New Soft Pastel Painting: Speaking Sky

                                                                                Hello Everyone:

This is an original 12" X 16" soft pastel painting painted on a sheet of pastelmat pastel paper.  

Now this was really fun.  I did not have anything special in mind when I started this piece. As usual, I started with the sky and went from there.  Once I saw the sky, I just let my hand go on its own and see what would happen.  It is not only fun, but oh, so satisfying when a piece seems to paint itself and adopt its own personality.  This does not happen often with my art, but when it does, I just let it happen.

Once you do enough art, it will happen for you from time to time.  The more experience you have with your art, the easier it will be to recognize it and then allow yourself to let go and allow it to paint itself.  When this occurs, I call it your inner artist painting the piece.  I do not know if I coined that phrase "inner artist" but I really do believe in it.  When your inner artist takes over, I believe your soul is actually doing the painting.  Your conscious is just along for the ride.  This is why we create.  Whether your a visual artist, musician, theater actor or video game designer, if you create, you have had your inner artist try and come out and play.  Hopefully, you listened and allowed them to create.  That, after all, is where true beauty resides.

Have a Blessed Day.

New Soft Pastel Painting; Soft Colors

Hello Everyone;
I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend.  My wife and I broke out of Illinois and went on the lamb to Wisconsin on Saturday. We actually went into non essential stores (Hobby Lobby and Michaels) and walked around small towns where life is close to normal again.
Sunday we bought a steel fire pit from Menards (store was packed like I have never seen before) put it together and had a fire Sunday night.
Today we relaxed a bit and, of course, I painted.
Here is another soft pastel painting I completed an hour ago.  I used my last sheet of Le Carte pastel paper from Sennelier.  Well, this may have been the last sheet I had, but I will be ordering more soon.  I was torn between pastel mat and e carte and for me, le carte works best.  Both are wonderful sanded pastel papers, but for some reason, the le carte tends to work better for my style.  As of right now, I am not sure where my artist journey is taking me.  I love painting in oils, watercolors and soft pastels.  Lately, I have been giving the pastels a lot more attention.  When I enter my studio, all three mediums are right there in front of me, but I seem to gravitate towards the pastels.  I have learned through life to not ignore your inner feelings.  Follow that little voice and go with it.  Right now it's pastels, maybe tomorrow oils.  Part of the fun of the journey is the unknown.  Take that step out in faith and see where it takes you.
Have a Blessed day my friends.

New Watercolor Painting; Moving Horizon

Hello Everyone;
Since the rain still has not let up, I decided to do some more painting.  Earlier today, I painted a soft pastel landscape, this evening, a watercolor painting.  I wanted to make an active sky, not necessarily a storm sky, just action within it.  I used 4 colors and a few blends to give a little movement, then I tried to use soft and hard edges in the clouds to give it a little oomph.
Did this painting work?  I have no idea, but I do know this, I had this image in my head and I painted it.  If you never take a risk, then you will never accomplish anything.  Creating art is all about taking risks.  You can never be satisfied with where you are as an artist.  Each artist must continually take risks with their compositions, or color pallet or technique or anything they are comfortable with.  I do not know this for a fact, but I do believe with all of my heart that the best art is accomplished when we go out on a limb and take those risks.  We create something we did not know we had in us.  Please keep in mind though, when you take risks, you must also be willing to accept failures.  Only a small portion of your art will be the "WOW" art.  Inevitably, we will create many more failures then successes.  If we can accept this and keep on taking risks, you will become a successful artist.  Success defined by you, not a board, or art critics in some magazine.  Be yourself and take a chance.
Have a Blessed Day my friends.

