Hawaiian beach

Hawaiian Beach 24 X 30 Acrylic

This last weekend I stopped my current projects to get this done in a hurry.  Originally I was asked for ideas on making a board for my bosses birthday, like she makes for us. Here is an idea of what that looks like, it's at the very bottom of the post Valentines day and my birthday. This seemed boring, and yet time consuming.  A quick discussion with a co-worker validated my thought of doing something a bit more permanent and lasting with my time. 

My boss not only loves Hawaii, but rainbows, not the "hi, I live an alternative lifestyle" rainbow but the promise of God to never flood the earth again kind.  Since I was looking for an honest rainbow, I went with the most translucent and iridescent representation I could.  Also, I feel it is important to let you know that the beach is really not so yellow in reality, but I'm having a challenging time with color correcting here.

The base was done with an airbrush, along with the clouds and the rainbow.  The rest of the painting was done with traditional brush work. 

What ever you do, give it your best. Find the beauty in the world around you.

Barbie Fairy

My niece was looking for her wall to be painted, but since there might be a move in her future, a hanging piece was much more suitable.

She will be five, and has decided that Barbie is one of her favorites.  My new software for cropping and adjusting the camera distortion is something I'm still working on.

In process

 

I've been feeling unwell for a while and have gotten behind on finishing new pieces.  Here is one that I am almost done with.  Well, unless something else on it needs to be done for me to feel it is complete.

Have a great week, I'll be posting regularly again soon.

Week 21 - C'est la Vie!

 

C'est la Vie!

I love masks, they are just fun and unique.  This mask is especially a favorite of mine.  I began this a very long time ago, and was working on completing it the weekend my mother died.  It had been her mask when our family went to the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City Utah, I did make a few alterations.  I'm currently waiting on the finish coat to dry before I sign it and scan it.  I took this picture and promptly dropped my camera in my water bucket. Clumsiness, art, and electronics are not a good mix in case you ever wondered.  This piece started off being painted in ink, but the feathers did not turn out the way I wanted, so I painted them in acrylic, and painted over the rest of the piece except the eyes.  I may try this piece again, but for now I'm just glad to have completed it, my mom would have been sad that I stopped.  Keep looking at the world around you with new eyes.

Week Four - Tree of Creativity

 

Tree of Creativity 

(9x12) Ink & Acrylic on Canvas

This tree was a last minute decision, and it was finished just a few minutes late, hopefully it will still be accepted.  If they check their email tomorrow and are not sticklers about the time stamp on the email.  I really enjoyed doing this piece, but I also really got frustrated in this process.  If it could go wrong, it did.  I was interrupted many many times, and then when I did have uninterrupted time I blew a fuse and fought with paint that really didn't want to dry quickly at all.
I must say, deadlines really make me push myself to get things done.  Airbrush is a fun way to paint, and yet it can be very time consuming. I tried to hand paint the tree over the ink back ground, but the ink was lifted up every time I tried to lay the paint over it, so airbrush was the way to go.

Here are some of the in process pictures, just to give you an idea.

This is the back ground, which was a process in and of itself.  More on that in a later blog.

Using the template to lay down the colors.

Finished it up with the dark highlights.

Hair dryers can be such a great help when under a time crunch, but do not forget to clean your equipment when you are done.  You should never be in such a hurry that you do not clean your equipment.  Hardened paint destroys brushes, and airbrushes alike.   

Goals for the new year, and a viewing of pieces in private collections

I am not generally a writer when it comes to my art, I feel it is much more important for people to view the pieces and let them speak for themselves.  Today though it seems a good time to start with goals for the up coming year, not resolutions as those are too easily broken.
I have only begun to paint and create again, so I have not done to many new pieces and have not developed a clear direction up to this point.  This decision will not work any longer, I must have a clear objective.  From my readings on the expectations of galleries it seems that many artists produce at the very least 2 - 3 pieces of work a week.  My goal this year is to increase my productivity to 1 - 2 pieces a week.  This goal may be small in comparison, but it is larger than I have accomplished in previous years.
I have four pieces of art that are laying in my make shift studio, waiting to be finished.  I do plan to complete two of them this weekend, and of course I will capture them in photographs and post them here.
I have three different collections that I would like to build this year.  One of these would be my abstracts with nature objects and bright colors, I enjoy these pieces very much.  The second group will be my adventure series which will include an Ice Climber, Mountain biker, and White water rafter, etc.  The third group will be the desert flowers and cactus, these do not share any one medium but only the subject matter.  I'm open to other portfolio ideas if anyone chooses to leave a comment.  For now I will leave you with some pieces that are in private collections, have a great new year.

Breakfast 

 Carousel Horse

Wild Flowers

Emmet Kelly Jr

Dreams

Elk in Moon

 French Clown

Grey Girl

Sadness

Safe Harbor

Promenade

Plumeria

The Climber

  The Hiker

To see other pieces that are available please check out my account at Fine Art America 

There are others which have yet to be posted there, you can leave me a comment regarding them and I will gladly assist you in any way I can.

To view a slide show of other pieces I have created: IDrawandpaint