Duet - Part 1

My brother's family was in town recently and while they were here I snapped a photo of my brother and his daughter playing a duet on the piano. They were rockin' "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks". It was an absolutely precious moment. And somehow I've had a run of painting folks from behind. It's like I'm able to sneak up and capture a moment in time, totally on the sly, and sneak away leaving them none the wiser and unaffected by my presence.

I started with just the background.
Piano color at the bottom, wall color at the top.

I sketched in the elements of the scene.

I painted the elements white so I could add color.
I also darkened the wall color.

I moved the girl over because I wanted them touching.
I began adding color.

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Jupiter on the Horizon - Part 2

A couple of our chickens have boo boos on the bottom of their feet. Thanks to the internet we were able to take care of them ourselves and the chickens seem fine and happy. Only thing is...they look like they're walking around with little ace bandages on. Seriously, they look like they've sprained their ankles. They're as adorable as a couple of chicken patients can be!

And I finished this painting. It's passed inspection by my brother and we'll just see what his little guy thinks. He's the expert, after all, and I just might have to do some corrections. Course I'd have to insist that I be able to do it on site...in California...right?!?! Maybe I need to put an error in there on purpose....

Hope he loves it!

Here's the finished painting and some steps leading up to it.

"Jupiter on the Horizon"

I started shadowing Jupiter and adding more details
to the foreground. I also added flame to a third volcano.

More darkening of the foreground and shadowing of Jupiter.

More shadowing of Jupiter and I made it more round.
I also added a lava river.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Jupiter on the Horizon - Part 1

I happen to know a wonderful little guy who is crazy about space and volcanos. His lovely dad, who happens to be my brother, suggested a view of Jupiter from Io, one of its moons. And Io just so happens to be the most volcanic body in our universe. It's true...I looked it up! Win, win! And so, pushed once again out of my comfort zone, I started in on my first space picture since elementary school.

I started with Jupiter and the horizon of Io.

I added three volcanos.

I started layering color on the volcanos.

And more layering.

I decided that I wanted Jupiter to be bigger. I also worked on
the fire or whatever it is that shoots out of the top of volcanos and
began adding some texture to the surface of Io in the foreground.

I painted the surface of Jupiter and added lava.

I'm excited to keep working on and finish this painting for my favorite little astronomer! Fingers crossed that it passes inspection by his scientific eye!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Mr. Monkey - Part 2

I love critters and I'm now a fan of this guy, too! His lovely people take him everywhere they go and he checks out the scenes, meets the people, talks with children, and is totally a lifelong learner and educator. What an honor to paint this!

"Mr. Monkey"

I started adding fur.

I sketched out his face and fingers and I changed the angle of his arm.

I gave him a few highlights because, well, every
monkey needs highlights, right?
I think he's adorable!
Keep your eye out for this fella on TV.
He's gonna be a star!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Mr. Monkey - Part 1

I received the most awesome request the other day. A lovely person wanted me to paint a puppet. A monkey puppet. A fabulously funny, crazy friendly, spectacularly awesome, world traveling monkey! What fun!

I forgot to take more photos of my first stages. Here's the
first one I took. I started with woods at the bottom, a city scene in
the middle, and clouds at the top.

I wanted my clouds to be a little less cartoonish.

After looking at a bunch of Mr. Monkey photos on his Instagram
page I borrowed parts of three photos to create his head,
shoulders, arm, and hand.

I added more details to the buildings.

I painted in Mr. Monkey's shape so I could layer colors on top.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Reclined - Part 2

So I had a Phyllis story yesterday, and I've got another one today. Phyllis is my chicken, in case you don't know. I tried to give that girl a bit of a bath today. Her awesome feathery headdress has been funky and dirty since all the recent rains. So I took her in the house, wet a washcloth with warm water, and went to work. While she tolerated the process, she was by no means a fan. She even let me take a try at blowing her dry while she sat on the toilet seat. Love that glamour chicken of mine!

And I worked sporadically on this painting throughout the day. I'd add paint here and there, see that my proportions were off and move things around, I'd walk away and give her an hour's break...It was a really fun process.

Here's my final piece and below are steps leading up to that.

"Reclined"

I gave her a bottom lift and elongated her legs.
I also began adding fleshtone.

I darkened her and added more shadows.

I added even more shadowing and also enlarged her head.
I added details to her hair.

I darkened her hair color still leaving visible "curls".

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Reclined - Part 1

I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone and painting a nude. I found a photo reference on the internet, printed it out, and got started. (I so wish I could find it again so I could give credit.)

And speaking of comfort zones and reclining, Phyllis has left the shelter of the coop for her egg laying. She's found a new fabulous...of course it's fabulous, she's Phyllis...spot that is so secluded that I thought she'd escaped our yard when I couldn't find her. Dave spotted her reclined, chicken style, in a little cubby hole formed by our deck, with a delightfully leafy branch covering her completely. My girl, Phyllis, keeping luxury in the laying world.

And now back to my painting....

I started with the background. I painted it upside-down
in case the gray dripped. It didn't.

I sketched the figure with a pencil.

I painted a watery line of black paint on my pencil marks.

I filled her in with paint. Now I was able to see that her left arm
was way too short and her waist was way too thin. Also her
neck wasn't right...same with her shoulder. I had a lot of work to do.

I did some work on her shoulder, neck, and waist.
I'm going to let her rest and tomorrow I'll see what
she has to say about everything else I need to work on.

I'm loving working on this one!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!