A Trip to the Zoo

A couple of weeks ago my family and I went to The North Carolina Zoo. The kids had never been to a zoo before. It was a lot of fun seeing the animals through their eyes. I managed a few decent shots with my Canon T2i and zoom lens. A lot of the animals showed me their butts though. I think they discuss it when the humans aren't around. "If you see a human put an electronic thingy up near their face, turn around! It really irritates them!"

 

 

 

 

The T-Rex was the easiest to photograph. He was also my kids favorite part!

The Carousel was also a favorite of the trip. My Hubby, Evan and Caitlyn enjoying the ride.

 

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Another Painting Finished!

Under The Sea

Here is how it transformed.

I blew up a sketch from my sketchbook to get an idea of where I wanted the mermaid to be. My background is paint and bleeding art tissue in mostly reds and oranges.

Then I sketched her in using a Stabilio Marks All pencil. They are water soluble and it looks very cool when wet. The problem is you can't get it wet again. It'll smear. So, I use fluid matte medium instead of water. It gives me the same look and it seals it in.

Her face is coming together.

I used bleeding art tissue for her tail and added details with a medium nib Pitt Pen. Then I used layers of transparent inks and paints to create the sea. I painted the negative space to expose my original background though the seaweeds and seahorses.

The final painting. I think I used every art supply I own. Liquitex paint and inks, bleeding art tissue, Caran Dache Neocolor II Crayons, some pastels and Pitt Pens. This painting is for my daughter. I hope to sell prints of it in the not so distant future.

 

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Butterfly Fairy

This one is finished. You can see the work in progress in this previous post.

She was painted on an 8x8 gessobord. I used acrylic paints, neocolor II crayons, inks and markers. I love how my painting style is coming together. I'm having loads of fun too! My head is always churning with ideas. A self paced version of Paint Your Story is available now. Check it out and see how fun it is to channel your inner 7 year old!

 

A Work in Progress

This is my second painting adapting the lessons I learned in Mindy Lacefield's Paint Your Story. I'm struggling a bit with this one as I keep comparing it to "Up". I know it'll come together in the end. I just need to trust the process.

Phase 1 of the painting.

I liked how her face was turning out.

Phase 2.

I'm not satisfied with her face anymore. It's not whimsical enough.

Phase 3.

I changed her eyes and my fairy is leading some butterflies somewhere.

I'm happier with her but I know she still needs work. I have my fingers crossed that I will get more painting done this weekend!

 

 

She's Finished

I'm calling I this painting "Up". I'm so proud of how it turned out!

 

How to Paint an Owl E-Course

Another course I have been taking recently is How to Paint an Owl by Juliette Crane. Juliette does wonderful mixed media paintings most of which are owls. She truly paints what she loves and developed an e-course about her passion. I love the depth of her paintings and she really breaks things down into easy steps you can follow but, you don't end up making a painting that looks exactly like Juliette's painting. At least mine don't seem to look a lot like hers.

Here are some work in progress paintings. I admit the owl on the far right looks more like "How to Paint a Penguin".

And this one is almost finished. For the moment I am calling it "Music of the Night".

I really enjoyed this course. There are lots of videos and a PDF at the end of the course for you to keep forever. Juliette's paintings all tell a story and this method fits right into my painting goals. She is also taking "Paint Your Story" and the work she is producing is amazing! Visit Juliette's blog to see her wonderful work. You can also take either of her e-courses. How to Paint an Owl is returning this July and How to Paint a Girl is coming up in a couple of weeks. And yes, I will likely be taking that one too.

 

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I'm Finding My Style!

I got to paint for 5 hours straight today! My wonderful Hubby took the kids out for several hours and I was able to work on my larger painting for the Paint Your Story e-course. I am so proud of how it is turning out. In a lot of courses you are replicating a project. This is a totally fine method because you are learning different techniques. With Mindy Lacefield's course, she gives you tools and exercises to help you develop your own style. I've tried painting like Mindy and I just can't seem to do it. I can adapt her methods though to work with how I paint and I think I am actually pulling it off. Here is the painting as it developed.

Here is a 12x12 canvas with a painted background.

Beginnings of a face. I used Panpastels.

Shading the face with paint.

My girly is starting to emerge.

The painting is coming along. She's turning out so cute!

I can't put into words how much joy I am getting out of this course. My fellow classmates are all so talented and very supportive. Mindy is such a wonderful teacher. We only have a couple weeks left which makes me sad. The good news is she is developing a new course! You will have to keep an eye on her blog for registration info. She will also be doing a self paced version of Paint Your Story this summer.