Ten Hundred Art Class at Monthly, April 2021

It’s just over one year since the last one so time for a new post, surely.

I am in the middle of a month-long, intensive online art class at the platform “Monthly”, called Draw & Paint Your Imagination with Ten Hundred.

Reader, it goes poorly. The goal of the class is to produce a finished 11×14 acrylic painting on a wood panel. And this is the no good very bad condition my painting is in right now. In fact, I started a second one (also poorly) in case I throw this one in a fire.

Not. Going. Well. The face has been repainted about a dozen times. You can see how I got mad and scrubbed it with sandpaper (and then had to redo a bunch of the pencil lines). I am not used to this painting style and so far have adapted poorly. I am pretty sure this style demands a level of patience I do not possess! But it’s not over yet.

We do have two weeks left. This is the middle The middle is the hardest, right? And then I figured I would write a blog post and share the misery with the few lost souls who find it. I tell you what, I am NOT saying don’t take this class. Everyone has a different experience, is my guess. I am doing more art than I normally would and that was worth the price of admission. Oh yeah, it’s kind of pricey. I used some stimulus check on it and I consider it well-spent.

I will also say this class has a large variety of peers, many much more skilled than me, and some maybe with fewer skills. But the ones who are posting their updates are all KILLING IT with their painting progress. On the other hand, many people are not posting any updates at all, and I am worried about them.

Below is most of what I’ve done for the class. We started with sketches and ideas and then worked toward a final character and image, transfer that to a wood panel and get to painting.

I believe it started going wrong when I wasn’t really happy with my final image, but went with it anyway. The bottom left with the bird is not resolved and needs another or a different creature. The dog character looks too much like a malformed dog and not like an imaginary creature as he should have. Then I didn’t decide my colors ahead of time. THEN I could not get the hang of painting smoothly and being patient. Which is where I am today, as I write this blog post.

Here is my timeline of progress.

So there it is. I hope my next update is much more chipper!

Thanks for dropping in!

Art for a Pandemic! Hello Metafilter!

Most recent – this window poster, on poster board. I need to make a stand or something because our window is just a tad too far from the sidewalk and street.

Look, my next poster will be uplifting and shit but this is the first one.

I have been very slowly learning acrylic painting over the past couple years. These most recent three are a good indication of current events and also of learning to paint.

8×10 acrylics on canvas board, March 3, 2020

*11″ x 14″ acrylics on canvas, March 10, 2020*

12″ x 16″ acrylics in progress, March 11, 2020

Apparently I’ve been on an orange kick. Thanks for visiting!

~Glinn

Acrylic Painting Retrospective, 2014 – 2020

It’s hard to see progress in your day-to-day life, but after enough years go by, a timeline emerges. Self-taught post-40 via Youtube and many trials and errors, some help from Sarah Kaiser at Studio 215 and lots of drawing practice.

Below are a selection from the past five and something years, These first two in orange are the earliest vs. the latest in this series. Hard to believe the same person did those.

Still orange! 2014 acrylic painting vs 2020 acrylic painting

The first 30-day painting challenge I did was in January 2014. I did a bit more in February but not much for the rest of the year.

I could not find much for 2015-2017. I was practicing art but mainly with ink and pencils.

In 2018 and 2019 I painted every day in January along with some of the internet, and then with sporadic practice the rest of those years.

In 2020, January went up in a puff of smoke but I did paint every day in February and I have finally been finishing paintings, which I did not manage to do much before.

Looking forward to another five and something years of progress, particularly since it’s become *slightly less difficult to get to practicing once a little progress is made.

Thanks for stopping by! Hello Paint Party Friday!

2019 Favorite Artworks

These are my favorite works from 2019.

Row 1: Acrylic portrait, Dolores Huerta; graphite and marker Serena Williams; Acrylic portrait, Virginia Woolf

Row 2: Master study, Leyendecker; Dog portrait, Lucy; Master study, Leyendecker

Row 3: Acrylic portrait, dog; Acrylic self-portrait; pencil self- portrait

It’s 2020. Already February, in fact. I’ve actually had about a week trying to get my blog working, probably due to a problem with an update or something. I’m not sure what fixed it, to be honest!

The world is crazy but I am going to try to do lots of painting this year. I have started the last 3 years or so with lots of painting in January, and not much after. This time, I didn’t do any in January, but plan to do much more for the rest of the year.

How about you, got plans for 2020? Thanks for stopping by!

New Paintings & Online Art Auction

Attitude, 9″ x 12″ acrylics on canvas www.theslumberingherd.com

9×12 acrylics in progress, 1-3 www.theslumberingherd.com

*9×12 acrylics in progress, 4-6 www.theslumberingherd.com*

No Apologies Online Only Art Auction

Starting this weekend and running September 8-15, 2019, I am co-hosting an online art auction in support of abortion rights. Most of the art was made by the organizers, though a few of our friends have donated some pieces. Looking is free! More information here: https://noapologiesartauction.org/

(The Dolores Huerta – right side, flower background, and the tiny houses in the middle (plus the painting at the top of this post) are mine. The other pieces are from other artists!)

Thanks so much for dropping in! Hello to Paint Party Friday!

Online Art Auction Coming Up

Here’s a couple flyers I made for the online art auction in support of abortion rights that I am organizing with my friend Ann D’Angelo. Most of the art is ours but we are accepting donations and have gotten many amazing pieces.

The world is pretty ugly right now and there are many issues that deserve our attention. This art auction is one way some of us are trying to help out.

No Apologies Online Art Auction, September 8-13, 2019. More info here.

Thanks for dropping in!

An Acrylic Painting…. Finished!

Murph, 16″ x 20″ acrylics on stretched canvas. www.theslumberingherd.com

I have not finished many paintings! But I actually feel like this one is finished. His nose is a little crooked and I could fool with the hair for ages longer but I’m calling this one done. The original image was a black and white photo, I believe a Spinone Italiano dog.

And here is his evolution starting as a sketch on a lightly painted canvas in February 2018, and then finally got his undercoat in January 2019. (I thought he might be finished, but he wasn’t!)

It’s been ages since posting, again. But I’m painting more and also working with another artist to put together an art auction in support of reproductive rights! I’ve put together a website here; No Apologies, and you can see the more than 20 works of art already posted. We expect at least 30 by the auction date of Sept 8 – Sept 15. More info at the link.

Belated hello to Paint Party Friday!

Acrylic Portrait Still in Progress

I did not paint every day in February, but I did work on this portrait for a lot more days than any other painting. And I took a lot of pics (and also included all the pics from the last post).

*Bianca, 11″ x 14″ acrylics in progress. www.theslumberingherd.com*

It’s weird how so many of these look like entirely different people. It’s also hard to see what changed in some cases. And sometimes it got worse before it got better. Also, still not done with this!

Thanks for stopping in. Hello to Paint Party Friday!

Acrylic Painting, Trying to Finish a Portrait!

Well I have spent more time on this painting than any other. Partly because it is a person I know! Partly because I am trying to *complete* a painting. A painting that looks like someone I know. It is hard. :D

I have missed four days in February so not exactly painting every day, but still pretty good!

Hello to Paint Party Friday!

Acrylic Painting in 2019, Early February

I practiced acrylic painting every day except one in January, and am on track to do the same for February 2019. What I have not done is finished many paintings. But they are getting closer! Virginia Woolf from my last post is the first acrylic painting I can say I am happy with, and is finished. YAY!

This post contains two works in progress – Toni Morrison and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They are coming along pretty nicely. Learning to paint is a long process and often frustrating! But nobody can become a better painter (or musician or dancer or a lot of other stuff) without practice. The trick is just to keep going!