Up on Etsy - Heading Home - Candy Land Board Game Acrylic Daily Painting

"Heading Home," acrylic on panel, 6" x 6".

I decided to do another daily painting using my vintage-style Candy Land board game. I just loved the little house at the end of the game, especially this incarnation, which has lots and lots of little details that really make it special.

SOLD

Thanks for looking!

Recent Commission - On the Scene

"On the Scene," commission, acrylic on panel, 8" x 8".

SOLD

Thanks for looking!

Up on Etsy - Candyland Daily Painting - Love You

"Love You," acrylic on panel, 6" x 6"

I got to use my new vintage-style Candyland board to paint this daily painting! Such a nostalgic game for me, and so many colors.

SOLD

Thanks for looking!

Up on EBay - Dunkin Donuts Donut and Coffee Daily Painting

"Donut and Coffee Study," acrylic on gessobord panel, 6" x 6".

Up for auction on eBay! Ends Sunday October 9 at 9 p.m. EST. SOLD

Thanks for looking!

Step by Step Photos of New Superboy and Snacks Acrylic Painting

"Solo Adventure," acrylic on panel, 12" x 12".

I've been gradually easing into a few larger works (at least larger to me), and while most have been in the realm of commissions, this one is the beginning of a new series of pieces that are more personal.

I've always had a love for comic books and nostalgia. So when I stumbled upon an array of 50-cent vintage comic books at a local comic book convention my husband and I attended, I walked away with a stack. I didn't need them to be in pristine condition; if they were perfect, many would have been worth far more than 50 cents. But I wanted to paint them, alongside my other vintage or vintage-style items, and to me, the more beat-up, the better.

I arranged this first still life by chance, after pulling some random objects from my collection of props and trying a few things out. But this piece just seemed right, with hints of primary colors binding the three things together. And all in a vintage style. The book is from 1977 - almost 40 years old - so I can imagine a little boy (or girl! We girls like comics, too!) in the 70s picking up this issue of Superboy for the first time and settling in with his or her snacks for a fun solo adventure.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos of this piece as I painted it. I still need to work on the finish, but I'll be posting it to my Etsy store soon. Thanks for visiting!
__________________________________________________________________

1. Starting to block in the drawing with a mix of payne's gray and raw umber.

2. I want this to be pretty accurate, but I know I'm going to be painting over a lot of these shapes, accidentally or on purpose, as part of my layering technique, so the darks are there but not very refined.

3. When I can, I try to work with the broadest areas of color first before I refine any details. So for this one, it was the two yellow areas - on the comic and on the mallo cup package. Two distinct shades of yellow - for the cover I used Azo yellow as the base, for the mallo cup I used Bismuth yellow (one I never used before, but I fortunately had some I'd gotten years ago).

4. For me, I find that sometimes you just have to start getting color on the piece, so it starts to come alive. If I try to refine just a small area at a time, I get bogged down by a lack of enthusiasm. So I keep looking for the places of the painting that are asking to be built up, so I'm constantly enjoying the process.

5. I've added quite a bit of the colors here, so there's at least some paint in most areas of the painting at this point. That also makes it easier for me to see the piece as a whole and figure out what needs to be changed before I start going into the details.

6. I spent many hours refining the details with layer after layer of paint. That means painting and repainting areas until they look right. I'm not a one-shot wonder like some artists are blessed to be! I labor over each brushstroke.

7. In all this piece took somewhere between 25 and 30 hours. But I think it's a leap forward for me and well worth the time. Thanks for visiting!

EBay Auction Ending Tonight - Sewing Kit Daily Acrylic Painting

"Sewing Kit," acrylic on panel, 6" x 6"

The eBay auction for this cute little painting ends tonight at 9 p.m. EST. SOLD

Thanks for looking!

Up on Etsy - Daily Painting of Loaf of Bread

 

"Dramatic Loaf of Bread," acrylic on panel, 8" x 10"

SOLD

Thanks for looking!

Weekly Ebay Auction Started - Daily Painting of a Sewing Kit - Acrylic Photorealism

"Sewing Kit," acrylic on panel, 6" x 6".

I've had a small sewing kit for years but as I stink at sewing I've only ever sewn on a few buttons - badly. But I saw the kit the other night and thought I could at least use it for painting if not sewing. And I think it turned out surprisingly cute!

SOLD

*10% of the proceeds from this sale will donated to my favorite charity, the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), directly through the eBay for Charity program.

Thanks for looking!

Wonderland Trompe L'Oeil Daily Paintings Up on Etsy

My two Wonderland Crayon daily paintings from last week are available in my Etsy store now. Be sure to follow me on Instagram to see what I finish each week. Thanks for looking!

"Alice and the Puppy," acrylic on panel, 6" x 6".

"Alice Growing Up," acrylic on panel, 6" x 6".

How to Mix the Color Black in Acrylic Paint

"Dramatic Loaf of Bread," acrylic on panel, 8" x 10".

Last week, I painted this 8"x 10" bread painting with a rich black background, so I thought I'd quickly share how I mix my "black" paints. First, let me say that there are many color mixing theories, so that doesn't necessarily mean my method is right as much as it's right for me. But maybe it will be right for you, too!

I don't actually have any true "black" paint tubes in my assortment of paints. Technically, I have one, but I have only used it for painting the sides of panels on occasion and not in the actual paintings. Many oil painters use a color theory called the "Munsell" color system, which in fact, incorporates black as a direct way of adjusting the various values of colors; when I painted in oil, I did this, but in acrylic, which I work in now, I find that it just doesn't adapt correctly, so I adjust my color values a little differently. But today, I'm just going to tell you how I mix my black colors for painting black areas in my pieces, not for adjusting the values of other colors in my paintings.

To create a simple "black" that has a richness that straight-from-the-tube blacks can't match, simply mix 1 part brown to 1 part blue. My favorite go-to blacks are 1 part raw umber to 1 part payne's gray or ultramarine blue. For lettering, I use 1 part raw umber to 1 part cobalt blue. For a warmer black, 1 part burnt umber to 1 part payne's gray or ultramarine blue. Sometimes you may need to adjust the ratio a bit, so be sure to paint it on a test surface before you put it straight on your painting surface. I keep a piece of matte white foam board on my easel behind my paintings as a test surface (and to stop the paintings from falling through!).

You can also complicate the colors a bit more by adding a tinge of another color, like Jenkin's green, but I have found I like the simpler formulas.

If you have worked in acrylics for any length of time, you've probably experienced "color shift" - when the color dries slightly darker than when it's wet. This is why it's hard to mix the same color twice. So instead, I mix all of my colors in a little condiment container with a lid. I like Diamond Daily mini cups because they are small, inexpensive, have a lid and are disposable. It gives me just the right amount of paint, and if I store the container in a ziploc bag, it will stay wet for up to a week, depending on the colors.

I hope this has helped a bit! Happy painting!

Shadowbox Still Life Commissioned Acrylic Painting

"Still Life Commission," acrylic on panel, 12" x 16"

 I just thought I'd share a recent commissioned work - one of the more complicated and challenging ones I've tackled! I used Ampersand Aquabord as my surface, which allowed me to have a much softer control over the paint, especially on the blurry areas and the many many flowers.

Thanks for looking!