Another lily pond

Intermediate layer

Final layer, maybe

The lily pad paining number five may or may not be finished.  I have let it set a few days and I still can’t decide. I’m more pleased with it than when I stopped, but I am not yet convinced that it is done.  I think the gloss varnish will help deepen, yet soften the colors, but I’m not quite ready to take that step.  Overall, I am happy with the balance of colors.

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Another lily pad painting

Under-painting

Lily pad’s first color layer

The lily pad paintings have been calling to me to do another one. I went back to the photos and picked one with pink lotus flowers instead of white and a nice mixture of colors for the pads.

This is 12X9 and the lily pads are larger compared with the other two paintings close to this size.  I will have to find a good balance of detail versus abstract.  I still have way too much problem with any intricate brush work.

Some mini-paintings

After the commissioned architecturals, I was ready for something different.  I follow another instagram acrylic artist and have been been inspired by her work to try a few mini-paintings for myself.  The pumpkin one is a 4″X4″ and the others are 3″X3″.  After doing these, surprisingly, I found the littler ones almost too small for me.

Decorative pumpkin

Lemon

Broccoli

Peach

 

Tomato

The second wedding venue portrait finished

Inked

The second wedding venue portrait is finished and they both have reached their destination.  I really enjoyed doing this one.  It is stark in its own way, as a simple brick-faced building, but its details are quite charming.  Wooden shutters block the lower windows, but the fanned, vertical brick archtop above them and the iron gated doorway add much needed visual interest.  The eye is drawn up to the second story windows with their overflowing flower boxes and striped awnings.  The trees soften the harder angles and add texture.

Number two wedding venue gift portrait

Pencil plus

Number two was started but I forgot to take a photo before beginning the inking.  I was in a bit of a rush as I wanted to get these out before my trip to Boise, and I had a senior moment about the photo.  Still, I managed to catch myself before I went too far.

This one was a bit easier than the last one as I didn’t have to cram so much building into the 10×8 space.  Still, it had its own issues.  This is peeling white paint over red brick.  No color to help delineate that. It has black wooden shutters over the first floor windows and lovely arches in them.  The entryway is  recessed in its own archway and has half circle window above the door.  Grilled iron gates protect the enclosed area too.  So, in its own way, it is packed with detail, too.

The first wedding gift portrait finished

Inked in

It seems so simple to just do black and white.  But it’s not. The first portrait for my wedding venue gift is finished and there was a lot of work to it. Not just in the shapes but in the balance of black and white as well.  These can take almost as much time as a portrait in color. Without the “crutch” of color I have to work carefully with the ink to not over do it and end up with a black blob and no detail in the shadows.

New Commissions

Pencil up

The woman who has had me do the wedding venue portraits as gifts contacted me a couple of weeks ago to do two more. I started the first one and, as always, it is more complicated than would first appear.  There is a lot of building there to pack into a 10×8 portrait and not have too much sky or lawn.