30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 16 - Wild Pear

Day 16 - Wild Pear

4x4x2" Acrylic on Gallery Canvas

Side View

Reference photo.

The reference photo is just for the shapes and shadows and somewhat for the colors. I didn't bother with a nice background. I take a photo with my iPhone and really boost the colors and contrast using Snapseed so everything is easy to decipher. 

I'm happy with this crazy bright pear, now. But when I was painting it I just couldn't get it to look right until I stepped away for a minute. Sometimes it's hard for me to see with my artist brain instead of my logical brain. Once I reminded myself to stop just painting what I thought I saw and to actually paint what is there, I was fine. Well, I painted a version of what I saw. The colors and brushstrokes are obviously very abstract. But you get what I'm saying, right? Right!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rischa

30 in 30 Day 11 - Polaroid

For Day 11 of 30 in 30 we're gonna "Shake it like a polaroid picture."

Now that I've put that ear worm in your ear. lol Here's the painting.

6x6x2" Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Rischa

30 in 30 Day 9 - Coffee Mug

30 in 30 - Day 9 - Coffee Mug

5x5x2" Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

I went back to my precious acrylics for today's daily painting. I missed you, old friend! Haha! As you can see, I also went back to my lovely, bright colors.

Side View

Yep, those really are the true colors. This is straight off the iPhone camera.

Thanks for stopping by!

January Painting A Day Challenge - Day 1

I decided to join Leslie Saeta in her 30 Paintings In 30 Days January Challenge.

Artisan Water Mixable Oil on 6"x6" canvas board.

My first painting is done in water mixable oil. This was my first try at oil painting since 2007. And I only did it once back then. The paints I used are called Windsor Newton Artisan Oils. You don't need those scary solvents for these. I took the photo with my cell phone and didn't edit except to crop a little bit. I'm happy with how it turned out, but I would like to work on making my paintings looser.

Thanks for stopping by,
Ri <3 p="">

3 More Cuties

I have 3 more girlies to share with you today. 2 that I actually like. 1 that, let's just say, I learned from. Haha! The poor little blond girl that I painted earlier today isn't so good. I tried a few new things with her and the new things aren't keepers. But that's how you learn, right? I really do love the other 2, so I'm not beating myself up over the last girl.

July 22 Girl

July 23 Girl

July 24 Girl

Have a great hump day!

xoxox,

Ri

The July Challenge Continues!

I'm still on track with my July challenge of making one of these cute, little characters each day. This past week and the coming week will prove to be a real challenge because of busy schedules, but I'm determined. Here are the girls that I've created since I last blogged. 

The first one is an older, closer to realistic, girl. I really enjoyed creating her. I will do more of these types of girls on the days I have more time. Like maybe next month? The rest are the young, round faced cuties.

I saved this poor girl for last because she's a bit of an ugly duckling. I must not have been paying attention or wearing my glasses when I created her. Poor thing! I'm sure she'll grow up to be a swan, though. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by! 

xoxo,

Ri

Stiff Neck

Sunday morning I woke up with what I thought was a stiff neck. It gradually became more painful to the point I considered the hospital by Sunday night. First thing Monday, after a long, sleepless night, Joel took me to the doctor. She seems to think it's an RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) flare up. I've had many of those, but never in my neck. Anyway, long story short, I've been taking muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories all week. They're helping, but I've mostly just slept. Which means less creative time. I have managed to do at least a tiny bit each day. And I do mean tiny.



Hopefully I'll be back at it soon and will be able to show you something finished.

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Mixed Media Portrait WIP

Mixed Media Portrait Work In Progress - Golden & Liquitex acrylic paint, graphite, gel pen (so far)

Joel and I visited a great new art supply store in Eustis called Drawn To Art. It's in a beautiful new building downtown.



Across the brick paved street is a new park where the old hospital used to be. I snapped a photo of a sign that leads me to believe this could be a fun place to play!



Once we went into the store we met the owner, who was extremely friendly and down to earth. He didn't have an item I was looking for, so he offered me a few things to try instead. I left there with 6 4x4 canvas boards, a white gel pen, and some titanium white gouache paint, free of charge! I did offer to pay for everything, but he insisted. I plan to go back and offer to pay again. I'm one of those odd people that doesn't feel right about taking free stuff. I love bargaining, but free feels like stealing. I do love local service like that, though. He knows how to make a lifelong customer. Anyway, so as you can see I gave the wood blocks a bit of a break today in favor of one of those mini canvases, courtesy of Drawn To Art. Right now she looks like she's sucking in her cheeks. She'll get an anti-duckface surgery tomorrow.

