Monday, February 11, 2013

Candy Hearts -- New Art!

"Candy Hearts"

I have a new painting to share! Here is a simple and sweet little Valentine's Day fairy! I hope that you like her!  This is my second Valentine's-themed painting. The other is my "Thinking of You" angel that I did a few years ago. Maybe next year I'll do an anti-valentine painting. :) I did give this fairy a little edge though with dark tattoos and make up. I couldn't resist or risk having her turn out too sweet.  lol ;)


7 x 9" watercolor and white gouache.

Prints and the original painting are available on my website HERE

The other day, I splurged on a large art supplies order from Dick Blick. I got some stuff that I needed, such as some erasers, watercolor paper, and an extra gatorfoam board from stretching my paintings on. I figured that I should have a spare for the occasions I have more than one painting going at once. I really could have used one for this fairy painting since I have a larger painting stretched on my foam board waiting to be painted. So in order to paint this I had to tape it to an old panel I have in my old way of painting. It works, but the paper doesn't stay quite as flat as when stretching. Annnyway... I got an extra so this shouldn't be a problem in the future.

I also finally got some more gouache paints! I think I've mentioned before that I'd really like to try an all gouache painting. Some years ago, I tried to get used to using acrylics. I have 4 or 5 painting that I made using them, but I just never really enjoyed working with them. I liked how some of the painting turned out, but I didn't really like the process. I'm thinking that gouache might work out for me, since they're opaque like acrylic, but handle somewhat like the watercolor that I love. Obviously there will be different techniques to use when working with an opaque paint than with transparent watercolor, but I think that it will be similar enough that I'll enjoy it more than acrylics.

Another neat thing is that since they're opaque, I'll be able to try out some paintings on different color papers (which I also bought). I did some colored pencil drawings on colored paper in the past, and it can create a nice atmosphere. I'm excited for my new supplies to arrive so that I can try them out! :)

And last of all, I'd like to share what will probably come next, the painting of this sketch which I completed back in November: