Author: cathmary1030

Holiday Ornament — Sometimes I do things backwards

| cathmary1030

As much as I was satisfied with the small pumpkin in the last post, I’m dissatisfied with this effort, but I think I have a fix for it should I go back to redo. This painting is based on a photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash, but is also available as a lesson/paint-along for Ali Kay’s Fresh Paint VIP members. (VIP just means you pay for 12 months upfront.)

I didn’t want to go with Ali’s color choices and I didn’t to go along entirely with her style, so I did my own, and it was a complete fail. FINALLY I decided to experiment using my 6×6 acrylic papers from Soho Urban Artists. And it is actually my study that I’m relatively pleased with — and I am somewhat taking a cue from how Ali painted her ornament although to my eyes, she used short, choppy brushstrokes.

Whether or not I redo this will depend on my mood — I got bored with this (always a bad sign) and there are other ornaments I want to paint as it gets close to the holiday season, including some of my own references. Anyway, here it is.. the good, the bad and the ugly.

  • The Study
  • Current
  • Original

Small Pumpkin for Paint Week ’26

| cathmary1030

I had a lot of fun painting this one and I’m quite satisfied with the result — although at first, I thought “small pumpkin, ugh, how boring”. This was one of the offerings of Paint Week ’26 that Ali Kay Fresh Paint was offering the last week of September. Mine is not exactly like hers — partly because I don’t want to copy exactly, and partly because she uses Golden Fluid Acrylics. While I have some of those, mostly right now I’m using Liquitex Heavy Body (although I have no particular attachment to any given brand. So, naturally, my colors were different.

The olive gray-green was made from Raw Umber and Cad Yellow Medium; I then lightened it with one of those pre-mixed paints all the brands have (in this case, “Vivid Lime Green”). In the upper left corner, it’s mostly straight Vivid Lime Green (which is a mix of phthalo green, titanium white and the yellow PY97).

My underpainting was cerulean blue; I don’t particularly care for the magenta that Ali uses in a lot of her paintings. It was difficult not to paint over all of it, but I managed, and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Apples in a Bowl

| cathmary1030

This bowl of apples was painted on a 9×12 linen panel and it’s based on a photo by Robson Melo on Unsplash. I need to adjust the color of the bowl in the middle left; at first I thought it was part of the shadow, but it’s not.

As I reflect on this painting, I think of it as “tight” rather than loose; too static. The red and yellow apples look like they could be peaches instead. And, finally, it looks to me like the paint soaked into the canvas too much — the canvas came pre-gessoed but perhaps I should have added another coat. The other option is to paint at least another layer; however, I got bored painting this one so I’m undecided as to whether I will.

Sunrise from my office

| cathmary1030

Our area is due for rain in the next few days, so I thought I’d post a photo of sunrise, from the 10th (aka top) floor of my building. I am typically at work by 6:30 a.m. and it is dark at that hour by now, so I see a lot of sunrises. I took the photo in our breakroom so the “haze” along parts of the horizon is artifacts of the ceiling lights. (I wonder if AI could remove those?)

Paint Week x 3

| cathmary1030

I’m in the middle of a few Paint Weeks. There’s one by Ali Kay’s Fresh Paint from Sep 28 – Oct 4 in which you paint a small pumpkin, an autumn leaf, and a bouquet of sunflowers. (You do it with Ali Kay, who does it on video and then the replay is available for a short time.)

A similar Paint Week (same exact dates) called Brave Art is being offered this week by Acrylic University. Jed Dorsey, the instructor, will be leading the sessions on a private YouTube channel, and you paint a yellow sunlit rose, and a seascape.

Finally, the third thing I’m doing is #20for20 — which is 20 minutes per day for the first 20 days of October. This is being offered by LearntoPaintPodcast. It’s $25 to sign up, and up through the 1st of October, you get a short series of “lessons” (prepping advice) for your 20-day dash. (I’m thinking about doing small studies of apples because I struggle so much with decent-looking apples. But I may change my mind.)

I’ve never done any of these Paint Weeks before so we’ll see how it goes.