over a hundred paintings in nine months

A little over nine months and almost 1,800 hours later I still find this painting thing obsessive. I suppose that it’s no different from any of the other ventures I’ve taken on in the past. Everything I do and have done, I do it with passion. It’s a good thing I’m fully retired now and have plenty of time to devote to art. It’s also a good thing my wife is not against me spending so much time painting. She painted when young and perhaps sees some talent in me and does not mind.  Artists are a dime a dozen but like in music good musicians are far and in between. I’m not talking about bands per se but individuals. Most just aren’t dedicated enough and willing to sacrifice their time to become great.

Beginner artists like wanna be musicians get tired of lack of recognition and creativity and oftentimes end up quitting because they haven’t really learned anything new to add to their repertoire. Bob Ross videos can only take you so far if that’s all you want to do, don’t really pay attention to his ramblings and won‘t take it to the next level. I learn something new with each painting and use it in the next. I just finished my 106th painting. The last ten have been portraits. In doing portraits I find toddlers and the elderly the most challenging. I just finished a painting of an elderly woman which took me over three weeks and four re do’s before getting her to look like herself. A toddler, I did as my first, took me almost three weeks, but the second one only a week while the third, a day. I’m thinking that it’s the learning curve and expect the next elderly portrait to go a lot smoother. Portraits in between the two ,have all gone fairly smooth and finished them within a few days, a week at the most.

I started watching the old Bob Ross videos on You Tube again, not that I want to copy his stuff but, to learn something new. If you actually pay close attention, somewhere in between his ramblings, he teaches something. Each time I watch his videos, I pick up something new and apply it to what ever I might be doing. I’ve watched about forty something of his videos thus far. Other artists say that you can’t use his technique in other styles. No, you may not be able to use a two inch brush to create a portrait on a standard size canvas, but you sure as hell can use the liquid clear, liquid white or liquid black in there the same way. I even use black acrylic gesso and then paint the skin area of the portrait a khaki or lite mocha color followed by liquid clear after the pour on type matte finish, acrylic paint is totally dry. It’s a little more prep involved but the results are outstanding. I love the black canvas effect. Using the fan brush to create the look of hair goes a long way in making it look realistic.

Sure I could go out and take some lessons, but I think that would only stifle my creativity. There are way too many rules to remember and guidelines to follow. Nope not me, can’t learn that way. Like in music, fishing and other ventures, I just get out and do it although I was formally trained as a musician ,which, I had to just forget to become creative.

oil painting with aurora borealis

another oil painting with aurora borealis

yet another oil painting with aurora borealis

oil painting of a toddler

another oil painting of a toddler

yet another oil painting of a toddler

an oil painting of a 70 yr old friend on black canvas taking it off a photo. It was an experiment with facial color tones

an oil painting of a nephew on black canvas

an oil painting of an elderly neighbor woman on black canvas. I was experimenting with shadows

All of the above were painted on black canvas. I used a black acrylic gesso to make a white canvas black. Sometimes I had to use a white gesso followed by black acrylic paint. The problem with just mixing black paint with the white gesso is that often times as I use a pour on acrylic black paint, the mix becomes clumpy before I can get it on the canvas as the area I paint in is very dry and acrylic paints dry extra fast. Yes, I've only been painting for 37 weeks.