PS. I'm still on my September creative streak!

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Mixed Media Art Block Painting

Art block girl number 2 is done and ready to be scanned and sealed....I think. I'm never quite sure. I love creating these quirky girls! I will enjoy having them around my home, too. Any name suggestions for her?



My creative streak continues! Every day in September means 12 straight days so far. I know that may not seem like much to some, but to me it's huge. Maybe soon I'll make a more personal blog post and talk about my creative struggles, but for now...pass the Cobalt Teal, please?

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In The Works

I didn't have a large block of time to paint today, but I managed to get a bit further along on the orange/red block.




I colored her hair and hated it, so I went back to white and will decide what to do with it tomorrow.



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Miscellaneous Going Ons

This work in progress is what's on my work bench at the moment. I'll try to finish her details (hair, lips, eyes, clothing, etc...) tomorrow.

I did decide to paint the edges of the last girl.



I did a a few other details, too, even though I THOUGHT I was done.



I've continued my streak of creativity. I've been in my studio working on paintings, however short the time might have been some days, every day this month so far. I hope to continue this streak. Wish me luck!

In a totally separate subject, check out this visitor to our yard today.



He isn't a stranger. We see him, and his larger friend, a lot in our trees. It makes me nervous since we have two little dogs. He sure is beautiful, though.



This photo is from the back and may be harder to see, but his back feathers are so pretty!

I hope you all have had a nice weekend!

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Strong

I'm not quite finished, but I'm pretty close. Here's the progress for today.



...and a texture shot.



One more just for kicks.



I don't know if I'll paint the sides or leave the wood grain. I will more than likely separate her and the word from the background a bit with a dry brushed white halo. We'll see where she goes tomorrow. :)

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W-I-P Wednesday

Here's the progress on the greenish blue block. I had hoped to be posting a finished painting by today, but a doctors appointment yesterday didn't allow for a lot of creative time. I did sketch in the shape of her face yesterday, so I have kept up my streak of having creative time every day. Maybe I'll be able to finish her tomorrow.


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Block Head

I've continued playing with the 4x4 art blocks. I'm finding the size and the inexpensive substrate to be freeing. If I mess the whole thing up, who cares!? I guess with anything you can gesso over what you don't like. Still, though, there's something about these that takes the pressure off.

I finished up the cupcake. It just needs a spray seal and I plan to do that outside when more are complete.






Here are the ones I'm working on now.



I really like how these backgrounds turned out. The color combos make me happy. I intend to draw faces on both, but we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. I change my mind more often than anyone I know!

Here's a closer look at the texture on the blueish green colored one.



Thanks for stopping by!
xoxox

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Journal Page 5-29-2011: Improvise!

Supplies: Strathmore Mixed Media Journal, Golden and Liquitex acrylic paints, Portfolio water soluble oil pastels, Faber Castell Pen in black, Sequin Waste, torn book pages, & Adirondack Color Wash spray ink.

It says: "Life doesn't always turn out how you plan. Your happiness depends on how you IMPROVISE!"

I have to remind myself of that sometimes.

This Love

I don't know why I didn't blog about this before, but a while back I colored a frame of a video for "Drawing This Love". You go to the site, put in your information, and they give you a frame to color. You can use whatever style or medium you'd like as long as the background color is blue. It doesn't have to be plain blue, as you'll see from the video. Here's their video with some colored frames added. My frame is number 698. You can pause it when it gets to that number to see mine.

Really cool idea for a video, right?

For my frame I used Caran d'ache Neocolor II Water Soluble Crayons. Those are my favorite art supplies. They're so fun to play with.

