Tiny art on bamboo

Hello!

Here are 2 tiny pictures that I painted on bamboo pieces. Each piece is 1.5" x 0.75". I painted directly onto the bamboo without pencil sketches. That was different for me, and fun!

I love the way they turned out! I will probably make them into pendants, after I protect the surface with some clear acrylic coating.

Here are the bamboo pieces before they are painted. They need to be lightly sanded or primed before applying the acrylic paints.

Nothing happening....

I haven't done any painting in 10 days. My shoulder, neck and back still hurts. At least the migraine went away today. Well, I did create a pressed flower picture for my mother-in-law. She wanted to give it as a gift to her friends for their 50th anniversary. I used rose petals of yellow and orange red, white alyssums, and yellow verbenas. Sounds yummy!

Art journey update

I almost forgot...I bought 3 painting guide books last weekend. One on watercolor, one on oil and one on drawing and sketching. Couldn't find one on acrylic, but I think these books will be a great help to me. I am eager to learn some techniques and really try hard to teach myself to become a good artist. This experience has been great so far. It has opened my eyes to see everything with a keener interest and with purposeful examination. I feel my eyes opening to everything. Somewhat similar to the day I put on contact lenses for the first time, ( I was 16 then.) and was able to see everything clearer and brighter. Wow! I literally gasped! I was shocked to discover how much I was unable to see all those years before. : ) May

Portrait of a friend

Today, I painted a portrait of my friend Lee. I tilted her head down a bit and brushed back the hair to reveal more of the left eye. I've never actually painted a "real" person before, so this is a real challenge. I started with a pencil sketch on a 5" x 7", 140 lb. coldpress watercolor paper. Using diluted acrylic paints, I was able to get a watercolor effect. Since I painted from a photo on my computer monitor, I had to keep turning to my left to look at the monitor, and turning back to the picture to paint it. That was a bit tough, particularly because I've been suffering from back and neck spasms lately. But in the end, I'm very pleased with the results, and I did it all in one day! Whew! This is my artistic interpretation of a dear friend, and I wanted to capture the sparkle in her eyes and a soft peaceful expression. I thought she looks like an angel in this portrait! Not too bad for a first "real person" portrait right?

A most unusual bird!

I going to tell you something very silly! Last night, I decided to do one last picture before going to bed. Since I had the idea in my head, I wanted to put it down on paper before it slips out of my memory forever. I made myself comfortable with a couple of pillows so I can prop my head up a bit. First I sketched a big tree branch with a few simple lines. I proceded to sketch a fairy, and then a bird. And now for the really silly thing that happened. OK, I drew the bird's body, drew its eyes, and everything was fine. Then sometime after sketching the bird's eyes, my brain must have turned off completely. However, I continued sketching, and even erasing somehow. That went on for a little while. And then, all of a sudden, I was "back"! And to my horror, my bird ended up with a nose, lips and some funny whispy hair. It was truly hysterical! I just brust out laughing even though I wasn't fully awake. This bird already has such a funny scarcastic expression in the eyes. And with the hair, nose and lips...my goodness! It was quite a sight. Hmm....Now I regretted erasing it, or I can show you what it looks like . You will have a good laugh too!

Jack O' Lantern

A tiny pumpkin popped out in our backyard this year. It's very small, about 3 inches wide. Ryan drew a face on it and placed it between the little jack-o-lantern lights. It's so cute! I think it came from last year's Halloween pumpkin. My husband tossed the pumpkin scraps outside after carving it with the boys.

It's getting dark soon...

Blue Mermaid Picture

Here's Blue Mermaid!

It was really fun painting water!

Blue Mermaid

I painted another mermaid picture. She is taking a peek above the water. This time, I made a rough sketch first with pencil, and then color with acrylic. Same problem. The paint covered the pencil lines on the face, and I have to figure out where to put everything. After tweaking her face a few times, I think it's ok now. I had fun painting the blue hair. I had to paint the ocean too. I think I may add a bit of sparkles here and there tomorrow. Too late now, and I'm pooped.

Mom is back from Singapore

Mom is back after 5 months visiting in Singapore. She brought home some watercolor paints and brushes for me, plus a whole bunch of clothes and purses! Maybe I can get her to paint something as well. My sister Nadia sent me some papers and brushes. Maybe this is a sign for me to paint! I hope to start on a new painting tomorrow. We'll see...

Daisies Dream

I wanted to try painting flowers. I started a picture last night with a simple pencil sketch, and colored it with thin layers of acrylic. I completed the picture today, adding the flowers and more details. I'm very happy with the results. It gives me a quiet serene feeling. It's inspired by a pressed flower picture I made a few years back, Bountiful Blossoms since I had flowers on my mind.

I still want to learn to use acrylic full strength, without adding water. I always end up using it more like watercolor. I suppose it's because that's a medium I'm familiar with. Fortunately, acrylic is very forgiving, which allowed me to change the face and make various corrections numerous times. That's all for today. It took me a whole morning and afternoon to finish it. Well, I mean, to get to the point where I forced myself to stop tweaking it. My son said her nose looks too big. So, I'm tempted to fix it. But not today! I'm beat.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today is my youngest son's 9th birthday. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Here's a picture of Ryan with his cousins while on vacation in China. Looking Cool!

First mermaid picture

Coral Mermaid

While playing around with some glossy papers and acrylics, I made a background that looked like something watery. And somehow, it evolved into a mermaid. A bit of problem since the paper was some odd size and the mermaid turned out way too high on the paper. I didn't make any pencil sketchings on it, so anything goes! In the end, I had fun painting her, and enjoyed the process of discovering the different things I can do with acrylics. I also added some sparkles on the red corals. I love the sparklies!

Blue Angel

ACEO Angel #2

I painted another ACEO angel today. Struggled quite a bit with her face. My pencil sketch lines disappeared after I painted the first layer on her face. Next time, I'll remember to paint around the lines.

First ACEO Angel

Starry Night Angel Here's my first attempt with acrylic painting and ACEO. These are 2.5" x 3.5" paintings. I decided to paint an angel. Far Away Thoughts Then I painted a mini portrait of a woman, also ACEO size. I like the way her hair and clothes turned out.