Making Large Pieces of Art

I'm working on my largest painting yet! I have to say, this is a lot more difficult than painting on a smaller canvas or piece of wood.

To start with, I was worried about getting an even background color, because with a canvas that size (48x24) you obviously can't just use a regular paint brush. So I got a paint roller, just like the one's you use to paint your wall. I mixed the color I wanted for the background, then just rolled on the paint. This was a very fast method and it only took me a minute or two to evenly paint the whole background.

The only thing is if you want the background to be smooth, this method will not work because you end up with the tiny bumps, just like when you're painting a wall. Luckily I didn't need my background to be smooth.

I should also make note that I'm doing this painting with acrylic paint, because I need it to dry quickly. I would have loved to do it with oil, in which case I would have probably painted the background with a regular, large horsehair paintbrush, but due to the fact that I have no space to allow that to dry for a week or so, I went with acrylic.

Now I'm sketching my main subject for the painting, before I start to paint her on the canvas. Above is one of my sketches.

I plan to have this picture completed by my June 4th art show, and I will post regular updates as the picture comes along. It will be a mixed media painting, with acrylic.

Custom Collage Paintings

This is a custom collage painting I just finished for a co-worker, DB.

I have also done these for my sister, MM and several other friends (see my sister's below):

These are great keepsakes and presents for birthdays, anniversaries, mother's and father's day, and other holidays. For more examples, check out www.MEartist.com. Pricing is currently as follows:

$100 for a 12x12 custom collage painting

$140 for a 16x16 custom collage painting

$175 for a 20x20 custom collage painting

For pricing for larger sizes, please contact me through my website at MEartist.com.

My Secret Image Transfer Technique

I never thought it would be hard to write about some special "skill" you have or thing you've figure out that probably no one else knows, but I guess it's kind of like having a secret recipe. You want to have the best pie in the world and not have anyone else be able to duplicate it.

Well, I started this blog with the purpose of maybe helping other artists become better by teaching them what I've learned so maybe they don't have to waste a bunch of time trying a million things out. So I will share my "secret" technique.

Initially I looked all over the web for the best way to transfer an image onto a painting. None of the explanations of how to do it were good enough. They all kind of made sense but they were missing a step, so it never completely came out right. So I decided to try my own technique.

1. Print out the image you want on tracing paper and let the ink completely dry. You have to be pretty careful because the ink will smudge very easily. You may have to reprint it if the printer smudges the ink.

2. Put a thin, even layer of gloss gel (I use medium gel brilliant, Liquitex brand).

3. Slowly lay the image on top of it and press out the wrinkles as best as possible. You have to be very careful on this part so you don't smear the ink from your image.

4. Once you've pasted your image on, spray the top of the image with a varnish. I use an acrylic/oil/alkyd varnish - Winsor & Newton brand.

5. After that's dry, you can paint over it, paste over it, put a gloss gel over it, etc. and the ink won't smear. The image will be translucent and you can blend it in with the painting very well.

Mixed media painting

ERRRGGG. I just got this back from the printer and as I'm picking it up I take a look at it. It's not done at all! What was I thinking? There's so much more I want to do with it before I even show it to other people (though I'll leave this picture up so there will be a before and after pic). Well, that was a waste of money! (having it scanned, I mean).

I will be working on it more tonight and tomorrow to possibly finish it and hopefully within the next week I will post a new, completed picture of it. Stay tuned!

Paintings are starting to flow...

I just finished my second mixed media painting yesterday, I think it looks pretty awesome. I wish I had taken a picture of it to post before I took it to the printer but I was in a hurry. I will be picking it up in a couple days and will be able to post a picture of it then.

I also picked up my 2 other paintings yesterday that I had taken to the printer, but I didn't have time to put the photos on my computer, so I'll have to do that tonight when I get home and I will post those as well.

Currently I have 2 originals for sale! This is pretty exciting. I also started my first portrait painting last night. I have a beautiful neighbor and I quickly snapped some photos of her yesterday, printed one out and started painting it. I'm using oil paint, because that's the easiest medium for me at this point. I really just got started on the outlines/basics, but I like it a lot so far and think it will come out pretty well!

I haven't sold anything on my Storenvy sight yet, but I'm getting a lot of views on it and I will now have one original to put up for sale, plus another print. Then in a couple days when I get the other painting back from the printers, I will have two originals up on there for sale. After I get a bit more posted on there for sale I will start promoting it even more heavily.

So that's what's going on for now, I will be posting some more art soon!

Worked on my next mixed media tonight

I started a mixed media painting a while ago but from the start it wasn't going how I wanted. So I thought it was going to have to scrap it and start over (it's wood so I was going to sand it down), but then I decided what the heck, I can fix it and make it awesome. And I've been doing just that.

It's based off of a photograph I took somewhere in Orange County of an awesome building with some American flags on it and a pretty sky in the background. The painting will only vaguely resemble the same building, but it's still pretty cool.

Additionally, by the end of this next week I should have TWO original paintings to post for sale in my store, which is pretty awesome. I'll have to try to get them to the printers to be scanned on Wednesday and pick them up on Saturday. Very exciting stuff!