My Alcohol Ink Hummer

Today's painting, My Little Hummer was done with alcohol inks on Yupo paper, a new fav of mine.  

I finally got back to my animals art class that I am taking through Karen Walker.  

I basically used 2 colors, we'll kinda.  Purple and green: Twilight Purple and about 3 or 4 different greens and a touch of butterscotch.  Ok, so I guess that's three.

I first drew my hummingbird out on a piece of computer paper, which is my preferred paper for drawing.  I then scribbled on the back of the drawing so I could trace it onto the Yupo paper.  

  This is where the fun begins, I started pouring on the inks starting with the purple.  I really used a lot of ink and I let it lay flat most of the time, taking a brush to fill in the white spots.  I also used a little blending solution In the upper left quadrant, and held the paper up for a very short time.  Most of it was done wet on wet, except for the flowers in the upper right, and some extra green on the bird's back.  Using my paintbrush to lift, blend and add color, a cotton ball with a little blending solution and cotton swabs to lighten areas and add flowers and a bit of Spectrum Noir markers under his chin.  

With a little blending solution on my tiny brush, I traced over my drawing to lift the color and bring out the humming bird.  From there I blended the lines, lifted color, added color and this is what I came up with. 

Reference photo by Michael D. Utin from paintmyphoto.ning.com. 

Hope you enjoyed reading about the process.  Have a great day!  To see my paintings that are for sale, visit my etsy shop 

~Brenda 

Busy Little Hummingbird

Last January a bunch of my family members and a couple of friends took a cruise on Carnival Cruise Line.  It was a blast!  One of the stops was Honduras. 

   I was walking around with my husband, dad, brother, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law and this beautiful little hummingbird flew right in front of us and started enjoying the flowers like hummingbirds do.  Unfortunately I didn't have my big camera with me and so I wasn't able to get any pictures because I was having trouble with the focus in zoom mode.  My brother-in-law had his camera, so it was "Curt to the rescue!"

He and my sister are very supportive of my artwork and are sweet enough to let me use their photos for reference material for my paintings.  Curt especially is big into photography.  

Busy Little Hummingbird is the painting I created from the shots that Curt took.

It is listed in my Etsy Shop and will soon be in my Zazzle shop too, under "Birds".

 

 My hat saved me from a lot of light rain and drizzle and will never be the same again.  Can you say forever floppy?

 This is my dad and brother in Honduras and it rained for a part of the time, but was warm.

 First day on the ship.  Me and some of my family members.

(Photo taken by Ronda Reimer.)

 More family members lounging around.

(Photo taken by Ronda Reimer.)

My guys!

Left to right: Curt, dad, brother and hubby!

Hope you have a great day!!!
hugs,
Brenda

Sleeping Buddies II Commission

I received a request from a customer on Etsy from Germany.  She saw my little Sleeping Buddies aceo on google, which was already sold, and wondered if I coulde paint her a bigger one but with a brown bear, light brown mouse and green background.  I was delighted to and quickly replied to her request.

She decided on a 5x7 and so I quickly sketched him out on a piece of paper and then quickly colored him in a bit with colored pencils to get a feel for it. 

Because of the texture on the canvas, I usually like to draw my painting on a piece of paper and then trace it onto the canvas by scribbling on the back of the paper with pencil and then tracing it.  I've tried tracing paper but that leaves smudges all over the place. 

I started by putting in some of the shadows on the bear, and then working from there.

I then painted the little mouse, making sure you could clearly see the mouse among all that brown.

Got a little carried away with the background before I remembered to take a picture.  This little guy begged for purple flowers with all that green.

I find that I get better results if I walk away from the painting every now and then to get a fresh look when I come back.  I pretty much finished him after a couple of hours.

The next day I did a little tweeking and painted the sides.

Here he is on my desk drying next to another painting I am working on.  Actually when I finished painting the sides of Sleeping Buddies II, I decided to paint the sides on the cat painting, still haven't named it, so it can dry and I can finish with the last bit of details.

Here's Sleeping Buddies II.  The picture is bad because the paint is still wet and I took it in my studio instead of outside, which is what I'll do once it dries before I ship it off to Germany. 
Here's a link to the original Sleeping Buddies in my shop .

I hope you enjoyed going through the process with me, it was a lot of fun for me to share. 
Have a wonderful day!

Hugs,
Brenda

Proud Pelican

I had a lot of fun painting this little show-off!  Reference photos taken by my daughter, Jessica Thour.  Thank you Jessica for your support. 

Proud Pelican

11x14 oil painting.

