Lunar Gaze

This painting has been in the works for quite awhile and I am happy to have finally completed it. It is a collaboration of sorts between Sebastian Olejnik and myself. We took the reference photo I used for this painting two summers ago at the cabin when I was doing my morning yoga on the deck. This past summer I finally got around to sketching it out in my sketchbook. The heron and the moon were Sebastian's ideas as was the title of the piece. 
The original is 11" by 14" mixed media (acrylic ink, glass beads, gloss varnish, pearl paint) on watercolour board mounted on a painted (black) cradled wood panel. 
 










I struggled with the moon. I wanted it to glow and reflect the way the real moon does. After painting it in ink I applied a gloss varnish that has tiny glass beads in it. It adds a very interesting texture as well as a little sparkle.

I then applied a mixed media paint appropriately named Fantasy Moon - Pearl over top of the beads to give it a luminous finish. I made a test moon to make sure that all my paints would work together the way I wanted them to because I was pretty terrified that I would screw up the moon and have to start the whole thing over! Luckily things worked out and I think it is reasonably effective. 


You can find this painting in my Etsy shop along with the rest of my completed art!  

Speed painting - Pink tutu

 Painting videos are my new favorite thing to make!!! It is a great way to spend my lazy Wednesday afternoons (my day off from dance) and show my painting process. This is the third video that I have made and I am already starting the next one.

I am back on my dance theme for the moment but other images are brewing in the background of my mind so I will probably make some random works over xmas break! (....are we there yet?!)

I'm starting to understand my editing software a little more, although there was one stressful moment where I thought my completed video was gone forever!...but I found it again. lol

 
Pink Tutu (top image) and White tutu (such creative titles :P) are both 6" by 8" coloured ink on watercolour board.
Both these paintings are for sale in my Etsy Shop for just $30!

Art Videos

I have been watching cool art time lapse videos for awhile now and I finally decided to make my own. I chose a small 5" by 7" board because I figured I could start and finish it all in one day. The first video had about 1 hour of painting time in it and I edited and sped it up in windows movie maker. It took longer to make the video than paint the painting, lol. The problem with windows movie maker is that it is not capable of making a full screen video, which is silly given that my camera shoots in high definition. 

I found a free editing program called lightworks. It came with a warning that there is a steep learning curve and they were right!!! Not only do I not fully understand (yet) what I am doing but my ancient laptop (only 3 years old) has a hard time rendering the previews. So this second video was made with a great deal of trial and error and no preview, but I think I am starting to grasp how the program works. Which means the next one will be so much better! (....although I may have to reformat and defrag before I do more editing!)

The tutu painting is still available on Etsy!

The End on Inktober

During the month of October I completed 16 mini (4" by 5") ink paintings. My original goal was to paint one everyday (following the official rules of #inktober) but I realized by day three that I had underestimated the amount of painting time I have in a week. I am pretty happy with my success!

 My main focus was ballet but I painted some random things as well. My personal favorite is the red mushrooms in the forest. I recently bought some white ink and was experimenting with it. 

My friend Sebastian (who is responsible for all of the music in my painting videos) also contributed by drawing some trippy mushroom trip Aliens for me to colour in. 
 Haha, which is always fun!

 I did a lot of black and white ink paintings of my pointe shoes and feet. I teach ballet five days a week so I'm a little obsessed with pointed toes! lol

 All of these paintings are listed in my Etsy shop for only $20.

Thanks for stopping by!

Inktober Week 2

This week I managed to complete 5 mini ink paintings. Which is pretty good considering that I did nothing Thursday and Friday and then spent Thanksgiving weekend relaxing at my cabin. I did however get lots of painting done in that relaxing time.
Two of these fun inks were drawn by Sebastian and both of them are alien themed! The first is an alien leaving earth. He is fed up with humans and their stupidity. The second is an alien visit during a magic mushroom experience. I don't know where he gets these ideas but I really enjoy bringing his drawings to life.  
All of these paintings are available in my Etsy shop!
Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone! 
The cabin weather was pretty decent and I spent some quality time with Squeeker, my favorite squirrel! We made sure he was stocked up on nuts for the winter and Sebastian had a little photo shoot with him on his favorite branch, looking his cutest! 

Week One of Inktober

I started of Inktober with the best of intentions of completing one small ink piece every single day. I have not quite been able to keep up and the stress is starting to effect me. My new goal is to complete as many as possible by the 31st. I managed to complete 6 paintings as of Wednesday and although I have 3 in progress I have not completed one since. I have been experimenting with my coloured inks and my brand new white ink, which is a lot of fun!

 Thanksgiving weekend means I get 2 days off in a row so after teaching on Saturday I am off to my cabin for one last vacation till next spring! This will be the last 2 days in a row that I get till Christmas so I intend on relaxing my aching body and hopefully catching up on some new ink paintings!
I also have some other paintings that are almost completed which I am hoping to tackle as well. I have, as per usual, overloaded myself with projects which means that nothing gets done in a timely manner.

All of these mini ink paintings are available in my Etsy shop and are super cheap!
If you are thinking ahead to the holidays they might make for fun little gifts! 

.....now I am off to my Cabin!!!

Mini Inks

So I have decided to participate in #Inktober. The idea is that you create an ink drawing/illustration for everyday of October. Someone created it a few years ago as a personal challenge and the past few years it has become an art community event! I am already drowning in projects but I am going to put a few aside for this month and see what happens.

I have no particular theme for this series although dance and or Halloween are nice easy ones for me to follow! 
Each ink painting will be 4" by 5" on thick watercolour board and I am selling them in my shop for just $20 each. So if you want some cute affordable art be sure to check it out throughout the month!
These two Grishko pointe shoe paintings count for October 1st and 2nd! :)