Month: October 2024
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Eye Roll in Magenta
I was going to blend out some of the watercolour just to soften the lines a little, but then more drips happened, and it is Samhain and Halloween, so I decided the harshness worked. A fun exercise. Til the morn, Suzanne 257/300
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Complex Angle
I’ve been working on this week’s Let’s Face It class today, and the reference is a deliciously challenging and complex angle. If you’ve been following along you’ll know that I’m a wee bit fond of complex poses, so I’m going with the artist’s choice of reference, but choosing my own colours. Before getting into the…
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I’m Not Joking
I performed surgery on her eyes and fiddled with some little details, and she’s finished. 12×16″ acrylic on canvas and I’ve named her I’m Not Joking. This painting, and the one I finished last week, go quite well together with their theme of young women reacting to men demanding they smile. Til the morn, Suzanne…
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Let Them Cook
I have a bunch of unfinished paintings and projects, and I used to give myself a hard time about finishing things, but I am now embracing the idea of having lots of unfinished things that are simply cooking until I feel moved to come back to them. This one has been cooking for ages, and…
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Clown Paint
I pulled this out of the unfinished stack and did a little work on her this morning. I didn’t have a lot of time as we had visitors today, but she’s back on the easel with a fresh pair of eyes, and I think she’ll probably end up with a fresh pair of eyes. Til…
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Sometimes the Worst is the Best
I am highly amused at the fact I spent most of my art time painting the Let’s Face It class portrait in oils, fannying about with values, and repeatedly reminding myself this was not a colour exercise, it’s a value exercise. I was pretty happy with my sketch, but as the oil paint moved around,…
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From Sketchbook to Painting
I was at risk of spending all my time doing more sketches of this reference, but I started on the painting proper, even though I only had time for a graphite sketch and a first block in of the shadows with raw umber. The graphite sketch was really bothering me, but the paint has improved…
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Three Brushes Three Sketches
Today I have been working in my sketchbook doing multiple sketches of the same reference photo. I have mostly been using my trusty caput mortuum sketch blend, although I did do one sketch in graphite. This is a Let’s Face It class, and the reference is the artist herself, so I’m setting myself the challenge…
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Woman With Fringe
All the sketches and paintings and play that danced out of a single reference photo, and across the pages of this blog, are part of the story of this finished painting. I think we get caught up in the presentation of art on social media as being fast, instant, easy, and maybe that’s true for…
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Third Pass Nearly There
I have to laugh at myself. A while back I made myself a stay-wet palette, and even wrote a blog about it. I tested it out and decided it would work perfectly for doing larger paintings where I need to save mixed colours for the next day. Yesterday I worked on this painting, and I…
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First Pass Keep Going
Yesterday’s photo appears much more blue than the actual canvas, and my phone seems to have a tendency to do that. Today’s pic is much more like it for the background. This is the first pass of this painting. I’m just playing with the limited palette I chose, and blocking in values. The reference photo…
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It’s Just Paper
Paint made it onto canvas today, and I have a first sketch down. I realised today that my brain had somehow started subscribing to the idea that I must paint deeply meaningful paintings, and that I was treating canvases as if they are made of gold. Fascinating the way the inner critic can weedle its…
Thrummie Bizzum 