It is done!
Finished the pet portrait tonight! For now, I will put it away for a week or possibly two, then take another look. If there are any minor touch-ups that are needed, I’ll make them then. Plus I will be emailing a photo to Linda, the artist who taught the pet portrait class I took in June. If she has any suggestions, I’ll be addressing those as well.
This portrait took longer than I expected, mainly because I hit a bad patch with it. There was something not quite right and it took me a while to figure it out. I spent way too much time avoiding painting so that I wouldn’t have to work on it. Not the best way to handle it! But yesterday I had a breakthrough and the changes I made just seem to turn the painting (and my attitude) around. It was such a relief to finally be happy with where the painting was heading and to actually want to paint again! 
Now the only other major decision I have is whether to paint the two-inch sides a dark brown or a dark gray. Decisions, decisions…
Fun With Flowers!
I have a Nikon Coolpix P80 that I hadn’t seen in months. Maybe as long as a year. I loved this camera – 10 megapixels with an 18x zoom. So fun to play with it and I’ve really missed it. I had a simple point and shoot that I’ve been using for pictures of my art to post on ArtFire, but recently I misplaced that, too.
I decided it was time to replace the Nikon. I needed to list paintings in my store and I have a trip to Seattle and Hawaii coming up in November. So I ordered a new one, a Kodak camera. Unbelievable zoom and 14 megapixels. The day after I ordered it, I found both of my other cameras. Go figure.
Thankfully, I was spared the hard decision of whether or not to keep the new camera, even though I knew I shouldn’t. It came and I eagerly put it through it’s paces. And it SUCKED. I happily sent it back the next day. I ordered a new battery charger for the old, beloved Nikon and was thrilled to receive that on Friday.
Today, I decided to pull out my Nikon and have a little fun. It’s been months since I’ve been able to just play around and shoot hundreds of photos. And I had forgotten how very much I loved doing it. So I started out with birds. We have a bird feeder outside the windows in our living room. I spent 30 minutes crouched in the recliner, poised to grab a shot whenever I could. I wished I could have opened the window so I didn’t have to shoot through it, but the birds were banging into it repeatedly today and they would’ve flown right into our house if I had. Here’s a few of the pictures I took:
That whetted my appetite. My mother and decided to take a walk and knowing where we would be walking, I grabbed my camera and took it with me. I knew we’d be around a lot of flowers and I thought it’d be the perfect chance to grab some pictures. Try over 200 of them! Thankfully, I have a very patient mother who was willing to sit and wait while I indulged myself.
Out of the 200+ pictures, so far I’ve gone through and edited 14 of them that are my favorites. I’m going to take another look at the others, but I thought I’d share a few of them.
If you’re interested in seeing the other 10 pictures, you can find them posted on my Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/quirkydamedesigns. I could’ve taken hundreds more and I do plan on going back. So many more flowers I didn’t even get to explore. Hope you enjoyed seeing these!
I decided it was time to replace the Nikon. I needed to list paintings in my store and I have a trip to Seattle and Hawaii coming up in November. So I ordered a new one, a Kodak camera. Unbelievable zoom and 14 megapixels. The day after I ordered it, I found both of my other cameras. Go figure.
Thankfully, I was spared the hard decision of whether or not to keep the new camera, even though I knew I shouldn’t. It came and I eagerly put it through it’s paces. And it SUCKED. I happily sent it back the next day. I ordered a new battery charger for the old, beloved Nikon and was thrilled to receive that on Friday.
Today, I decided to pull out my Nikon and have a little fun. It’s been months since I’ve been able to just play around and shoot hundreds of photos. And I had forgotten how very much I loved doing it. So I started out with birds. We have a bird feeder outside the windows in our living room. I spent 30 minutes crouched in the recliner, poised to grab a shot whenever I could. I wished I could have opened the window so I didn’t have to shoot through it, but the birds were banging into it repeatedly today and they would’ve flown right into our house if I had.
Here’s a few of the pictures I took:
That whetted my appetite. My mother and decided to take a walk and knowing where we would be walking, I grabbed my camera and took it with me. I knew we’d be around a lot of flowers and I thought it’d be the perfect chance to grab some pictures. Try over 200 of them! Thankfully, I have a very patient mother who was willing to sit and wait while I indulged myself.
Out of the 200+ pictures, so far I’ve gone through and edited 14 of them that are my favorites. I’m going to take another look at the others, but I thought I’d share a few of them.
