art

I finished something… which reminds me…

/ Dee Larsen / Leave a comment
I finished a painting today
Which for me is quite a big deal
A flower from our honeymoon
It even almost looks real

So maybe you’d like to know why I wrote that.  Even as a student in the Commercial Arts & Design class, my grade depending on it, I could never seem to FINISH anything.  I especially could never bring myself to finish a painting!  How in the world would I be able to deal with myself if I messed up any (even if just a little) work that I have already done and am pleased with.

Silly right?  I know.  So I have been making myself do some hour or thirty minute paintings and making myself FINISH THEM.  Practicing a bit on the tablet has helped me to understand which strokes should happen and in what order as well as how to repair them when I don’t allow myself the CTRL+Z option.

Seems as though ever since I “prescribed” myself said art exercises I have been able to finish paintings.  SO I’m pretty stoked about that.  Here’s one I finished today that I began working on when the winter season started driving me crazy.  As you’ve probably already read up there in the poem thing, it’s a Hibiscus photo from our honeymoon in BELIZE!

My favorite part about this 6" x 6" oil on canvas panel is that all SIX of these photos were taken AFTER COMPLETION with no filters. I simply walked around my house and photographed it in different lights, it almost seems ALIVE. (But doesn't require watering!)

My favorite part about this 6″ x 6″ oil on canvas panel is that all SIX of these photos were taken AFTER COMPLETION with no filters. I simply walked around my house and photographed it in different lights, it almost seems ALIVE. (But doesn’t require watering!)

Finishing a painting was once something that I wished I could do, so as silly as that sounds it got me thinking about my ever growing BUCKET LIST and this specific category which is just for artsy stuff.  Thought I’d share it with you all, whoever you all are!

  • Design/Illustrate an album cover
  • Illustrate a children’s coloring book
    • maybe even a regular children’s book…..?
  • Sell a large, high ticket painting 😉 duh
  • Have some of my works in a gallery
  • Photograph an event/subject for a news or magazine write up
  • Take an Oil Painting class

ANNNNND of course it things will be added more frequently than I can check them off, some of which I am sure will NEVER get completed or even touched… BUT…. goals y’all …. goals.  What’s on your artistic bucket list?

Dee

Very Interesting!! Great Reads For a Start-Up ART Business

/ Dee Larsen / Leave a comment

I stumbled upon this article in a Fine Art America email this morning while waiting for both the coffee and the studio to heat up.  If you’re unfamiliar with “FAA” you should go check it out (link above is for my profile, you can explore from there!)

http://fineartamerica.com/blogs/things-you-need-to-do-when-starting-an-art-business-plus-free-worksheet.html

(opens in a new tab!)

Great read for those of you looking to start an art related business – enjoy!

DEE

Speed Painting!

/ Dee Larsen / 2 Comments

Tried it and loved it. Challenging myself to paint something, anything, no reference or planning at all made me nervous. I finish only a small percent of what I start – or at least that was a habit I am trying to rid myself of!! So telling myself I was going to start AND finish a painting in 45 minutes was aiming quite high.

Once I found some tunes from Tame Impala’s album “Innerspeaker” I felt the nerves begin to subside. I knew I couldn’t do anything realistic or involving humans without it taking years so I decided to paint more off of current feelings than anything else. I had just purchased some new standard acrylic paints from a local art supply wonderland and was dying to try them out even if it was 1:30 in the morning ….

Lately I’ve been feeling the negative effects that our cell phones and tablets bring to our lives. I can’t help but feel that the little red and green and orange and numbers and likes and shares is taking over us.

Of course as an artist I enjoy networking and sharing my work online among many other things you can only do on a device like this… But there are so many of us that JUST WON’T put them down, it’s upsetting!!

So, here is my first speed painting (I consider that speed, remember). Who knows, maybe I’m a candidate for the Ultimate Painting competition – then again, this could have been a fluke.

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