How do you keep track of your mixed acrylics?

April 5, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

When I went back to work on my daisy painting, I immediately had trouble mixing and matching the green. It was way off from what I started with. I realized that the more I mix my colors, the more trouble I’ll have matching them later. I had time that day and went to the art store. The woman there was very helpful and I was asking a lot of questions! I asked her how she kept track of colors she mixed. Her only advice was to keep a swatch of the color, which I already did.

When I told her I was painting a flower, she recommended “Hookers Green,” which is a leaf green. I was using phthalo green, which not surprisingly was very blue. I wasn’t so sure of the color when I first put it on (bottom right leaf in the photo below), but I decided to go for it and covered all the leaves. Then I started adding the details of the leaves. I had mixed shades of the Hookers Green using the Brilliant Yellow Green, which was the base color of my painting. I thought painting the leaves would be easy, but I was wrong! I think I started to get the hang of it. Painting in watercolor and acrylic is very different!

This time when I mixed my paint I used the disposable palette sheets I bought at the art store. These are perfect for me, because I hate cleaning up. I also bought a palette about the size of the sheet, to support it. When I was done, I was scraping off the paint I wanted to save, when I realized I could write on the sheet to label the paints and the mixes. This is so helpful! I have a terrible memory and sometimes don’t return to painting for several days (or even weeks). I guess I answered my own question. But I would love to hear other ideas! 🙂

I’m trying to figure out what section of the painting to attack next. Finish the leaves? The center of the flower?

Progress on my acrylic Gerbera Daisy

March 29, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I stole an hour this morning, before the craziness of running around with the kids, to work on my latest painting. I really like how it is coming out! I had a great sense of accomplishment that stayed with me throughout the day.

My latest progress:

The dark areas really make the flower pop and I didn’t even add any paint to the petals. I plan on continuing to work on the leaves in the background before working on the flower.

The starting point this morning:

Previous stages:

Acrylic Gerbera Daisy

March 26, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I made some progress today on my Gerbera Daisy. I’m pretty happy. When I first started adding the light pink to the tips of the petals they looked a bit streaky, but I got the hang of it and I really like where I am so far.

Back to Acrylics

March 24, 2014June 6, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

It has been about 2 weeks since I painted with acrylics. It feels like forever. Lately I’ve been playing with watercolor. Today, I was determined to paint with acrylics, but it took a while for me to get to work. I took a half hour to clean my palette because I ended up scrubbing the whole slop sink!

I wasn’t in the mood to work on my jellyfish painting, even though I think I’m close to finishing. I had a couple of ideas for new paintings and plenty of fresh canvases! Here is my list:

Donut with strawberry icing and sprinkles (yum!)
Gerbera daisy (I came across a photo I took 10 years ago!)
Ocean
Sunrise through the trees

I didn’t know which one to work on, and it probably wasn’t the best plan, but I decided to start all of them and see which one pulled me in. It was so fun playing! There is something exciting about starting new projects. It’s the finishing that’s hard – lol! In the end, I only started two of the paintings. It seemed like too much to start going in four different directions!

The background for “Sunrise through the trees” was a lot of fun, even though I ended up doing something different than I originally intended. I’m loving the colors! Notice I’m using bright colors, some directly from the tubes. I love it! It’s feels very springy. I just plopped the paint on with a foam brush. I plan on adding paint to blend the colors after this base coat is dry. (I hope that isn’t a mistake.)

Of the two projects, the Gerbera daisy painting was really tugging at me, so I worked on that one the most. I think I got a really good start! It is amazing how “just starting” changes your whole perspective. Here is the photo and my progress:

Patience and Painting

March 11, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

By nature I am not a patient person. The other day as I was painting in my sketchpad, I got annoyed when the painting wasn’t going quickly and easily. This gave me reason to pause and think, “Am I too impatient to ever be a great artist?”

Later that same day, I was back at work on my acrylic jellyfish painting. I had finally gone out and bought some bright colors for the background. (As much as I tried, I was unable to mix a color that popped the way the photo did.) I was working a blend, of these bright colors, into my water background when I thought to myself, “This painting is really hard. It’s taking forever.”

This brought me back to my earlier thought, “Am I too impatient to ever be a great artist?” But, I continued working on the background, getting into a zone. I hit a point where I wished I could “undo” everything I had done that day. I thought I had ruined the painting. My daughter walked by and admired it (and the colors) and I looked at it again and thought, “Maybe I haven’t ruined it.”