New Pastel Painting; Soft Pastures

Hello Everyone;
I hope all are doing well.  Here in the Chicago land area, we have a whole lot of rain.  A little thunder, but nothing severe, just a nice spring growing rain. 
Today's pastel painting deals with a secluded mountain scene I call "Soft Pastures"  I do not name all of my paintings (maybe I should) but when I complete one that speaks to me a bit, I tend to give it a name.  The funny thing is, it does not even have to be a good painting, it just needs to speak to me.  I have named some paintings the public has never seen and never will.  Maybe the painting itself was a disaster, but there was one redeeming element that made it speak to me.  That one element surrounded by garbage could be that one insight you needed to execute a really good painting in the future.  That one tiny bright spot could end up illuminating an entire series of wonderful art pieces.  I guess my point is to listen to that inner artist deep within yourself.  Every artist has that little voice that tells them when to stop a painting, where to add that subtle dash of color, where to soften an edge and so on.  The trick to using your inner artist is to be emotionally level.  When you create art, you need to be in a somewhat calm state of mind. The more at peace you are, the less interference there is inside your head.  Once you learn to clear your mind and listen to your inner artist, you will notice that it speaks to you about many things, not just art.  Once you begin to listen to that inner artist, your life, your art and everything else in your life will begin to work for you instead of against you.  Your inner artist will show you the way to your inner peace.
Have a Blessed Day my friends.

Hello Everyone;
I hope all wonderful Mothers had a great day.
For some reason, I am on a soft pastel kick as of late.  I had put them away for long time, and a few weeks ago, for reasons still unknown to me, I pulled them out and began creating art.  I was not only creating art, but I was having a whole lot of fun doing it.  As I have said in previous posts, soft pastels are messy and can be a bit difficult to work with, but the colors are well worth the trouble.  I am finally beginning to see what others have told me through out my life, sometimes the difficult things turn out to be the best.  I am not saying I am a soft pastel artist only.  I love oil painting and watercolors are just so much fun.  I do not see myself giving those up ever.  I have admitted to myself though, I will not put the pastels away again.  I believe they are part of my studio from now on.
I have been looking at You Tube videos of artists using soft pastels in plein air.  That definitely looks like something I will be trying as soon as the weather breaks.  I may take a video of that adventure and post it.  Any how, I hope everyone is creating art in what ever medium you prefer.  I hope you are having fun doing it and I hope all of you will have a Blessed day.

New Soft Pastel Painting; Did I Hit It Or Swing And Miss??????

Hello Everyone;
I need your help on this one.  Just as my title asks, did I hit it or a big swing and miss?  This is the essence of art my friends.  Take chances.  I had this image in my head on my way home from work this afternoon and decided to put it on paper.  The concept is correct, I am just not sure if the execution works.  It is a bit more abstract then I imagined, but the colors seem to work.
Regardless of what becomes of this piece, I will keep it.  I may not list it on my Etsy site, but I will keep to refer back to.  One of the best teachers we have is our own mistakes.  The more mistakes you make, the better your art becomes.  I really do believe that.  Once we get into a comfort zone with our art, it always becomes a bit stale.  It makes no sense.  If we do the same thing over and over we should get better, right?????
Think about it this way.  If you lift weights, the only way to progress is to consistently try and lift more weight.  If we lift 100 lbs only, we actually become weaker.  So, it stands to reason that we should apply that same logic to our art.  We do not have to change who we are as artists.  We do not have to change our style.  We do however, need to challenge ourselves within our style, within our own soul.  Those challenges are not clearly evident to a casual observer of our art, but they do make a profound impact on how we see our art, and most times, how we see ourselves as people.  Striving to be better, leaving that protective box as it were is a bit scary.  To some, down right terrifying.  Our growth as people depends on our willingness to step out in faith and be prepared to conquer whatever is in our way and at the same time accept that defeat is a real possibility.  Never do something or not do something because of fear.  Accept defeat as a learning experience and accept success as a step closer to your goals.  Keep it in perspective and watch yourself grow.
Have a Blessed day my friends.

New Painting; A Dive Into Soft Pastels

Hello Everyone;
Something a bit new for this blog.  This is an original 8" X 10" soft pastel painting.  I used a scrap piece of pastelmat pastel paper I had laying around.  For some reason, pastels have been on my mind lately.  Out of all the mediums there are, I believe soft pastels give the artist the most freedom to create art.  They are a bit messy and they are very delicate.  They must be displayed behind glass and extra care needs to be taken for storage and transport of them.
All that being said, soft pastels are almost pure pigment except for the tiny bit of binder needed to keep them in stick form and usable.  Funny enough, if taken care of, soft pastels are the most archival of all mediums.  They are a dry medium so there is no worry about yellowing, buckling or deterioration due to not applying layers correctly.  My favorite aspect of soft pastels is the intimacy you get as the artist when creating your art.  They are small sticks of vibrant rich color literally at your finger tips when you apply this medium to paper.  I love watercolors, oils and soft pastels the most.  I rarely use other mediums.  Soft pastels are my favorite for a purely artistic expression of color.  Oil paints for a little more realism and watercolors for convenience and fun.  All three are archival and beautiful, but the soft pastels have no brush between you and your support.  I highly recommend them, but before you buy your first stick, please, do your research on you tube.  The paper is more important then the soft pastels (in the beginning) and it can be a bit pricey.  Look on Ebay and Amazon for deals.
Have a Blessed day my friends.

