Measure Twice

You know that phrase, "measure twice, cut once"? Yeah... I think I need that framed above my sewing table. Unlike painting, you can't just get it close enough or paint over a mistake. On a related subject, I was looking for my seam ripper, but it is no where to be found! I even looked in the places where my cats usually fling small objects I leave unattended, but no luck. So, needing to get my fix of creativity, I looked around and remembered a painting I'm doing for a friend. I've put this painting off for some reason, and my friend has been incredibly patient in waiting for it. Plus he lives in India, so he can't do much about it ;) I kid... seriously it's really late.

Pencil on canvas board 14" x 18" 

I thought I'd do thin layers of acrylic paint to build up the colors.....

Acrylics on canvas board

.... but then I realized that since I didn't erase the grid lines, I'll need thick paint to cover those up. Whoops. Another example of measure twice? Actually, I think it will look better with more opaque paint in the end, so no big deal. I'll keep you updated as the painting progresses!

Swamp

"Swamp". acrylics on canvas board, 14"x18"

Searching for inspiration, I turned to Illustration Friday, a site that posts weekly one-word prompts for art-making. This week's prompt was "swamp," so this is what I came up with. In the process of doing this I (or one of my cats, I can't remember who) spilled a my paint water all over the counter. I have two laptops and a clock/radio/speakers thing on the counter, so I checked where the water went and it appeared to have spilled on the carpet. I didn't think much of this and went back to painting. Shortly after my (brand new, beloved) laptop shorted out. This confused me (I still didn't make the connection) so I just went to bed. Then the next morning I tried to turn it on to no avail. I then picked up the laptop to discover it was literally sitting in a puddle of water. Wow. Not so smart on me. Since it's new it's still under warranty and hopefully can be repaired. We'll see. I have my little Asus Eeeeeee PC as back-up.

As you can see from the above picture, I'm having a lot of difficulty photographing my art. I've been taking photos with a Canon Elph or... (don't laugh) my camera phone. Then I put it in Picasa and touch it up a bit before posting it. Usually it looks borderline acceptable, but not this time. The shiny acrylics made it hard to take a photo without glare from the surrounding light. Any tips out there for taking decent photographs of your art? I'm not going to buy a new camera or special lights, I just want it to look decent enough for the blog, and eventually my website/portfolio.

*Update: I messed with it a little bit in Gimp and used the burn tool to take out the uneven lighting, so it looks a little better now.

After my last post I got a couple of requests for commission portraits- one involving a certain family member, and it's looking great so far! Hopefully I don't mess it up before it's finished;) So I'm excited about that, and I will share it with you as soon as it's done and delivered to the appropriate parties (it's a gift, hence the vagueness, but I wanted to give you a little teaser anyway)!

Kittens!

Jasper (close up- he's actually a lot cuter in real life)

Jasper. Acrylics on canvas board

...inspired by Kittens! Draw what you know- or what you have at hand; in my case, kittens! This is an acrylic painting of my cat Jasper, peeking through the covers in the morning (encouraging me to get up and feed him I'm sure). Acrylics is not really my jam, but it is quick and easy (just like your mom!!!....sorry).

Jasper II. Soft pastels on paper.

Originally I did these because my mom was making art based on their beautiful new (to them) greyhound Stell, and challenged me to do the same with my furry friends. June is a bit shy, plus it's really hard to photograph an all-black cat, so I used a couple of pictures of Jasper. Nothing I'm really proud of but, hey, I said I'd post everything here!

Jasper Crap Abstract Painting. Acrylics on canvas board.

Remember how I said I'm bad at abstract art? Yep, here's the proof! I used metallic acrylics for this one. It looked ridiculous so I painted over it with this...

Hopeful Hearts. Acrylics on canvas board.

The heart was for a friend of mine. I strongly dislike this one too, but when he saw it he said he liked it and took it, refusing to let me paint over it again. At least the unlucky canvas board is out of my life!

Jasper, checking out the progress on his portrait.

Just to explain my extended absence from the blogging world, I've had the bubonic plague or something for the last month or more. It's been horrible! Not being much of a believer of Western medicine, I tried nearly every herbal tea and tincture, homeopathic remedy I could get my hands on and nothing worked. Finally I embraced the evil empire and went on antibiotics and am now healing. Yeesh!

Currently, I'm working on updating my self-portrait, so stay tuned!