The jellyfish painting is getting there. I can’t say for sure how long it will take me to get there. I do know, it is on the top of my list for my next painting session. Impatient nature or not, I will continue to persevere.

Defining paint color with help of the eyedropper tool (in Photoshop)

March 6, 2014June 6, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

It has been three weeks since I last worked on my jellyfish painting. Isn’t it ironic that when I last worked on it, I wrote about it under the title, “Procrastination and Painting.” Seems like I’ve been procrastinating getting back to this painting! I know the reason why. I hit a stumbling block.

I was struggling with the color of the jellyfish. What I ended up with was a very orange color. No matter how many times I mixed it, I couldn’t get it to look like the photo. When I left off, I planned to use the eyedropper tool in Adobe Photoshop, to help pinpoint the colors in the photo. It certainly seemed like a good plan. Let’s see if it actually works!

When I opened the photo in Photoshop and starting clicking around on the jellyfish photo, I was surprised to see the colors that came up – maroon, brown, tan, gold. I already felt that it was helping me “see” colors in the jellyfish that I wasn’t seeing. Since I use thalo blue, cadmium yellow and cadmium red to mix my colors, I decided the RGB (red, green, blue) breakdown of the colors was the most useful. I tried to mix and measure following this breakdown.

My first try wasn’t great. I mixed a color which seem to match, but when I painted on top of my existing color, it didn’t look great. I guess the fact that I was painting on top of color, was an issue. The orange beneath my new color, was having an effect on the new color. I didn’t give up!

I kept mixing colors until I got something, that when I put it on top, it looked right. I feel like I’m starting to get there, but have my work cut out for me. I’m so inexperienced I pick hard things and don’t realized they are hard until I’m in the middle of it.

The thing that I love about this photo is that it glows. The colors in my painting are dull and I’m not sure I can fix it – if I’m mixing the colors. Tomorrow I have off and I plan on attacking this painting to see what I can do!

Painting an abstract is harder than it looks!

February 25, 2014July 4, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

My abstract painting sat unfinished for longer than I care to admit. I thought it would be so easy, but after I painted the background colors, I was stumped. I even tried to get my faithful readers to vote on how I should finish it. Needless to say, they were as uninterested as I was!

Finally, I’m ready to bite the bullet, and just finish! I have to admit I have been itching to buy new canvases to start a couple of new projects. But, I am forcing myself to finish a couple of the outstanding paintings: the abstract, the jellyfish, and (I can’t forget) the bike! Okay, so I may not finish all of them!

I did a couple of sketches (freehand and on the computer) to determine a direction for the abstract painting. I am most interested in #1, the bird on the branches. I’m going to search online for a stock photo, to use as reference for my tree.

I found an image I liked and started painting. The branches were a lot more detailed, than in my sketches. Every time I work on a drawing or painting of a tree, I notice I tend to make the branches going in a similar direction. To compensate for this, I’m turning the canvas, every so often. I like how it is coming out so far, but I think it needs more branches! Leave it to me to turn an “abstract” into a detailed painting of a tree. I just can’t help myself!

I finally got the hang of painting branches. I applied the blunt part of my square brush onto the canvas. I got a much more realistic limb, than when I was doing strokes with the brush.

I’m almost there. I just need to fix a couple of the branches that look weird because they get thicker, further up the tree, which is probably physically impossible! I could add branches forever…time to stop!

The final step is adding the bird. I’m nervous about where to place him! In the end, I don’t think this painting qualifies as an abstract! But, I’m happy with how it turned out. (And that it is done.)

Is my astrological sign affecting my painting?

February 9, 2014October 13, 2015 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I had a bit of an epiphany, while I was working on my apple painting. I’ve written, several times, about how I get anxious on day two of a project. As I wrote in my last post,

“(On) day one, I’m excited and enthusiastic. Day two, I’m reluctant, anxious, intimidated…I have to push myself to continue with a project.” I forced myself, to get back to work on the apple painting, and as I worked, I came up with a plan for the next day. “I realized having a plan, made starting up easier. I didn’t feel as intimidated. Also, I know from experience, once I get started, I’m usually fine. I now know, that, before I step away from I project, I need to have a plan for the next day.”

I decided to search online, for traits that apply to my sign, Aries. I’m not that into astrology, but I couldn’t believe how dead on the description of Aries (on Huffington Post) was.

