"Owning his Chaos" Part 5

As it's getting cooler here, the pile of blankets on the couch is getting a lot of use. Mixed deep in the middle of the pile is a soft, fleece, covered-in-skulls Snuggie. Well, Dave discovered the Snuggie the other night...and they were inseparable. Once he figured out how to wear it, that is.


I finished this painting. I forgot to take any photos of the last stages, so here's the completed painting.

"Owning his Chaos"

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"Owning his Chaos" Part 4

The little guy is going to an end-of-season football banquet tonight. He's wearing his first ever suit and has a spankin' new haircut. And he is rocking' it. I do believe I heard him say, "I look good." And I concur.


I continued working on my painting today. I used india ink which is so great to work with.

I used india ink to go over the lines.

I added lines where I hadn't had them before.

I used water on a brush to spread some of the
india ink around and to blur it.

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"Owning his Chaos" Part 3

Apparently you can teach an old dog (me) new tricks. At the age of forty-eight I had never used the preheat function on an oven. My little guy, at the age of seventeen, consistently uses it.


Little guy: "Mom, look at the biscuits I made. They're perfect."

Me: "How did you get them to cook so perfectly? Mine never turn out like that."

Little guy: "This button right here." And he showed me the preheat button.


Aha! Consider this new trick officially learned.



We had a lovely show/sale today! Thank you to everyone who came by to see us! I was able to get just the tiniest bit done today during a lull.

I filled in the background with some color.

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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"Owning his Chaos" Part 2

Whew! I'm blissfully exhausted after working at my teaching job all day and then being part of an artists' market all evening. Dave and I loved seeing everyone who came by. We so appreciate all the wonderful conversations and feedback and, gosh, the lovely people who welcomed our art into their homes.

Looking forward to more wonderfulness tomorrow. Please stop by if you didn't have a chance to tonight.


I was able to get just a tiny bit done on my painting this evening when there were a couple of short lulls.

I painted over the charcoal with white paint.
It blended with the charcoal to make a lovely gray.

I began adding a second color.

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"Owning his Chaos" Part 1

I've just started a new class in the Studying Under the Masters series I'm taking. This one is inspired by Brett Whiteley. I'd never heard from him and he is fascinating. I so, so, so love being exposed to artists that are new to me. I've been super busy tonight doing last minute invites to and buying yummies for my and David's show/sale this weekend. (Please come! We'd so love to see you!!!) So that on top of watching videos for this lesson left just a bit of time to just get started. I decided to use charcoal, though that was not the media suggested. It just felt right to me.

This is just a two or three minute sketch.
Excited to work on this more tomorrow.
Not sure where it'll take me. Maybe I'll
paint it...who knows?!?! 

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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"Side by Side" Part 10

Teenage boys have crazy huge appetites...we all know that, right? That just got verified.


Little guy after making a batch of biscuits: "Want some?"

Dave: "No, I'm full."

Little guy: "That's just not part of my vocabulary."


I believe it! And that, my friends, is why we have a Costco membership.



And I finished these paintings!!! What a delightful challenge they were!

Here they are individually and below are the last few stages before completion.

"Side by Side 1"

"Side by Side 2"

I painted over their faces because I didn't want any of the ink
to show. I could still just barely see it to use it as a bit of a guide.
I also decided that I needed to redo the buttons on his shirt
on the painting on the right.

I did a lot of work on their faces and some on their hair.

I continued working on their faces and began adding some
highlights here and there. His buttons are back, too. I added
nails to the bench boards as well.

After struggling with his left hand for the majority of this
process and never managing to get it right with the small
scale I had to work with (and likely my lack of skill),
I made the decision to let his hand just rest. Once I did
that the entire painting relaxed into being ready to be done.

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"Side by Side" Part 9

I love accidental eavesdropping. Not that I'm a snoop or anything, but you can't knock a girl for being in the right place at the right time. I was at the gym and had gone into the group class room. There were two young fellas in there working with some dumbbells.


One guy: "I just want to be lean and muscular."

Other guy: "I just want to be hot."


I smiled to myself and silently wished them both well with their missions.



I continued working on these. I'm feeling very near the end. I've got some work to do on their faces and hands/feet, but I can see signing them in my near future. These have been so much fun!

I added a second layer of white to the marks on the back of
the bench. I began adding elements to her dress and I worked
on his shirt.

I worked on shadowing throughout, added color to her dress
and shoes, darkened the back part of the seat, and added
a deeper tone to their hair.

I added more graffiti type elements to the background,
continued adding color to her dress, decided that I needed
to rework her eye in the left painting before I paint it,
and added highlights to the hay bale.

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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