Painted Michael Jackson Turned Digital Art

Sometimes I like to paint...and sometimes I like to turn my paintings into digital art. That's how I was feeling today as I was going through some photos of my artwork. This one is classic Michael Jackson.

Smooth Criminal is one of my all time favorite MJ songs. MJ has appeared in several artworks I've created over the years. It's fun to revisit past works and see what I can do to make them new and unique. I really love how this one turned out. 

MJ Forever!

Green Leaves Negative Painting

Here is another negative painting I finished last weekend in watercolors. This was actually the first one I did. I wanted to keep it very simple and mostly monochromatic.

This one has mostly green watercolors, but a bit of yellow too. You could do this type of negative painting with almost any shape, but simple shapes like this are a great place to start if you've not done negative painting before. Next time, I think I'll do something a little more detailed, but I do like how this one turned out.

Moody Blue Trees Negative Painting

 I've been trying to get back into a watercolor groove since I'm returning to teaching High School Art this year and I'll be doing watercolors in my painting classes. I found some great watercolor artists on Instagram to follow, and several of them do this technique called Negative Painting. I'd never tried it before so I thought I'd give it a whirl. 

These are my Moody Blue Trees I did last weekend. I really like this technique. You paint the lightest values first, and then add subsequent layers getting darker each time. For a landscape scene like this, it would actually be lighter in the distance. But sometimes in art you just have to break the rules. I enjoyed painting in a new way. I hope my students will enjoy it too. I think it will be a good way for them to understand negative space and value--and painting a monochromatic scene. I think I'll be using this technique in the future too.

Folk Art Flowers

 I was finally able to get in the studio to finish my latest flower painting. Since I'm working on a move from teaching elementary art & technology to High School Art, I've been rather busy working on plans for that. So it was nice to take some studio days to just paint!

I'm calling this Folk Art Flowers. It's a similar style to a painting I did a couple of years ago that I just called Happy Flowers. I really enjoyed painting that one, so I thought it would be fun to paint another one in a similar style. I wanted to have a yellow rose as the focal point for this one though...and make it a little less busy in the background. This is done all in acrylics.

I'm always happy when I'm painting flowers. :)

Highland Cow

 Ok, so I may be just a wee bit obsessed with all things Scotland. It's my dream to go to Scotland one day. And I absolutely adore Highland Cows, also known as Highland Coos. So, I decided that it was high time I painted one. 

This is all done in acrylics. I hadn't painted an animal in such a long time, so I wasn't sure I'd like how my coo turned out. But I actually love it. And since I don't think I'll be getting to Scotland anytime soon, at least I have this gal to look at for awhile. 

Self Portrait - Tim Burton Style

I recently had my 5th and 6th grade students create self portraits. But not realistic self portraits...no, they created self portraits in the style of Tim Burton. I had not done any kind of portraits with them before and I wasn't really sure what to expect. We did some practice drawings first, to learn about proper facial proportions. I wanted to give them a chance to learn the basics and feel successful before starting on the actual project. 

The goal of the final project was to imagine what they would like like if they became a Tim Burton character. They could only use black and white colored pencils to create their projects; they also had to use correct facial proportions, and some shading here and there. They really blew me away with the self portraits they created. I hung up every one of them in the hall so that the whole school could enjoy them. We got so many compliments on them! So, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you. And I enjoyed this project so much that I created my own self-portrait too.

My Self Portrait

Student Work

Drawing portraits can be a real challenge at any age. So I'm really proud of the work the kids put into these drawings. They were so engaged in this project, and it was great to see. 

If you enjoy Tim Burton's style, I encourage you to create one of these too! And if you're an Art teacher, I absolutely recommend this project.

Who is Steph Curry?

I have an amazingly creative granddaughter. She is my favorite partner in art and all things crafty. She even has her own art table in my studio so that she can create whenever she's at my house. Awhile back, she asked me to create a drawing for her of Steph Curry. My response: "Who is Steph Curry?" The look on her face was priceless as she said, "Seriously, grandma?" Then she proceeded to school me on all things Steph Curry and convinced me to create this drawing for her. I was having blog issues, so I never posted it. 

