painting as gifts - for kc

I want to get back to painting. I have a few things coming up for which I need to give some paintings, so I thought I would post about some paintings I created for friends.

First up, a Dixit card turned painting.

Dixit is this fun German-style board / card game that I have played many times with my friends.  The game has includes these beautifully designed cards that are a bit wacky. They are specific, but not at all specific at the same time. The card below inspired me for a painting for my friends.

I liked the ballerina and the record, so I started the painting leaving room for those items.

I wanted to finish the background first because I knew the ballerina and painting would be "on top" of everything else.

I liked the "stand" portion of the first card, but I decided to change it to be a painting on a painting. The painting I painted is a black and white version of a photograph my friends, kc, took on their travels. The train was red - it was a direct copy of a picture they had.  Finally, I made everything happen in space - hence the stars.

It's quite a big piece - perhaps too big. But I kind of like it.

sometimes it works out, sometimes not.

i started documenting my paintings a bit ago, and i'd like to restart doing that.  you can check out some of my work here.

so going back to my painting history.  i took an acrylic painting class and loved it.  i painted a few things in black and white and then we were told to do a homework assignment using just two complimentary colors (e.g. red and green, blue and orange, or purple and yellow).  i chose purple and yellow.  i painted the below chandon wine bottle in my hotel room in phoenix arizona, when i was there for a work conference.  it took me a few hours and is on a flat canvas board.  it is about the size of a piece of paper (maybe slightly larger - 9" by 12" probably).  i used only yellow and purple.  and maybe white.  i can't remember.  i must have.  i quite like it, although this isn't the best picture of it.  i did not paint this from a photo, it is painted from something that was in front of me.

in class around that same time, we were given an assignment to paint fruit.  and i didn't get the assignment, honestly.  it was so confusing to me.  everyone ended up with fruit that was different colors. and i wasn't really able to see all the different shades of the fruit.  so i did this in class on my canvas book.  it sucks, but i'm posting it here anyway.  i might have painted over this, it's so bad.  the teacher had the fruit in class for us.  bleh. i hate this so much.

lawyered.

haven't posted in a bit, but I recently spent some time painting.  I love to paint, even if I'm not any good at it.  I enjoy giving the paintings away (if people like them).  I painted this one for a friend in nola.  I call it "lawyered."

acrylic on cavas.  created June 2014.  I think it's 10x10inches.

more black and white

so after my first art class, we got homework.  the assignment was to find a painting we liked, print a copy in black and white and then recreate it.

i went back to my favorite, as described before, charles dwyer, and found a painting i hadn't seen before.

here it is (from gallery m, the gallery in denver i love), bella's call:

isn't that just beautiful??

here is the black and white printed version on 8 1/2 by 11 paper (the lines i drew, which is a painting technique to get sizing and whatnot):

and then here is my painted version:

i quite like how it turned out.  i should try practicing some more.

the greats weren't great...

there is a macklemore lyric that says:

the greats weren't great because they were good at art
the greats were great because they painted a lot

LOVE those lines.

not sure if i've shared this before or not, but a few years ago, i was sitting in the rinse chair at my hair salon and my stylist was giving me a facial while something happened with my hair (color setting or something...?  idk).  he put a warm wash cloth over my eyes and all of a sudden, i started seeing this really really cool pattern of colors - it was this really dark blue mixed with dark purple and black.  it was so pretty.  then he put a different wash cloth on my eyes and it was this bright red color with oranges.  and i thought "remember, remember, remember this!" and i have.  and i thought "i'm gonna learn to paint, so i can paint those some day."  a few months later, i enrolled in some nighttime acrylic painting classes.  i've loved painting ever since.  i'm not fantastic, but i love doing it!

as such, i'll share some of my work on this site.

i walked in to the class not even one minute late and the other six artists were sitting at easels, looking at the front of the class and a grouping of uninteresting white objects.  they were all sketching the drawing to later it paint it in black and white.  i was not prepared to become a drawer.  had no clue that might be involved in painting.  alas, it was.  and is.  i started drawing the shapes and soon realized i didn't like them.  so i drew the light fixture instead.  i felt very pretentious doing it, and i didn't want to!  i wasn't TRYING to be different - most times, i just am.  and this time, i was just different.  i figured this would be art i would put up in my house someday and i didn't want a collage of bowls, shells, and cups.  so i drew the light.  here it is.

and here is how the painting turned out.

my first painting!  i LOVE it!  it's gonna be a collector's item for my nephew someday.  :)  ha!

apparently my painting style is similar to graphic artists.  bold.  but, really, i think it's just that i'm not good at seeing the subtlety.  so i go for it.

anyway, more paintings to come...

anything artistic in your day today??

inartgural

it's been some time since i've been back to the blogging world (april 2013 to be exact - here) and now i'm expanding to include artistic enjoyments, endeavors, things to remember, motivations, etc.

i'm hoping to use this blog to keep me / help me become creative.  inspire me.  motivate me.  congratulate others who are artistic.  remember things.  just be pretty.

what sort of things do you like in art?

to start, here is potentially one of my favorite paintings ever - naked dreams - painted by charles dwyer and on my short list of things to own someday.  charles shows (exclusively?) at gallery m in denver and i took a trip to denver a few years ago to 1) cross of colorado from my list of states to visit and 2) visit gallery m.  i loved it.  i want desperately to be able to buy something from there.  someday.

so this painting, naked dreams.  i first saw in person circa february 2002 at a gallery on newbury street.  i can't remember what the name of it was, but i loved LOVED loved it and have been following (passively) charles dwyer since.