Lighthouse mini oil painting

Sometimes, I put the watercolour aside 

and bring out oil paint 

so I can work with a palette knife.

"Untitled Lighthouse Oil Painting" (as yet)

oil on canvas

4x5 inches by Christy DeKoning

The Light-Keeper

by Robert Louis Stevenson

The brilliant kernel of the night,

The flaming lightroom circles me:

I sit within a blaze of light

Held high above the dusky sea.

Far off the surf doth break and roar

Along bleak miles of moonlit shore,

Where through the tides the tumbling wave

Falls in an avalanche of foam

And drives its churned waters home

Up many an undercliff and cave.

Audrey Hepburn in the spotlight.

Today seems to be all about Audrey, so I thought a quick blog post might be in order.

Did you watch my short, quirky video last month where I briefly attempted to demonstrate how to paint with red wine? The clip was made with my webcam, and is a mirror image, but it gives you a bit of background on this painting below.

The original portrait is sold, however I've just listed two different giclee print versions: ACEO (2.5 x 3.5 inches) and 8x10

Audrey Hepburn in Red Wine

8x10 Giclee Fine Art Print

Another one of my Audrey Hepburn prints is featured in a treasury on Etsy right now. You can view all the Holly Golightly handmade items your heart desires!

And just so you know, I proudly support the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund, and you can help just by purchasing my art. With every sale of Audrey Hepburn prints in my shop, I donate 10% back to the fund.

Red Pointe Shoes in art

Facelift in Red.

Recently, I gave my blog a little makeover. Did you notice? I felt like painting it red.

Maybe it was due, in part, to the fact that I was painting red ballet shoes. You may remember last month I painted a pair of pointe shoes with an indigo background.

As it happens, I was asked to paint the same image with red shoes. A rather simple task when I've already got the sketch worked out - it really just involved different colour choices.

The first time around, I went with a fun green tone in the background:

"Red Shoes on Green"

original watercolour ACEO painting

(I'm not sure what happened with my signature - I think I got distracted somewhere around the first "N")
these things happen.

And then I wanted to try something a little edgier - more monochromatic - with a grey background. Having spent many hours in my youth nursing tired toes that sometimes bled from too much pointe work, I just love how the red "bled" into the background. Happy accidents.

"Dancing in the Dark"

original watercolour ACEO painting (sold - prints available)

The images above are both uncropped. When cropped to fit standard ACEO size, they'll look like this:

The client I painted these for selected the grey one for her collection. 

You can find the green version here on Etsy or ArtFire.

Solving problems with design and colour in watercolor paintings

I'm working on a 24"x36" canvas for another community arts initiative. This one is called "On the Edge" and all works submitted must respond to an edge - be it physical, psychological or pushing an artistic edge.

I called on another artist friend of mine, Jen Merritt, to work on this with me. We went out into Lake Erie - freezing cold, windy, nasty conditions - to push our edges. 

I have to say, in all honesty, that Jen did most of the "pushing" as I was the one with the camera, therefore a little warmer and drier!

Anyway, this story has more to it with pushing psychological and emotional edges, which I will share with you when the piece is finished. For now, I'm working on the artistic edges, and let me tell you, they weren't happening.

I have been stuck looking at this unfinished painting for weeks! I wanted to push my edges, but didn't know exactly where they were or how to even start. 

Today, I was up at 4am to pick my son up from the airport (he decided not to move to Australia just yet and went for a visit instead) - when I got home, I looked at the painting (again) and then, uninspired, I had a nap. I was ready to throw in the towel and just paint her feet on the water's edge instead.

But the power of the nap should never be misjudged!

When I awoke, I realized that I had been dreaming - real, vibrant, big dreams.

And I could finally translate what was missing before: colour, contrast, drama and directional movement.

This is my mess on the floor - working big, with a house painting brush, and squishing out colour straight from the tube onto the painting. It still needs more work, but not too much - I will NOT over-work this!

(promise to self)

here, below, is how it's looking so far. The reflections are from the wet paint.

The May draw is for a $25 gift certificate from my ArtFire shop. It can be used toward anything, including a custom ACEO painting.

Congratulations, Pam - I just KNEW your name would come up sooner or later!

thank you for being here :-)

ACEO sale starts Friday

Got a hankerin' for some new, original art on your walls?

Well, hold onto your jugular because I'm having a MASSIVE HUGE TOTALLY AWESOME SALE this weekend only.

All my original ACEO paintings will be marked down to $10 each from Friday until Sunday at midnight. That's three days to go crazy buying original art!

Here's a sampling of what's on sale:

"Sand Dollars"

2.5 x 3.5 inches

original ACEO painting on claybord

"Pointe Shoes on Indigo"

2.5 x 3.5 inches

original painting on claybord

"Pin Up #5"

2.5 x 3.5 inches

original painting on 140lb cold press paper

... and as if all these ACEO paintings on sale isn't enough, there are even some brand spankin' new items in my shop to choose from!

"more cowbell." 

1" button

 $1 each at etsy

because really, it's what we all need more of.

Retro Girl on the Telephone

2.25" Glass Pocket Mirror

$5 at etsy

And loads more. So I'll see you this weekend!