SOLD! (or, 17/101)

So, last night I sold my first paining ever! It was #17 in my list of goals to accomplish before fall 2011, and now I can check it off the list!
Jessica saw this painting hanging around in my room, and offered to buy it outright. She picked it up on Thursday when she came for dinner.

Thanks, Jessica!

Paintings

Did I ever mention how most of the paintings I did in Paris got ruined on the flight home?

Yep.

Except for like three of them (don't worry that there were probably thirty).


But, not to worry* I have repurposed them into new collage-style paintings.


I took the ruined paintings like the one below




cut them into strips, and stuck them to an unfinished canvas with varnish.


Ta-da.

This is one of several I am going to make that are all the same size, but the collage elements will be different shapes.

And I finally got around to finishing Happy's 2008 birthday painting.


Here it is. This is the actual color. So, basically, one main color with tons o' texture. She wanted a blue painting--and that's what she got. :)





A detail.








And two more detail shots in bad kitchen lighting. The painting wasn't this yellow-ish, though there were some purple splashes throughout.


I love modeling paste. :)

Another detail I added which you can see in the main photo is some split reeds that I affixed to the canvas with modeling paste.



I was really happy with how it turned out--so much so that I almost didn't give it to Hap for her bday.



But I did. And she loved it. (Which is good, 'cause I would have absolutely taken it back and just given her earrings if she hadn't sincerely loved it.)



Oh, yeah. And my dad told me he wouldn't let me leave the house with it unless it was signed. I resisted at first, but then figured I could compromise. Signing on the front of the canvas seems arrogant to me since no one really cares. So I signed on the frame on the bottom right corner.

*Well, "not to worry" may be a little generous. I was pretty stinkin' upset.

Drawing Lessons (and a painting studio)

My art lessons are going MUCH better the second time around.

I'll show you my sketches soon. My teacher is fantastic and really laid back, which helps me to not feel super self-conscious and even more critical of myself than I normally would be in an art class. (Perfection is usually possible on the first try, right?)

This week I learned about value and shading. Fun stuff!! It makes such a big difference in the feel of a picture.

So, anyways... just thought I would check in and report on how that's going.

I also bought the most amazing book about acrylic painting techniques, and my dad is helping me turn my mom's old office into a painting studio, so I might be able to actually use some of the techniques soon (more on that later--including the title of the book, which is currently flitting around the edges on my conscious mind, but refusing to actually enter).

Artistic Inspiration

“When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever. Merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives your own naïve impression of the scene before you.”

-Claude Monet

Today I bought a basket full of acrylic paints and mediums. I think on Saturday I'm going to go paint somewhere. Maybe a park. I guess it depends on how windy it is Saturday, because it's supposed to be nice and sunny.