Eiffel Tower… another Fresh Paint Reference

This is on an 8×10 canvas, and after I more or less followed Ali Kay’s reference, I redid it and more closely followed the reference photo.

I was watching one of Ali Kay’s videos about how big should you paint. She herself prefers larger surfaces in part because you can use bigger brushes and brushstrokes, and don’t have to be so tight and detailed like you might with an 8×10 canvas. She suggests beginners go with 11×14 or 12×12 surfaces. (I mostly have 6×6, 8×8, 8×10 and 9×12). This is different from my online teachers at Acrylic University who suggest you paint small to knock out more paintings from scratch.

Anyway, the version with the clouds was my first version; the light blue sky (and tilted Tower!) is my second version.

Paintings that Grow on Me

It’s funny… when I display some of my paintings, over time I get to like them more. As an example, I wasn’t crazy about the river/canal painting I did as a part of the Jed Dorsey “Bloom” class, but the more I see it the more I’m liking it.

I continue to like the pancakes with blueberries, and even the Black Labrador. My favorite, though, is the sailboat at sunset. (All those were painted based off references from Ali Kay’s Fresh Paint course.

I am still not thrilled with the 2 floral paintings I did based off my own references. Sigh.

Bold Brushstrokes… Playing with Paint

A few weeks ago I watched one of the videos on the Acrylic University site. Jed Dorsey was painting a vase of sunflowers from a reference photo (likely his own). So, tonight, I felt like painting more sunflowers and decided to just wing it mostly from memory, doing my own thing rather than copying Jed’s work, or copying the reference photo.

This is the result. 10×10 canvas panel toned in burnt umber and white. Colors used were naphthol crimson, cadmium yellow, ultramarine blue, and a bit of Mars Black.

This was fun! I wasn’t trying for realism or polish, just playing with paint.

Sunflowers in a Vase

This painting was done on a 6×8 canvas (Blick Premier — I surprisingly liked it) and it’s based off of one of my own photos. The background is Dioxazine Purple (PV23) tinted with Titanium White, as a complementary color to the various tones of yellow (Yellow Ochre, and Cad Medium Yellow mixed with Yellow Ochre).

While I’m not entirely happy with this effort, on the whole, I think it’s one of my better sunflower paintings.

Pink Roses in a Vase

I took this photo back in the summer of 2023 and, as I was browsing through my pics of floral scenes, thought about painting it. Roses are difficult for me — but maybe I need to let go of that negative thought and tell myself roses are fun to paint! (Actually, this bouquet WAS fun to paint knowing I was doing it “solo”, and not copying someone else’s painting or using someone else’s reference photo.)

I used a 6×8 canvas panel for this one.