Focus on Learning To: Paint "Mixed Media Lilies" Soft Pastel Episode 6b

“What am I going to do? I’m not happy with this painting, not necessarily because it is bad, but because it didn’t turn out like saw it in my mind.” This will sound familiar the more you paint.

Pull out another medium! What’ve you got? Acrylic? That is a good solution…you can use opaque paint over the areas you don’t like and leave the rest. Oil? No, sorry. Oil will eat the paper in time. You could alleviate that by putting a couple coats of clear gesso over the watercolor. Encaustic? Perfect, if you mount the paper to a panel so it won’t crack off. Ink? Probably, if it is opaque. Gouache is opaque.

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I chose another opaque medium, one I’ve been neglecting lately. Soft Pastels! One of the reasons I chose Soft Pastels is because the rough paper will allow the pastel stick to slide over the high points of the texture. You can accomplish a layered look quite easily with them.

If you are in the market for soft pastels, be sure to download a copy of my master supply list. I’ve got options and links that will save you money, until you decide to keep collecting.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

C’mon! Get dirty with me!

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Focus on Learning To: Paint "Gouache Lilies" Episode 5b

Hi all y’all! Can you believe we are already on our 5th project? We continue our adventure of the Yellow Lilies this week as I paint the flower part of this project. You’ll notice right away how different the Gouache looks compared to the Watercolor.

Watercolor gets its luminous glow when the light goes through the transparent watercolor pigment and bounces back the white of the paper.

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In contrast, Gouache is a more opaque medium…when the light hits the surface of a Gouache painting, the pigment particles bounce the light back. The paper doesn’t come into play to create the glow, you have to add the glow with white/light pigments.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Have a great week, and don’t forget to join me on Tuesdays, 3:30-ish CST for a live broadcast on YouTube and Facebook. Vicki Ross, Vicki Artist (Youtube), Vicki Louise Neil Ross (FB). It is a Q&A session, mixed with a freestyle project I demo.

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum id ligula porta felis euismod semper.
— Pablo

Corona Sale for your (MY) Sanity! Bring Your Own Lime And Break Out!

(this is no laughing matter, but a little gallows humor is OK once in awhile).

I’m spending way too much time watching movies, reading social media stories Twitter and catching up with my art groups on Facebook. This is ridiculous when I have a full studio just steps away.

If you are showing signs of shutting down along with everything else, I want to make this offer to you as a panacea. My main course normally sells for $350. I am offering it until this is behind us for …

HALF-OFF
$177

I’ll make the payment plan for $59 for three months. The kit will not be included, but you won’t need supplies for a few weeks. The fun stuff list will guide you to decide what to buy and what you might already have. If you have any questions, I’ll answer them promptly.

The description of the course is HERE.

The Supply List is HERE. You can substitute from this recommendation as long as you understand that your results will vary from brand to brand–if using Artists Quality Materials. In watercolor and oil, artists quality are essential. PLEASE don’t use student quality. You can cut corners on the other supplies. You might find better pricing on Amazon. My store link is HERE. (Pricing is the same for you if you go through my portal.)

Spend your downtime with me at Axully.

And give me something fun to do…interact with you!

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PS: This just came in from a YouTube subscriber…

Yes! I got the download this morning. Thank you so much! Thank you, not only for sharing your art, but also for your streams.

I have only recently found you and am usually in your class. I sit in the back and I am not chatting. Instead, I am mesmerized by your techniques. One of my favorites is your intuitive journaling. When you have chosen something to put down on your page, you move the image around until you have found "the spot." I love it when we both say together, "There! That's it!" (We have more often than not, chosen the same place!)

It is a treasure to watch your paintings unfold. I thought, "This woman NEEDS to study abroad in Italy! She would be a perfect match!" Then I saw you had studied in Europe.

I do believe you are channeling your mentors. They are Angels all around you.

So for all you do, my deepest thanks!

G.Alvino


Self-Portrait vs Mirror Image vs AACKKK!

Self-Portraits. Mirror Image vs. AACKKK!

first published July 9, 2008, edited 11/1/19). I am re-releasing these blog posts to communicate how I traveled the journey to artist...mistakes I made, things I tried, money spent, hours spent researching. I have boiled all this down into a simple formula for you to Restore Your Soul | Jumpstart Your Creativity.

My FREE Facebook Group, Axully Art is here: 
I help people learn and grow as artists...filling their free time with peace.