Good Bye My Little Girl

Hello Everyone;
Today is a personal post.  My wife and I lost our little girl Julietta last night.  She was a 27 year old cockatiel that we had for 23 years.  She was not sick or in pain, just old.  Yesterday evening, she had difficulty keeping her eyes open,  moved around very slowly and had no appetite.  Laura and I spent some really good quality time with her before we put her to bed for the night knowing she may not make it through the night.  Sure enough,  I found her this morning at the bottom of her cage.  We all had our good byes together last night and she went peacefully.
Every night, Laura would hand feed her angel hair pasta to go along with the seed in her cage.  Every Saturday night, she would sit on my shoulder and I would share Rold Gold pretzel sticks with her.  She gave us a lot of joy and love for only being 3.5 oz's.  When Laura and I were home, she would be let out of her cage so she could play with us.  She could not fly well so we kept her wings cut so she would not hurt herself so her main mode of transportation was waddling from one end of the couch to another.  We went to Menards today and bought a really nice pot and buried her in it with new flowers she will help grow and be as beautiful as she was.  Laura and I never had kids of our own, so she was a close as it got for us and we loved her dearly.  We are sad she is no longer with us, but we are grateful for the wonderful 23 years we had together.
Here is where she will rest.  The pink flowers and little bird were from my parents who spent a lot of time with her as well.  I realize this may seem silly to some people, but when you spend that much time with a living creature, you form a bond that is very real and very important.  She will be missed and we loved her and neither of us will apologize for that.

Have a truly Blessed day my friends and never ever be ashamed of showing love to any of God's wonderful creatures.

How About A New Watercolor Painting?

Hello All;
I hope everyone is doing well.  Today I had nothing on my mind.  Normally, when I get ready to paint I usually have something in mind.  Whether it is what medium I will be using or what subject matter I would paint.  Today, I had no idea.  I walked into my studio not even really knowing if I wanted to paint or just sit on the couch and watch re runs of A Big Bang Theory.  Unless I am sick, I pick painting over watching television pretty much every time.  Whenever I am not sure of what I am doing, I always pick up my watercolors and my sketch book and I doodle.  Sometimes I swatch the colors I swatched a hundred times over already, but the trick is to put paint to paper.  I did that for about fifteen minutes or so when an image came into my mind.  There it is.  I went from doodling to a finished painting within the same studio time.  Even if your main medium is not watercolors, keep a small sketch book and a small travel set with you for those artist block occasions.  Watercolor doodling or sketching is a great way to get your mind into a painting frame work.  Once that happens, then grab your preferred medium and go at it.  I talk to so many people that are somewhat new to art and they insist on everything being perfect before they can paint anything.  Whenever I can, I tell them, just paint.  It really does not matter what you paint so long as you put paint to paper.  Once you start painting, doodling or whatever you want to call it, your creative side will eventually take over and your artist block is gone.  Try it, I bet you will be pleasantly surprised.  Have a Blessed and safe day my friends.

Masters Touch Products; 5" X 7" Canvas Panel Oil Painting

Hello All;
I hope everyone is doing well.  I realize everyone is getting antsy to venture from your homes and I can say I am no different.  Here in Illinois, it is 60 degrees today, but most things are closed.  So, I put in my Jimmy Buffet cd, open some windows and paint.  This is my newest oil painting I used Masters Touch products only.  The paint and the canvas panel was from Hobby Lobby before the close down.  I stocked up on panels and paint the day before they closed.  I will not replace my normal oil paints and primed hard board with Masters Touch products, but to be truthful, they are much nicer then I originally thought they would be.  The panels have a rigid backing and a nicely textured painting surface.  The oil paints go on well and the colors are vibrant.  The oil paints do have light fast ratings on the back of each tube that is pretty good as well.  My only real issue is the drying time.  Thicker applications dry much slower then artist grade oil paints.  Now don't get me wrong, they do not take weeks or months to get dry to the touch, but it is a bit longer then what I like.  I am averaging a full week to get touch dry and that is with using walnut alkyd medium from M Graham.  Even so, a week for oil paints is not that bad.  If your looking for a pretty decent student grade oil paint at a great price, by all means, try them out.  I think you will like them.  Have a Blessed day and hang in their my friends.

