Portrait in progress: Kim

I’m starting to like where this one is going, although I need to figure out the background. Usually I leave the background rather abstract in my portraits. It’s the rendering of the face that interests me, but I need to care about the entire composition. The canvas is 50 x 60 cm. Any suggestions?

Medieval cities in paint

I love medieval cities, especially the parts where the buildings are chaotic mixes of construction and decay from various centuries. I am constantly in awe of how beautiful they manage to be. I mean, how is it that people 600 years ago could create buildings that could age into something this charming, while my culture’s … Read more

Dipping into the oils

Overall most of my painting experience is with oils, but for the past five years acrylics have been my main medium. I love both types of paint, really – the crisp vivid colors of acrylic, the smooshiness of oil – but my primary reason for choosing acrylics so often recently is due to my painting … Read more

Landscapes, little and imaginary

Most of my work is subjective and painted from life, but every once in a while I create images purely from my imagination, such as these two. Usually I have a hard time choosing a direction when painting without reference material. I like to push myself to try it every once in a while. Both … Read more

Little daily paintings

For most of my art career, teachers and mentors have pushed me to paint larger. While I appreciate the advice in general, this month I’ve been feeling the urge to run in the opposite direction. I’ve been playing with tiny canvas sizes, anywhere from 15 x 15 cm to 30 x 30 cm, and producing … Read more

AEDM 2009 day 18: London goauche

Last seen here, this little postcard-sized goauche painting of London is done. I am still getting the hang of gouache. My tendency is to use it very watered down so that it behaves almost like watercolor, but that seems silly given that I’m not particularly good with watercolors. I want to keep playing to see … Read more

AEDM 2009 day 12: getting stuff done

What a wonderfully productive day in the studio. I finished a couple small paintings (such as the one depicted, last seen here), did some sketches for a new project, and drew in my monsters sketchbook. Looking forward to tomorrow.

AEDM 2009 day 2: Tallinn in pigment and sand

This was a canvas (40x30cm) I had prepped with black gesso mixed with sand. Today I got out a few pigments, mixed them with acrylic medium, and created this scene of Tallinn, Estonia (based on photos from our trip there earlier this year). I’ll probably tweak a couple little things, but it’s mostly done.

Self (portrait)

Inspired by this month’s Creative Every Day theme, self, I decided to start a new self portrait today. Can you tell what kind of mood I’m in? I’ve done tons of self portraits, my whole life long. I like making portraits, and I’m always the most available subject. I’m doing this one (like most of … Read more