Month: January 2017

Whew…I’ve just completed a full month of posting daily paintings! I have to say, this has been a total blast!  I’ve found myself doing so many things I’ve never done before: an ankle painting, a foot painting, pieces that involved the use of two hands, and even turned myself into a grizzly old man!  I’ve painted pastries, pasta, animals, objects, modes of transportation, cartoon characters, morse code and even a questioning cat!

Here’s a collage of all the paintings I did this month:

This challenge has actually been a huge help in keeping me sane this month!  If you’re connected to me on Facebook, chances are you’ve been subjected to a bit of the moaning and groaning I’ve been doing over the completely mind numbing tasks I’ve been doing this past month: updating inventory, catching up on expense tracking in Quickbooks, generating 1099’s for contractors, paying sales taxes, and taking some online college classes in financial and managerial accounting.  In the midst of these not-so-creative tasks, it was really helpful to have that constant nudge to take a break and paint!  

Here are a few of my favorites from January…

“Bird Day” – a re-make of an old hand design

“Harlem Globetrotters Day”

“Argyle Day”

“Pharmacists’ Day”

“Women’s Healthy Weight Day”

“Squirrel Appreciation Day”

“Inspire your Heart with Art Day”

“Talk Like a Grizzled Prospector Day”

“Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day”

“Chocolate Cake Day”

“Opposite Day”

I can hardly wait to see what new challenges February brings!  Be sure to subscribe to the blog via the link in the upper right corner if you’d like to follow along, and you’ll receive my daily challenges in your email.  Thanks for stopping by, and happy painting! 🙂

Happy “Inspire your Heart with Art Day!!!”  I can’t think of a better excuse for my painty friends to get out their brushes and create something today!!  In honor of this day, I decided to paint something inspired by another artist, the surrealist Salvador Dahli!

While Dahli painted some really strange images, what I love about his work is that he still makes things recognizable and seemingly real, even though we know they are completely imaginary.  This melting clock is of course inspired by “The Persistence of Memory!”

Well, that wraps up my first month of daily personal challenges! Stay tuned for a recap of my first month SOON!  🙂

Who doesn’t love the satisfaction that comes from popping bubble wrap?!  I always have to fight the urge to pop my bubble wrap, as I need it to ship your goodies from my shop! 😉

To create this look I simply followed the process to paint water drops.  A step by step tutorial on water drops can be found in one of my books, “Realism for Face and Body Artists!” The same idea can be applied when painting other clear things, like tears, gemstones, and of course, bubble wrap!  To speed up the process on this one, I created quick, uniform drops by triple loading a finger dauber! 

Click here for an explanation of what these “Celebrate Day” posts are all about! 

I had a little surprise free time yesterday when a gig got cancelled, so I took the opportunity to try out a little camouflage design!

This one took about 20 minutes to paint, but you can watch me do it in super fast motion in my latest YouTube video!

Thanks for stopping by, and happy painting!!  🙂

It’s puzzle day!  I’ve already done several puzzle paintings and thought about posting one of them today, but decided to just do another one! So, here it is!

Below are a couple other puzzle designs I’ve done. You can watch me painting the arm design on my YouTube channel, here.

 

Click here for an explanation of what these “Celebrate Day” posts are all about! 

Happy Kazoo Day! You’ve just gotta love the kazoo.  It’s one of the few instruments that anyone can pick up and play a recognizable tune!  Here’s a little tidbit of info that a lot of people don’t realize…you’re supposed to hum in the wider end, not the narrower one! 😉

Click here for an explanation of what these “Celebrate Day” posts are all about! 

Oh my goodness! How have I gone through my entire life NOT celebrating chocolate cake day?!?!  Chocolate cake and celebrations definitely go hand in hand.  Therefore, you should definitely eat some chocolate cake today.

You can probably tell by comparing the quality of this painting with my “pie day” painting that I’m more of a chocolate cake fan than a pie fan, haha!  Whenever presented with a dessert menu, I ALWAYS choose the item with the most chocolate!

Got a birthday party coming up that will have chocolate cake at it? Pleeeeeeze invite me! 😉

Click here for an explanation of what these “Celebrate Day” posts are all about! 

Happy peanut brittle day!

Click here for an explanation of what these “Celebrate Day” posts are all about! 

Happy opposite day! I mean, Sad opposite day?  I thought I’d try out a creepy illusion today, and painted the fingers of the opposite hand on the back of my left hand! 😉

Click here for an explanation of what these “Celebrate Day” posts are all about! 

Today is “talk like a grizzled prospector day!”  While I’ve turned myself into an old woman and even Large Marge in the past, I had yet to make myself into a man…until now! I may have creeped my son out just a little bit when I knocked on his bedroom door painted like this, asking to borrow his hardhat…haha!

Looking to create that grizzly look yourself? I used a dry, fluffy kabuki brush to apply the dirty skin base.  The beard effect was achieved with my rake fan bristle brush, and a coarse stipple sponge is fantastic for stubble!!

Click here for an explanation of what these “Celebrate Day” posts are all about!