DOWNLOAD your FREE copy of the Axully Art Roadmap here

Watch this space for new stuff from Vicki

Still don't want to figure out how to do captions with photos...so...
#1 nokin: mirror image of nikon...duh. No wonder it is difficult to paint yourself from life from a mirror.
#2 AFTER painting #3 (and #4) trying to get a photo that wouldn't be mirror image. failed experiment...goofy smile.
#3 & 4 The good 'ole college try. framed to look like I am looking out a window. That's why I turned it when photographing so the shadow would be on different side. Can't smile when you are one-eyed squinting. However, I see some things that can definitely be 'improved'!
#5 just for fun, photo of a pencil drawing I did 3 years ago...titled 'Airhead'.

AACKK! Sure wish I had started painting earlier so I'd have some younger self-portrait material! This latest effort is sobering!
I had a meeting today of the NWA Invitational Critique Group (name recently changed from Starving Artists since we are having a joint show at Arts Center of the Ozarks in 2009 and NWAICG sounds better). Our project for the last month was a self-portrait. SOOO...the latest experiment I had put off until the last minute. One thing about a self-portrait...your model is always free and available!

As if painting models from life lately was not enough, let's take it up a notch and do a self-portrait. Funny thing is that an artist is supposed to shut one eye and squint the other when looking at the subject. I tried this a few months ago and painted a wonderful rendition of a one-eyed squinty person! Horrible expression! Then in Theresa's class one day we did a self-portrait session...She worked on mine awhile...and on the way home I wondered to me..."if I was painting me from a mirror and she was painting me from life...did the resulting study end up being two right sides of me or two left sides!

THEN, last night friend and fellow artist, Joann said my new version didn't look like me because it was a mirror image...the image of us we personally are most familiar with...not the one everyone else recognizes. So, how do you set up 2 mirrors, one to capture the mirror image, and the other to flip it...hold a pose...AND paint it! Did some research online, and found several discussions about Rembrandt's self-portraits...and how he really looked if reversed. http://www.truemirror.com/selfportraits/rembrandt.asp
AND, apparently this company used to manufacture some sort of true image mirror that gave you the view not reversed! gotta have one! SO. BOTTOM LINE. THE LATEST EFFORT IS NOT REALLY ME!

BFF Erika (who is a degreed trained artist with emphasis in portraiture) and I had a discussion today...she tried to take 'representational' photos of me...and wasn't happy with any of them. She decided it would take a video to capture my expressions and personality 'cause I'm never still and serious. Without the eyebrow raising-crossed eye-smirking-smiling-rolling eye-facemaking, I'm difficult to capture.

Maybe with Bozo clown hair (oops, Wesley thinks I should comb my real, everyday hair), and red/white make-up someone could capture the REAL vicki.

We will need to investigate this conundrum of mirror image self-portraits in the future! Comments welcome!

 

Theresa, Echo, Nancy and my new Gallery, Eurekan Art

Axully/axully-blog/Theresa, Echo, Nancy and my new Gallery, Eurekan Art

(first published July 3, 2008, edited 11/1/19). I am re-releasing these blog posts to communicate how I traveled the journey to artist...mistakes I made, things I tried, money spent, hours spent researching. I have boiled all this down into a simple formula for you to Restore Your Soul | Jumpstart Your Creativity.

My FREE Facebook Group, Axully Art is here: 
I help people learn and grow as artists...filling their free time with peace.

DOWNLOAD your FREE copy of the Axully Art Roadmap here

Watch this space for new stuff from Vicki

Theresa, thanks for getting my attention about the 'pocketbook portfolio'. I went straight home that day and made one! Echo, for insisting that I go back to the car to get it out of my purse, and for encouraging me to show it to Nancy when we were visiting Eurekan Art in Eureka Springs. And last, but not least, Nancy for selecting some of my paintings for your gallery! You all ROCK!
All are oil, and the small poppies in the black frame are $375. The other 5 are $475. Contact Nancy to purchase. (Vicki Note: Nancy passed 2009)
Eurekan Art showcases regional art, and has a delightful selection of pottery, sculpture and paintings.
Being an artist is just the tip of the iceberg...self-promotion is a huge part. Even given my career as a graphic designer, web designer, marketing 'expert', I still don't have appropriate business cards! LOL! Kinda like the cobbler's kids going barefoot. When it comes to promoting 'me', I'd rather take a beating.
New friend and artist, Leslie N., thinks I can inspire her to paint more often! She lives real close and may be helping me more than I can help her. Don't tell her...I'll sneak up on that one! You teach what you most need to learn...
All in all, a great week. got a 'perfecto' from Mr. Les yesterday (then today he put me back to work), and a 'WOW!' from Kippy on a new figurative work I did. Then delivering the art to Eurekan today...and I had a big smile all day.

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