Painting with Oils and Concepting Concepts

Oh how time flies, and I continue to neglect my blog. Well, I can tell you all the going ons right about now. My solo show opened beginning of this month - which was alot of fun and a wonderful experience!

me at the gallery, with Torn in the background!

Shortly after my mom flew over to Sweden to visit me and I celebrated my 25th birthday!! For a wonderful birthday present, my baby bought me a huge set of Schminke oils to try, as a transition away from acrylics ever so slowly...

lots of beautiful oil colors and new brushes to boot!

So, during this brief moment of rest I have been doing smaller pieces to see how they work and compare to my beloved Golden Open colors - which I have been a huge fanboy of ever since I started painting with them....

Painting my dear friend Amy Lou

My new amazing easel, with Amy's wolf companion painting on it!

My first ever oil painting around the half way mark, made from a sketch

I wish I could show you a few newer pictures of the paintings but my phone is misbehaving :P Heres what I think between the two: Golden Open Acrylics vs. Schminke Oils

• Covering Power: The very first noted difference I made was the smooth covering power of the oil paints. I usually have to paint several layers of an acrylic base to make it look that smooth - so it was a happy relief
• Drying Times: You need to be very careful with how much oil additive you use in oils :P I use safflower oil to lessen the yellowing effect on my light tones, and this takes twice as long to dry. It can be very handy to use ofc, using Liquin to speed up the drying can ALSO be very handy but its just about the situation. When using the safflower oil it can take nearly 2 days or more to dry. So have multiple projects ^^
• Ease of blending: I work very hard to blend acrylics to the best of my abilitiy, but it can never be completely stand still perfect. You can blend alot easier after fewer layers with oils - but I would say it is much more brush dependent!! You need just the right size of a very soft brush to make nice blending. I have also found it more difficult to add in the darker tones to skin and such. 
• Color tones: There is a marked difference between the tones of oils and the tones of acrylics. I love earthy tones myself, which in acrylics can be slightly harder to achieve as they are a very vibrant paint on their own. Oils are much more muted, at least from my experience so far (I have 16 colors of oils at the moment). Though I do miss alot of my cool Golden Open colors like Iridescent Pearl or other fun different tonal ranges which add umphf.

art trade envelopes are something I'd like to do more of in the future!

 Alot is coming up though and I have much to prepare for.
I will be in the Red Siren Art Collective's show EleMental at the 423West Gallery in Los Angeles on April 13th 2013! I have my concepts all in the works and models on their tasks - but its all very hush hush I am afraid so little photos...

I just got work I have been accepted to take part in a group show at the Auguste Clown Gallery in Melbourne, Australia!! More details on that soon I hope!

And I am also going to be in the October issue of Catapult Magazine! So keep your eyes peeled for that!! I am super excited!! :D

All in all, I am going to be very busy. So my play time with oils will be coming to an abrupt end very soon, replaced by real work. Tick tock ;)
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!! :D

A Day in the Life...

Ah, times are busy. Though the stress of painting is gone, and to be honest I think I am going through withdrawal symptoms even though I am very glad to not feel forced to get everything done...now the more practical sides of having a solo show begins.

At the gallery with all of the originals...planning planning

I'd like to continue to make these paintings personal to their prospective owners, so I am making work in progress booklets for each of them. As well as certificates in advance - which I got some new lovely paper for from England!

the certificate for Nectar all ready to go!

To make matters a little more stressful, my archival printer ran out of 5 colors of ink...and replacing each one of them costs an equivalent of $40....so you can imagine with that on top of framing and professional photography I am feeling swamped!!

the crazy mess of changing inks on my epson r3000

But besides the time consuming paperwork we have also been having a bit of fun with packaging and new projects! I have a few things lined up to do, mainly a collaboration with the awesome Laurie McClave who is also a member in our art collective Red Sirens!
I wanted to do the painting a bit differently this time, since I usually paint from realistic models and she does not - I decided to paint from a sketch. And I have been sketching alot in the evenings!

scanned in sketch for Laurie McClave collab!