New Oil Painting; Pallet Knife Try

Hello Everyone;
I was not really sure of what to paint today, but I knew I wanted to paint.  I have two plastic pallet knives I bought at Hobby Lobby awhile ago and use them primarily to clean off my pallet when I am finished painting for the day.  Since I had nothing special in mind, I decided to use them to paint a picture.  This is an 11" X 14" oil painting completed 100% with two plastic pallet knives.  I actually don't hate it.  As a matter of fact, it is growing on me a bit.  No lie, they are really tough to get used to, but I do like the different textures and effects i was able to get with them.  I am not sure if I will try this again, but it is tempting.  I did not waste anywhere near the paint I thought I would, and point of fact, it was a whole lot of fun.  I know I will go through all of the YouTube videos tonight on knife painting to see all of the little tips and tricks needed to paint with this equipment.  I don't know, maybe I have found something else to add to my art.  Please believe me when I say, NEVER EVER be afraid to fail.  Always try new things and always think outside of your comfort zone.  When you challenge yourself mentally, you find things about yourself you never thought possible.  New ideas, thoughts, likes and skills.  We can not grow unless we fail and we can not fail if we don't try.  Always try.
Have a blessed and safe Good Friday my friends.

New Watercolor Painting; Aquabord Painting

Hello Everyone;
It has been a little while since I posted a watercolor painting.  Here is one I just finished this evening.  It is a 5" X 7" watercolor landscape painting on a piece of aquabord.  I know you have heard me talk about how much I love painting on this surface and also, how difficult it is to get the hang of this surface.  Both are still true, but I am feeling a bit more comfortable with this support.  Like anything else I guess, nothing of value comes easy.  The more we practice, the better we become.  I believe that will also be true with my aquabord adventures.  I hope by now, everyone realizes that in order to be good at painting, or anything for that matter, it takes a lot of effort.  Whenever you see a painting you love, a world class athlete, great actor or incredible musician or anyone else that excels at any given profession, they all have one thing in common.  They all worked their tails off.  Anyone could be great at something, but our greatness or lack there of is in direct correlation to the amount of effort and sacrifice we are willing to do.  Work hard, enjoy the journey and see what happens.  You may be pleasantly surprised.
Have a blessed day.

New Oil Painting: Using Cheap Oil Paints part 2

 Hello Everyone;
As promised, here are the other paintings I did today with Masters Touch oil paints.  I was going to make three posts, but I decided to combine the last two paintings into one post.  As with anything, practice makes perfect except for art and playing a musical instrument.  I really believe those are two endeavors where you can never say, I know it all.  You constantly learn regardless of how proficient you become.  There is always something new to learn.  For me, the journey is very rewarding.  When you see where you came from and where your level as an artist is today, it can be mind blowing the growth you had.  Practice is the key though.  What is cool about being an artist is that the practice part is fun.  A lot of times I paint an entire painting, but quickly, thinking very little and kind of feeling my way through it.  Sometime we think too much and we end up removing the aspect of our work that reflects our inner artist trying to be set free.  Another way I practice I posted earlier where I take certain elements and practice them by themselves over and over again trying to get them just the way I want to. 
Another aspect of becoming a better artist is trying new things.  Painting outside of your comfort zone.  Since we are creatures of habit, we tend to stay in our comport zones.  When we do this, our growth is substantially reduced.  We must always challenge ourselves.  When we feel ourselves becoming content, we need to change it up.  We do not always need to make it a drastic change, but we definitely need new challenges. 
This brings me to a final point for today, and this point can be applied to everything we face in life.  Never be afraid to fail.  If you don't fail, that means your not trying.  My father taught my brother and I a very long time ago that there is a huge difference between a failure and failing at something.  Failing at something means you tried and came up short.  You put out the effort , but the results were not what you wanted.  A failure never tried to begin with.  They sit and complain that they can not do anything, complain about everyone else and are jealous of everyone who they think have more then them.  These people never put themselves out there.  They were so afraid of failure that they became one.  Regardless of the results, never stop moving forward.  One step at a time or one inch at a time, so long as you try, your never a failure.
Have a Blessed day my friends

