Painting of Wonder Woman Comic and a Monopoly Board

"Poised for Victory," acrylic on panel, 16" x 20".

SOLD

This commission was one of my favorite pieces ever to paint. It also gave me an excuse to purchase a slightly beat-up issue of Wonder Woman #72 with the amazing Brian Bolland cover to add to my own meager vintage comic book collection. 

I'll be incorporating more of my collection in some future paintings this summer. Thanks for looking!

Falling for Chicago Trompe L'Oeil Painting Commission

"Falling for Chicago," acrylic on panel, 10" x 8".

 SOLD

A client sent me a handful of materials from 19th century Chicago for this little painting. I do so enjoy when everything comes together like this. Thanks for looking!

How Being a Disney World Caricature Artist Changed My Art Outlook

I shared this post initially to my email list, but wanted to make sure others got a chance to read it, too. You can sign up for my email list and get previews of my artworks before they go up for sale to the public by signing up here.

"Dots," acrylic on cradled panel in a handcrafted floater frame, 6" x 12". SOLD

 Art is, and should be, a very personal thing, both for the artist and for the viewer. While a mysterious landscape or exceptional portrait can momentarily move me, I am most frequently drawn to the paintings that make me smile, laugh or reminisce about a pleasant memory, which is why I paint what I paint - toys, candy, bright colors and quirky trompe l'oeil. For this, I owe a great deal of inspiration to my time as a caricature artist at Walt Disney World.

When I first began painting in college, I had no idea what to paint - and I was a pretty terrible artist then, too! I painted the usual painting exercises - vases, plastic skulls, copies of master works, but I didn't have any vision, and so I gradually lost interest in my work. Not long after graduating, a very gracious lady decided to give me an opportunity to work as a caricature artist at Animal Kingdom, one of the four Walt Disney World theme parks. She did this, despite the fact that I had no colorful or funny works in my portfolio - just dark, brooding, 20-something tortured artist works. This was, I suppose, a moment that changed my whole outlook on making art.

All day, I'd shout and point to the children and families walking by - as I was trained to do - "You'd make a great cartoon! YOU'D make a great cartoon." Doing dozens and dozens of drawings of people every day, making them look cute or funny, my goal was always to make the person sitting and their families laugh at just how adorable they were. It fed my creativity and enthusiasm, and I wanted to get better and better, and make better work, get more creative, and produce things faster.

While I had a long hiatus from making art not long after that job until just a couple of years ago, I often think back on how much I learned there about making fun art that makes people smile. Life can be a bit too serious sometimes, so if I can make art that momentarily removes viewers from our super-serious world and feel what it's like to be an imaginative kid again, full of wonder and fun and color, then I'm a happy camper.

Behind the Scenes - Painting a Quick Two Dollar Bill Trompe L'Oeil

"Long Term Investment Account," acrylic on panel, 6" x 6".

 SOLD

I used the wrinkliest two dollar bill I could find for this piece. The original subject is pretty much my long term investment plan!

Here are a few behind-the-scenes pictures of this painting as I worked on it. The painting took between 8 and 10 hours, with most of that work falling between photos three and four. Enjoy!

Up on Etsy - Framed Photorealist Painting of Vintage Toy Cars

"Vintage Toy Cars," 8" x 8", acrylic on cradled panel in a 2" deep handcrafted floater frame.

SOLD

I used my husband's old toy cars as the models for this piece. At more than 35 years old, they were all pretty beat up and rusty, which I loved.

I painted this quite a while ago, on a cradled panel, but I could never get the sides of the panel to my liking, and after putting it away for several months, I decided to custom frame it - a great decision because I love the finished look! Thanks to O&M for the lovely handmade frame, which blends a bit of a rustic quality with a contemporary look. At 2 inches deep, the frame is quite substantial and gives the piece a clean gallery-quality look.

The piece has a soft matte finish.

* You can see step-by-step photos of this piece as I painted it here: http://kimtestone.blogspot.com/2016/07/step-by-step-acrylic-painting-of-old.html#.WMYFao-cHIU .

Thanks for looking!

Up on Etsy - Photorealistic Painting of a Parade of Monopoly Board Game Pieces

"A Little Parade," acrylic on panel, 6 inches x 12 inches in a 1-1/2-inch deep custom handmade frame by Etsy Seller Organics&Mechanics (O&MWood), ebony stain.

SOLD

I used the pieces from our vintage Monopoly game to assemble my still life setup for this piece. They've modernized Monopoly and a lot of other board games, but give me the classics from my childhood any day!

