miniature

Can’t see the forest for the trees..

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Well I did an abstract. Really I did. I didn’t do it to be cool or groovy . I did it because I wanted to portray the existential relationship between the forest and the trees while concentrating on the internal forms of a forest rather than a pictorial representation so as to show the analogous effect of ..oh hell, I can’t keep that crap up. I did it because I really like that picture frame and since I was fixing a hole in the wall I had a whole lot of Spackle leftover.

Note! It’s very hard to take a photo of something like this, with the textures and all. So please excuse the bad photography. It’s a fair size, the long size being about four feet. Seeing as most of my pictures are about 2.5 to 3.5 inches long, it was a bit different.

A close up..

See what I mean, isn’t that a great frame.

And on the side, I threw this little one together, it’s about 3×5 inches. A quickie acrylic. The photo I used came from Wetcanvas‘s Image Reference Library, so thanks to the contributor for sharing it. I may do more on this, I may not. I’m still thinking about it.

Learning from the masters…

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I recently participated in an ATC trade. The theme of the trade was to  learn from some of the great artists. It was interesting. I learned many things, mostly that I prefer to do my own paintings!

This one is based on Cezanne’s self-portrait. Acrylic, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

This is based on a Monet. Acrylic, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

These two are pencil sketches based on Waterhouse’s sketches. Pencil. 2.5 by 3.5 inches

I’ll be adding some works in progress posts soon, as well as some tips and advice on painting.  As always any critiques or comments are welcome.

Some older paintings.

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These are some older works. This first one is of my son, when he was a small baby. It was one of the first portraits I ever tried to do.

Watercolor

 

 

This second one is another miniature of a frog I came across. It’s about 2×3 inches. Watercolor.

 

 

This is a house I used to drive by in Northern New York.  This was one of my first acrylics.

 

 

This was one of my first oil paintings. It’s of my cat Kitten. I’m thinking of doing another of her. She’s such a character. Oil.

A painterly lesson.

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This is a miniature based on Bob Rohm’s book “A Painterly Approach”   available here. It’s a great book if you have a bit of experience with acrylic, oil or pastel. 

Acrylic, miniature, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

Rohm lesson

I’ve had a few people ask how I get such fine lines in my minis. Personally I use a very fine rigger that is quite threadbare and a rigger that I left to dry in a curved position giving me a nice arch. The arch gives wonderful control when painting fine lines. As with anything to do with art,the best thing to do is to look at all the advice that’s out there and choose what will work for you.  The branches on this oak tree were done with the curved rigger.

Acrylic, miniature, 2.5 by 3.5 inches

 

Feel free to ask any questions or offer any critiques.

I accidentally “liked” myself…

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Yes I did, I’m not even sure how I liked myself. But I did. I mean I do like myself, that’s not a problem. It just seems a bit presumptuous to “like” myself on the internet.

Here’s a little lighthouse scene. This was done based on a lighthouse I saw while whale watching in New Brunswick near the Maine border.  It’s an acrylic miniature, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

 NB lighthouse by Virginia Spencer

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2011