I am trying my hand at a video. My weakest area in vlogging is setting up the camera (my phone). I have little patience for some things. Sometimes, in the video, I wish I had been more patient.
If you paint, Miskit is super fun. The little jar is $15 and if you use your 50% off one item at Michaels, it is $7.50 at checkout.
I have only used Miskit for watercolor before. When you watercolor, you have to save the white areas. It is not like acrylic paint, where you can just add white later. The reason I used Miskit with this painting, is that the face was small compared to the tool I was using. If I got the aftro paint on her face, it would take long time to get her skin color back the way it was. Also, I wanted to only think about the wig, not think about keeping her face clean. Lastly, it was super fun to use.
Can’t Stop the Feeling is a song we danced to all last season.
Tonight is the opening for Soul, Soul, Soul at the Old No. 77 Hotel. I have always wanted to have art in one of the shows there. 3 of my paintings were chosen this time. My friend, Cheryl Grace‘s work is the focal point. If you have time, come by and see the show. It will be there all through Jazz Fest. The hotel is beautiful and is connected to Compère Lapin.
I bought some Canva-Paper from Canson. It came in a tablet with 10 sheets, 9 x 12 inches. The paper was going to be just for fun and practice. I had an idea to paint a woman’s face and separately prepare a board, cut out the woman and gel her to the board. The canvas paper is a nice weight and easy to cut. Because of the weight the paper adheres smoothly to a roughly textured board.
I used a spatula and gesso on the board. Then I sanded it so it wouldn’t be quite so textured.
Board behind Garden Fairy
I started painting the woman. My favorite way to paint is to have no idea when I start and just see what happens. It is time-consuming to keep adjusting the image. If I were in a position to solely support myself through my art, I wouldn’t be able to approach this way. I worked most of a week on a painting that I will sell for $150.
Beginning Woman with Flower Hat
I only know she is happy and wearing flowers.
Having Fun with Color
I am starting to see her, but don’t know who she is.
Garden Fairy
Between this last photo and the one before it, I changed her ears to fairy ears.
I look at every inch of the painting and see where I am happy. I didn’t like the top left corner, so I put tissue paper in layers on with gel. I like the transparency. You can see glimpses of words and music. Then I painted large leaves on top of the tissue. It makes the fairy look smaller. I think in real life, she is about 11 inches tall. Quite tall for a fairy.
I wish you could see her in person. There is a lot of texture.
texture
You can’t see this close-up too well, but I love when I don’t like an area, then later it is my favorite part.
I picked up the frame at an estate sale. I stained it with the same color I used as the last coat on her face. It is Golden Quinacridone/ Nickel Azo Gold. After I applied the color on the frame, I rubbed some of it off with a damp paper towel.
I feel happy that I finished her on the first day of Fall.
Mini Mags and I have been missing Brook. She was tragically hit by a car last week crossing Napoleon Avenue on her own between Dryades and Danneel. The car was a hit and run, but the people there were so nice. When we got the phone call, my daughter and son-in-law responded. The neighbors had Brook covered with a blanket and 5 people were petting her. She was rushed to Maple Street Small Animal Clinic. They fixed her up and x-rayed her. The x-ray showed too much muscle damage from old age for her to recover.
It was a miracle that my clueless, little escape artist lived as long as she did. I should paint some little lab angels in her picture.
My husband called her an anti-lab. She hated water, even to get her feet wet. She was afraid of guns and did not understand the concept of fetch. She was fetching, however. She loved to dress up, especially if she saw another dog wearing a sweater.
Mini Mags and I were reminiscing about Brook, and Maggie in her infinite 3-year-old wisdom, said that I should paint Brook.
At the risk of sounding loony-tunes, I am going to start talking about my process. I set the mood. Usually, I play music that inspires me, but when I paint pets, it is unusually quiet. Search me, I don’t know why this is the case. I light a candle, and for Brook, I put out some black and pink paint and her favorite food, an apple. I asked Brook’s spirit to help me paint her. Living or passed on, I feel the animal’s spirit happily respond to this. I guess it is just like an animal in life, eager and loyal.
Little Altar
I picked 3 colors that I think Brook would like. With Brook I picked hot pink, a color I always associated with her, pale pink and opaque yellow. Then, I sprayed the canvas with water to make the paint go on easier and freer. I put the paint anywhere that feels right. I put the yellow near the top like a shining light and the pinks everywhere else.
Then I wrote words on the painting. As it happens, all the time so far, the words placed themselves so appropriately. They went on like this: loving was near her tongue, loyal was near her brain and lab was by her throat. When I wrote the words, the canvas was vertical, and when I blocked Brook out, the painting was horizontal. I am just mentioning this to show how this just happens.
Background and Words
The words are loving, Loyal, lab.
Next, I painted Brook. I chose Black, but it could have been any dark color. I think I will paint the dark places on her coat in Dioxazine Purple and the lighter ones in Micaceous Iron Oxide, with Bone Black predominant. The great things about acrylic paints (I use Golden Acrylics) are the quick drying time and you can layer over anything that you try on. If it is a real mistake, paint it over in opaque white or gesso and start over.
Just on the off-chance that you don’t want to read about painting Brook all day, I will insert a picture of the blocking here.
And thanks for reading about Brook and my process. Stay tuned for the next step.
Gator Girl Art 