Evil Rectangle

  

I have a confession to make... I am afraid of black rectangles and squares. They freak me out. 

Dipinto esagono alla prima con Dante

 

Progress shot. This hexagon design was based off a folk art design I saw in a book at the library.

 

 

Alla prima strato completo con il mio gatto nero Dante.

A closeup of how I filled in the various shapes. The goal is to mix paint on the canvas but leave brushwork visible and not overwork it.

Slice of soap cake

Colored squares

Blue Moon

Started drawing over a messy old sketch from 10+ years ago. It just needed a few touch-ups to bring it ot life.

Quilt painting (with a view)

Making sporadic progress on my quilt painting. The best part is improvising along the way in case I want to change direction. I'm settled in now, so I can resume my artistic adventures. 

Last night was good. My cats hung out with me while I painted and listened to podcasts. It was a cozy evening.

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Gel gloss + Ink = ???

Yesterday I found this mini canvas with a brick-like pattern that I never did anything with. I'm dying to know what happens when you mix ink with gel gloss. Ink is transparent, so it should dry clear, right? Let's do a little experiment.

I borrowed a little jar of ink from my sister and mixed it with the gel gloss. It was a rough mixture as I want it to be inconsistent. It looks like I slathered it in glue, but just wait until this dries...

Dude. I was so excited to check on this the next morning. And the result did not disappoint. Photography does not do it justice. My favorite thing about the gel gloss is how the light passes through it. This is something I am interested in exploring more thoroughly.

This canvas is just a practice piece. Much like with this picture, I'm planning to use it for my spare paint that I don't want to waste. Because the picture is already toned, whatever I paint on top of the gel will still be faithful to what's underneath. Hopefully. We'll see. It's just experimentation, after all!

Live, Laugh, Love

This is my canvas where I use up any paint I can't put back in the tube. I dislike wasting paint, so it has to go somewhere. There is no particular vision behind this one, just painting as I go. It's weird but I like it so far.

Color swatch

 

I photographed my computer screen through a prism. Then I painted over it.

Underwater

 

Colored one of my studies from September Abstractions

Ninth grade abstractions

 

A selection of 5-minute value studies based on fairly abstract photos from middle school.

September Abstractions

 

Small value studies. These were about 5 minutes each. I tried not to go over the time limit so I could be more honest about my capabilities.

Scenery paintings from 2017

 

Early adventures in water-mixable oil

My first oil painting. This was done on a scrap wood panel.

I took a painting class at community college to earn transferable credits. To be completely honest, I went into that class not looking forward to it because I didn't like painting. But the laid-back nature of this class, and introduction to different paint materials, made me fall in love with painting.

The picture above was my first true exploration into oil paint. From there, I was hungry for more!

I wanted to experiment with all the different colors available. I borrowed the paint that was in the studio, trying them out one by one. It was a very fun and memorable experience. Sadly, I no longer have either of these paintings as I gave them away. 

Abstract rainbow

An abstract rainbow from early days of experimenting.  I don't have many fond memories of 2015 but I do like this picture a lot.