New Oil Painting; Cheap Oil Paints Review

Hello Everyone;
Since so many non essential stores are closing now, I still wanted to paint, but not use my really good paint not knowing when I could replenish.  My wife and I went to Hobby Lobby on Friday and I bought their ten 50 ml oil paint set.  Masters Touch paint was at 50% off so that set cost me $14.99.  This landscape and the following two posts were painted with these paints and they were painted on Masters Touch canvas panels as well.  I do not know the drying times as of yet since I did these paintings today, but this is not bad paint.  Actually, it is much better then I expected.  It mixed clean colors, it had a creamy consistency and the colors look bright.  I was able to use the same techniques I use with my more expensive artist quality oil paints.  Don't get me wrong, these paints can never replace artist quality paint, but for artists of all levels, there is a purpose for them.  For artists, it is a cheap way to try new techniques and pallet knife work without costing a lot of money.  For beginners, it is a nice paint to start with.  The pigment loads give good coverage and as I said before, mixing clean colors is not difficult as with other cheap brands of paint.  If you do decide to try these paints, (whenever stores open again)  be sure to use their 40% off coupon or wait until Masters Touch products are at 50% off.  It really becomes a great deal then.  One more nice thing about these paints is the tube size.  Normal artist quality paint comes in 37 ml tubes.  These are 50 ml so you get a lot more paint to play with.  Whenever you get a chance, go to your local Hobby Lobby and pick up a set.  They also sell them in individual tubes as well.  Have a Blessed day my friends.

New Oil Painting; A Blessed Day

Hello Everyone;
Here is another new oil painting.  This is an 11" X 14" original oil painting completed on a triple primed stretched cotton canvas. I just love the peaceful feel to a lonely waterfall.  This is a painting of a place that to my knowledge, does not exist.  I had this image in my head yesterday of this secluded, peaceful scene and decided to paint it.  Most of my work is from my imagination.  That is why most of my landscape scenes have certain similarities to them.  My style, if you can call it a style is peaceful, secluded places that have no interference from the real world.  We get so much garbage from everyday life, we do not need it when we get home as well.  My strategy to fight the ever growing rash of fear mongering media and self centered lying politicians is to get lost in my mind.  Explore beautiful places that do not exist anywhere except within the confines of my heart and then paint those places.  All are welcome, but there are some rules.  First rule, no one lies to each other.  Rule two, no one hurts each other, and the final rule.  Every morning when you wake, you need to reach your arms out to the heavens, take a deep breath and say Thank You for this perfect day.  We need to try that once in awhile instead of what we are doing now.  Who knows, maybe it would make things just a bit better.  If not, I still have these peaceful places in my heart and I will continue to paint them as long as I am allowed.  Have a Blessed Day everyone.  Everything is good.

New Oil Painting; New Blick Painting Panel

Hello Everyone;
Here is another oil painting.  I completed this painting earlier today.  It is an 8" X 10" original oil painting I completed on a Blick Premier Canvas Panel.  This is my first time trying this archival painting panel from Blick.  It is a primed surface ready to paint on, but the finish is smooth.  Actually, the painting surface is silky smooth which may be a bad thing for some people.  I was a little hesitant and I needed to change up my approach.  When using these panels, you really need to have a light touch when applying the paint.  If you use too much pressure, and for these panels that is not much, the paint seems to streak on as opposed to being applied on.  With a lighter touch, you can still get the desired thickness of paint without streaking.  Once I got the hang of it, I really started to enjoy working on it.  The colors seem to pop out more so then on canvas and fine details are easily achieved.  Like I said, they take a little bit of a learning curve, but they are very nice.  I will definitely be getting more panels to try and see if my work overall, looks a bit better on these supports.  One thing too, even though they are archival, they are a little less money then other archival primed hard board surfaces.  This 8" X 10" for instance, I believe was $7.00 and it was 7/8" thick with a nail hole on the back to hang your work.  That is really a good price.  Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Practice Makes Perfect

