This is Week #2 (called “Hay Bales”) of “Travels Near & Far” — a mini painting challenge at Acrylic University, and the artist is Dianna Shyne who also took the reference photo used. As with the week #1 work, the photo is of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
This was painted on a 6×6 wooden panel, which I gessoed.
Today — January 28th — is National Daisy Day. Perfect timing for finishing an 8×8 painting I was working on from Acrylic University‘s “Bold and Beautiful” Summer Challenge from last year. This painting is based on a reference photo taken by Jed Dorsey.
I did my painting on an 8×8 black canvas that I had painted over with a blue gray color which ended up working well for conveying the shadows on the back petals.
This is the final and below are some in-progress shots.
To boost my confidence after not painting for over a year I signed up for another 52-week mini painting challenge at Acrylic University. This one is called “Travels Near & Far” and Dianna Shyne is the artist. I like her paintings almost as much as I like Jed Dorsey’s, so why not?
Week #1 (called “Last Rays”) comes from a reference photo she took on previous visits to Prince Edward Island. I’ve been to PEI myself — couldn’t resist checking out the tourist attractions related to that famous fictional character Anne Shirley (aka Anne of Green Gables) — so I understand the appeal.
This was painted on a 6×6 Claybord panel, toned in pink.
I went the entire 2025 calendar year without painting AT ALL — I was in ICU at the first of the year, and later, dealing with my dad’s metastatic cancer and eventual death. Just wasn’t inclined to pick up a brush.
Back in 2024 I started Jed Dorsey’s mini painting challenge series, but about halfway through the year I got bored of copying someone else’s artwork, so started skipping around with the mini challenge weeks. I only did about half of the 52 so now will do a few more of the remaining — those that most appeal to me.
This is the week 38 painting for Jed Dorsey’s Mini Painting Challenge at Acrylic University. It’s called “Mountain Atmosphere” and is based on a reference photo by Ravi Pinisetti. 6×6 canvas panel, toned in a medium-dark gray.
This portrait was done on Strathmore Toned Blue Mixed Media paper (although the color is off in my photo). I have painted this face before here using graphite and a wash of Anthraquinone Blue (PB60).
The reference photo is by Ehsan Ahmadi on Unsplash. The second photo shows the blue color more accurately — frankly, it looks better on blue. (I wish I knew more about my camera settings!)
So, I did not paint AT ALL in 2025, but around Christmas time, I did pick up some charcoal sticks and work through Kara Bullock’s Lesson 2 of her “Charcoal Like Mad” course.
I did this work on a sheet of cardboard that came with my 2026 calendar order.
I am thoroughly dissatisfied with it, but at least I put something to paper. Moving on…
Today I tried painting a Christmas ornament in ArtRage Vitae, and I used as a reference a painting by Teddi Parker, which you can see here.
As with the sketch of Simba, I struggled a bit. In the Simba drawing, I used the felt pen tool; in this case I used the square flat brush, and widened the stroke.
It should be obvious that Teddi’s painting (master copy) is on the right.
The funny thing is, it actually felt like I was painting, despite using my finger tip! But I want to get back to the brush tomorrow.
I’ve never really considered digital painting before because I don’t have an iPad or an iPhone. Instead, I have an Android phone, and a Kindle Fire 10. However, one of my favorite artists on Instagram (Teddi Parker) has posted occasionally some work she’s done using ArtRage Vitae. So I decided to check it out — and to my surprise it’s available not only for Apple products, but Android and desktops (Windows, MacOS).
Okay, then. I bought it for $2.99 on Google Play and loaded it on both my phone (can’t see using it there, though!) and my tablet. Below is my first work.. a sketch of my cat, Simba, based on a photo I took of him some time back when he was on my lap. I saved it before I finished his long white whiskers (well, really I messed up with layering and had to start all over again.)
Not bad, for a first attempt. I used my finger, and am debating purchasing a stylus to see if that helps.
This was painted on a 12×12 canvas panel, and is based on a paint-along work being done by Dianna Shyne in Acrylic University for a series of holiday / winter scenes this month.
This was fun because I did it on my own using the reference photo, not a photo of her painting, and not watching the video (which is not yet available).
BetterLateThanNeverArt 