“Aries motto is “Ready, fire, aim!” It may be backwards for others, but you’d rather figure out what to do while you are doing it. Impulsive actions, however, can bring you your share of trouble. While others are gathering information to make informed decisions, you are already on your way. As such, you could suffer from false starts. In fact, you Aries are so good at starting things that you can be off onto your next project before completing the previous one. As you Aries mature, you learn to slow down your reaction time in order to think about the consequences of your actions.”

That is totally me! Whenever, I try to put something together, and hit a snag, my husband will say, “Did you read the directions?” I, of course, am like, directions? Who needs those?! Obviously me, that’s why I’ve hit a snag!

The part about starting projects, but then moving on, really hit home. Since I started mycreativeresolution.com, I’ve been forcing myself to finish projects and it has been really satisfying.

For me, the “Ready, fire, aim!” motto, is so true, and may be the reason, I had all those unfinished paintings. I start a project, but get to a point, where I’m not sure how to finish. Instead of working through it, I put the project aside. This just reaffirms how important “a plan” is (and yes honey, those instructions). I will no longer, step away from a painting, without thinking about what the next steps are.

Today, I finished my apple painting. Words can’t describe how good it feels. I was a little nervous finishing, because I felt so close, and I didn’t want to ruin it. But, I had a plan (to add paint to the stem and the area behind the stem) and I executed it. Yeah me!

I also started the jellyfish painting, that I’ve been planning, since I took this photo. I covered the canvas in a medium tone blue/purple. The plan for next time is, to sketch in (with paint) the jellyfish and then add the water around them. I’m excited!

Check out your sign’s traits at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/horoscopes/

Select your sign
Scroll down to “about the sign”
Enjoy! Let me know if anything rings true for you!

I wish there was an “undo” button, while I’m painting

February 5, 2014February 28, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I was very excited to try out my new easel. I was less excited, to continue painting my apple. I need to coin a phrase, to describe the feeling I get, on day two of a project. Day one, I’m excited and enthusiastic. Day two, I’m reluctant, anxious, intimidated. Whatever the word, I have to push myself to continue with a project. Do other creative people feel this way?

Regardless of how I was feeling, I got to work on my apple. I set the easel up near the window, for natural light. Logistically, it was a nightmare. I was so far away from my palettes, with my mixed paint. And even further from the computer, where my reference photo was on the screen. (The color is never as good when I print it.) I stood at my easel, and every time I tried to get closer to the painting, I’d kick one of the legs and the whole easel would tilt.

I was working on the bottom quarter of the painting, the table, where the apples sit. In order, to be able, to paint the bottom edge, I turned the painting upside down. My acrylic painting teacher told me, to make an area (like a table) less flat looking, paint it dark to light or warm to cool (or the reverse of either). I decided to darken the table as I got closer to the apples. I also added in some greens, for the stem and the area around the seeds.

I was, feeling all over the place (literally), and I was in a rush, as I had to leave the house at a specific time. As I was adding a bit more paint, before I left, I literally said out loud, “I have to stop, I’m ruining it.” Before I left, I turned the painting right side up.

While I was out, all I could think about, was that I ruined the painting. I loved it the first day. Maybe I shouldn’t have done the gradual darkening of the table? Maybe I should have left it “flat” looking? Isn’t that a painting style?

I wish there was an “undo” button. When I work, as a Graphic Designer, any time I don’t like the last couple steps I’ve taken, I just click “Edit, Undo.” There is also “Edit, Step Backward,” and “Revert to Saved.” Basically, there are tons of ways, to go back to where you started. Sometimes, while painting, I wish I had one of these options.

A funny thing happened when I got home. I turned on the light, saw the apple painting on the easel, and thought, “Wow, it looks good!” I was so surprised.

A couple of days later, when I had time to paint, I knew what area I wanted to work on. I realized having a plan, made starting up easier. I didn’t feel as intimidated. Also, I know from experience, once I get started, I’m usually fine. I now know, that before I step away from I project, I need to have a plan for the next day.

Working with the easel, was much better, the second time around. I printed my reference photo and hung it near the easel. I brought my palette to the easel, instead of walking back and forth. Be prepared to laugh. I realized the curved area on either side of my easel, is so I can comfortably hold it! I sat on a stool and didn’t kick the easel once!

As far as the painting itself, I darkened the background directly behind the apples. I added details to all the apples. The only thing I need to finish, is the stem and the area behind the stem. That is my plan, and I am excited to attack it next time!