Autumn Tree

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

I told you I was into trees! Trees and leaves! For this piece I started painting, very wet, with watercolor. After the painting dried (a little) I went back and added more color and some leaf shapes. When that was completely dry, I started drawing, in ink, the shapes of the leaves and the lines of the bark. Then, I added more color.

I love the style of this. It is so fun to doodle in ink. You kind of go into a trance where you are half paying attention. Sometimes it takes a little bit, but eventually I find my groove. I find it helpful to add the ink while I’m watching TV!

There were a couple of parts of this piece that were bugging me, so I did a little retouching in Photoshop. I don’t normally do this. I’m a Graphic Designer and spend a lot of time using Photoshop. I prefer to keep my art “handmade,” but I loved this piece and had to fix those nagging issues.

My steps:
I need to start clamping down my paper to a board or taping it. My paper buckles and the paint puddles.

Here’s where I added more color and the hint of leaf shapes:

Before computer retouching. I’ve added details in ink and more color:

See more trees, trees and leaves!

Spooky Tree

October 10, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

I am inspired by trees lately. It makes sense since it’s Fall. For this piece I started out painting with watercolor. It was just the idea of a tree. Then I added the ink. My tree looked a little too squat, so I made the branches longer. Then, I went back in and added more color and the splatters. I like working square. I think it adds something.

Watercolor Tulips

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

Am I channeling Spring? I don’t think so. So far the Fall weather has been perfect! But these blobs just looked like tulips, so that’s what I made them. Hope everyone had a good weekend. 🙂

Connie Roberts Poet

October 3, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Check out my talented friend Connie’s new site/blog. She is an award winning poet! Her first blog post is about Aidan McDermott’s artwork, “A Head of Steam” and how the painting’s imagery is reflected in her poems. [more]

Where do you sell your artwork?

October 2, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

This mess makes me feel like an artist. Sometimes I think about trying to sell my art. Where do you sell your artwork? Please fill out my poll. I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you for voting! I would love it if you left a comment about how selling is going for you. Thank you!!! 🙂

Ready to fall?

Image | October 1, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

A Crisp Fall Day!

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

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. I love those sunny, crisp, blue sky days. Unfortunately they lead to damp, grey, cold days! Today is the perfect Fall day. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts! 🙂

This painting was part of my painting party. I worked very wet, letting the colors bleed together, only hinting at each leaf. I added several layers of paint. After I was done, I added some details with ink.

Table full of projects

September 23, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

Today I set up the table like I was having a painting party – although it was all for me! I set up 4 different seats. I grabbed a couple of different leaves from the yard and some apples. I sat at 3 of the seats, working from a different subject each time. I went back and added paint to the fall leaves painting (left) and the red leaf painting (middle). I’m excited to add ink to the fall leaves painting!

I decided to work this way because:

I didn’t have a set subject I wanted to work on.
Since you need to let the paint dry before you can add more color and detail, it’s the perfect time to switch seats and projects!
I wanted to end up with several watercolors that I could continue to paint or add ink to.

Last week I had a lot of success with my sunflower project, where I started the painting several times. Ironically, I thought the success was what I turned the outtakes into. Not the final sunflower painting! So, I wanted to start a couple of projects and see what I could do with them.

My personal painting party:

Working with outtakes

September 17, 2014 | Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

The other day, when I was painting sunflowers, I started several versions before selecting one to work on in more detail. Today I decided to see what I could do with two of these “outtakes.” I used an ink pen and started scribbling away.

The first outtake immediately reminded me of a feather (when the sunflower’s center flowed all over the paper). So I added ink and made it a feather.

Outtake #1:

The second outtake, looked like a bunch of sunflowers, so I added ink to make it look more finished. Lately I’ve been having fun playing with ink. In the past I shied away – thinking the outline had to be precise and perfect. Now I’m just scratching away, the way I would with a pencil. Is my style coming out?!

Outtake #2: