Snowman Family

This is a 5x7 oil painting on canvas panel. You can purchase this painting thru my etsy shop at http://luvs2paint.etsy.com

Butterfly aceo

Oil on watercolor paper.

Here is another from my butterfly series I seem to be doing. I love the flash of red and bit of yellow on his wings.

Rascal aceo

Here's my latest painting, entitled Rascal aceo. My brother-in-law was live trapping squirrels to release else where, when he accidently caught a racoon. My mother-in-law called to tell us about it and to ask my husband if he could go to Tim's and release him since Tim wasn't home. I had been wanting to see a live racoon in person for quite a few years, so I was very excited when this opportunity presented itself. We quickly grabbed the cameras and jumped in the car. When we got there, here this cute racoon sat, stuck in a cage, so we quickly took a few pictures of him, trying not to freak him out more than he already was. Boy did he keep his eyes on my husband the whole time, following his every move.

While standing as far back as possible, Paul used a crowbar to open the cage. I was sitting safely in the car at this time. Once the cage was open, Paul quickly ran to the other side of the car to get more distance between him and the racoon. The racoon slowly came to the door of the cage, looked around, and then took off to a wood pile. It was very exciting to see him be released. Thank you Tim.

I have this painting for sale at my etsy shop, http://luvs2paint.etsy.com/

Horse Portrait aceo

Last weekend I was sitting on our newly done deck, the old one was rotting away, drawing out this guy. Well, with school starting, that means back to work for me. I work in the lunchroom at an elementary school for 2.5 hours a day. Basically I am running around like crazy washing tables. For most this would be no big deal, but I have a muscle weakness, so it takes quite a bit out of me. So yesturday, I was finally able to sit down and finish my Horse Portrait. I used Watercolor Pencils & Colored Pencils on Watercolor paper. Normally I do my shadows with alot of purple and blue, but this time I wanted to keep it a bit more realistic and have alot of gray in there. I didn't know if it was going to turn out, but I am happy with it. It feels really good to get back to my art after a very busy week. You can find this on my website at http://www.brendathour.com/ look under aceo's. I will also be posting it on my etsy shop in a little while at http://www.luvs2paint.etsy.com/

Pretty In Pink oil

I decided to do a version of Pretty In Pink in oil, and I like it much better. His head has a better shape and I love the teal background behind the pink of the bird, it makes the bird really pop. I had gotten some opinions from my WWAO friends (World Wide Women Artists Online), and one of the ladies mentioned that I should make the background more dramatic, and she was right on. Thank you : )

Pink

These are my latest two aceo's I did. Why are they pink, you ask? They are for a charity auction for Breastcancer, and they are suppose to be pink. I came up with these two ideas. First I created the bird, named it PRETTY IN PINK, then I came across a picture of this tiger we took at the zoo, and couldn't reisist creating this PINK TIGER.

Butterfly Garden

I decided to name this one Butterfly Garden.

It's been kind of cool. I look at it, concentrate on what I feel, and a name comes to me.

It's just about done, I just need to do a bit more tweaking. See if I can make the top butterfly pop. Plus, I may have forgotten his legs, oops.

This painting has been exciting from the very beginning, and has just flowed.

Here we are in the process of the painting. I can't help but start on the center of interest, in this case the butterflies. My goal is to make the big black and yellow butterfly the center of attention, followed by the middle one, and then you notice the smaller bottom one, that's why he's a little hidden in the flowers.

Three Butterflies

I know the sketched canvas doesn't show up real well through the acrylic glaze, but I have 3 butterflies on flowers. Here are the photos that I am working from.

I love that excited feeling that I get when my painting is planned and ready for me to pick up the brush. That's my favorite part, starting the painting. The sky's the limit. My least favorite part is planning out the painting. Sometimes the idea comes quickly and the sketch goes smoothly , I like that. But too often I just am not sure what I want to paint, so that becomes a real struggle. Even though I have tons of ideas for future paintings, it may not feel right at that time. It has to feel right, that's when I can put my heart and soul into it and its like magic, for lack of a better word.

Spread Your Wings

I feel like I got quite a bit done today, and that feels good. I finished up this painting. I Sketched out my next painting on a canvas and got some marketing things done.

The colors in this pic didn't come out quite right, but I like how the painting turned out. The titles of the paintings have actually been coming to me much easier- yah!

I am hoping to start my next painting tomorrow.

