I felt the need to post them as is! I need to seal them with something. AnnD of Wonderstrange has suggested Krylon, so I may get some of that.

Thanks for dropping in!

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Here and Back Again, Acrylics 2.0.

Hey, it’s a Hobbit reference. And I have not seen one of those films. Despite being slightly fanatical about the Lord of the Rings, both the books and the movies, (less than Colbert, more than your average fan).

I am embarking on a project which I thought I would chronicle here, at the art blog. I was asked about a year ago to do some Day of the Dead type faces on Patrón (tequila) corks. How we arrived at this request is probably not as interesting, but suffice it to say I agreed to this thing with the caveat that I would probably take my own sweet time. Which I have.

But I am going to be seeing this person in about a week so I thought, since I finally cleared a space to do acrylics again – for Thirty Paintings in 30 Days, in January – I decided now was the time. Here is the beginning.

Patrón Corks Project, Step One!

At the bottom left you will see an unaltered Patrón  cork. In the middle, two corks with gesso. The third thing is some other cork that looks like a doorknob, also gessoed. Stay tuned for further developments!

I also wanted to post, in advance of January’s marathon, my favorite acrylic paintings from last January (and some from February). I stopped painting after that. I think because my job got busier but I hope to continue this year.

Various Acrylics, Jan-Feb 2014

Left to rightt:  Danielle and Sinbad (6″x6″), Flower Girl (5″x7″), Josie Fuchsia (5″x7″), The Harvest Oracle (6″ x 8″). Loads of process pics for The Harvest Oracle here.

And below, Rocco and Harmony (12″ x 12″), which hung for several months at my local Dick Blick’s! Here you can see what they looked like at the end of the first day, and then the finished painting with one more day. Amazing how much difference the extra day made!

Rocco and Harmony, 12″ x 12″ Acrylics on canvas

Lots of progress pics for this one here. Thanks so much for dropping in! Hello to Paint Party Friday – and I sure hope some of you are doing 30 Paintings!

Merry Christmas and Happy all the other holidays, too!

Girl with Small Elephant. On Her Head. Colored Pencils.

Shelly & Elly
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, pen, colored pencil

Ah, finally finished something! She was darker skinned but I seem to like using a lot of white pencil at the end. I’m also a bit scared of darker colors over worry that problems would be harder to correct. There should probably be darker shadows here but I’ll work on that for the next one.

I’ve started this 5″ x 7″ Basset hound. I don’t know why I keep going over the eyes so much in pencil when it’s supposed to get color over it. And then sometimes I think I should do a pencil drawing as a finished product. Currently undecided!

Bassett in progress
5″ x 7″ pencil

Reference photo: Basset.

Thanks for dropping in! Hello to Paint Party Friday, which I have not joined in ages!

Also, is anyone doing 30 Paintings in 30 Days in January? I was a little skeptical about the more involved sign-ups, but it looks like you will still add your own link each day in addition to your photo. I couldn’t manage it during September, but last January I did it, and it was a terrific experience that I highly recommend. Maybe I’ll dig out some of those January 2014 images for my next post. :)

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Legend of the Sleeping Kitten

Legend of the Sleeping Kitten
4″ x 6″ pen and ink, Copic markers

This was actually the first of the secret santa bunch, which includes the sleeping tiger and sleeping dragon previously posted. The Legend of the Sleeping Kitten turned into a sort of universal foundation tale with slightly different details in different parts of the world. Hence: a kitten, a tiger, a dragon. It is my intention to write a book in 2015. Perhaps their stories will be in it!

Here are a couple sketches done using my new fancy Luxo magnifying light.

Steampunk Hornbill and Elvish Snow Queen, in progress
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ pencil, ink

Thanks for dropping in! I’ve had some blog issues recently so am slow to post. The holidays are always a strange time, aren’t they?

Also, you MUST WATCH THIS cute and hilarious (and short!) thing. I would not steer you wrong.

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Sleeping Dragon in Mushroom Field

Sleeping Dragon, 4″ x 6″
Copics, colored pencils, pens

It’s another experiment with colored pencils, both Polychromos and Prismacolors. I was going to outline the dragon in white but worried about wrecking things! I do wish I had shaded the ground beneath him, and a bit more under the mushrooms, but alas, it is in the mail! This was my last secret santa art gift for the year. I am glad to be done; it is a little stressful.

Daydream and Queen Willa
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

Here are a couple recent art cards. Lots of similar color in all three, including two of my favorite Copic colors: V04-Lilac and BG10-Cool Shadow, and my favorite Staedtler Triplus fine liner, magenta. You got favorites? Are they secret?

Thanks for dropping in!

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Further Colored Pencil Adventures

Bug and Robut, 4″ x 6″
Faber-Castell Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils, mostly

Bender from Futurama (in a rare spot of fan art!) for a Secret Santa partner whose likes include bugs and robuts. I hope she likes it! This is mostly done in Faber-Castell Polychromos. The main drawback to using them (or other creamy-type pencils) is that I use a lot of pressure at times which causes muscle fatigue. And I am no spring chicken! Or other chicken. What a weird phrase. :D

Also! Ugh! Colored pencil dust. (Probably because I use too much pressure.) Any tips? I keep getting little colored dust stuck all over. So frustrating! Please provide tips if you have any.

Linus, 2.5″ x 3.5″
Colored pencils and pens

And this is Linus. Also done in Polychromos and pen. I like him! He is strangely stylish.

Thanks for dropping in! I was in Florida for a long weekend and work continues to be crazy but I hope to get back to at least once a week, soon.

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Prismacolor Pencils, Back in Action

Legend of the Sleeping Tiger
5″ x 7″ Prismacolor pencils, Copics, Staedtler Triplus fineliners, Signo gel pen

Let me first say I still have my set of Prismacolor pencils from high school circa *cough* 1987. I was a big fan back then, but as you may recall, I abandoned the art for a couple decades (not recommended). I have since read (somewhere?) that the Prismacolor brand has gone downhill due to new owners, but I can neither confirm nor deny this item.

The tiger was done in new Prismacolors, because I bought a handful of warm bright colors (and b&w) for an experiment a couple months ago before digging through moving boxes for my old (battered) set. I think the color is quite nice, though I will confirm my black tip broke off shortly after being sharpened. Hmm.

I left the sketch alone for a while because I really liked it and didn’t want to mess with it! But I was inspired in part by meeting Diana Harlan Stein this weekend at Windycon and I finished this Sunday night after it ended. More about how that went next time. :)

Thanks for dropping in! I hope to get back to a regular schedule, and visit folks back properly, soon.

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