I decided to get a three-year license of Photoshop Elements. (Like they can’t even sell anything outright anymore? What’s up with that?!?) I’m toying the idea of downgrading from my subscription to Photoshop, because for editing photos of my paintings, maybe it’s overkill. I still haven’t decided, but so far, if I go in to the “Advanced” panel in Elements, it isn’t bad. Much better than I expected. And some of the time-honored keyboard shortcuts are still there!
“Alain in Limited Palette” 6×6″ oil on canvas panel. The limited palette consisted of White, Ultramarine Blue, and Burnt Sienna.
I adjusted this photo of Alain on my easel (shot at an angle to avoid glare) and was able to effectively re-square it and edit it moderately in Photoshop Elements. I still prefer the full Photoshop, but since my needs are rather basic, perhaps Elements will be sufficient!
The “small fix” referred to in the title was a few tweaks of the painting itself. I am a follower of Adam Clague’s Patreon, and he has these fabulous critiques every month over Zoom. He gave me a few tips on how to improve this painting. I did them and this is the result.
Lately I’ve been taking photos of many cats of my acquaintance, as painting reference. Here are two paintings of my kitties or kitties of friends:
“Gizmo” 8×8″ oil on linen panel.
Gizmo is a sweet but mischievous cat. He and his companions are staying here while their cat dad gets his bearings. I loved this pose of Gizmo, looking out the window with the cool light on his face and fur. Gizmo just won a “Judge’s Choice” nod from the January 2025 “Daily Paintworks” contest, for which I am very grateful!
“Her Name is Blot” 8×8″ oil on linen panel.
I have a special affinity for this painting, and for this cat. Blot is a very sweet kitty, but not as objectively “pretty” as her sister, the Biter of Hands. However, Blot is a affectionate, loving kitty who just so happens can give these malevolent glares that in no way reflect her true character. I enjoyed painting her glare in this piece!
I’ve got more paintings in the works, and more things to yammer on about… hopefully will make more updates soon!
I haven’t been “gone,” I just haven’t been posting on this blog. But I have been painting! At least for the past several months with regularity. Before that, life got in the way, and also procrastination got in the way. Hopefully, that’s changing.
There’s a lot more to talk about, and I’m eager to share. But for now, I’ll just post three recent paintings and leave the rest for a future post.
“Alain in Limited Palette,” 6×6″ oil on canvas panel. This painting was not quite done when I took this photo. I have since tweaked a few things to hopefully improve the likeness. The limited palette consisted only of White, Ultramarine Blue, and Burnt Sienna.
“Sepia Tabby,” 5×7″ oil on panel. A limited palette of Burnt Umber, White, and a minimal amount of Yellow Ochre and Ultramarine Blue for the eyes.
“Yellow Crochet Flower,” 8×10″ oil on canvas panel. Part of the Raw Umber Studios challenge. This website offers royalty-free reference photos, virtual classes, and other goodies. I have an image subscription and am going to be using some of their reference photos for studies. This painting used only the Zorn Palette: White, Black, Cadmium Red, and Yellow Ochre.
So I guess the theme with these paintings is “limited palette.” I love limited palettes! They pose a challenge, but at the same time, they make it easier for the artist to have color harmony in their painting.
I feel right now like I want to go back to basics and focus on what I don’t know. Also, to find out about new things I never knew I didn’t know! It’s an endless process!
Yes, I’ve been busy painting lots of cat portraits and human portraits. Because I’ve been neglectful in updating this blog, I’m dumping a lot of new oil paintings in this post!
“Sun-kissed Tabby,” 6×6″ oil on canvas panel
This painting was just completed tonight, but it waited on my easel for way, way too long. So glad to finally call it “done”! I really loved capturing all the different colors I saw in this kitty, not least was the light showing through the ears.
“A Lock of Red Hair,” 12×12″ oil on panel. Photo reference by Marvin Mansilla (used with permission).
This is another painting that took a long time to complete. I actually signed it years ago, but only recently decided that it was truly “done” after a few touch-ups. I saw this fantastic photo on Instagram, contacted the photographer, Marvin Mansilla, to get permission to do a painting. He said yes, and here is the result! Thank you so much, Marvin, for being such an amazing photographer!
“Corazón roto” 6×6″ oil on canvas panel
I’m learning some new techniques and studying some new (to me) art concepts. One new thing is speed painting, or oil “gestures.” The goal is to see how much can be done in an hour. Well, I couldn’t quite finish this painting in an hour—it took 80 minutes. But I’m still surprised with myself! This painting is part of my “novela” series (paintings inspired by Mexican telenovelas).
