Hello

Well it has been awhile since I have posted anything on the blog.  I have still been creating though!  I am currently taking a class called Around the World Through Art.  I haven’t had much time to do all the lessons that have been posted so far but am so happy I signed up for it.  It has some wonderful artists giving lessons using their techniques and it’s all inspired by the various places they live.  I did manage to finish this Spanish lady painting recently.  It was created based on a lesson given by Emma Petitt.  I love Emma’s colorful, expressive portrait paintings and was so thrilled to do this lesson.

Happy Friday!

Debbie

Abstracts and Art Journaling

I took a little break from blogging and really enjoyed the summer.  It was a busy one but I still made time for art.  I painted a number of  new abstracts on paper.  The two above were one painting that I cut into two 5 x 7″ pieces and mounted onto wood panels.

I bought a new art journal in June when I went on my annual trip to Nashville Indiana.  I certainly didn’t need another journal but it was calling my name.  I have been playing in it quite a bit.  It’s a Dylusions journal and I really like the paper.  I’ll share some of the pages that I am working on in another post.

Happy Fall!

Getting My Way

I was wanting to create a painting similar to a previous painting that I had done.  The face didn’t have a lot of detail in it and that was my plan for this painting.  It didn’t go as planned.

I just kept adding paint.  At one point I did not like her eyes at all and repainted them.  I would like how it was coming along, and then I wouldn’t.

I get irritated sometimes because I have these ideas of what I want to create and then I just can’t make it happen.  I guess my muse has other ideas.

My daughter says she looks edgy.  I can understand why.  That is the way I felt most of the time I was painting her.

I did end up liking how she turned out but decided to add the triangle tattoo to her face just because it was on the other painting.  At least I got my way a little bit.  🙂

 

Colors of Summer

I’ve been enjoying the wonderful weather we have had this past week.  I decided to paint something bright and summery.  Coral is one of my favorite colors.  Pair it with yellow and, to me, it just screams summer.

This painting is on a 16 x 20″ canvas.  I painted the entire canvas with a yellow acrylic paint and then added some corals, pinks and oranges to it.  I used bubble wrap and white acrylic paint to help transition the two color sections.  Next I added a vintage butterfly picture and painted the sides black.

Have a wonderful summer!

Debbie

A Little Bird Told Me

This is a re-do of a collage painting that I must not have liked too well the first time around.  I had torn all the paper that had been glued to it off and it was looking pretty bad.  I started out by gluing down scrapbook paper.  The paper mostly got covered up with alcohol inks and paint, but the colors in the paper is what inspired the colors I chose to use in the painting.

I sketched in the girl with a charcoal pencil and painted her face and neck with acrylic paint.  Next I covered most of the paper with white acrylic paint and then started dropping alcohol inks onto the front and sides of the canvas around the girl.

I decided to use the ink on her hair too.  In case you can’t tell, I was having fun with those inks.  I may have got a bit carried away with them like I did the last time I used them.   I don’t use them often because the smell really bothers me.

I added the little bird because the girl looked like she was looking at and listening to something.  Part of the color in the bird is from the alcohol ink drops but I did also use a little acrylic paint to finish it off.

Have a great week!

Debbie

The Reeds – Oil & Cold Wax

I had been wanting to try out oil and cold wax painting for a while now.  I just didn’t want to buy more art supplies that I wasn’t sure I would ever use again.  Plus, I already have so many things I want to try and will probably never get around to all of it.

I kept seeing oil and cold wax paintings on Pinterest and You Tube and couldn’t stand it anymore.  I went out and bought the smallest bottle of cold wax medium I could find along with some inexpensive oil paints.  I already had some wood panels for a substrate and a catalyst tool for spreading the paint.

I mixed a few colors of oil paint 50/50 with cold wax medium and spread it around the panel with the catalyst tool.  I used the side of the tool to make marks in the paint.  Starting at the bottom of the panel, I lightly slid the tool up creating random marks.  The mark sizes varied depending on how much pressure I applied and the angle that I held the tool.

I really loved the way the paint was breaking up inside the lines.  It made me think of reeds in a wetland or swamp.  I just decided to leave it as it was.  It only took me about 10 minutes or less to paint this.

I need to try a few more paintings to decide if I want to invest in better oil paints and more cold wax.  I will say that I was not very patient with the time it took to dry.  I’m so used to painting with acrylic or water based mediums.  From what I understand, oil paintings dry faster with the cold wax medium.  I can’t imagine waiting for a painting to dry with just oil paint and no cold wax medium.

 

 

Everything Will Be Ok

I painted this girl for my cousin.  She’s been going through a very stressful time in her life.  She has always been so complimentary of my art and has a number of my girl paintings.  When I first started doing art and showed it to her, she was so excited about what I had created.  Her compliments and excitement gave me the confidence to keep moving forward with creating art.  I am so grateful to her for that.

As I was finishing up the painting, I wasn’t sure what words I wanted to add.  I keep small scraps of papers and other ephemera that have inspiring words, phrases and quotes stuck in a little flower frog on my art counter.  I went over to thumb through those scraps and found a card that read “Everything will be ok”.  I knew that was just what needed to go on the painting and I know that everything will work out for her and it will be ok.

 

 

Only a Reflection

 

This is another You Tube inspired painting.  The video was posted by Nika Rouss.   I ordered a couple of the stencils she had used and, once I received them, I got busy painting.  Here is the video link:  Nika in Wonderland.  I really enjoy watching her videos!

 

 

You Tube Inspired

One of the ways I seek inspiration is to watch You Tube videos of art tutorials.  I recently watched a video by Jenny Niemi.   That video inspired me to finish a painting that I had put aside a while ago because I couldn’t decide how I wanted to finish it.

I had stenciled, stamped and painted a lot of different colors and patterns onto a 12 x 12 inch art panel.  When I saw the You Tube video, I thought of the panel and decided to give it ago.

I sketched in the girl and painted her face.  I added the waves in her hair with a Stabilo pencil and lightly activated the pencil with a damp brush.  I gave her dress a collar using pieces I had torn off of a paper doily.  I then painted around the girl with white paint allowing a bit of the colors below to show through.  Next I stenciled on some words and then lifted off some of the paint by dabbing it with a baby wipe so that the words were not legible.  I also added some texture by brushing some drywall tape with blue paint and stamping that onto the panel.

Happy to have gotten another one out of my “what to do with” pile and finished up.

Have a great weekend!

 

Obscured

Here are the other abstracts that I mentioned in my previous post.  It’s a set of two paintings that I have name Obscured.  These are larger than most of my paintings at 20 by 20 inches.  They are on a gallery wrapped canvas that has 1 1/2 inch deep sides that are painted black.  I used mainly acrylic paints and charcoal pencil.  I had a lot fun making scribbles with the charcoal pencil and then somewhat obscuring the marks with paint.

 

Happy Friday!

Debbie