Paint hour five....

Well, here we are, six hours invested now (including the hour I spent on it before I started the blog)....It's finally coming together. I think I see the end in sight! Tomorrow I might get to work on the swirlies for the bench (finally!). I'm not wild about the shadows on the sidewalk in the foreground, but what are you gonna do? I'll try to touch them up tomorrow. I'm enjoying painting, but I will be happy when it's over. A lot of anxiety has gone into this piece because it will be hanging somewhere other than in my closet. Plus, I have MANY other painting/drawing/craft ideas that I have been jotting down for future projects, and I am excited to start them all! I am definitely a "starter". I'm very optimistic and energized at the thought of a project, then as reality sets in (and I have to do WORK) I tend to lose interest and dread said project. I'm hoping this blog will help me correct that. We shall see.....

Have a good night, all! See you tomorrow!

P.J.

Painting hour four....

I think I am finally getting to the details/ending phase of this painting. BTW, sorry for the long absence. On Friday night, Mark and I unexpectedly had to say farewell to a good friend who is moving across the country. Needless to say, we were out a bit too late to get any art done (or sleep, for that matter). Good luck, JB. I hope you find what you seek.

I take it everyone had an exciting Super Bowl weekend? I can't say that I give a hoot about football, but I like me some beer and numerous dips. Mmmm...dips.

My weekend wasn't a complete loss on the creativity end of things, however. I pulled out a sweater I have officially been crocheting for a year now! Ugh, where does the time go? I ended up spending way more time working on it than I should have...There was lots of frogging involved. But that project is for another post....

Here is the latest version of the painting. The biggest change is that I began to add in the shadows on the building, and on the walkway (although I used the building shadow color for the walkway...that will need to be covered). I think I need to tweak the color slightly, but I think I have a solid foundation to build from. I am starting to make more sense of the bench and street lamp as well. The sign needs toned down, and the walkway could use some more definition. The store window needs to be "three-dimensional-ized" also.  But honestly, I think I may be done in the next day or two.

I have to say, I don't think I am wild about the acrylics I am using. I bought them at work because they were new and supposedly Winsor and Newton's answer to Golden Acrylics. I don't know if you are familiar with either brand, but Winsor and Newton Artist Acrylics just do not compare to Golden in terms of vibrancy and laying down. I started painting with Winsor and Newton's student brand "Galeria", and for the money they aren't bad. They are a definite step up from Liquitex Basics. Suffice it to say that I am going to have to slowly pick up a good mixing set of Golden. I wish I was professional enough to give the correct terms in describing Golden to you, but alas, all I can say is that they "glide" off your brush, and they amount of color you can lay down in one swipe of the brush...well, it's enough to make you drool. Plus, the infamous acrylic color shift is much more subtle, if there at all. That's one problem I am having with this painting. It's not a big deal for the most part, but the dark colors are shifting WAY darker than I am mixing them on the palette.

All I am trying to say is, if you are interested in painting with acrylics, I would recommend you try a couple of brands because you will see, as with any products made by many manufacturers, they are all different. And what I like about one brand, you may dislike, and vice versa.

Woo, that was more of a rant than I had intended this evening. Well, good night all! Talk to you tomorrow!

P.J.