Tag: oils

Animals · paintings

“Biter of Hands” & some “questionable” choices

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“Biter of Hands,” 5×5″ oil on canvas panel.

I haven’t been updating my blog in a while, but here I am! As you can see, I’ve made some big changes—moved my blog from my main domain (jdunster.com) to this wordpress-hosted site (jrdunster.com). I just got sick of troubleshooting wordpress problems and resolving issues and incompatibilities with my web host. Let WordPress themselves do all the heavy lifting!

So here is a small oil painting of one of my cats, “Minus” (or also known as “Void” because sometimes she seems a little “void” between her ears). She does sometimes bite hands. Very affectionate cat, but sometimes gets overexcited and then…bites.

There is also some news (see reference to “questionable choices” in this post’s title) about…kittens. Yes, I have some new models for my cat paintings.

The neighbors couldn’t keep these kittens and we just couldn’t fathom the idea of leaving them to their fate, so now we have kittens. They’re all adorable, very loving, purr constantly, and are very naughty. (They wouldn’t be normal kittens if they weren’t naughty!)

I’ve already got a few good photos ready to use as painting reference. They’re utterly precious.

Misc. Stuff · paintings

I guess it’s time

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…for a website update.

Like many of you, I’m stuck at home, waiting out this scary pandemic. Fortunately, I’ve got adequate supplies (including cat food!) at home, so I am settled in without much panic at the moment. Therefore, what else is there to do but update my blog? Right?

I’ve done some painting since this blog was last updated. Here are two oils (randomly selected):

Band of Light – oil on panel, 6×6 inches
Foolish Passion – 6×8″ oil on canvas panel

A lot has gone on since my last update. Some scary, some big, but a lot of good.

But to quote Tim Conway Jr (who I listen to a lot when I paint), “Who cares!” Who cares about all my personal travails at the moment? This is an art blog so let’s talk about art.

I’m planning on revamping this site a bit so there should be more posts coming soon. What better time to do it but now?

Yeah, like a lot of artists, I’ll be painting a lot…since I’m at home anyway, it’s a perfect time.

I hope everyone else is doing well right now. Stay safe, stay home, study a lot, and if you are an artist, paint a lot!

Be back soon.

Animals · portraits

After over a year… (IMAGE DUMP!)

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The guilt over neglecting this blog has finally become too much! I’m trying to catch up with so many things in the past year. After a lengthy period of sharing caregiving duties with a sister for our mom (who had dementia) the “new normal” is requiring some adjustment. Furthermore, there were other things that have happened in the last year, things that kept me from painting (or updating this blog) as much as I’d like.

I can’t say that everything is now perfect and normal, but when is it ever? All I can say is that things are gently pushing upward. For that I am grateful.

Anyway, I have done many paintings in the last year. I’ll post many of them in future posts, but just want to share a select few here:

Backlit Tiger – 8×8″ oil on canvas panel.

I’m going through a “tiger phase.” This is just one tiger example. I’m not done yet! I’ve got many more tigers (and other big cats) to paint! If painting tigers is wrong, I don’t want to be right! Continue reading “After over a year… (IMAGE DUMP!)” →

Animals · Misc. Stuff · Tutorials

Behold a Pale Orange Cat & super-mini studio setup

J R Dunster4 Comments

I’ve got a few new cat head paintings to post, but first, the latest news:

“Pale Orange Cat,” 5″ x 7″ oil on Pintura Painting Panel

Another painting completed tonight! This time, I finished this little painting at a most unusual working space: my computer desk!

As I mentioned in a previous post, these are desperate times for me (studio-wise) because now I am fulfilling my duties as a part-time caregiver for a family member. Gone are the days when I can gallivant away to my lovely studio and paint until the wee hours. I must stay homebound and be a caregiver. (And that’s okay. It’s family, after all!) I finally developed a workaround (a small studio area) to allow me to work in a very cramped space, but tonight, I decided to go even smaller.

