Wordless Wednesday Yupo Video

Mermaid ACEO painting

So I sat down tonight to paint a lovely, tasteful female nude ACEO in watercolor and something quite unexpected happened. 

...it all started with a not-very-diluted wash of Quinacridone Burnt Orange on the back of the thighs...

before I knew what was happening, I somehow ended up painting scales and a tailfin on my model!

Does this ever happen to you? 

ArtFire Interview - SmellyRhinoStudio

As an artist who relies heavily on Artisan websites such as Artfire, I thought you might enjoy learning a bit more about my favourite sellers. I'm starting off today with Rebecca from SmellyRhinoStudio.ArtFire.com.

Why?

She's funny, she's cool, a super-fab artist and we both love Johnny Depp. What's not to like?

Christy: First off, what role does your art play in your life?
Rebecca: To me, that's almost a strange question. I am an artist, so it's my life! I'm lucky, I guess, because I came from a family who encouraged music, art and science from the beginning. To me, there isn't really a distinction between the numerous forms of "art" that make up a person. It's all art: I've acted, played in a band, I sing and play guitar, write music and poetry, I sew, I cook and, of course, I paint!...I guess you might pose the question "What would you be without art?" Rebecca: "Um, sleepy, maybe, because I would just watch TV all the time". Can sleep be an artform?

Christy: Where do you live and what is it like?
Rebecca: I live in Atlanta, Georgia, which is like having Metropolis slammed into the middle of a trailer park. Once you leave Atlanta proper, you're in the South, honey! Being from the Northwest (Washington and Oregon) I have found myself feeling like an outsider at times, and then, conversely, the most welcomed that I have ever been. I stay because of the warm nights, tanks and shorts at midnight, sitting outside on a patio laughing with friends into the night? -Doesn't get any better than that! What I miss? --The clean fresh smell of Seattle air. The view of water and mountains everywhere you turn. The chuckle when the clouds part from Mount Rainier giving you a crystal clear view prompting you to utter, "Hey the mountain is out today! It's so pretty"--even though you've lived there for 30 years! I also missed skiing.

Christy: Ah, I remember those mountain views from Vancouver! Now obviously, you love to work with paint - who is your favorite supplier?
Rebecca: I love Sennelier pigments..ooh, so nice! -probably because they're French, and I'm a Francophile. For acrylic, I usually buy Liquitex.

Christy: If there is a new craft you could learn, what would it be and why?
Rebecca: I have always wanted a torch! I would like to be a welder, a grid iron girl, making big beefy grunt grunt sculptures, and then flipping off the helmet like Jennifer Beals, in the most feminine way, showing that woman power! Hey, I'm a girl, we want it all!

Christy: What are your goals with your ArtFire studio?
Rebecca: Back to wanting it all! To build a client base, and great continuing relationships with them. The most surprising thing for me in the last year has been the generous outpouring of support I have received from fellow artisans. I am completely addicted to sharing the love and support with others!

Christy: I hate being asked this next question, so I love directing it towards other artists. Where do you receive your inspiration?
Rebecca: I am inspired by everything. Shadows. yea, shadows. I'll see a shape and then I notice the way the light hits it and the shadow it casts..makes me see things. It goes from there. Also, I carry a notepad to take notes when the inspiration hits me, because it is rarely when I sit down to paint! Sometimes, a painting that may take only a day or two to paint really involves a month of mental preparation until I have the composition in my head. I also get lots of ideas when I am eating. (weird, huh?) Biggest idea moment: Just as I'm turning the lights off in bed and I'm decompressing; probably the moment when the most ideas come..I keep a sketch pad there, too.

Christy: Who are your other favorite ArtFire artists?
Rebecca: Christy Dekoning, Aliciascolors, Hartleysoaps, Ibreak4glass

Christy: What is the best piece of advice you can give other artists?
Rebecca: Draw something...everyday! Sure, a lot of talent is natural. But, art is a skill, that grows over time, and the more you sketch, the better you get. Plus, it's like meditating. You have to get the stuff out. Just doodle, even. I could probably help you with your imagination, too. If you think you're not creative, start cutting up a magazine. Take pics of food and shoes and refrigerators and make a house out of it. You'll start to think differently, i guarantee it. I can't help you with a sense of humor, though.

(geez thanks Rebecca)

Christy: If you won a thousand dollar craft shopping spree, what would you spend it on?
Rebecca: I still need 40 pencils in my 120 count set! Don't laugh, $2.16 a pop adds up! Big Ampersand panels. Oh, can I buy a map chest with that? I need flat storage for art papers!

Christy: If you had the opportunity to do something you wish you could do, what would it be?
Rebecca: I would be working with Seth Macfarlane and Seth Green. OMG, I love that guy. If I could be a guest on family guy or Robot Chicken, my life would be complete. I am so silly, and love to do voices, so this is right up my alley!

Christy: Why do children want to be astronauts? How do think you could apply this to your career?
Rebecca: Because when you're a child, you don't have limits, anything is possible. It's too bad we learn to stifle ourselves. We could learn a lot by just lying on the grass head to head with a child and talking about our dreams.

Christy: What do you with bad art?
Rebecca: If it happened on a canvas, it usually sits around the studio for a while waiting to be painted over. With paper, it gets torn up. If I don't have a hard time parting with it, I am likely to think that no one else would want it either, so I don't sell it. I usually throw it away!

Christy: What food or beverage makes you really creative?
Rebecca: Cheap girly wine. LOL

Christy: Does art have to make sense?
Rebecca: HUH?

