Painting

[evaD]

Cool thanks, I'll try to incorporate some of that into my next painting which I'm just about to start.  One thing that always confuses me is how to paint the backgrounds.  Should it be done as an under-paint?  If so are you supposed to paint the background and then draw your foreground to paint?  Currently I've just been drawing everything out at once and then painting it all.   

Depends. When working with watercolor - draw every little detail first. When working with acrylic - you can paint the background and then draw over top. With oil paint you want to work like you would with watercolor, but keep in mind the paint will stay wet for a looong time. What you really need to keep in mind is that there are no hard and fast rules when creating a painting. At least when approaching it as a fine art. If you do approach it as though there are rules that you must follow, you are treating it as craft instead of as fine art. In looking at your paintings, I'd say you would benefit from painting in layers, working back to front. That means the stuff that's supposed to be further away from the viewer should be painted first.

Your current stuff looks like it's really coming along. I can see a lot of improvements. What colors were you using to get the skin tones in your self portrait? I typically use titanium white, burnt sienna, yellow oxide, red oxide, sometimes throw in a little cadmium red or cadmium orange. Of course, I'm of Irish descent so it's 99% titanium white when doing a self portrait.

[TimothyObriant]

The skin tone was a mix of titanium white, yellow medium azo and naphthol crimson. I went way to strong on the the red my first couple of coats and tried to correct it later. 

[evaD]

Try switching it out to the colors I mentioned above if you can get a hold of them. That'll make some significant changes in the end result, bringing the colors to a more natural tone.

[TimothyObriant]

Ya, I'll try when I get the chance.  Right now I'm just working out of a starter pack I bought so I don't have those exact colors but I'll make sure to get them when I buy more paint.  Taking some time to paint is really helping me understand color which is one of my many weak points. 

[evaD]

It's one of my weak points too. You could spend a life time trying to master it and still have more to learn.

[TimothyObriant]

Here's another one.  There's a lot I like about it and a few things that drive me nuts.  It's the first in my rural diva collection where I want to mix pin up girls in party dress with carhartt coats and orange hats.  I think it's a cool idea and I want to really execute on it.  I happy with this as a first try, it's a good road map for some of the things not to do next time. 

[evaD]

Well done, sir! Karma!

[Jon O]

I just wish the diva took up more of the canvas.

 Week 3 of paint jams, and I felt like I should share my last few paintings as well.  Acrylics are really fun to play around with.




It's been great being pushed by Tim and Joshua.  I feel like I'm learning every time.

[evaD]

All three are cool, but I think the portrait is the strongest. Nice work!

[Jon O]

Thanks, I've really enjoyed showing the paintings.  Everyone seems to have a different favorite which has been cool to hear.

[TimothyObriant]

Here's what I did last night.

[Jon O]

I love that sky.

[evaD]

I'll second Jon's comment.

[TimothyObriant]

Thank you, thank you.  I really like this piece because they're sitting on the 3rd World logo.  It's kind of symbolic, there enjoying there vices which kind of separate them from there world or something like that.  I think it's much stronger in design point then from a painting stand point.

[TimothyObriant]

[Montyof83]

Thank you both for sharing your stuff. I really enjoy seeing people doing something they have fun with, and taking the time to share it with everyone. My son & I love to paint together with his little water color set. We mostly just make a mess of the play room though.

[Jon O]

You should see my living room.  I still have the dining room table (splattered with paint) in here.  Part of the fun in paint day is the mess.

[TimothyObriant]

That's awesome, I'm glad you took a look and found some kind of enjoyment.  You have so much fun creating this stuff you start to feel selfish until someone else enjoys it too.    

[TimothyObriant]

Here's a piece I did last week that I really like.  Even better my friend liked it so much I gave it to him to put up in his tattoo shop, and that makes me  .


It's called "Facebook" 
 

[evaD]

Very cool!