More minis

More minis

I accidentally ordered some mini 4″x4″ canvas panels instead of mini canvases last month. I painted these just for fun a few at a time and they turned out pretty well. Kind of fun art vs fine art. They will be in my etsy store as soon as I get them varnished next week.

Three mini paintings done.

All done

I finished these three 4×4 mini pond paintings and will probably list them this week after I varnish them. I’m not sure how much I will list them for yet, but there are more hours in them than you might think.

I kind of like the way they turned out and think they would look very nice on a little easel on an end table or framed as a set on a wall.

Mini pond paintings

Pencil Up

Preliminary acrylic paint

I haven’t put any of my larger pond paintings up for sale yet because of my merchandising efforts, so I decided to do some mini 4″X4″ ones for sale in my etsy shop or on instagram. I am working on all three at once in a little row on by drafting table because they are so small and to keep the colors somewhat unified. They are all developing a slightly different palette as I go along, which is nice.

Maybe it’s done now

Is it this one

Or this one

There are only a few subtle changes in these two. Can you tell which is the final? Look for the little bit of change in the blues and whites, especially around the flowers.

Okay, it is the top one. I took out a bit of the reflections. Not a big deal, but it made a difference to my eyes. I am taking all of my pond paintings to a photographer to have really good color quality pictures for marketing them. I got accepted into the on-line art print dealer Turning Art and I want the absolute best representation for them. Don’t get me wrong. I like what I have done for my Society6 shop on my own. I certainly would not put up something I was unhappy with, but I think it is time to up my game.

I think out of all of the pond paintings I have done these last two years, this is my favorite. What about you? I think if you search for pond paintings here, they should come up.

Mostly done

More paint on

Subtle changes

Is this is mostly done? What does it still need? A lot, actually. I know it is hard to see, but the bottom one is a later version and I still think it needs a lot of work. It is still quite flat looking and not enough tonal difference. I changed the photo to black and white and it definitely showed that the tonal balance was off. The good thing is that the more I do these, the less afraid I am of making alterations. I think you will like it when it is done.

Pond painting number 9!

Pencil up

Two days in

Can you believe it? I counted up the pond paintings I have done since I started in 2019 and there are now nine of them. Although frustrating at times, I have learned a lot about acrylics and enjoyed every minute. I am running out of photos of the pond at the Boise Train Depot and will have to go back for more. And visit family. Too bad for me. LOL

I really just use the photos for a basic reference on placement of the lily pads and minorly for some of the colors. Once I get going, I just let it flow and the picture tells me where to go. I will just tell you now, though it took a lot of tweaking (just like the stream painting) it has turned out to be my favorite one.

I might actually be finished with the stream

Almost finished

Done!

Finally I think it might be done. I have niggled on it for several days and for the first time, it looked better to me the day after I worked on it. I think the addition of the dark blue in the lower left finally did it for me. As always, I wish I could photograph my work better. It really does look better in person. More depth.

Days 4 and 5

More painting

Still more painting

Lots of days in this painting. I have been watching youtube videos again and it gives me the courage to keep on painting even when I don’t think it is going well. I have done so much repainting on the water, I feel like I am going mad. Nothing is remotely right yet, except maybe those tree trunks in the middle right. Especially the big one. Still I have resolutely decided not to be afraid of redoing something over and over. If it is not good in the first place, how can it be “ruined”.

Back to painting

After the three home commissions, I decided to go back to painting a bit. I am still fussing some with some of the previous pond paintings, so it is just easier to start a new acrylic and work on all of them at once. Also, I have been looking at my sales on Society6. It seems that that paintings on the merchandised products have been selling the best for me, so I am sticking with that for now. I would also appreciate suggestions on what you might think would be good subjects for me to use on that site. Take a peek using the link from my blog roll to get an idea of what I am talking about.

Laying down the pencil

Two days in

Perhaps you can tell (or not) but I eliminated the tree trunk in the water from the foreground. It got too confusing to paint and really didn’t add anything to the picture. In fact, I was so unhappy after the first day with the whole thing that I almost chucked it and reapplied the gesso to start something else. I decided to push through and it has improved somewhat. We’ll see. Day two has seen some improvement.

More lily pads

Base coat and pencil up

Acrylic layer one

More lily pads. I am currently working on three house portrait commissions but I wanted to show what I had been working on before I started on the new ink and pastel work. The pond works may be a bit boring for some by now, but I am totally enjoying painting them and trying to be creative so that none of them are very alike.  I feel pretty successful in that endeavor. Also my technique is improving, don’t you think. LOL

Also, I have items with my images on the Society6 website and the pond paintings have been popular along with the Boise paintings. Another big plus. Check out the link in my blog roll if you are curious about my art on various household and personal items. I am pretty pleased with the variety.