This is all just simple black Sharpie. I swear, I should own stock in the company that makes Sharpies. I go through so many of them, at home and at school. At any rate, I wasn't sure if she'd like it, but she definitely did. And even though I'll probably not be drawing an athlete again any time in the near future, at least I know a little more than I did before about this particular basketball star.

Art Journal Colorful Tree

 I tend to be drawn to trees quite often in my artwork. I've painted and drawn trees many times over the years, and when possible, I like to have my students create trees too. There are just so many things you can do creatively with a tree. This one went into my art journal recently. 

I really like the contrast between the simple, black and white tree, and the rainbow colored dots surrounding it in the negative space. Just goes to show you, even the simplest things can come alive with a little color.

Art Journal Bird

 Recently I added some spreads to one of my art journals and forgot to share them. This first one is just cute, fat little bird. 

I just felt like doing something with colored pencils. My granddaughter's Crayola colored pencils were close to me at the time, so I grabbed them and got to coloring. He's a rather chubby bird, isn't he? LOL. I like him though. I also like the quote.

The man who has no imagination has no wings. 

Roses in Vases Painting

 I've seen so many artists doing still life paintings of flowers in vases--particularly in vases with stripes or other decorative patterns. So I was inspired to create a couple of my own. 

These are meant to be a pair, and both are painted using acrylics. They are on 12x12 canvas that was primed black. The background color is more minty green than it looks in these photos. And the bee was a suggestion by some of my followers on Facebook. The color combination is something I'm always drawn to...pinks, teals, mint greens. The black really makes everything pop, in my opinion.

I really loved painting these and love how they've turned out. Now I kind of understand the appeal of these types of still life paintings. So, I think I'll be doing more of this style in the future. I love flowers anyway!

Spattered Elephant Painting

 I created this painting for a dear friend for Christmas. I found the idea on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a go. My friend loves elephants, so I knew I wanted to paint her an elephant. But I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to paint it. 

It's not everyday I use the spattering technique on a painting, least of all 2/3 of a painting. So this was pretty fun and different for me. It was rather messy, even though I covered my work area well. I still managed to get paint all over my arms and on my desk. But it was worth every stray drop to make this for my friend.

Pretty Pink Owl

At school each year, my school does a 'Mystery Friend' thing where we draw a staff member's name and become their Mystery Friend for the year. We each fill out surveys about things we like (favorite colors, foods, places to go, etc.) so that we'll know what kinds of things our recipient friends like. Then once a month, we buy little fun gifts to brighten their day. I always have such fun doing this. This year, I was so happy to be able to create something special for my teacher friend, who absolutely loves owls.

I had never painted an owl before this one. All I knew was that I wanted to do something cute and a little whimsical. So this Pretty Pink Owl was the result. I painted it on a wood canvas that I found at Walmart. It's fun to paint on different surfaces sometimes and I really enjoyed doing this. 

On the last day of school I was finally able to give my teacher friend this gift. The end of the school year was beyond strange and sad and maddening at times, thanks to the pandemic. But it was so nice to be able to give this to my friend and see her smile upon receiving it. We couldn't hug, because social distancing. But I felt her hug regardless. I absolutely love creating art for other people. It gives me so much joy, and this gift was no exception.

Dream Wish Imagine Art Journal Spread

I was looking through the blog and I realized I had not yet shared my latest art journal spread. Not sure where my mind is sometimes. I'll just blame it on the pandemic crisis and leave it that. But here it is: Dream, Wish, Imagine.

This is a mixed media journal spread. I used Inktense Pencils, colored pencils, and a little bit of acrylics as well. Sometimes, a girl just has to dream, wish, or imagine. Don't you agree?

I hope you have a creative weekend!

What is an Artist?

This art quote speaks so much in so few words, so I had to make this to share with you. It really speaks to me as an artist.

An Artist is a world trapped in a person.

So very, very true.

Jamie and Claire Blue Digital Art

I felt like creating some Digital Art today. It's been awhile since I've made any since I've been painting more of late. But it was nice to remind myself why I love digital art in the first place: it lets me be creative, I can fix mistakes easily, and there's no mess! My inspiration for this digital art was Jamie Fraser and Claire Fraser from Outlander. 

You'd probably be surprised how many ways I did this before I was happy with it. It went through many different colors: black and white, red, brown/tan. I just wasn't sure which color looked right. So I kept playing with it, and as soon as I made this color, I knew it was what it needed to be. 