If you’re interested in seeing the other 10 pictures, you can find them posted on my Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/quirkydamedesigns. I could’ve taken hundreds more and I do plan on going back. So many more flowers I didn’t even get to explore. Hope you enjoyed seeing these!
So many projects, so little time!
So I’ve been spending my time working on a few different things. Thought I’d take a moment to post a little update on each one…
First, the cat portrait. I’ve made slow progress on this. I’m posting a picture of mainly the cat, as that is what I’ve focused on. I’m thrilled to say that I’m almost done filling in her fur. She’s got pupils, so she’s looking a little less creepy. I was over at my friend’s house this weekend and spent a little time with Penny. I took a closer look and realized that her eyes are actually much greener than the picture I’ve worked from. So I will be correcting that as I complete work on her. Once I’m done with her, I need to turn my attention to the bird and the feeder. My goal is to finish this by the middle of the month, so that she’ll have a little over a month to dry before the auction.
I started this piece as a way to get used to painting in oils again after an eight month break from them. Plus I have a bigger mermaid painting forming in my mind and this was a good way to work some things out. About all I have left to do on this painting is to add some detail to her tail and touch up a spot or two on the water. Then I’ll be listing her in my ArtFire shop.
I’ve also been sketching away, coming up with some fun new ideas for the Art-o-mat paintings. I’m having such a good time indulging myself with all sorts of fun ideas. I’m looking forward to getting the wood blocks so I can finally get it going. Some (especially ones that don’t make the cut for the Art-o-mat pieces) I’m even contemplating expanding and painting in a bigger format. Many thanks to my best friend Alicia who came up with many ideas for titles during our lunch this weekend. I’m awful with titles and she’s such a fantastic writer. I’m so blessed to have her input!
Another fun thing about these tiny sketches? Seeing the delightful drawings that my six-year-old niece comes up with when she sits down to copy them! She’s been adding her own art to the pages and I love seeing her put her own twist on things. Here she’s decided to copy one of my pictures, but to do it with a real bunny instead. Love it!
So that’s the latest on things. My main objective over the next week or two is to get the cat done and set aside to dry and then to get the mermaid done and listed. That way I’ll be free and clear when the blocks arrive. Plus I have many other unfinished paintings to create and a Christmas project to continue doing. Just wishing there was more time in the day to do all of it!
First, the cat portrait. I’ve made slow progress on this. I’m posting a picture of mainly the cat, as that is what I’ve focused on. I’m thrilled to say that I’m almost done filling in her fur. She’s got pupils, so she’s looking a little less creepy.
I was over at my friend’s house this weekend and spent a little time with Penny. I took a closer look and realized that her eyes are actually much greener than the picture I’ve worked from. So I will be correcting that as I complete work on her. Once I’m done with her, I need to turn my attention to the bird and the feeder. My goal is to finish this by the middle of the month, so that she’ll have a little over a month to dry before the auction.
I started this piece as a way to get used to painting in oils again after an eight month break from them. Plus I have a bigger mermaid painting forming in my mind and this was a good way to work some things out. About all I have left to do on this painting is to add some detail to her tail and touch up a spot or two on the water. Then I’ll be listing her in my ArtFire shop.
I’ve also been sketching away, coming up with some fun new ideas for the Art-o-mat paintings. I’m having such a good time indulging myself with all sorts of fun ideas. I’m looking forward to getting the wood blocks so I can finally get it going.
Some (especially ones that don’t make the cut for the Art-o-mat pieces) I’m even contemplating expanding and painting in a bigger format. Many thanks to my best friend Alicia who came up with many ideas for titles during our lunch this weekend. I’m awful with titles and she’s such a fantastic writer. I’m so blessed to have her input!
Another fun thing about these tiny sketches? Seeing the delightful drawings that my six-year-old niece comes up with when she sits down to copy them! She’s been adding her own art to the pages and I love seeing her put her own twist on things. Here she’s decided to copy one of my pictures, but to do it with a real bunny instead. Love it!
So that’s the latest on things. My main objective over the next week or two is to get the cat done and set aside to dry and then to get the mermaid done and listed. That way I’ll be free and clear when the blocks arrive. Plus I have many other unfinished paintings to create and a Christmas project to continue doing. Just wishing there was more time in the day to do all of it!
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