Loosening up

I've been feeling kind of stuck with my recent paintings and like I need to loosen up a bit, so to shake things up I pulled out some old studio acrylic paints, which are more opaque than I usually use and behave just differently enough that I can more easily go into a different mode and do some quick, loose studies. (If I would have been thinking, I'd have done this on carton paper to donate to Art4shelter, will have to dig some out for the future 5x7's!)

Fish study - Acrylic on 5x7 in. gessobord

Profile Pic

This little cutie has such a professional pose.  I accidentally made the dog look older than it is, I need to work on lighter shading without it looking like aging white fur. Luckily this is just a practice piece so I'll just pretend it was an older dog and be done with it and try a different approach next time. :)

Profile Pic - Acrylic on 6x6 in. gessobord

On the River

I believe this is a scene from Wyoming. I have a pile of landscapes I want to try painting, this was one of them. There was a big dead tree in the original reference photo, it was so satisfying taking it out of my painting! Artistic license, whoo-hoo!

On the River - Acrylic on 5x7 in. gessobord

Bird on a Wall

I really liked the green-looking water in this reference photo, and I'm happy with how it turned out in the painting. I think that's my favorite part.

Bird on a Wall - Acrylic on 6x8 inch gessobord

Friend

I struggled with this one, with all the variegated fur! I'm happy that I've still been finishing more paintings though, and not abandoning so many half-way through.

Friend - Acrylic on 6x8 inch gessobord

Buddies

I really like how the fish came out in this one, but in retrospect I don't think pink was the best color to use as an under painting. It's too similar to the rocks. I guess it does give them a neon glow that fish rocks often seem to have.

Buddies - Acrylic on 6x8 inch archival card stock

Ready for my close-up

This character was in a reference photo from Paint My Photo.com

Ready for my close-up, Acrylic on 5x7 in. gessobord