In this portrait painting, this poor man obviously has had his heart broken, hence the title “Corazón roto” (broken heart).
I used a limited palette of White and Burnt Umber. I like Winsor & Newton’s Burnt Umber, as it has a warmer cast than some other paint brands.
“Minus the Tabby” 6×6″ oil on canvas panel
This is another “speed paint,” or a “gesture” painting, though it took longer than an hour. (Probably two hours?) This time I used a limited palette of Burnt Umber, White, Ultramarine Blue, a tiny bit of Yellow Ochre to mix the green eyes and a tiny bit of red to add some color to the nose.
Minus is one of my kitties. She is named after a cat we had when I was a kid. My dad named the original “Minus,” but I have no idea why he chose that name. (He had a propensity to giving everything and everyone weird or hilarious nicknames!)
Minus is a very sweet kitty, but a little “minus” in the brains department, alas. But of course she is very loved!
“Wide-Eyed” 4×4″ oil on canvas panel.
I loved the reflection in the eyes of this kitty and enjoyed capturing the many colors in the fur and also that wide-eyed expression.
I neglected to post these paintings earlier, after I first painted them. But it’s never too late. Here they are now!
I painted “Mini Siamese Kitty” on a Trekell Mini Panel. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these panels and bought an embarrassingly large amount of them. They now reside in my substantial stash of painting panels.
They are fabulous panels because they have a subtle texture that isn’t too overpowering when you’re painting that small. I much prefer them over extra-small panels that use canvas.
To give you context to comprehend how small this painting is, behold:
Mini Siamese Kitty next to a pink packet of sweetener. Just so you understand HOW SMALL this painting is!
“Green-Eyed Kitty” 3×3″ oil on panel.
I really enjoyed painting this tabby. I used a 3×3″ mini panel from Trekell with that same sublime subtle texture. So much fun to paint on—so much fun!
“Fluffy Tabby in the Grass” 5×5″ oil on canvas panel
I enjoyed painting this tabby kitty with all the grass reflecting on his fur. The size at 5×5″ was a little small, but since oil paint is so smooth and buttery it’s amazing how much detail you can capture if the canvas texture is not too rough.
“Siamese Tabby” 6×6″ oil on canvas panel
The color cast of the reference photo was a little warmish and I battled capturing the contrast between the warm yellow-greens and the magenta-burgundy colors in the shadows. In the end, I liked the way the painting turned out. Such beautiful blue eyes on this kitty!
Inspired by telenovelas
“Ana” 6×6″ oil on canvas panel
I fussed with this portrait a bit, but…what the heck, put a fork in it, it is done!
If you’ve seen a few select shows in the USA or if you speak Spanish (or study Spanish), you might (might! the likeness isn’t perfect!) recognize this woman. She’s a Mexican telenovela actress and I love the telenovelas. Many of the small portrait studies I paint are “inspired” (meaning the likeness is purposely not 100% there) by Mexican telenovelas. I am learning Spanish and watching Spanish TV is a great learning tool. But I’d be lying if I claimed I just watched telenovelas to practice Spanish. I also just love the over-the-top drama and the gorgeous Mexican landscapes and architecture. Watching my telenovelas is a true guilty pleasure.
There is a wealth of inspiring painting material from these telenovelas (so many emotions expressed, so much drama!) and so I’ve got a queue of reference photos from telenovelas lined up, ready to be painted.
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!
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!)”→
I have neglected this blog (as well as painting), but it hasn’t been without a reason.
Some old (but still exciting) news is that I got some recognition from the Art Muse Contest for April 2016. Thank you so much to the judge! I was a finalist in the “Emerging” category and also got the additional honor of being eligible for Gallery Representation. Pretty cool, and I am honored and thrilled!
“The Greek Artist” 12″ x 12″ oil on panel. Finalist in the Art Muse Contest! This is a portrait of a fellow artist who has strong Greek roots—a detail that brings him great pride! I snapped an impromptu photo of him while he was attending a figure drawing session. The photo made a good basis for a portrait.
“The Greek Artist” also got a “Fav 15%” from the Bold Brush awards, so that was also very cool.
There were a couple of other honors, and I need to update my “About Me” page to include them! This Spring was especially good to me.
“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.
Natalie is an artist friend. She and her husband (another artist, coincidentally!) agreed to model for me. I’ve taken a series of photos and plan to use them as the basis for some paintings. Continue reading “Natalie”→