I went for a few of our favorite things: birds, antlers, and ofc a beautiful lady ^^ I scanned it in and placed it on a canvas the same size as the masonite in real life to help me figure out how big it needed to be in the end. I have begun slow work on the background...but it is really slow :P Taking it easy with painting is the name of the game right now - but sure to change soon.

new packaging for orders off of my shop! :D

Another one of my goals for post-painting time was new packaging for orders off of my Etsy Shop! Which by the way is now having a celebratory 20% off sale (coupon code: CELEBRATION8711), since I am completely done with the collection and have all new prints up on there! Its really nice packing these prints, with the new wax seal on them :D Some good old fashioned-ness right there for you! Who doesnt like receiving a pretty package in the mail after all ^^

my wall of art!

And now with my wall of art complete over top of my studio space I am just about ready to carry on with the show and begin a new chapter of my life! Its been 6 long months of work - but I think alot of fun is on its way too ^^ We will see wont we!
I have alot of new concepts for paintings, and even a few new paints to help me along the way :D So lets see! New season on its way, new paintings, new times.
Wish me luck until then!!

New art supplies makes for a happy painter

Art supplies are sometimes tricky to come by when youre only an apprentice with a larger sized family. But over the past few weeks I was lucky enough to gather and acquire some bits and bobs for my stash here at home - which was such a relief with the big art showing coming up in April!

New paint tub and wow look at those library books!

Richard was so sweet and went to the huge library in Malmö and got me tons of art books in english from their collection ^^ New acrylic practices, lots of wild life and nature books AND some anatomy books which I know Marianne would appreciate!! ;)
All of these should help me create some nicer paintings in the future, and the best part theyre free. Gotta love libraries!
Also a new tub for my paints as my old shoe box was breaking apart lol :P

2 masonite boards, 40 x 60 cm

 The cost of materials is very high in Sweden. I took advice from people I follow in the art community and looked into masonite boards instead of canvases. We were able to get 12 of those bad boys up there for the price of one large cotton canvas!

so many painting opportunities...so little time ^^

These can be cut up as I please, and are so much cheaper, as well as making my paintings nice and smooth which I like as canvas ridges can drive me crazy now and again.

a Canon Pixma printer with a *drum roll*...scanner!

Those of you who have taken part of Sketchfest or any other paper based drawing event know not having a scanner has affected alot of the stuff that I do.
Richard actually won a gift certificate to a electronics store through his gaming community - and used it to buy me a printer/scanner :O How incredibly sweet!!
Now I can function normally through these events and print my own letterheads etc...such a relief!! Thank you Richard!!

Golden Artist Open Acrylic paint in Yellow Ochre, Flow Release, and a new synthetic brush

Here was possibly the splurge event of the past few weeks. I have used standard acrylics without any extra mediums for all my paintings, with the exception of 4 Liquitex soft body colors I got last spring, but they are a bit unusual colors so they arent used as frequently. I know this is affecting my blending, and I was always raging about how other acrylic artists could blend just so easily!
So I paid attention to what paint was sitting next to them in their pictures and videos and found a common theme: Golden Artist Open Acrylic Paint....
Richard and I did alot of research into these paints and into the company. They are very hard to find in Sweden, with only around 4 locations in the entire country who sell them. We found one in Malmö and went there to have a chat about their products, their benefits and downfalls and what sortve difference it could make in my painting.
Turns out the benefits could be huge with slower drying times and more flexibility with blending.
At the moment I could only get one color (of which I didnt have and did truly want), with a Flow Release liquid to help with blending with my other colors, and a new brush. You can find a whole load of information about their products on their website btw check it out!: http://www.goldenpaints.com/
This brush replaces the watercolor brush I accidently got over a year ago and use ALL the time and have subsequently destroyed ^^

All of these things should help make my show a great one!
Now to finish Swan Girl and finally move onto something else hopefully by the end of this weekend, and all will be perfect :P
Hope you have a great weekend!!