Painting a day - Day 4 - another angel

Painting a day: Day 4 - another angel
I default to angels and mermaids and fairies.. and girly stuff ^_^ when I am warming up, practicing a technique, or doodling.  This one was a quickie on canvas paper, I used prismacolors, watercolor pencils, and acrylics.

Painting a day - Day 3 - Lost & Found Carousel Girl

Found

mixed media on canvas paper

Painting - a -day : Day 3 - Lost and Found Carousel Girl.  

This is the painted study for the companion piece to Waiting  but I think I would like her better if she were flipped and facing left.  (And there is something about her hair I'm just not feeling)  I also like the idea of doing a whole bunch of these girls in different colors, with different carousel animals.  I'm just digging the carousel theme too much- my sketchbook is full of them.

Painting a day - Day 1- Portrait of Keian

Shame on me, I've never painted a portrait of my baby, my 2-year-old son Keian.

So to start off this whole painting experiment - I painting this quick acrylic piece of him.  Lots of thin washes built up wet into wet.  Something like working with watercolor of goache.
 I'm starting a painting a day because I herniated 2 disks in my lower back and I'm stuck at home.

  I'm committing to making a piece of art a day to keep myself busy, or else my brain will turn to mush and I will start painting redrum on the walls. Just kidding...maybe.

Waiting - Carousel Girl Painting

 Waiting

Carousel Girls

Acrylic on Canvas

11"x14"

 
Finished!  Scanned and edited and color corrected and DONE!  Now to start the fun that is making prints.  I want this one to be close to full size, but I can't do that with my set up.  For now I will have to settle with 8x10 and 5x7.

Newest Painting

Waiting

Acrylic on 11x14 canvas

 I'm finishing up this piece (Waiting) and I have about a million other ideas because of it.  I love it when inspiration works like that.

  I want my very own carousel, and her sweater.

This is the sketch for her face, I usually end up preferring the sketch to the painting.  Everything I'm painting lately is pretty nostalgic; me thinking about when I was young. I really liked the old quarter-a-ride carousels that were outside of stores.  What the heck happened to them? They were always so brightly colored and the horses were either horribly ugly or little mini works of art. I loved horses and carousels when I was young.  I had the prettiest porcelain carousel horse, hand-painted.   I really want to get another and paint it, or make my own out of paper mache and paper clay, hrm, never enough hours in the day. 

Finished! Alice in Wonderland Painting, Alice's Favorite Necklace

 Alice's Favorite Necklace
9" x 9" Canvas, 2 2/3" deep sides

Growing up, in the 80s,  I really liked The Black Cauldron and The Last Unicorn, Labyrinth, and The Dark Crystal.  Fraggle ROCK!  Inspector Gadget, JEM! I'm completely nostalgic for the movies and stories of my childhood.  Except, I didn't really like the Disney version of Alice, a lot of the wit and charm seemed to be missing.   I'm a big fan of the sweeter side of Alice in Wonderland.  I remember the stories as a child holding so much magic and weirdness.  I always wanted to be Alice.  I used to imagine her going back and forth between Wonderland having adventures.

Based on that idea, I started a series of Alice paintings.  This one is Alice's Favorite Necklace; I imagine Alice carrying mementos of her friends and adventures with her topside.

 I drew and painted that swirly, ornate background, I really want wall paper like that.

 Can you see the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit?  I have so many more ideas for this series, I'm painting like a madwoman everyday.

Alice is available on Etsy, so are prints!

My Pirate Office and Art Fort

We moved into a nicer, somewhat larger, home in March. It was a freezing cold weekend and I had acute bronchitis that turned into pnuemonia; I was working full time that week and we were trying to move everything ourselves, with a two-year-old in tow. Crazy doesn't even begin to describe it.
Almost June and I'm finally, finally! unpacked completely and settling in to this place. Inspired and fired up with the Spark Kit in my hot little hands... on my hot little desktop just doesn't have that ring to it... I nailed a bunch of holes in the wall and set up shop in one corner. The dining room has been commandeered and its now the pirate office and art fort that I've been needing to get together.
For two days now I've been working and painting and painting and working. I ran out of wall space and nails before I ran out of in-progress paintings to hang. Cluttered but functional: I have to see everything I'm working on all at once or I forget about it.

