Somewhere in Idaho

This is from another reference photo off Paint My Photo.com.  It's such a great site for finding a huge variety of reference photos. I'm wondering if I made the mountains too subtle though - I wanted them to be subtle, but can you tell they're there at all? 

Somewhere in Idaho - Acrylic on 5x7 inch gessobord

Stop And Smell The Flowers

I was trying another painting using oils and was getting so frustrated I finally gave up and went back to this other painting I'd started a while ago with acrylics. Aaaaahhh. Comfort zone. I do plan to keep experimenting with oils. In the meantime at least they are serving to make me extra love my acrylics. I was kind of intimidated with this scene below when I first started it and I set it aside last week, but after clunking along with oils for a bit it gave me renewed confidence with the acrylics.

Stop and smell the flowers - Acrylic on 8x8 in. gessobord

Dottie

This is a commission of my cousin's dog, Dottie. She's a big sweetheart!

Dottie - Acrylic on 12x12 in. gessobord

Water mixable oils

Last night being snowed in finally felt like the right time to crack out the oils I've been wanting to try and give it a whirl. I knew it'd be different from painting with acrylics, but it still kind of blew my mind. It made me appreciate my beloved acrylics even more for their fast dryingness I've become so accustomed to, but I'm also excited about the blendability of the oils and the rich look they can produce. I think my painting is a bit heavy on the brush strokes, my eyes would like more areas to "rest", but for a first try I'm really happy with it.

I used water mixable oils because I'm kind of paranoid about using solvents and their fumes, I'm pretty sensitive to scents and fumes and with my little unventilated studio in the Minnesota wintertime I wasn't ready to go that far. The water mixable oils cleaned up really easily with just soap and water as promised.  I'm looking forward to experimenting with them more. I'll never completely abandon my beloved acrylics though!

Firsts - 5x7 oil on gessobord

Crayfish with Lemon

This one's a tad...different, but I liked all the red and yellow in the reference photo.

Crayfish with Lemon - 5x7 in. on archival cardboard

Love Bug

This is a practice kitty from PaintMyPhoto.com. After I got to the point you see here I went back to make a couple little tweaks and may have overworked it  - D'OH! I should have let it simmer for a while before the tweaks. Oh well. It's just a practice piece!

Love Bug - Acrylic on 6x6 in. hardboard panel

Copper Pitcher

I adore the reflections on metals in Teddi Parker’s paintings, and after many an hour spent studying her works, I decided to give it a go.

Copper Pitcher - Acrylic on 5x7 in. gessobord