Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Something new and a coupon too

The last few weeks I've been focused on painting and shows so I decided to take a break and work on my Etsy shop. Sadly it's been neglected lately so it was time to get back to it and try something new. I just added a new section to the shop called Painting Project Singles. These are instant downloadable PDFs and they take you step by step through one painting.



To get the ball rolling I'm starting with projects from our book Creative Colored Pencil Workshop so if you have the book, you already have the first 2 projects. But for those who don't have the book, it's a great way to pick and choose which painting you want to do and you don't have to spend a lot to do it. I'll be doing some new projects in the future to add to the series so check in at the shop from time to time.


The first 2 projects focus on mixing colored pencil with other media. Above I'm combining them with oil pastel to paint a loose, impressionistic landscape. The project below is my froggy from Paynes Prairie. He's done with watercolor and colored pencil. I take you through each step with a full color photo and instructions. I also include a line drawing, the original source photo and materials list.




So check out the new listings and tell me what you think! Do you think it's a good idea? Do you have a particular subject you'd like to see in a step by step format like this? I'll be doing more landscapes for sure but I'm also thinking of doing some seasonal type things like pumpkins with gold leaf backgrounds for fall or maybe do one with a bird nest and eggs. You know how much I love painting those! I would love and appreciate your feedback so leave a comment if you're so inclined.

To introduce these 2 new projects I'm sharing a coupon for 50% off the Painting Project Singles that's good through May 31st.  Share with your friends and happy painting!





Wednesday, May 16, 2018

A short and speedy clip

I discovered the hyperlapse setting on my phone! Yay! I love watching artists in their speed painting videos so I decided to try it myself. Yesterday I set up my little blue flexible tripod with my phone in it and did a clip of me working on the next bird nest painting. This is only the second time doing this. Hopefully these little clips will get better with practice. Light can be an issue in my studio so I might have to experiment with the placement of my easel and I have to figure out a way to get closer to the canvas too.

Anyway..... here's a short clip of a work in progress. It's an 8x8 canvas that I first textured with super heavy gesso. After letting that dry overnight I painted the whole canvas red, sketched the design and then applied gold leaf. Here I'm working with acrylic. I'm not done at the end of the clip, I still have some work to do so I'll share it when it's finished.



Thanks for watching!

Friday, May 11, 2018

Be brave, be bold, go paint!


Soooooo........ I'm excited about the June/July issue of Professional Artist magazine. Thea Fiore-Bloom is this wonderful writer who thought I should be included in her article about inspiration. I finally got a copy and I couldn't be happier! If you can, pick up a copy and read the article titled Draw Inspiration from Your Dark Side. In it she talks about finding inspiration in the hard times. Sometimes going through trauma can bring you to a new place in your art if you're willing to be vulnerable. For me, it's the Silent Voices series.You can see them by clicking on the tab above. That series then led to the bird nest series. You just never know where an idea will take you.

You can see some of the nests by clicking the Nest tab above or to see even more click here to go to my website. If you can't get to a bookstore you can order a copy here.