New work started!

The day I finished the flowers, I grabbed another piece of Masonite and propped it up on the easel and looked at it.  It needed sanding badly; but it was too late in the day to start that, besides, I had already showered and it was freezing cold outside. 

The next day afternoon, I sanded down the rough side of the Masonite, slapped on a little white paint, and painted the background a light green, then painted a street scene onto it in white paint outline... then, I've taken it from there.

Three Flowers Complete!

After about a month or so of work, I've finally finished this work.  I've had to turn the work around a few times to get the background right; and of course I was never happy with any of it until yesterday afternoon at around 4:30pm... when I sat back and smiled, knowing it was finished!  I found my brush, grabbed the black paint and signed it!

Arty Knowledge Basics

Since I began taking an interest in art and painting, I have found that no matter which medium I've used or what I've been painting a few things have always stood out as the norm.  

1.  Natural Light.  You have to have natural light or your work won't look as good as it's going to get.  You won't be able to apply the colours to their best extent and to the best of your abilities or find the right mix you want.

2.  Space.  If you don't have your own little bit of space to call your very own, you really can't settle in as an artist.  You have to have a place where you can keep everything and you don't have to put everything away all the time each time you've finished a session of work.

3.  Storage.  Yep, if you're going to put out work - and it doesn't sell - you have to have somewhere to store it.  Unused wardrobes are usually great.  I have my work in an unused wardrobe and some in my storage area under the stairs.  Some of it sits behind my front door too.  I'm starting to need an exhibition to shift some of it soon.

These are the must-needs.  Other things are small things; like a clean out once in a while; so you can sort out the paint that's good from the paint that's gone off.  

Replacing brushes when they need it and not when they've fallen apart on you or when they're too stiff to use is another (and figure out which brushes you use the most and put them off to one side and find out which ones you use the least and toss those).  

The one thing I do enjoy is walking through art shops and finding things that I've been meaning to replace and keep forgetting to and purchasing them; especially when I find them on sale... it's even better! 

So, do you have any art secrets you could depart to us?  If so, what are they?  Leave a comment and let us know of them.

Did You Know... about Acrylic Paint.

Acrylic paint was invented in the early 1900's.  It became very popular in the 1950's and has been growing in popularity since that time.  To my knowledge, paintings done with artist grade acrylics have suffered no deterioration or breakdown over time, unlike oil paints, which if not applied correctly by known standards, can crack, yellow and degrade.

Acrylic paint offers people wishing to learn to paint, a very friendly and versatile medium for their work. Many methods of application have been discovered in the last hundred years. Acrylic paint can be applied as thin as water colours or as thick as oil impasto paint.  Various mediums, retarders, agents and varnishes are now available on the market today for the painter.


Learning how to paint can be easy and fun with acrylics, and clean up is a breeze. One advantage of acrylics is they are water-soluble while when, but when dry, they maintain a permanence that can withstand the tests of time.


Although not complete, there is a simple comparison between acrylics and oils below:



ACRYLIC PAINT


Advantages

-non-toxic -no solvents, turpentines, dryers, or oil-based products required -no smell -DRIES QUICKLY ...no waiting for the paint to set to continue
-permanent when dry -brushes can be cleaned with water 
-acrylic can be thinned with water or used like heavy impasto oil paint 
-same pigments as in oil paint but suspended in a polymer binder 
-acrylics were developed in the 50’s and after 50 years, early acrylic paintings show no sign of cracking, flaking or disintegration 
-adheres wonderfully to paper, canvas, canvas board, Masonite 
-no more expensive than oils 
-can be used WITHOUT mediums, extenders 
-elasticity - although acrylics do harden over time, they don’t seem to have the brittleness   of oils and are less prone to cracking. Canvases can easily be taken off stretchers and rolled 
-YOU ARE NOT BOUND BY “THICK OVER THIN”-”LIGHT OVER DARK” rules of painting with oils 
-with very few exceptions, acrylics are light fast and do not fade over time. 

Disadvantages

-drying time affected greatly by temperature and humidity
-extremely difficult to remove from clothing once dry
-short drying time makes blending and molding of paint more difficult
-thick acrylic has tendency to collapse somewhat when drying and some brush stokes and marks fade
-cannot be scrapped off and painted over
-doesn’t always have “richness”
-doesn’t have the same reputation as oils  although over the last several decades it has gained enormous credibility and is now a widely used and accepted medium worldwide

-Darker colours dry slightly lighter, lighter ones slightly darker.

Vivian Maier's Photography

Last year, I saw a program on a fantastic photographer from Chicago from the 1950's to the 1990's named Vivian Maier.  Her images were breath-taking, raw and brilliantly captured.  However, she wasn't all that well-known.

Recently, her work was discovered at an auction in Chicago and over the last three or so years, John Maloof has been revealing her works to the world.  Some of the photos haven't seen the light of day for decades; many haven't been off the rolls ever and still have yet to be developed.  But John has put her work onto a blog for the world to see and enjoy.  You can have a look at it on the side bar at any time, however, I'll also  put it here:

Vivian Maier Discovered 


I hope you see the brilliance in her photos that I have.
 

Progress Report on Suspended Flowers

While I was painting these flowers, I found that the background had me stuck.  I didn't know what to do with it.  So, I did something really drastic and painted the anything that wasn't a flower black and worked from there.

I thought it was a massive mistake... but I was wrong.

Let me know what you think?  I like it so far.  I've still got a little way to go on it with detailing; however, it's almost finished.

Work on the Flowers

I thought to keep you all updated with how my current work is going.  

I've been working hard to get the centres right; and the shading.  Black comes in handy when you need to get the blue to fade darker than it needs to be. 
It still looks a little rough, but I've got the background to go yet; and then it'll really pop once I've got it right.