A New Mermaid Painting

I can't believe a whole week has passed since my last post. Trying to find an apartment and new place for my son to live has turned into a major project, and left me with little time for anything else. To complicate the issue, we have encountered some opportunists along the way. Some apartment complexes here will ask for a considerable non-refundable application fee, then tell you your application has been declined without even providing any reason. One place wanted ninety dollars. If they do that ten times in a day, they don't even need to rent an apartment. In one day, they've made over a full month's rent from the applicants. It has made me really leery. I just want to find my son a place to live.


I did manage over the weekend to at least start this painting shown in stages, below. I hope to finish it by Friday, but we will see. 

This one has been fun so far. I will be possibly adding a sea horse. I haven't made all the decisions as to composition yet, and wanted to work this piece "on the fly".


Hope everyone has a great week. Until next time, take care!

A Few Good Men, Faces #634-#636

Maybe it's because of all the mermaids I've been drawing as of late, that I decided to spend Sunday on just men...

This week I want to continue on my collections for note cards while still working on some faces as well. Yet, I'm also helping my son move from one apartment into another and also needing my car to be serviced. So it could be a particularly crazy week ahead!

Until next time, take care!

Water Play

This is going to be an ultra-short post because I have to run off to an appointment in a few minutes. But I wanted to post this other dolphin I worked on yesterday.  I erased most of a previous sketch I had already done which also had a mermaid in it, leaving just part of the dolphin here, and then went into the pastel. I guess I was going for something less whimsical than the piece in my last post with the mermaid and three dolphins...something a little more realistic looking. This was a quick study with my main focus on the color of the water which is a blend of the mellow orange paper underneath, an olive green, an aquamarine, a dark forest green, and a dusky violet to help neutralize and subdue the greens a bit. Then, the highlights on the water are a pale minty aqua color, and a white. Many of my pastels are just numbered, so I have given you my own description of the colors. Anyway, this is my post for Friday; this is what I have for today to show.

Until next time, take care!

Day Of The Dolphins

I can't say this piece, once finished, ended up fitting in with either of the two collections I had originally intended making it a part of...but sometimes a piece takes you in a direction all of it's own, and you just have to go with that. 


Tuesday morning I painted the dolphins and the beginning stages of the bubbles.

Wednesday I glazed, scumbled, adjusted things, and added the background. The painting was very dark at the point where I left off.

Finally, this morning I finished with some minor adjustments and the adding of a rich turquoise to brighten the waters. 

Well, that's all for now. I have to run a bunch of errands this morning. Until next time, take care!  

Planning Out The Week Ahead

Over the weekend I made sure I would at least start a project, and get some ideas of what I wanted to get done over this week. The piece I started will hopefully be added to the note card collection I have been working on, contingent on how it turns out. I also want to do some faces this week with the specific intention of using them in a collage idea I have been kicking around in my head for too long.


The idea I had for the piece below wasn't executed as well as I had hoped the first time I sketched it out (below). I just feel the compositional layout could be better. I may still use this piece, and finish it, however. Wish it had photographed better...

I did go back and draw another version yesterday. Then I inked over the basic design, and started painting. I hope to finish it over the week.

I do like the deep tan I wanted for this mermaid, although the "Indian Red"pastel I used in some places needs to be toned down slightly. But I have decided until I throw down more color in the overall piece, I will wait to make any adjustments since that's a better time to do so....see how well everything else plays together with it.


I had a story to share, but it will have to keep until next time. I hope all my readers are doing well, and take care!

Faces #624-#633

Still A Blog About Faces...

I did a lot of sketching over the week, mostly just in pencil. This first one below, though, is for a potential quilt pattern design. After sketching it out several times, I went back and accentuated the contour lines and added the face and some partial shading. Then below that picture, you can see where I brought it into Photoshop just to get an idea of how it might look "painted" in fabric.

Next up, I did a face in pastel. I will probably just leave this as it is, and not pursue it any further with a background. This one may find it's way into a collage, however.