Seriously, I stopped counting after 22 pieces.
Photos of the mess? I have no shame.

Just a peek

I have 5 or so paintings in transition and I took a couple of quick shots of the pieces I have spent the most time with lately.. They are totally ugly stage right now, but slowly I am figuring out what they are supposed to be.





She's on a 6x6" canvas. I want her to be more deeply colored, richer, and moodier. Atmosphere. Depth. These are the things I am thinking. Also, I don't know what happened, but she made me paint blue mermaid hair.



You might remember her when she was white-haired she needed a change, and I'm really happy with the tattoo.



Then there are battles like this one- a large painting that was being stored too close to my son's art desk.

Inspired by Anahata Katkin / Papaya!

Halo of Roses

Digital Painting/Collage

This is a photoshopped painting/collage of my paintings, except the labyrinth image, that came from Dover. I've had this girl half painted laying around and never knew how to finish her or what else I could do with her, so I scanned the painting and this is what I came up with. I borrowed a lot from Tattoo Nouveau- hair roses mandala background. The composition is inspired by the gorgeous work of Anahata Katkin.

Anahata is one of my artist/designer crushes. When I grow up I'd like to have a freakin' awesome inspiring art bizz like Papaya! I'm always wowed by everything the Papaya team does, especially anything paper. I'm a wrapping paper & stationary & office supplies nut-especially when its pretty-pretty.




detail view: layers texture layers color layers!

Work I'm totally into right now - with a preview!

Immersed in all things girly, colorful, and fun, but I avoided the magenta while painting this piece. She's still in progress, to be finished this week and: I love it! I love it! I want to paint 1,000,000 more girls like this.
I added the frame ( from Dover) for the preview but I really like it - now I'm thinking about adding one in the final piece.

Hmmmm!

Think think think.
Do I add a frame and a stripey rainbow background?

A Lolita Valentine

Love Birds
Acrylic on paper
9"x12"

I do these cutsey little girl paintings when I am testing out a technique. They are sweet and smaller than the pieces that I have been working on, and so quick to do... comparatively. Whenever I get stuck or too into a painting to 'mess it up' I step back and paint something pretty and frivolous and silly and fun. Usually I'm nailing an idea or a technique or I'm experimenting with color and its safe, and I don't feel like I am going to ruin a larger piece I've been working on for months. Which is a silly notion anyway.
I also like them because I can share them. At 9x12" these pieces on paper fit almost perfectly on my scanner, where as the 18x24 pieces need to be photographed and I can't share them.
This one just turned into what it is now. It started out as a girl, then there were birds, then there was pink and hearts and lace and now its completely different. Its super pink lolita valentine. I like it.

I have Unicorns on the brain.

My Little Unicorn
Acrylic on Canvas
9"x12"

I have drawn and painted this image, girl + unicorn, in so many different ways. I still haven't exorcised it from my mind. I was thinking about the medieval maiden and unicorn tapestry and classic fairytales and my little ponies. There will be another incarnation of this, I will keep at it until it feels right.

Things I learned from my two new favorite paintings.

Tattooed Muse
Acrylic on Canvas
8"x10"

Have I ever mentioned that I am total crap at naming my personal pieces? This one is my favorite, she is my muse. She embodies everything I have been considering painting concept and technique-wise.
I'm thinking about saturated colors, flowers, energy, patterns, tattoos, art nouveau influences, and things with wings. I'm always thinking about the differences between holding on and letting go, both physically and emotionally. I'm perfecting my girls, my expressions, my faces. Sometimes I see little glimpses while I am painting- that perfect face, that perfect curve to her lips, and I'm still painting because I'm not there yet.