Hello Everyone:
So, you want to be an artist, or a musician or an athlete.  For most people, the race is won before you even get to the track.  Everyone who is successful in anything in this world makes it a point to practice their craft on a regular basis.  I heard on ESPN one time that Tiger Woods hits at least 1,000 golf balls a day trying to improve on each swing.  That type of dedication can make you one of the best in the world at something, just like he is.  If you are a person, like me who wants to be really good at something, but cannot devote 12 hours a day to our craft, then we must still practice regularly, but not quite as obsessively.  For artists, try and give an hour a day to practicing techniques, brush strokes, etc...  I paint a lot of landscapes, so trees and mountains and things are very important in my work.  I use old cheap canvas panels and do landscape elements regularly.  These are in oil paint, my sketchbook has the same types of practice elements, but those are in watercolors.  Really, if you give an hour of real practice each day, you will be surprised at how quickly you improve.  Once you start to see your work bear fruit, you will increase your practice time without even thinking about it.  One thing to keep in mind though.  If you make a finished painting each day lets say, that is also practicing, but I found that when you use your best materials with the mind set of making a finished piece, subconsciously we do not allow ourselves to experiment or take chances.  Those chances, thinking outside the box is where we grow the most as artists.  Just a thought.

Oil Painting: Quiet Peaks

Hello Everyone;
Here is another oil painting I finished today.  Yes, I finished two oil paintings within a few hours of each other.  Oil paint is a very easy paint to manipulate.  You can brush it over wet paint, you can wait to dry and brush into dry work, you can combine the techniques.  Oil painting is complicated in some ways when it comes to mediums and solvents, but in its application, oil painting can be the most forgiving of the painting mediums.  This painting has both techniques I mentioned in this post.  The sky was completely dry when I painted the clouds in and the mountains were very wet when I painted the highlights.  As you can see, both work well, it is just a matter of practicing enough to get comfortable with the techniques as well as the paint you use.  Oil paint and really, all painting supplies vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.  French Ultramarine for one brand acts and looks a bit different then another so it is really important that you understand the paint you use.  It will help make your learning curve just a bit easier.

Oil Painting: Peaceful Day

Hello Everyone;
Here is a new oil painting.  This may be the first oil painting on this blog.  It has been a long time since I painted in oils.  They are very complicated, messy and very dangerous to use if your not careful.  Those are really, the very reasons why I stopped painting in oils almost six years ago.  Since then, I have learned of new products and techniques that make painting in oils much safer, and nowhere near as complicated.  I missed the lush, deep colors oil paint gives you as well as the ability to correct mistakes much easier then most painting mediums.  Shortly, I will be posting the supplies I use when painting in oils.  If you wish to try this wonderful medium, be sure to do your research first.  Learn as much as you can from blogs, you tube and any other resource you can find.  Once you have all of the information, you will have much more success and much less frustration.

Watercolor Painting; New Painting On Aquabord

Hello Everyone;
Here is a new watercolor painting.  As you know, I have been using aquabord a lot lately.  This painting is no different.  I used a 5" X 7" piece of aquabord to do this simple landscape.  I am finally starting to get used to the amount of paint needed to make the colors stand out better.  That really is the main issue with using this support.  The amount of paint and water on your brush.  I believe, once you get that combination down, painting on this surface will be much easier and very rewarding.  Lifting color is truly as easy as advertised.  Lifting for your highlights is pretty simple.  A damp clean brush and a paper towel to wipe off paint from each pass. You generally do not get to pure white again, but you get a really good highlight.  The mountains in the distance and the foreground rocks were highlighted that way.  As you can see, the lifting of color works very well.  Even though learning how to use aquabord can be challenging and it does take some effort, I am convinced it will be well worth the time.