Finally, a lot of sketches in pencil...

That's it for today. I hope to be able to get something done for Monday to show. Have a great weekend!

Unity In A Collection

People tend to like to group things; and unity appeals to most people, not only within one design, but also in a collection. While this principle applies to the note cards I am creating, it is also something a gallery looks for from an artist. I am in the process of forming several collections; united first by theme, united by style, united by colors, and even some more subtle attributes. My main objective in finishing this mermaid painting (below) after it had sat for so long, was because I thought it would pair well with the two more recent designs I am also showing here.

I have also been working on a few other collections, sorting them into groups of fives, even if it means creating some new pieces to that end.

That's all for me on this hot July morning. until next time, take care!

Mermaids And Movies

Yesterday I had posted about a painting that has sat for months because I was not sure how I was going to finish it, and my hesitance about making the wrong choice. Above is the before, below is the after. It is still not finished, because I had to wait for a fixative to dry overnight before moving on. But I do like the direction I have chosen to take the piece and will try to finish it today.

I have a couple blogger friends who have been posting videos on their blogs concerning their process. So I thought I'd add a couple of short videos to my post today, as well. The first one is a compilation of some of the fabric panels I designed. For the most part, all the work is entirely advanced digital art that combines drawing skills with hundreds and hundreds of hours of experience in digital imaging programs. And to illustrate how identical the digital drawing process can be to traditional drawing methods, I have provided the second movie which is a step by step overhead in the creation of a fabric panel design. Enjoy.

Until next time, take care!

Unfinished Projects

I was listening to an inspirational speaker on tv yesterday in the morning who really got me motivated toward finishing up some of the projects I have been putting off.  So while I was tempted to start something new, I have about four projects I am committed to completing. I worked on these two, below. I still have some more minor tweaking to do on the mermaid painting which I have amended so I can add it to a note card collection, but the egg collage is pretty well finished. 

The nice thing about a collage is that you can move your elements around, arranging it in many ways before committing to anything. The same can be said for digital art if you separate things into layers. But in a traditional painting, some corrections may be very difficult to make if you have changed your mind afterwards. One of the other unfinished projects I am working on has left me somewhat unsure of how to proceed, because I want to be very careful as I have already put so much time into the piece. I don't want to screw it up at this stage. While a more complex background may elevate it to an even better piece, a simpler approach may be the safer way to go. Because of that reason, the piece has just sat for months. But I plan on finishing it over the weekend and will post the results.

Unitl next time, take care!

Happy Fourth Of July!

Just a short post to wish you all a safe and happy July 4th!

(egg collage, in progress)

Summer Romance Collage, Faces #622-#623

This layout for a collage, below, is based on an excerpt of a romantic short story I have been writing. Because I want to include the excerpt from the story in this post, I figured I would show this version of the collage. I auditioned many possible layouts, and find that I like the collage itself better without the eggs which were carefully painted, then cut for use. I may yet do another collage with a breakfast theme, including the eggs there.

(Happy reading. An excerpt follows: )

"Although quite dark, one could still unmistakably discern the waves of the sea rising and falling under the moon. The night air was lightly scented with its salt, and peppered with the sound of surf meeting the shore. Victoria took it all in for a moment from the aged wood veranda of the beach house. As she turned to make her way back inside, she could see just the silhouette of Eric beyond the glass doors, standing in the kitchen. As she became closer, the details came into focus; of his glorious face, where the deep golden skin tones of his torso contrasted against the white boxers he wore, of the toast with a bite missing which he held in his strong right hand. He proudly inched a plate of food on the counter in her direction, wordlessly beckoning her to enjoy his simple culinary offering.

She had always imagined it would be this way between them: days filled with walks on the beach; nights that began with tender kisses that led to sun bleached sheets crumpled all around them; and then, the late night snack of toast and eggs afterward....bliss. " 

This second version of the collage above, is still in progress. I will be sure to post an update. Until next time, take care!