I am going to put him in the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute Art Show that's coming in May.

Grand Opening Thursday, May 2, 2013

5 to 8pm

Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Insstitute

800 East 28th Street

Minneapolis, MN  55407-399

Show runs from May 2 - May 24, 2013.

Hope to see you there.

Praying Polar Bear Print Sale

 Having a sale on Praying Polar Bear.  Buy a 16x20 stretched canvas print for $60.  You save $12.23.  Hurry, because there's a limited amount of prints available at this great savings.  Sale lasts until Friday, Oct. 19, 2012.
Just click on the link below.
http://fineartamerica.com/weeklypromotion.html?promotionid=96027

Praying Polar Bear Original Oil Painting

This is an 12x16 inch oil painting of a Polar Bear with his front paws together as if he were praying.  Reference photo by my daughter, Jessica Thour.  Copyright 2004.

For Jessica

My daughter Loves leopards and cheetahs! She did her room in this theme. Now and then she asks me if I will paint her a picture of a leopard that she pulls off the internet. Well, I do it for her...it may take me awhile to get to it, but I eventually do it. Now of course, because of copywright infringements I can paint it for her, but can NOT make any money off of it . So no zazzle products or cafepress. I don't even know if I will put it up on my website. So this is really the only place where you'll see this painting. It's 16x20, and I love how it turned out.

Glory aceo

Butterflies are so beautiful and free. This is my latest in my butterfly series. I still have to put these last two on my website, hopefully today. But they are listed in my etsy shop 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.

Featured Artist - Sharon K. Shubert

I'd like to tell you about a wonderful published artist from Texas, Sharon K. Shubert. Sharon has her fingers into just about everything, she does acrylic painting, watercolor, collage, digital design, sculpting, Poetry, Pyrography, decoupage, and the list goes on. She is also an active member and moderator of WWAO (World Wide Women Artists), a juried international group of ladies who promote and sell quality artwork online.

Sharon is a very talented and generous artist who I greatly admire. She has been showcasing daily Etsy Treasuries on her website, (frankly I don't know how she finds the time for all she does.) She has also started featuring a Weekly Guest Artist on her website, which gave me the idea of featuring her.

Sharons' Website http://www.redladyarts.com/

Etsy Shop http://redladyarts.etsy.com/

Sharons' Blog http://sharonkshubert.blogspot.com/

These are just a few of my favorite items she has for sale at her Etsy shop and website.

This is a Mixed Media Collage with Love Bird and Heart

I love these guys!

Pumpkin People Set Polymer Clay, Mixed Media

Blue Heron Fauve Influence Painting

Are You Our Mother OOAK squared 4x4 mixed media

I hope you take the time to check out her website, Etsy shop and blog. Her sweet spirit and love of life and nature comes through in her work. I am sure you will fall in love with her beautiful artwork too.

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/

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.

Here are the other two I did that same day. The first one is called Chipmunk aceo, and the second, (my favorite) Peek-a-Boo aceo. They are, of course, 2.5 x 3.5 inches. Reference photos by Pat Otten.

Rhino

I started this painting on Thursday, and finished it yesturday, (Friday). It is 12"x12" oil on stretched canvas. I really like how he turned out.
Photo reference came from Dr. Thomas Trainer, with permission of course. I've really been having fun with these African Wildlife paintings. I'm sure you will be seeing more of them coming up.

Hippo

This is my start of my latest painting, Hippo.

I was going to do him on a 12x16, but after sketching it out, it just wasn't working for me.

I then decided on an 8x10 - much better.

I kept my palette to burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, Indian red, titanium white, phthalo green, and just a bit of paynes gray for his eye.

I love having a digital camera where I can instantly shoot the pic and upload it on the computer. My daughter bought a new digital camera, so I bought her old one. Works perfect for what I need.

This was one of those paintings that just about painted itself. I love when it all flows like that.

On the Prowl

After sketching on the canvas, I then use a burnt sienna acrylic wash to give the canvas a warm earthy tint. This also seals the pencil work so it doesn't smear or come off as I am working. I like to work from the middle of the canvas and out. I can't resist getting right in there and making the center of interest come alive.

I just wanted an abstract grassy background to show off the tiger and to give him all the attention.

Added ultramarine blue in there to give the impression of sky.

To finish the painting, I glazed over a few areas in the sky and grass to give it more depth.

I also touched up the whites and highlights on the tigers fur. Darkened the shadows by glazing. Worked on the stripes more and did that final tweaking.

The name actually came easily to me this time, On The Prowl.