The painting has a finish somewhere between satin and matte, so it has a nice, soft look. There is virtually no visible paint texture in the piece due to many layers of paint and finish, and a bit of wet sanding in between.

I painted this piece on a cradled panel, so I felt like it really needed a frame to give it a clean and finished look. I really appreciated the hand-crafted custom look of this frame from O&M, and I think it complements the piece. It is a floater frame, so the painted has been permanently affixed to the frame, with a small gap between the painting and the frame on all sides. At 1-1/2" deep, the frame gives the painting a wonderful substantial feel on the wall.

Thanks for looking!

Up on Etsy - Vintage Music Toy Acrylic Painting

"Music Man," acrylic on aquabord panel, 8" x 8".

SOLD

I found this little wooden and plastic toy at a comic book show in February, at a vintage toy stand. It was just a few dollars, but I just fell in love with it, and knew it would be a great subject for this and future paintings. He's just so darn cute!

This piece was done in the acrylic watercolor style on aquabord, which has a bit more texture than my normal painting surface but is lovely for painting. The painting also has a bit of a shine to it, with a satin finish.

Thanks for looking!

Mixing Acrylic Colors Part 1 - Overcoming Color Shift

Example of Color Shift - The wet paint appears lighter than the dry paint of the same color.

If you've ever tried to paint an area of a painting using a flat single acrylic color, like the color of this notebook I'm painting in this image, you have very likely witnessed "color shift." Sometimes it's more obvious in certain colors than in others, but it's always there. In the example above, the wet paint is significantly lighter than the dry paint. This is just one of the reasons why mixing colors in acrylic is tricky compared to other mediums.

While I mix many of my colors in small quantities on my palette, just as I used to do in oil, it doesn't stay wet long enough for me to use these small piles on larger areas that need to be a single flat color. Using a single flat color is also a great way to establish a local color that is later refined and glazed with details to provide dimension. And because it's next to impossible to mix the exact color twice due to the color shift phenomenon, acrylic painters need a better solution than struggling back and forth to wait for colors to dry to see if they match.

In art stores, they sell fairly large containers intended to store acrylic paint mixes. But I wanted a simpler solution for mixing my colors. I wanted something small, disposable, suitable for my small paintings and inexpensive.

On a whim, I decided to explore the disposable container section of my local Target, and after picking up several items, I was drawn to this one: Diamond Daily Mini Cups.

These wonderful little cups come in a bag of 50, with lids, and are only a few dollars, making them cheap enough for me to mix colors in quantities just large enough for the particular painting I'm working on. I use anywhere from a couple of flat color mixes to up to 20 for each painting.

A few of my color mixes for a painting I'm currently working on.

 These containers will keep the paint fresh for at least a day. However, I have learned that if I store them securely in a ziploc storage bag, I can keep them fresh for up to a week or more, depending on the brand of paint (M. Graham stays wet longer than Golden) and the particular colors (some seem to dry out faster than others).

Paint containers stored in a ziplock bag.

I've found this to be such a simple solution that makes it much easier to avoid the color shift problem. Give this method a try, and I'll discuss additional details about how I mix these colors correctly and use them more economically in future posts.

In the mean time, happy painting!

Finished painting - "On the Scene," 8" x 8", acrylic on panel (commission).

Up on Etsy - Small Painting of a Pile of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

"Dreaming of Peanut Butter Cups," acrylic on panel, 6" x 6".

I thought I'd tackle another small "pile" painting, this time of Reese's cups. They are always a challenging puzzle to paint. Thanks for looking!

SOLD

New Custom Handmade Frames on these Vintage Toy Cars and Monopoly Pieces Paintings

"Vintage Toy Cars," 8" x 8", acrylic on panel in a custom handmade frame.

I did a few paintings on cradled panels a while back, and just couldn't get the sides of the panels to my liking, so I've opted to order to some custom floater frames and give them a really finished look. Here are the two I'll be posting to my Etsy store later this week.

These lovely custom frames are from a fellow Etsy seller, Organics&Mechanics, so be sure to visit their shop if you are in the market!

Also, remember to sign up for my email list to get the first opportunity to purchase these and my other new paintings before they are posted for sale elsewhere. Thanks for looking!

"A Little Parade," 6" x 12", acrylic on panel in a custom handmade frame. 

Up on Etsy - Trompe L'Oeil Painting of Reese's Pieces

"Saving It for the Later 2," acrylic on panel, 8" x 8".

SOLD

This Reese's Pieces painting was quite a challenging trompe l'oeil piece for me because the candy package is surprisingly reflective, allowing for a lot of variations as the light changed. But in the end, I think it came together, and it's a pretty fun illusion. Thanks for looking!