Anyone else a wee bit Outlander-obsessed? Not saying I am.

Not saying I'm not either. ;) 

Since I was working on school stuff today, it was nice to be able to take a break and get creative, without ever having to leave my office. Now it's time to get back to work!

3 Poppies Mixed Media

I've been working on this painting of 3 Poppies for awhile. I'm still doing school work as needed, but it's nice to have some extra time for painting while I'm not at school teaching everyday. Still miss my kiddos though, even the ornery ones!

Anyhoodle, thought I'd share a couple of photos of the acrylic painting in process before I share the finished project. I did some underpainting of the poppies before painting on the red color. That always seems to help cover the white of the canvas easier.

And this is the finished painting. I used primarily acrylics, but also used Prismacolor colored pencils for some details and shading, which is what makes this mixed media. 

I really love how this turned out. I don't know what it is about poppies, but they seem to find their way into my paintings every now and again. I think I'm going to hang this one in the studio. I love the bright color of the poppies. It just makes me happy, and every studio needs a little spot of happy.

Through the Rabbit Hole

I created an art journal spread over the weekend, inspired by a prompt on a Jane Davenport group on FB that I belong to. She has a month of challenges planned for April, all based on the theme of Alice in Wonderland. The prompt for April 1st is 'Through the Rabbit Hole.'

I'm not sharing this in the FB group, simply because the group is meant for sharing things created with Jane's art supplies. I don't have many of her art supplies, so it wouldn't be right to share this in the group. But I love the Alice theme, so I'm just going to occasionally create in response to some of the prompts--for the fun of it. 

Almost all of this was created using Neocolor II crayons. I love how versatile they are and I think the pigment is great too. The only thing that isn't Neocolor is the paint used for the little glass bottle. The glass part was painted with Metallic Accents watercolors by Prima. Those are always fun to use because they have a lot of shimmer to them. You can almost see that in the photo. 

This art journal spread also seems timely, because it seems as though we've all fallen into some sort of rabbit hole of late. The world is a weird place right now, my friends. Fortunately, I can escape the madness of it through art.

Stay safe and well!

Mermaid Shimmer

I was in the mood to paint some Mermaids the other day. My granddaughter had just finished an underwater silhouette painting with a turtle and some other sea-life in it, so that must be what inspired me to create this.

A good portion of the background of this watercolor painting was created with Metallic Accents watercolors by Prima. I love those watercolors because they have a neat shimmer to them--as you'd expect from something metallic. I like the idea of having the background sparkle a bit, but that also makes it challenging to photograph it well. So, you can't see all of the background fish; and one of the darker fish is cut off too since I wasn't paying good enough attention as I snapped the pic. Oh well. The darker parts of the painting are all done with acrylics. 

I'm still not actually sure I'm finished with this. It looks unfinished to me. So for now, we'll call this a work in progress. I do like it so far, but sometimes I don't know exactly how I want to finish a painting. So I have to step away from it for awhile and then (hopefully) come back to it at a later time. Do you ever do that?

High School Art Throw Back Thursday

I've started moving my outdoor studio into a spare room in my house, since my outdoor studio is out of commission. My husband built that studio and I've always loved it, but I think the move indoors will be a good one. I'll have everything close by for whenever I want to get creative, and everything will be temperature controlled--unlike my outdoor studio, which only had A/C when I was out there using it. So, I ended up with lots of supplies getting ruined and thrown out. I'll still keep my stained glass supplies and some other odds and ends I don't use as much outside though, so the building will still get some use. I'm looking forward to getting a new indoor creative space though!

As I've been moving stuff inside, I look in wonder at all of the supplies and projects I've amassed over the years...all the way back to my high school art days. I have a small collection of projects from my high school Ceramics class, so I thought I'd share those as a Throwback Thursday post.

First up, a simple slab pot with a 2-color glaze. It's not very impressive, I grant you. But it's functional, and I like the colors. It's the perfect size for paintbrushes or pens.

In It With All My Heart

I've begun working on an art project with my kinders based on Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. It's one of my favorite artworks, and I love using it to inspire little artists. With Vincent on my mind this week, I found a quote of his that I wanted to share.

I am seeking.

I am striving.

I am in it with all my heart.

~Vincent van Gogh

Me too, Vincent. Me too.