Watercolor Painting: Really? A Bird on Aquabord

                                                                                Hello Everyone;
Here is another bird painting on a piece of Aquabord made by Ampersand.  This was completed on a  6" X 6"  1/8" panel.  For some reason, I have never tried the square panels.  I always overlooked them.  This bird vignette actually looks a bit better on a square panel then a standard 5" X 7".  Again, these panels have a bit of a learning curve.  I do not want to talk you out of using them, but I need to give my honest assessment.  Actually, the only reason I keep trying to use them is two fold.  First, I like the idea that my customers can hang their paintings without glass or frames.  A huge savings right there.  The second reason is the work I have seen on these panels by artists that really understand how to use this support.  The colors are magnificent.  Edges are defined or faded out perfectly, the whole piece just looks much better then paintings on paper.  For those two reasons, and possibly others, I will keep trying to perfect my technique using them.  I do believe the time and patience needed to get good at working on this support will be rewarded by how my art will eventually look on them.  In the mean time, My work looks good, just not where it will be one day.  Have a blessed day.

Watercolor Painting; Bird On Aquabord

                                                                                Hello Everyone;
Today, I thought I would try something different with the aquabord I am working with.  I have done a couple of landscape paintings so I thought I would try a bird painting.  The colors do stand out well with this support.  My bird itself is by no means perfect, but it does stand out well.  The more I work with this aquabord, the more I like it.  The whole idea that my customers do not have to spend extra money on framing behind glass or framing at all appeals to me.  Another great advantage with the aquabord is the durability.  The masonite panel the clay adheres to is very solid.  Ampersand says these panels are archival as well.  I still have a ways to go before I am comfortable with this support, but on today's painting, I was able to layer without lifting the underlying colors.  On paper, that is not that difficult, on these panels, it gets a bit tricky.  I will continue to keep you posted on my progress with this support and share anything I learn.  In the mean time, have a great weekend.

Watercolor Painting; More Aquabord Practice

Hello Everyone;
Here is another new painting on aquabord by Ampersand.  No, your not seeing things, this composition is very similar to the other one.  When I am trying out something new, I find it beneficial to paint a very similar scene to gauge the progress or regression in the quality of work.  When you have something close to compare different paintings to, it seems to be more obvious of triumphs and failures.  Trust me when I say, failures are just as important and possibly more important then triumphs when learning something new.  Take your mistakes and learn from them and you will progress much quicker then ignoring them.  In my experiences with painting, I have met a lot of people expecting too much in the beginning of their learning process.  They seem to think that they can become experts in a few days and therefore, each mistake they make they look at as a set back and failure instead of a learning experience.  So many end up quitting art for that reason among others.  Always look at mistakes and failed paintings as an opportunity to progress in your journey of becoming an artist.  It is not a cop out or rationalization to make you feel better.  Over the years, my mistakes have been the reason I can sell my work.  My mistakes are the reason I can keep making that next step forward.  My mistakes are the reason I will, one day, be the artist I have always dreamed of being.  Embrace your mistakes and failures and become the artist you have always dreamed of being.  It will happen, just put everything you have into it.

Watercolor Painting; New Landscape Painting

Hello Everyone;
I hope everyone had a safe and joyous Holiday season.  As for me, it was wonderful.  Time with family and pretty decent weather considering I live in the western burbs of Chicago.  Even though the winter thus far has been pretty tolerable, once Christmas is over, I look to the spring time.  Warm temperatures and green grass.  Today, I put in a Jimmy Buffet cd and painted this spring time scene.  I used the Ampersand Aquabord I mentioned in my last post.  As I stated before, it is considered a cold press surface, but the paint reacts completely different then with paper.  I do love the way the colors pop out as opposed to paper.  Remember, when painting in watercolors on paper, the paint will lighten up approx 50% when it dries.  With the aquabord, that does not happen.  One difference in applying your paint is to use more paint then water.  I realize that goes against using watercolors to begin with, but the paint lifts very easily on this surface.  If you are used to layering colors, be very careful you don't disturb the underneath layers.

Right now, I am seriously considering using the aquabord exclusively for my paintings going forward.  I really like the results, but I need to still work out a few kinks.  My plan is to use the 1 1/2" cradle the aquabord comes in.  When a customer buys a painting on the aquabord with that cradle, they can hang it up as is.  No need for a frame, glass or matting.  The cradle would really save my customers a decent amount of money and best yet, it is a clean look on the wall.  Like I said, I still need to work some things out before I make the switch, but that is most definitely the plan.  If you have never tried this support, give it a whirl.  Blick has a 3 pack of 5" X 7" 1/8" panels for under $7.00.  Practice on it, use a wet rag to remove the paint and start over again.  You can almost go to complete white again so your investment will go a long way.  Let me know how you like it.