Moana's Beach (8x10)

I painted this picture for my friend, Moana. She took a gorgeous photo on a beach in Hawaii. This piece is inspired by her photograph. You know I can't resist a Hawaii sunset!

Mossy Waterfall (8x10)

This is my workspace.
I primed the canvas for this painting with black gesso, painting black around the edges so it can be hung finished without a frame. I spent several hours on this one, but finally whipped it into shape.

I just love the green moss in the forests of Olympic National Park. This painting is a tribute to the beautiful Northwest.

Coconut Beach (5x7)

This is painted on an itty bitty 5x7 canvas. It's about the smallest canvas size I can find. I made up this little beach scene and I am going to have a lot of fun picking a little frame to put it in.

For Sale!!

I set up a new shop on Etsy.
Check it out to see all my paintings that are currently for sale!

crafteepainter.etsy.com

The Ocean (18x24)

This is the LARGEST painting I have made yet. It is 18x24 and will go over my fireplace. This is based on one of my vacation photos from Barbados.

It was so warm and peaceful and this ocean looked so expansive! I did my best to capture that first on film, and now on canvas. This is my original photo.

This was painted in two session. The first step was to paint the sky and the ocean. The figure and the boat were added after the first layer dried.

Sunset Birds (5x5)

This is the tiniest painting I have made yet! It is on a thick canvas and I painted it to wrap around the sides, which was harder than I expected. It was fun working in such a small size, though. I might try more little ones!

Barbados Beach Comber (11X14)

This painting was inspired by a recent trip to Barbados. The water was a gorgeous turquoise color and the beaches were white sand. This image is based on the work of a local painter named Janice Brock.

Hogwarts (11x14)

This is by far the most complicated painting I have made to date. The details were, quite frankly, a bit intimidating. I took my time and painted this one in three steps: the sky, the castle, and the water with the boats. All together, I spent about 8 hours painting this one. But I am so proud of how it came out! I am gaining confidence in my craft.

The world of Harry Potter holds a special place in my heart. This scene depicts the first year students arriving at their new school for the first time. I dedicate this work to the final movie, coming out in just weeks. Lumos!

Long Beach (11x14)

This painting is based on my mother's photography (see SelectiveSight.com). We took a trip to Long Beach, Washington a few years ago and the beach was covered in a blanket of fog. This image captures the tranquility of that day.

Romantic Sunset

The only thing better than an ocean sunset is sharing it with someone one you love.

Oregon Beach Sunset

This one is painted in a compact 8x8 size. It manages to capture a sense of freedom in flight and you can almost feel the ocean breeze. Bring on summer road trips!

London Fog (8x10)

The background of this image was painted last week. I had to wait for it to dry to add the lamp posts. It's a continuation of my experimentation with light.

Winter Glow (11x14)

It's harder to paint light than you'd think! Real light is far brighter than the whitest white oil paint, but it sure is fun to try. This almost makes me want to go frolic in the snow one last time before summer arrives.

Go Fly A Kite

I think I was inspired by the desire to explore a sense of motion. This image has a decidedly bright summer feel to it. Bring on the joy!

Night Driving

Here is my latest installment. I like the sense of motion in this image.

Fire!

I made this (8x10) Campfire painting as part of an ongoing experiment with light. This photo reflected a bit of sheen from the wet paint, but I think the warmth of the image comes off well. It reminds me of fond camp memories as a child, singing songs. You can almost hear him playing Blackbird, can't you?

Maui Waters

I made this painting (11x14) for a friend of mine. It's based on a photograph that she took while visiting Maui. It is representative of so many beautiful evenings on the island, as the temperature drops and you're drawn to the rushing sound of the ocean. I did my best to convey this mood in the painting. This one's for you, Moana!

Indian Summer

It feels like a long time since I've done a Bob Ross painting. This one is 16x20, based on the Indian Summer episode from the Joy of Painting series. What the Bob can do in 30 minutes, I struggle to finish in 3 hours. By the time I put the brushes down, I was sore, thirsty, slightly disoriented, and in need of yoga.

However, I have learned some great techniques from Mr. Ross, and I credit him with getting me started on oil painting! This one's for you, Bob.

Fog

This is an 8x10 black and white painting. They say an artist's mood affects their work. Perhaps this is my Gray Period (like Picasso's Blue Period)?

Rainy Daze

I made this 8x10 painting with my new Gamblin paints. I made it in two steps, first painting the image, then attempting to add the rain effect. The rain was a big gamble and I'm not sure it wasn't better before I added it? But, at any rate, there it is and it does make an interesting impact.

Exploring Texture

I made another knife painting (8x10), this time using an assortment of different textures to create a garden composition. This thick paint looks so tasty! I'm told that paint can be toxic, however, so I will refrain from trying to eat it like cake icing.

Paints With Knives

This is my 9th painting in my first month as an oil painter. This 8x10 piece was definitely a brand new experience for me. This was my first attempt at making a painting entirely with painting knives! And in fact, I made almost the whole thing with just one knife: a small diamond shaped knife, much like this one.

I based this piece off of another artist's knife painting that I found online, by the name of Rybakow. I thought the composition and the bright colors were just beautiful, and having the image of his painting to work from helped me in learning how to use the knife. I don't know if you can see the thick texture in this picture? It really was fun to work with thick, bright colors, and lay them on in organic shapes like sliding butter on toast.

