Category Archives: Progression Photos

Flower Girl, Acrylics and Ink for Day 25

Flower Girl
5″ x 7″ Acrylics and ink on canvas board

It’s Day 25 of Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days! And my second Paint Party Friday, wooo! I’m so glad PPF will still be here when the challenge ends. Oh! And Sarah’s brand new 50 Canvases in 2014.

I did not love this image at first. It was flat and lifeless and not very interesting. And I thought, I must power through it – they will not all be masterpieces. And then I remembered that thing that always happens, which is that you’re not just “finishing” a thing as you go (inked or painted or otherwise), you’re continually improving it. And in the end I got to a place I like. Also: layers. The best color comes from layers, at least in my limited (25 days!) of acrylic painting thus far.

Thanks for stopping in!

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Redhead with Birds, Acrylics and Ink

Day 24 of the 30 Day Challenge!  (I sort of skipped Day 23, but I hope to catch up on the weekend.)

Redhead with Birds
5″ x 7″ Acrylics, ink, gel pen on canvas board

The birds and the background are not finished because of time! But I think it’s got some interesting elements. I agree with Karen Knutson who is also enjoying this challenge and was not sure if she was happy it would be over soon. I think I may have to do the 29 Faces for February. It would be silly to lose all this momentum (though I do need more sleep).

Thanks so much to everyone who has offered encouragement during this acrylic painting adventure. I hope you’re all staying warm! (So sorry for the terrible progress photos! You can see in the final scan how different the color is.)

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Day 22 Brings a Well Dressed Cyclops Called Hazel

Day 22 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

Hazel in Her Finest, For Company
5″ x 7″ Acrylics only on canvas board

I am behind from yesterday! Re-did her poor eye way too many times and I still don’t love it. Will need to watch some acrylic eye painting videos! Colors: Ultramarine Violet, Medium Magenta, Mars Black, Titanium White.

Here are a few of my adventures with eyes in ink from the last year:

Various Eye Creatures
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Eyes as Big as Wagon Wheels, Tikki Skull, Melba, and my favorite, Darla Two. Thanks for stopping in!

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Challenge Day 21, Acrylics and Fancy Hats

People! It’s day 21 of the 30-day painting challenge. I’m already trying to decide what I’m going to do in February. I know there is a 29 Faces challenge, but I don’t think I want to continue to post every day. I am undecided!

Sally Did Not Enjoy Her Hat
6″ x 6″ Acrylics and ink on gessobord

The nannies, all required to dress in costumes provided by their employers and attend the party to help with the children, did not appear to be enjoying themselves.

Alternate Titles: Sisterhood of the Missing Chins, Best Friends, The Fates (or The Furies – because that would be silly and ridiculous. Possibly hilarious). I had to abandon the background for time, once again, with a rather poor and uneven covering of purple.

The gessobord was suggested at Dick Blick’s as a very smooth surface to paint on. I don’t like it so far! (Erasing on it is messy, for one thing.) I think I might even like canvas texture. Further investigations are needed. Thanks for visiting!

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Day 20! Tiny Portraits Tell a Tragic Tale

Day 20 of the 30-day challenge.

Six Marriages, One Cat
8″ x 10″ Acrylics with a little ink and gel pen

Henrietta and Rupert were together through all six of her marriages. The second and fifth, Sydney and Lars, died quite unexpectedly. Vicious rumors accuse Rupert of having been the cause of at least one of those accidents (as well as two of four divorces). He was still robust at twenty-four years old, which was the last time anyone saw Henrietta or Rupert alive.

Submitted for the topic “Beginning” at Illustration Friday. Six marriages, two funerals, and four divorces is a lot of beginning over. Even if your loyal cat sees you through it all.

Henrietta is maiden number 145.

Hooray, it’s an 8×10! The background could use additional layers but at one painting a day and work tomorrow, it’s going to have to stop here. Don’t be surprised if many of the next ten days involve tiny portraits, apparently my new favorite thing.

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Tale of Two Giraffes

Welcome to Day 19 of the 30 day challenge!

A New Friend
5″ x 7″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

This giraffe was a request by a friend at illustratedatcs.com, intended for a nursery. I offered to add a bunny, but ended up adding a ladybug. On a very tall flower. I think s/he’s pretty cute.