Fishy Fishy

This is a fun little 5x7 oil painting I did. I love using colors that I don't use regularly on my palette. It's funny how I tend to use certain colors most of the time. I love how paintings turn out when I spread my wings a bit and use one or more of the brilliant colors that is out of the norm for me. Reference photo was taken by Jessica Lee Olson.
You will soon be able to find this painting on my website, http://www.brendathour.com/ under Pet Portraits. I uploaded Fishy Fishy to my website, but just noticed that it's not showing. So I will have to go on my desktop computer and upload it again.

FLY AWAY

WWAO August Showcase
Every month, a member of WWAO (World Wide Women Artists Online) hosts a
themed showcase. This months' theme is 'Fly Away', hosted by
Chel, Lava Jewelry, Zbella. She did a beautiful job, and I hope you will take the time to view all the
beautiful works of art.
http://lava-jewelry.com/wwao.html

Baby Llama aceo

I painted this baby llama today.
This is a sold aceo oil painting.

Reference photo taken by Pat Otten.

I've been doing quite a few aceo's lately, and I am starting to want to go a little bigger, or alot bigger...well, bigger anyways.

This weekend we are going up to Duluth to see the big sailing ships come in. I am hoping to get some good reference photos for future paintings. Wish me luck.

My new Lens

I created a new lens on Squidoo.com today. Here's the link to it.

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmaster/workshop/beginning2paint#

I also copy and pasted it here if you don't want to click on the link. But....if you click on the link you can help my rankings, you can rate my lens, add a comment, etc.

WHERE DO I START?

I remember when I first started painting, I always wondered what was the secret? What am I suppose to paint first??? Do I start with the sky, you know, the background, and then work forward from there? This is for acrylic and oil. (I'm not tackling watercolor, because even though I have done some watercolor, it's like thinking backwards for me, and I am not as proficient in this medium as the other two.) So, when I paint using acrylic or oil, what do I paint first??? Well, I have learned that there is really no magic answer, no mystery to solve. Generally you can start where ever you want in the painting. And different people have different preferences. The main thing to remember, is that when painting, for the most part, you place paint next to paint, not over an already painted finished area. That was the key. This is where negative painting comes into play.

OK, SO WHAT IS NEGATIVE PAINTING???

I would read the Artist Magazine and anything else I could get my hands on, and would find the mysterious phrase, 'negative painting', but they never explained what that meant. Well, in a nut shell, negative painting is painting the area around an object. So lets say I am painting a tree. Ok, got the tree in, but what about the area around the tree and the sky holes within the tree? That's negative painting. So I can either paint the skyholes and sky first, or paint the tree first then later paint the sky and pop in some skyholes. I do it both ways. For me, it helps to have the skyholes drawn out on the canvas, so I have a plan or blueprint. Or, I am painting the bird in this painting, that's the posative painting, and everything else around it is negative painting. So it kinda switches up, depending on what you are painting. I have outlined the skyholes in this painting in fuscia. (I tried making the picture bigger in photoshop, but when I uploaded it here, it remained the same. Hmm, something else to learn.) Now there are times you do have to paint over paint, like when you put in a winter tree, small branches, blades of grass, etc.

MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE

Well, I like to get into the painting and start with the center of interest. Now, that's just what I usually prefer to do. One major reason is because I have a muscle weekness, and I need to rest my hand somewhere, so it works best for me to paint from the center of the painting out. This way I am not as likely to rest my hand on the wet painted area. I hate it when I do that. Ya, I do that...too often sometimes. I should probably mention that when painting, I turn my canvas sideways and upside down. whatever I need to do to get to that area I am working on.I know I can use a mahl stick or artists bridge, but since I don't have one, and it is way down on my priority list, this is what I do. :)

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Brown Swiss Calf aceo

Baby cows are adorable, and Brown Swiss Calfs are VERY adorable. I saw this little guy, at the Minnesota Zoological Zoo, and knew I'd end up painting him for sure. So last night I cleaned off my palette, got out fresh paint and here he is.

You will be able to find him at my website, http://brendathour.com,

Rooster aceo

I love the colors of this guy. This is oil on watercolor paper, aceo size. ACEO stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. They are 3.5x2.5 inches, and they make affordable, addorable mini works of art. Can be framed, displayed on a mini easle or added to your collection.

You can find Rooster aceo at http://www.brendathour.com/