This is another painting from a Fresh Paint class. As with the Mrs. Claus painting, I used a 10×10 canvas panel and the Golden Paints India Yellow Hue as the background. I did the skin differently: this time I started with Red Oxide (PR 101) and just whitened it rather than the Naphthol Crimson / Lemon Yellow combo I used for Mrs. Claus.
I wasn’t interested in taking “messy middle” photos this time around; I just wanted to finish this painting and move on to other stuff.
The reference for this painting (on an 8×8 stretched canvas) is from Ali Kay’s Fresh Paint course, but I went on my own route instead of following her style. Kinda fun.
I continued on with my 5×5 canvas panels, after painting the candy in the previous post. The pink doughnut was from a reference photo used in Fresh Paint’s “Paint More in 2026” week back in January, and the white miniature pumpkin is one of my own references. (Right now the pumpkin is outside sitting on the lap of our skeleton right by our porch.)
I sure had a lot of fun doing this — one of the offerings from the VIP side of Fresh Paint. I don’t know where Ali Kay got the reference, but I followed along (to some extent) her video.
I had toned this 10×10 canvas some time ago in India Yellow Hue from Golden Paints. India Yellow Hue is transparent, and is a mix of PY150, PY175 and PR122. For my darks, I used Golden’s Raw Umber. For the reds, I used Blick’s Artist Grade Alizarin Crimson Hue, and then a mix of Blick’s Pyrrole Red (PR 254) with some Yellow Ochre and White.
For the skin tone, I used PR170 (Naphthol Crimson) and Liquitex’s Cad-Free Lemon Yellow, a combo I had tested out before and liked — I just kept adding white as necessary.
I decided to include some of the “messy middle” paintings in this post.
This wreath is based on a photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash, but I also referred significantly to the painting that Ali Kay did in the Fresh Paint class. Unfortunately, too many layers when using heavy body paint isn’t so smooth, so ridges do show, which is irritating.
My effort is more impressionistic than even Ali’s so one just gets the sense of green, but not pine boughs and various evergreens. Oh well, moving on, and glad to have put to use this canvas with the gold metallic paint!
You know how you buy paints you find out you don’t need (or can’t figure out a use for later)? That was me.. I bought Lascaux paints a few years ago: a set of 3 (silver and two shades of gold). So, I’m painting this wreath on a 10×10 canvas panel that I painted first in one of the golds.
The wreath is based on a photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash, and also I’m referring to the Fresh Paint video class where Ali Kay paints it. There are many more layers — and shades of green — to come, but as it stands now, it has a certain impressionistic feel.
Well, of course I had to fix the thing because it looked like an infected wound — ugh. I acknowledge that one of my weaknesses as a beginning artist is fixating on following the reference photo too closely. True mark of a beginner, lol.
In any case, here is the fixed version, both close up and (currently) among the paintings on my mantel. From where I write this — my “studio” triples as 1) the dining room table, 2) my “office” when I work from home 2 days a week, and 3) my painting area, the ornament painting doesn’t look half bad. (I’m twice as far from my fireplace as from where I took the photo.)
I’ve completed the Fresh Paint pumpkin and am ready to move on from the Halloween theme. Nearer the actual date, I’ll post a group of all the Halloween paintings I’ve done
This is my 300th painting, for better or worse, since I started painting in February 2023.
I’m only posting the final photo, as I spent a lot of time between my last Fresh Paint black cat post and this one painting interim colors that ended up getting covered up by the black that I had to repaint. Altogether too much layering, in my opinion. That might work for fluid acrylics, but it’s a waste with heavy body. We started out as a black cat, then went blue and red, then brown and purple, and then finally black again.
But, hey, to each their own in style. Live and learn. And I am learning it’s my style. (Though I think the instructor’s version looks totally cool.)
