Vintage Care Bears Toys Photorealism Painting - Step by Step Photos

care bears 80s toys acrylic photorealism painting by artist kim testone
"Care Bears Stare!" acrylic paint and permanent gloss varnish layers on cradled panel, 8 inches by 8 inches by 3/4 inches.
SOLD





I have been very saddened to see the closing of Toys R Us - one of many staples from my 80s childhood - so I'll be painting some pieces coming up using my vintage toys as models. These little bears were very precious to me when I was young, but I only had a few that weren't lost to who knows where, so my husband picked up the rest of them for me as a surprise this past Christmas.

I used a somewhat more experimental process here, which seems to be pretty neat for the plastic toy piles especially. The piece consists of layers of clear gloss permanent varnish alternating with layers of paint mixed with the gloss and applied transparently. I've only done something similar once before, but not to this extent. The result is that in person the piece appears to have more depth and dimension than a typical painting, as the light moves through the layers and bounces back. It is very shiny and looks more like an enamel, but that also means the colors are richer and brighter than possible otherwise. It's a process I'm going to continue to work on more, as I think it really makes a unique difference in the final painting.

This piece has been painted on a cradled panel, whose sides have been sanded and left unfinished. It can be displayed as is on the wall or on a small easel (keeping in mind that just a bit of the paint creeps over the edge of the panel to its sides), or it can be framed in a deep or floater frame. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Thanks for looking! Step by step photos below!
________________________________________________________________________
***Please note that despite my best efforts to photograph my paintings accurately, colors will vary from screen to screen.  






Finished!

Popular Posts