paintings · portraits

“Quizzical,” and various other updates

“Quizzical,” 12×16″ oil on cradled panel

I’ve agonized over this painting long enough, so even though I believe it’s not “quite yet” done, I am calling it DONE! I can’t take it anymore! This painting is more like abandoned, rather than completed.

This is just a study, slightly larger than what I usually do these days (which are mostly little daily paintings of 8×10″ and smaller). While 12×16″ is far from large, it seems “big” to me!

So, back to “Quizzical,” the subject of today’s post. Continue reading ““Quizzical,” and various other updates”

paintings · portraits

Micah, from life

“Micah,” 12×16″ oil on cradled panel.

This is a painting started about a year ago, and now finally finished!

The Winter of 2014 (January or something?) I was attending a local painting group run by a fellow artist (and my sometime teacher), Adam Clague. We’d get volunteers to pose for us each week. It was such a good experience for all of us and I hope we can start doing it again. Continue reading “Micah, from life”

paintings · portraits · Tutorials

An experiment in acrylics & limited palette

“Jason in Acrylics,” 4×5″ acrylic on canvas panel. Thanks to Jason Aaron Baca (model) and Portia Shao (photographer) for the stock photo used as reference!

Another experiment with student paint (sort of) as well as an attempt to get better at acrylics! I dabbled with some acrylics recently, and was so abysmal at it, that I have now decided to try to improve my skills. I don’t recall having such dire issues with acrylics when I was much younger, but I paint differently now, I guess. Continue reading “An experiment in acrylics & limited palette”

paintings · Tutorials

A word about student paint

“Jorge – Zorn Palette” approx. 4×6″ oil on unstretched canvas. (From a canvas pad.) If loving Jorge Salinas is wrong, I don’t want to be right!

So… I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to do a review, or perhaps a treatise, on the subject of student-quality paints.

Lately I’ve had reason to shop at the North-American-based chain craft/art supply stores, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. I realized that for many people, these types of stores are their only access to art materials, at least hands-on. So, I thought I’d explore what it would be like for a new artist to try to select paints (oils or acrylics) from one of these stores, while also being budget-minded.

So I purchased some oil and acrylic sets from both stores (haven’t finished collecting my samples yet) with the intent of trying them out and reporting back what I experienced.

An overview of chain craft store brand paints. Continue reading “A word about student paint”

Animals · paintings

With a Black Spot on His Nose – Cat Head

“Black Spot on Nose” 6×6″ oil on Ampersand panel. Thanks to Christine Sniadach at PaintMyPhoto for the picture I used as reference!

This white kitty was so adorable and all the colors in his fur were fascinating to try to capture. This is a slightly different pose for me, as I often paint just the head of the cat. (I call these paintings my Cat Head Paintings.) Well, this is still a Cat Head, but we have some paws and some indication of a body. Woo hoo, I’m moving outside my comfort zone! 😉 Continue reading “With a Black Spot on His Nose – Cat Head”