Aloha!

I just love Hawaii. It's so beautiful and relaxing there. I'd almost say there's something magical about the islands. I have postcards from Maui and Kaua'i all around my desk. I was looking at them one day and started to think I could actually paint one!

So here we are. I painted this one on 11x14 and made it in two steps. I painted in the background first, let it dry for about a week, and then painted a black overlay of ground, palm trees, and hammocks. I almost felt like I was there while I painted it! I hope my love for the islands comes through in this picture.

I also got my new paintstation delivered yesterday! This is my new workspace, where I finished the painting above.

Past and Future

I've really been bit by the painter's bug (if there is such a thing). I find it odd that I made a couple of paintings in the past, but never with this sort of vigor. Why now? Who knows, but I'm not going to fight it. I'm going to run with it.

I've been reading a bit of art history lately. I'm very interested in the Impressionist movement (see the picture from Monet below that spawned the term Impressionism, originally a term to scourn the work of these artists).

How odd that their work, at the time, was so ill-received, as they were challenging current notions of art. How dare they use bright colors, visible brush strokes, and natural themes instead of the time-honored methods of painting religious and historical figures with dark serious colors and invisible brush strokes!

I would like to experiment more with loosening up my brush strokes and focusing on light and color. It goes against my nature of trying to make everything photo-realist, so I think it would be good for me.

I've been seeing amazing examples of paintings that were all done with palette/painting knives and I so want to try my hand at it! I went out to Blick art supplies last night and bought a few knives to work with. There are so many different shapes and sizes, it was hard to choose!

I just feel like I don't have enough time to paint! It's been 4 days since I sat in front of the canvas, which may not sound like much, but I would love to dabble in the paints a little bit every day. The problem is, since most of my paintings are done in one sitting, I need to dedicate a fairly big block of time to make one. This is tough to do on a weeknight.

But, I do have a couple of things in the works, even if they are just in the planning stage! In the next week or so, I will be finishing a painting of Hawaii, experimenting with painting knives, and working with another episode or two from the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross. Come back soon!

Brush Strokes

Another experiment! This time trying bolder, looser brush strokes. It is counter-intuitive to a detail oriented realist like myself, but also a fun exercise. I like how it turned out looking playful.

I painted this one 8x10 on Saturday, March 19th.

Nocturnal

I have started experimenting with different styles of painting. I wanted to practice with clouds and I'm also interested in nocturnal pictures. I based this one off of a photo of the night sky. (It was hard to get a good picture to post without catching some glare from the wet paint.) I cut out a round sticker to mask the spot for the moon, so it would stay white while I worked on the clouds!

This was painted 8x10 on Friday, March 18th.

Painting from a Photograph

This was my first painting made from a photo. Honestly, I knew I wanted to paint from pictures eventually, but I didn't think I'd progress this fast!

I added the flower detail a few days later, after the painting had dried a bit.

I finished this 11x14 on March 15th.

Going it Alone

This was my first attempt at painting without any instruction. I used the techniques I've learned so far from Bob Ross and just made up the composition. I mixed the colors to create a gray-blue, more like the colors we see so often here in the Northwest. It's a little 8x10 canvas (the first two were 16x20) and it was fun to make. It went much more quickly than the larger ones, and it was easier to focus without turning back to the television to see Bob Ross, although I did miss his soothing encouragement to create my own happy little world. Still, I suppose I could hear him in my mind (crazy painter?).

This was painted on March 4th.

The Joy of Painting

This was my second painting (similar to the first one), on March 2nd, from a Joy of Painting episode I found on tv. It gave me a lot more practice with using the knife to paint mountains!

My first painting

I started on February 26th with my Bob Ross Master Kit, after spending a bit of time figuring out how to set up my workspace.

This is what I came up with: an easel in the dining room, using the dining table as a space to hold my paints, brushes, thinner, etc. I also rigged a sort of bucket with a rack to dry my brushes on, instead of banging them against the easel like Bob Ross does.

I watched the Getting Started Video and then got to work with the hour long instruction. I paused it so many times. I think it took me about 4 hours to paint this one, plus a lot of time to set up and even more for cleanup. I've gotten much faster now, but on this one, I think I spent about 6 hours total. Still, it was a good first try and motivated me to keep going!

Bob Ross is the man!

I am on a journey with oil paints. How did this begin? I stumbled upon an episode of the Joy of Painting a few weeks ago and got sucked into watching it. I had watched the occasional episode with my sisters when I was little, and I find that he is still mesmerising! The way he creates a whole world in 30 minutes, all the while talking so softly about each happy little cloud and tree; he makes it look so easy!

For the first time, I started to look past his soothing voice and tried to understand just how he made that painting come together. A knife for painting? Where can I get one of those? How can I learn? I decided I wanted to get back into painting. (I made 4 or 5 acrylic paintings over 5 years ago.)

About two weeks later, I was roaming through Michaels, looking for a new craft project (and not thinking about painting at all), when I saw a Bob Ross painting kit! They make kits?! After convincing myself to give it a try, I came back the next day and bought one. And as they say, the rest is history. In the last three weeks, I have made 6 oil paintings and I am itching to do more.

It turns out that painting is just the hobby I needed, and Bob Ross is the teacher to get me started. I will try to use this blog as a spot to post pictures of my work and share my latest adventures. Happy painting!