I was inspired by Teddi Parker’s art on Instagram to do a study of a pine cone. Does it look like one to you? I’m not certain it does to me, but it’s better from a distance. I mostly used Burnt & Raw Umber, and Burnt & Raw Sienna, sometimes mixed with white, and then some Buff White (Blick Artist brand). This was painted on 6×6 SoHo Acrylic Canvas Paper.
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.)
These doughnuts were painted on a 9×12 linen panel, based on a photo by Pushpak Dsilva on Unsplash. I changed the background from black to Cerulean Blue. What appealed to me about the reference image was the bright sprinkles, only I went overboard. Why not?
This painting was done on an 8×8 canvas, and is based off a reference photo on Ali Kay’s Fresh Paint art class site. It felt like Easter to me.
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.
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).
It’s been 7 weeks since I’ve picked up a paintbrush… just busy doing other things, (like reading for a book club, Ancestry DNA analysis of my mom’s matches, and some day trips w/ hubby). I had this red-toned 8×8 canvas lying around so decided to do a grayscale version of a coffee cup (image from Unsplash).
I discovered Vicki McGrath on a “Learn to Paint” podcast, and then followed her on Instagram. After my first attempt at the red onion from my Acrylic University lesson, I attempted to copy Vicki’s work, although I changed the background from green stripes to a solid mint green via phthalo green yellow shade. She paints in gouache on watercolor paper; I used acrylic on an 8×8 canvas. Her version is available as a print here.
A few weeks ago I signed up for an 8 week class at Acrylic University called “Simple Shapes” taught by Dianna Shyne. I wasn’t overly interested in painting the still lifes for the first 3 weeks, despite watching the videos and downloading the reference photos, but I did want to try painting the red onion.
This was on 6×6 acrylic paper (SoHo brand). The first time, I put too many of the colors Dianna used, and the result didn’t look much like an onion! (Hers did, mine didn’t.) So the next day I painted over what I had before, and tried again. I think the second attempt is much improved. I also used smaller brushes, especially for the onion roots.
