Practicing lines before moving on to canvas

Last night I felt inspired and practiced two paintings again on canvas paper.  The paintings are on canvas paper and will be the final time I do similar ones on the paper.  Next time I will be putting them on canvas.

Title: Lines on Orange

For this one, I wanted to try the curling again.  After getting comments from a few people about the one prior on a yellow background (thanks to all who said it looked great!) someone suggested I try black lines with a yellow-orange background.  Curious myself on how it would turn out, I gave it a try.  This time, I used a thinner brush so that it would be easier making the lines.  I think, myself, it came out looking pretty good and the color came out better than I thought it would.  Looking at it now, I have already came up with a similar design but having the lines in a pattern.  What do you think?  Or should I stick to random like this one?

Gift

This is actually a gift I'm giving to someone who complimented the previous one with a more complex design entitled Greek Inspiration.  It's on a smaller piece than the original and therefore, I didn't want to put too much in a smaller space.  I also used a thinner brush than before which helped me control the paint a little more.

I have realized that I'm a little lopsided when painting mirror images on both sides of the paintings.  Also, I find that I have to keep turning the paper to paint on the right side, which is funny considering I'm right handed and usually start on the left side of the paper.  So when I flip the paper over, my hand is essentially going over wet paint!

Here is a funny tidbit about cleanup:

Usually I wipe off any left over paint from my plate into the sink and rub the rest off with my hand.  Last night, I dumped it into the kitchen sink instead of the bathroom like I usually do.  I am now the proud owner of blue and orange splattered sponges.  To dry everything I usually just leave it in my tub over night before storing everything away.

The weather is great right now.  Late winter in Atlanta is like early June in Buffalo.  I'm hoping to have some free time during the day in order to start taking nature photographs like I used to a few years ago and start posting those on here too.

So, I have no idea if people actually read the text or if the pictures of my final pieces is the only thing people look at.  So I'm wondering what you would like to see on here to read about.  By that, I mean as far as my exploration of creating art goes.  Are you interested in reading about the techniques I used or get bored with that part easily.

Finally, I couldn't resist. My two lovebugs looked absolutely adorable last night:

Two New Paintings

After doing a lot of running around today, I decided to paint at night in order to unwind.  This time I did something a little different.  Instead of using one large piece of canvas paper to do a painting, I cut it in half and did two smaller paintings.  I'm actually quite pleased with how they turned out and will probably paint these onto a canvas.

Title: Boxed In

I started by painting the background for the one above and while that was drying, painted the background for the one below (a light yellow, which is hard to see in the photo).  Both backgrounds were a mix of colors.  The top one being from red and black, though from the video I posted previously, the person recommended using purple for a darker shade.  I like the resulting color though, plus I didn't have purple and have made a mental note to buy that next time I go for supplies.  The picture below was yellow and white mixed together.

Title: Vines

By doing both I was able to practice different techniques.  Boxed In allowed me to practice painting solid shapes and having their borders be where I wanted them to be as opposed to my first ever painting.  Vines was practicing drawing lines like last week's painting and curls.

I think next week I am going to paint these onto actual canvas.

Similar painting again?

I'm debating whether to do another painting like the one I did last weekend.  Maybe a more intricate design and with different colors?  I like the one I did and based on feedback I heard, other people like it too.  I think I may paint that one on actual canvas to sell.  Of course, it will be cleaner than the one posted below.

Thought I would also share something a close friend of mine said: There are no mistakes in art.

This was after she saw the photo of the painting and I told her I wanted to create a better one since that one had some errors.

New Painting

As promised, I am posting a picture of my latest painting.

Title: Greek Inspiration

What this picture doesn't show is that the background has varying shades in the back and it also looks lighter in the photo.  That was unintentional as I mixed colors to make this background.  It is actually very close to the shade I was thinking of back when I came up with the idea.  Also, I just realized that taking the picture with a blue blanket in back was probably not the best place but I'm not trying to be professional here.

Why call it Greek Inspiration?  Because I was actually looking at an ancient Greek pot when I came up with the idea back at the exhibition preview I mentioned earlier.  It's not a copy of what I saw but the main concept is the same.  Though they used a lot of rustic orange, I decided to have a blue background to make it more contemporary. 

The lines were a lot harder to paint than I thought.  But that's one thing I know I can practice at home to improve on.

Things I've Learned

1.  I have already improved on having the paint go where I want it to (a problem I mentioned with the first painting.

2.  Though it sounds simple enough, painting lines isn't exactly a walk in the park.

3.  White paint is my friend when trying to get a lighter shade.

Painting this weekend

I feel bad I haven't posted anything new lately (car trouble took multiple hours away from me the past two days which I desperately needed for homework).  Fortunately, I have off work this Saturday and plan to do the painting I talked about in my last post.  Look for a new post with a picture of the final product Saturday night!

In the meantime, if you're interested, here is a blog I found with helpful painting tips: http://apaintingcourse.blogspot.com/

Here is a video I found a couple days ago that may have came in handy before I started painting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga1s5UUyju4

New Ideas at the Museum - Now to Paint Them

I think I'm going to try to post twice a week depending on how much time I have during the week.  I'm also wanting to paint more but time is just not allowing for it, which is unfortunate.

Last night, I went to an exhibit preview at a museum at which I am a member of, via a donation I made a couple months ago.  I had my reservations about going at first since I've never been to that type of event before (those I attend are usually science based as you can probably imagine) but I enjoyed myself.  And the exhibits (there were two) are really interesting, I would definitely recommend anyone in the area to go see them (especially anyone interested in African art or creatures from the ancient world).  I won't go into what is in the exhibits but if you are curious, click on the link above (the word museum) which will take you to the museum's website.  And if those types of art are not your cup of tea, they have mummies as part of their permanent collection, which is my absolute favorite thing to see at museums.

Unexpectedly, while looking at the exhibits, I came up with an idea for my next painting from two of the items on display.  I won't say much about my idea but rather keep it a surprise until I'm done.  I'll just say that the design will be a basic black with possibly a light blue background to make it look more contemporary, depending on if i can mix the paint to get the right shade I'm picturing in my mind.  If I'm successful on the canvas paper, I may even reproduce it on the actual canvas to sell at a show my mother and grandmother are doing in June since it would be nice to make back all the money I spent on supplies, and maybe be able to invest in more to keep my hobby affordable.

And sell it for cheap.  I say $10 or less for a painting on a small canvas, $15 for a medium, and maybe $20 on a large though that seems like a lot to me.  I always hate walking around the shows my mom does and see tents with paintings that are being sold for over $200.  Granted, they're good there's no doubt about that and the supplies used to make them are probably expensive but still.  I'm thinking about the typical person who goes to these and they're not looking to spend that kind of money there, though maybe some people actually do for something like that.  I guess I would rather sell more for cheaper than sell one or two for less.  But then again, these people are probably also doing this for a living or have they're things in high-end galleries for all I know.  They have business cards for taking but I usually am a looker and no buyer.