My first try was a giraffe in acrylics, because of the painting challenge. I’ve done quite a few paintings recently so wanted to continue the run. But alas! The giraffe, while not finished, was just feeling too somber for a nursery (see below). Anyway, I was under a deadline to produce a giraffe and figured my best chance for success would be ink, my old standby.

Here’s the painted giraffe in progress. (Stay tuned, it may change dramatically between now and the next time I post it!)

Giraffe (in Progress)
5″ x 7″ Acrylics on canvas board

Note to subscribers! I am posting every day this month for the challenge, but only emailing twice a week. Just so you know. Thank you! (Also, apologies for dust and eraser bits on the scanner!)

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Winnie McIntyre Was the Only Witness

Challenge Day 18 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

Winnie McIntyre Was the Only Witness
5″ x 7″ Acrylics on 250 GSM* cotton vellum
(cropped in paint.NET with thin border added)

I almost posted this without the red splatter. I suppose this is number two in my Dark Side series. (Hmm, not a bad idea.) Here was the first, which also includes tiny portrait(s) and blood splatter. I blame these impulses on the women of wonderstrange. (The only reason I almost didn’t do it is because I worried it would splatter in a non aesthetically pleasing manner. I wish there were more contrast in spot size, but it’s not too bad.)

It was an interesting experiment. I gessoed this heavy Stonehenge 100% cotton paper then taped the edges with masking tape so it wouldn’t warp. As you can see (below), the bottom piece of tape was very crooked. Dangit! If I were going to do it again, I would fade out the background wallpaper more. I don’t love the color combination of the wallpaper with the picture frame.

I don’t know how I feel about painting on paper. I think it has lots of potential but I’m still struggling with the proper consistency of paint with which to paint tiny fine lines. I could use a pen but I like the idea of paint only.

Thanks for stopping in! Progress pics (under yellowy lights. Ugh.)

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*GSM – grams per square metre (I had to look it up, so I thought I would share.)

Day 17 and Paint Party Friday, Acrylics

Day 17 of the 30 day challenge! Also joining Paint Party Friday because I have been painting! This is canvas number 7. (The other ten days of the challenge thus far were made up of pen and ink or acrylics and ink as I gathered acrylic supplies and started learning to paint.)

Daphne, Portrait in Blue
5″ x 7″ Acrylics on Canvas Board

Fortunately it occurred to me to scan this one. (Much better quality than my terrible pictures, as in the progress pics below.)

I have done several maidens in frames, and an art pal named Sarah Trumpp, doing a painting challenge of her own,  reminded me I might like to paint one. So I did! Lots of progress pics below, as her face went through various incarnations before settling on this one.

Here’s a few of the early tiny framed girls:

Three Maidens in Tiny Frames
Each 3.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Lost Portrait of Emily, Tudor Maiden Portrait, and Anastasia of the North. Because if I’m going to spend that much time on 2.5″ x 3.5″, it’s gonna get a nice name. :)

Thanks for dropping in!

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City Dog in Acrylics and Ink, Challenge Day 16

Day 16 of Thirty Paintings in 30 Days!

City Dog (Not Really a Dog)
5″ x 7″ Acrylics, tie and nose detail in ink and gel pen

Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hound (which I just realized I spelled with only one L), this fellow went through quite a few dramatic changes before settling here. He’s called City Dog but is not really quite a dog. Or cat. Or other thing you’ve heard of. He is his own thing.

Cityscape tie close-up

Many shots showing his various incarnations below. Thanks for stopping in!

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A Maiden Called Celeste, in Acrylics

Celeste in Her Favorite Hat
5″ x 7″ Acrylics on canvas board

If I wasn’t doing a 30-day challenge (it’s Day 15 already!), these might all get lots more time. But I must keep moving forward! And I still need sleep and to go to my regular job. So, despite the fact the hair and fabric would be improved with more detail, and the background got no attention, I must call it done. No ink this time, just paint.

I referenced this image to get the sketch started but I prefer not to copy a photo very closely. She looks strangely familiar to me so I might have some particular image in mind. Or maybe just the style. Any ideas? (1970’s McCall’s pattern  illustrations?)

Thanks for visiting!

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