Sweet Elephant Painting

When you purchase this sweet little Elephant print at SmellyRhinoStudio, you're not only helping yourself to a fun piece of art to brighten your space, but you're also helping a greater cause. $4.00USD out of every $5.00USD raised from the sale of this print goes directly to The Elephants Umbrella (www.elephantsumbrella.org) - the Elephants Umbrella Fund (EUF) is the Number One Emergency Response Team Helping Save Asian Elephant's in peril from abuse, malnutrition, neglect, or overwork. The Fund is concerned with all aspects of an elephant’s well-being, and contributes monies to any cause that will ensure their survival. Every dollar donated to the EUF goes directly to helping the elephants.

And that concludes my first ArtFire Artisan Spotlight. Please leave your comments and let me know if you'd like more of this in the future!

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Pinup ACEO series update and a sale at Artfire

As I get ready for a busy Saturday, I thought you might like to see what I've done with the Pinups ACEO series so far.

Today I have what I know will be a beautiful wedding to attend, then I will make a short drive to Ridgetown for the opening of the Desmond Juried Art Show (I'll blog about it in a few days) and of course, back to the wedding reception for the rest of the night.

So here's an update on the Pinups - and for this weekend only, everything in my ArtFire shop is marked down 20%.

Pinup no.5 original ACEO art by Christy DeKoningPinup no. 3 original ACEO painting by Christy DeKoning (sold)

Pinup Art #2 original ACEO painting by Christy DeKoning

Michael Jackson portrait in watercolor

We've recently experienced some profound emotions as the world comes to terms with the death of Michael Jackson. I think we all have our own opinions, but I myself would not care to hold any judgment when I know that what we see of a public persona is definitely not all there is to a man.

I would, however, like to say this: "Thriller" was one of my favorite albums. My older brother bought it for me on my 11th birthday, and it is the only thing I ever remember him giving me (other than burns from hot teaspoons). I had a real grown-up party that year in our basement and played that album over and over. Actually, truth be told it wasn't really a basement - our home at the time in Diddillibah, Queensland (Australia) was built on stilts - so our basement was actually the open space under the house. But I digress...

In high school I remember sitting at the beach while some schoolmates played the Bad album on cassette. Funny what we remember, because by then I wasn't really "into" Michael Jackson anymore. I think I was pretending to like Metallica ("and justice for all") to impress a grade 12 boy named Einar that I had a huge crush on. He didn't say too much, but he invited me along to a few parties where everyone dropped acid and listened to music with their eyes closed. I know you know what I mean.

I'd like to share with you this recent news piece from the Montreal Gazette:

...the outpouring of emotion at the sudden death of a performer, even a soiled and discounted one, is different. Emotions accumulate as thickly as the heaps of flowers, stuffed animals, and home-made signs at the impromptu shrines that have become a fixture of celebrity sudden death.

Jackson's popularity and his life followed two different arcs. Disgraced, ill, reclusive, almost erased from the media except when being mocked, he was widely seen as a great talent who had tilted toward ... if not madness, at least serious mental problems. But his talent was never erased from the memory of his fans. Although the British press was mocking and skeptical, all the seats for his London concerts, which were to have started this month, sold out in a flash.

In such circumstances, death can be career rebirth: Jackson's hits have been heard more in the last 10 days than in the preceding 10 years. The exultation among the lucky few who got tickets to yesterday's memorial - an astonishing 1.6 million applied - could hardly be called mourning.

Many artists throughout history have behaved badly, even criminally, in many ways. But what people remember, at the moment of death and afterward, is not the strangeness but the pleasure a performer delivered.

I was asked to paint a portrait of Michael Jackson in ACEO size. We worked together and narrowed down a few selections that I could recreate in a way that would pay homage to Michael Jackson the way we remember him: full of energy, talent and lots of movement. Although the original is sold, you can pick up prints in any size up to 8x10 at either my ArtFire or Etsy shops.

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Painting Audrey Hepburn without drawing first

Here is a little exercise I did today: painting Audrey Hepburn and a floral still life without drawing first. I took a scrap piece of 140lb cold press watercolor paper and sat down at the dining room table with some art magazines, tea, toast and paint.

(NB: all the photos are thumbnails - click for larger versions)

The first thing I did was clear off the mess on the table to make room for me and my stuff.

I flipped open the spring 2009 publication of Watercolor to an article by the very talented Pat Weaver about resolving common problems. Now I have to admit I haven't read the article yet (but I will); however, I was inspired nonetheless by her vibrant still life painting "Floral on Yupo". As many of you know by now, I usually steer away from florals - to be honest I find them intimidating - so I figured this would be a good way to play.

I made a rough 3x4 inch sketch of a vase but didn't draw any flowers, and then just dabbled away with a few colours from my pallette: French ultramarine, Quinacridone Rose, and Cobalt Yellow. I threw in a bit of sap green and quinacridone red at one point, but not much.

It was a good exercise, but not much fun for Christy.

So then I got into some juicy stuff: painting Audrey Hepburn WITHOUT A DRAWING - pretty gutsy huh? I wish I'd videotaped it (or at least taken "in progress" photos) because I actually surprised myself. To keep it simple, I stuck with just one colour, Payne's Grey.

I used the "referencing" technique, where you choose one feature to start with and reference everything else from each subsequent feature. Sort of like connecting dots. In this case, I started with the eye you see on the right, then worked up to the eyebrow, over to the cheekbones (which I later had to expand as they were too close) then up to the second eye, down to the nose (which I did very lightly until after I did the mouth, to be sure I had the placement right). Next I did the mouth and chin. I took a step back and realized the mouth was too high (you can still see a bit of the original wash) so I fixed that too.

The portrait isn't photo-perfect, but I feel it's pretty darn close, and definitely recognizable as Audrey Hepburn. All in all, this was a very good exercise for me and one I recommend to anyone looking to practice their techniques.

Have you tried painting without a preliminary sketch? If so, what did you think?

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