Caribbean Ladies & Blog Decision

First let's talk about the blog decision. I have decided to close my personal blog and just consolidate the Art and Personal blogs into one. This one. So get ready to start seeing both on this blog. It's a way to simplify and a way to save money. My Typepad blog was costing me around $70-80 a year. Why pay for that when Blogger is free and easier to use? I haven't decided whether I'll keep it the same name or come up with something new. I'll probably stick with the same as I like it and have graphics already made and in use for it. I'm sad to see the other one go. It was my first one and I kept it for 6 years or so. I like the look of it and have more posts there than any of my other blogs. Other blogs being this one, my Tumblr one (which I never update) and The Doxie Blog. I update the Doxie one the most as I tend to take millions of photos of my fur children and it's easy to just upload a pic and be done with it.

I know I haven't been showing off any art recently. I think the last thing

I showed was my Sketchbook Project back in mid January. I haven't been making art daily, but I do still create. I play in my art journal, do exercises in books, doodle while I'm in bed, and constantly keep it on my mind. I just haven't felt especially chatty about it. I've also been using my big girl camera a lot more, so check out my Flickr link on the sidebar if you're interested.

I came across a local artist at an Art Stroll in downtown Mt Dora

recently. Her name is Jane Slivka. I googled her and found a web site where she sells an instructional DVD. So this past week I've been working on that. I've made a few Caribbean Ladies in her style so far. Next I plan to try her way of painting flowers. So here are the ladies.

These ladies were painted in my new Mixed Media Strathmore Visual Journal. I think it's my new favorite journal. This one's around 5x8". I'd like to get the larger sized one next time.

I've been doing a little shopping recently, too. I bought lots of new paints and painting stuff. Here's one of the things I picked up. It's called a Masterson Sta-Wet Pallet.

I found it in the clearance bin at Michaels for $4. It's pretty nice not to have to worry about paint drying out. I also learned recently if you put pennies in the bottom of it that will keep it from getting moldy. Neat trick, right?

x's & o's,

Rischa

Rachel The Matriarch made a treasury!

Look! My Saint painting, Rachel The Matriarch, made a treasury!

Thank you lookonmytreasures for including me in your All Saints treasury!

My ATCs

For some reason it keeps slipping my mind to show the Artist Trading Cards that I've made and traded. Thank you for reminding me on Facebook, Candice! Sometimes I need a little push. It's funny, I seem to have surrounded myself with people that are willing to motivate me. Just this past week Christa got me all fired up to make some Frida Kahlo inspired ATCs for our next trade. We also trade art sites via email almost daily and talk about art even more than that! I call my friend, Sharon, my "Fairy Art Mother" because she's always prompting me to create. Which is EXACTLY what I need! Mom is right there with them, as well, with her motivational prompts. Thanks ladies! I really don't know what I'd do without you all!

Okay, so the first 3 ATCs that I made all looked pretty much like this:

I made the first one, the one above, to keep for myself. Call me sentimental, but I had never made an ATC and thought I should keep the first one. Plus, it was great practice at painting so small before I went on to make the two I made for Christa and Sharon. I'd rather mess up on mine than theirs.

For this one I basically just used Golden Acrylic paint and Matte Gel Medium to seal. For the back I simply adhered a pretty piece of scrapbook paper.

Here are a couple of Work In Progress Shots I took with my Cell of the Chickies being made. Sorry, the Blackberry didn't take very good photos.

After these I decided to try a Collaged ATC like Sharon did for the ones she sent me.

For this one I started with torn white tissue paper and pasted it using gel medium. Then I used watered down Golden Liquid Acrylic paint on top of the tissue paper in spots. I found the image shared on one of my Ning networks, I resized, printed, cut out, and pasted with more gel medium. I used clear embossing ink and powder to apply the letters D A N C E. I then realized it didn't show up very well, so I outlined it in waterproof ink. Then I wrote the words underneath and made a border with the same pen. I then sealed it and started working on the back. For the back of this one I just painted with a matching paint color and used gel medium again to adhere my biz card. Sharon said she wanted to see it, so I just stuck it right on there. I sealed it all with Golden Matte Medium.

I have a few more in the works. I'll show those when someone prompts me to do so. LOL I'm just kidding. I'll try to get them up as soon as they're done.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo,
Rischa

PS. Did you notice my new snaggable badges? Grab one for your blog, why don'tcha? They have a transparent background, so your blog's background will show around the scalloped edges. Just copy the code underneath and paste it into the sidebar. For Blogger blogs you'll just add a gadget, choose the HTML option, and paste my code into the large empty field. Save and you're done!