Inspiration Today, Studio Happenings and Work in Progress 156

little acrylic starts and experiments
all are 4" by 3,4 or 6 - they will all become backgrounds and underpaitings for something yet to come

Here's what I am finding inspiring this week:

1. This cat painting by Carla Sonheim 
2. A walk through Anthropologie always helps my creativity.  This time they were setting up for Earth Day. 

     3. Orange Roses

4.  Found hearts in my day.  You know the ones that appear in the shadows, the leaves, the clouds... I love finding these little "love" notes.  They make me smile.
5.  Getting together with other artist friends to talk about what we love - art.

29 Faces: 14-16

Sixteen

Jade
encaustic and paper 6 x 6

Fifteen 

Beauty is Skin Deep
encaustic 6 x 6

 

Fourteen

 

Who's That Girl
acrylic on canvas board 6x8

 

 Half way - more than half way to 29.  Its fun this time.  The faces are definitely getting better.  I find learning with acrylic then taking what I learn back to encaustic is really helping.  Blending, color and honestly - just starting with a good drawing is really helpful.  The more I paint, the better I get - love that!

 

 





29 Faces: Ten and Eleven

Eleven

The Guardian
encaustic 12 x 18

We all find inspiration in different places.  This painting, The Guardian, was inspired by Mama.  If you follow this blog, you may remember that Mama was part of our lives in the spring of this year.  Unfortunately, her little family met with an unexpected tragedy.  So, I painted Mama a Guardian for her next nest.

Ten

acrylic 5 x 7



I came across a story about a mother and a daughter that do collaborative art.  The artwork they are creating as a team is really fun - which is what art is meant to be - FUN.  I found this story to be a really interesting read because it highlights some of the fears that weigh artists down.  Yet, as an artist and a Mom, she had to overcome.

She realized that together, they were creating something that was unique and beautiful and together the end product was way more than the parts alone.  Here's the story

29 Faces - Eight and Nine

Eight

The Boyfriend
acrylic on mat board 10 x 10



The girl, Three,  needed a boy friend - so here he is - another run at acrylics.  I actually kinda like the acrylics.  I'm getting used to them a bit.  Like any kind of painting for me - I need to use more paint.  There is some weird thing in me that I can't seem to get enough paint on the brush.  I actually believe it would be easier to paint with more paint because you can move it around the surface and blend it and stuff.  So, I'll try again - more paint, more paint.

In wax - thin layers are the trick.  But, I have to say... that I notice a difference in my wax faces after I've painted a few acrylic faces.  So, back and forth, I go - pondering my learnings a little more.

 

Nine 

encaustic on birch 4 x 6

Painted Bird Houses, Painting with Acrylics, and Painting for Charity

Bird House Finch
acrylic on bird house

I raised my hand - back in June actually.  I said I would and it was delivered bright and white to my door step mid July.  A friend is on the committee to raise support for the Olympic Ballet at this fundraising event.  20+ bird houses were created and delivered to those interested in painting and decorating them to help raise money for the Ballet.  I like to donate when I can.  But, art is a little hard sometimes to donate as it is so personal.

Its been sitting on my work table for over a month waiting patiently for inspiration to be mustered up and some idea to blossom and grow.  The house was already primed and ready to be painted - but the prime coat immediately nixed any idea of it having a waxy coating.  It had to be painted.... in acrylic.
As you all know, I paint with wax.  Acrylic is not my "thing", nor do I really know how to use them.  But, I do have them - hand me downs from my Dad.  So, this little bird house sat.. waiting.
I Googled painted bird houses to see if I could find some inspiration.  Nope.  So, I pondered and the bird house sat.  My stress level was going up and I'd wake up at night wondering what in the world I was going to do with the bird house.  The deadline is beginning to draw closer and my stress level kept increasing.

Lucky for me, a good friend suggested that I steer clear of trying anything decorative which is not my thing and focus on what is my thing - birds.  Birds on a bird house - great idea!  Why didn't I think of that!?  But birds need flowers, and I love flowers - so that's how the body of the house came about.  I also Googled what kinds of birds live in bird houses.  Seemed silly to paint birds that don't actually live in them.  There was a list, but surprisingly enough, there really aren't that many.  Even fewer of them live in my area - so the list was easy to diminish to just a handful - and then, easy for me to pick the one to be part of this artistic adventure - my favorite little red headed bird - the House Finch.


photo by Chuck Starr

 I'm pretty pleased with my acrylic attempt.  I learned a lot and found a few similarities to painting with wax - but I have to say... I really don't care much for cleaning brushes and palettes and paint that dries on my palette, .. brushes that harden when left out of water and having to varnish.  But, with that said - there were things about the acrylics that I did like which will bring me around to playing with them a little more :)

Happy Friday - Paint On!