Angel of Sunset
Acrylic on Paper
9"x12"

I love painting flowers + girls + feathers. I bought myself a 10-pack of Golden Fluid Acrylics, and I love them. I love the fluid consistency and I love how pure and bright they are, even when I mix them. My work is bright and intense now. They dry fast, but holy moly, a dab of paint goes far with these guys.
Sometimes I really want to paint something pretty, without all the big ideas and big technique I cram into my other pieces. The balance for me is somewhere in between these two pieces, between something challenging and something effortless, big ideas and big fun. The more I paint, the more I know.

Its been a while, hasn't it?

In the time between my last post and now I've had an entire gallery show, moved to a new state, and painted more than I've ever painted. I really feel like I've grown as an artist/painter. Every piece presents all these little problems to solve. Sometimes I look back later and I'm amazed that I was the person who created this piece. Sometimes everything clicks.


This is my favorite piece from the gallery show I did. I can see all the growth from a year and a half of painting there in one piece. I'm amazed.



I'm always drawing and painting faces, always perfecting expressions. Sometimes I can look back and remember the lessons I learned with each piece, looking back I can see the inspiration behind these pieces.


I'm always experimenting... and experimenting some more.


2010 was an incredible year of productivity and growth. It may be February, but I am hoping to continue with that energy for all of 2011.

Sketches of Selena

Sketches of Selena (nickname: Nener) and one squid (not Nener.)
From 2 pages in my sketchbook, consolidated into one. I was supposed to be drawing a caricature of her, but painted that portrait instead... Some of these sketches are parodies of more famous artist's styles, but I'm not sure that is very apparent now.

Tattoo portrait - Selena

Tattoo portrait - Selena
Acrylic on wood

My friend Selena has everything I could ever want in a chest-piece: A skull, a Day of the Dead SUGAR Skull no less, cup cakes!, roses, lollipops, sprinkles, hearts, ice cream cones... I have a bit of tattoo envy. And I love love love tattoos. I have one, a gorgeous rose on my back, and would love a million-an-a-half more... But money, and a job that would certainly not allow my dreams of Circus-sideshow style tattoo-dom, cut my dreams short. Which is fine, because I keep doing all these fun tattoo - portrait paintings. And living vicariously through my friends.

more realistic, less realistic

Sleepy eyes
I like this one, heavily referenced from a photograph. Acrylic on paper.


Underwater
Her whole shoulder/torso/body perspective is very unflattering, and I also tried a purple-pink skin tone thing that didn't work out. Acrylic on paper

Onward!

Little studies on little pages

Quick & dirty little studies for (maybe) larger pieces. I like to make a mess with paint after sketching to figure out composition and colors. (I like to make a mess with paint, period.) In all honesty, they are sort of like paint-sketches, or is that the definition of a study?
They are acrylic, karat liqua, and crayon on book pages. Farmer Boy, if you wanted to know. Scandalized at first by the idea of trashing books, I just sort of realized I could start with books that were already falling apart.

Etsy!!

I did it I did it I did it! I did it~ whew! I listed two of my original paintings on Etsy.

Oy! I know, everyone is on Etsy. Listen, I've been thinking about doing this since 2006 or so, set up my name in 2007. Here it is 2009... and I finally listed two of my paintings!
I always just paint for myself, especially now, but I am already out of space to hang and store all of my pieces. I seriously have no more room, my poor shelves are a cluttered mess, and what is worse, a lot of my paintings are living in drawers, hidden, stacked on one another. I'd like for my girls to get out there in the world and have new, loving homes, so I can paint more.

I'm always so scared of putting myself out there, but I gave birth (!!I'm a super hero, now I can do anything!!), surely I can list a couple paintings on the internet.
What a thrill! What a relief.
So far I've only listed two: Protecting and Storybook Mermaid. Very affordable originals, 11X14 for just $45.00.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Katlandia.etsy.com

Two Finished!

Shooting Stars Tattoo
Acrylic on a wood oval plaque, about 5"x 7"
I love the retro style of this girl, and the color purple! I think I might do more. She's a big favorite right now.


Luna Moths
Pencil and acrylic wash on wood
TINY!
This was the study for the huge painting in the tea party post. But I really love this one so much more.