Polly Painting

 

Can I just say I love Polly!  I got this piece back in November for my birthday and for some reason I never posted it.  I love love love it!  I found her on etsy and now I'll be a lifetime collector!  You can check her out here at Polly's etsy site.  Sorry the pictures aren't better.  I tell you the pictures don't do it justice!

Winter is a time for Pansies!

I've been working with pansies a lot lately.  At first the purples frustrated me...but then I bought and new purple and it makes them so much easier!  Who knew there were so many different shades of purple pansies?   It was an overcast day so the painting is much more subdued than I normally paint but I really like the way it turned out.

I got this cool original!

So I was at Michaels Crafts a couple of months ago and the cashier told me that this piece on the wall was one of hers.  They had put it in a custom frame as advertising for their frame department.  This week I found it out on the sidewalk in a clearance bin!  It got it for $15!  Isn't that crazy?  All that work and they stuck it out on the sidewalk.  The girl that drew it was pregnant and now shes either quit or is on baby leave.  Either way I would have been mad had they done a piece of my work that way.  The upside....I got a really cool piece of art.  The only thing is, its not signed :(

Cute Commissions

This set was commissioned for Christmas so I waited to post it so it wouldn't ruin any surpirses.  Aren't they cute!  And so much fun.  Now I have to do one for my daughter.  It was killing her that they weren't for her!

My first big painting in 5 years?

First stage

The first stage

The first stage completed

Second Stage, I added warmth to the background

Second Stage, added warmth all over

Stage 3 and 4, kept adding color.  Its always at this point that I get so caught up in the painting that I forget to take photos!  Maybe next time I'll remember.

I think I'm finished but I'm not sure.  I'll have to wait and see.

I was very excited to do a large painting because its been 5 years or so since I've done something really big!  Of course once I got started my excitement turned into disappointment!  I was fine with stages 1 and the beginning of stage 2 but then it was driving me crazy doing the end of stage 2.  I figured out a couple of reasons why, #1 I wasn't using enough paint.  I figured that out last night when I was looking at a tiny 4x4 painting that I had done.  I just didn't know why my little ones were so lush and the big one wasn't.  Duh!  I wasn't using enough paint!  I had forgotten how much paint a large painting takes.  I had a teacher tell me once that you should only do 3 strokes at the most before loading your paint brush again.  I can't say that I always adhere to that advice but it certainly solves the problem of not using enough paint!  #2 I am painting green flowers!  One thing about painting green things...you really need to use colors other than green to make green.  I know it sounds crazy but green paint tends to make things look fake.  I think I'm pretty happy with the results but I will keep an eye on it to see if I change my mind.