I hope that my situation (and my solution for it) might be useful for other artists out there. Surely I’m not the only one who is dealing with a desperate need to paint, but only with cramped spaces available to work!

My very small
My very small “studio area.”

I did my painting on a computer table. Not even a “real” computer table, just some table that I’ve been using for my 20″ iMac.  Continue reading “Behold a Pale Orange Cat & super-mini studio setup” →

Animals · paintings

Such a Good Kitty

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“Such a Good Kitty” 4×4″ oil on panel.

This little black and white kitty caught my eye. What a sweet expression! Painting black and white fur is always fun!

For this piece I used a 4×4″ panel which was primed with some Michael Harding Foundation White. Well, it wasn’t white when I got through with it—I mixed in some blue before priming some plain wood panels. There’s something special about using lead-based priming for oil painting! Continue reading “Such a Good Kitty” →

paintings · portraits

Profile in Blue

J R Dunster2 Comments

“Profile in Blue,” 6×6″ oil on panel. Thanks to Dailiaa of dA for the photo I used as reference.

It’s been a frustrating few weeks, with not enough opportunity to paint, and a propensity for procrastination even when there was some time to paint. There’s no excuse for this! But, thankfully in the last few days, I’ve carved out more time for art.

I started this painting about a week ago, and while I initially planned for it to be finished reasonably quickly (they call it “Daily Painting” for a reason), that’s not what happened.  I fussed with this, and corrected that, and finally I have decided that enough is enough.

So, put a fork in it, it is done!  Continue reading “Profile in Blue” →

paintings · Tutorials

About Student vs. Artist Grade Oil Paints—Products & Brands

J R Dunster18 Comments

My web stats tell me that my page “A word about student paint” gets plenty of visitors. I think there’s a lot of curiosity about which products to buy, which ones are “best,” and which are rip-offs.

Well, before I start giving my opinions, bear in mind that it is just, like, my opinion, man. But, I think most of what I say here will be not too far off the beaten path, or in other words, will not conflict too much with popular opinion.

A small portion of my paint collection.

SUMMARY OF STUDENT VS. ARTIST GRADE OIL PAINTS:

You’ll see “Student” paint sold alongside “Artist” grade paint, but at a lower price. For instance, Winsor & Newton’s Artist and Student line are as follows: Winsor & Newton Artist Oil Color and Winton.  Winton is the student grade. Maimeri Puro is (one of the) artist grade brands from Maimeri, while Classico is their student grade (though actually Classico isn’t that bad). Some brands (like Blockx or Old Holland) only sell artist grade. Other brands (like Soho, sold through Jerry’s Artarama) are only student grade. (And Soho is very low-end, by the way. Just saying.) Continue reading “About Student vs. Artist Grade Oil Paints—Products & Brands” →

Animals · drawings · paintings

Back again, Back again, Happy New Year!

J R Dunster2 Comments

“Fluffy Tuxedo Kitty” 6×6″ oil on cradled panel.

After a regrettably long hiatus, I am back with a new cat head painting! And for the New Year!

Circumstances in life prevented me from getting into my studio to paint for the past several months. I tried to compensate for that by doing some drawings at home. (More on that later.) But now I am back, and am working on some new paintings! This little cat head is the first to be completed. I especially was trying to capture the fluffiness of this kitty with soft brush strokes and lost edges. Also, warm and cool temperatures were used to show depth (I hope).

With this painting I also attempted to go looser! It was fun!

Words cannot express how much I missed painting, and how WONDERFUL it felt to be back to it!

But, I did do some fun pencil work, and below is my latest piece. It probably needs some more tweaking. It’s simple graphite pencil (0.05mm mechanical pencil, HB lead) on smooth paper.

“Untitled” (so far), pencil on paper, approximately 6×7″. Probably still needs some tweaks.

I’m a BIIIIIG fan of crosshatching. Continue reading “Back again, Back again, Happy New Year!” →