I am almost finished with Artwork #8, the toy still life. I just have to finish the Weeble, which I'll do tomorrow.

The hardest part of working in acrylics is the blending. Because acrylics dry so quickly, it can be difficult to blend colors to create shading. I often use mediums such as Retarder or Acrylic Glazing Liquid, which slow the drying time and make the acrylics more easy to manage. Another technique I use is to take a dab of paint and load it up with a lot of water, so that it gets really runny. It doesn't look like much more than a thin wash on the palette, but once it's applied to the surface of the painting it can have a big impact. Many of these washes applied repeatedly can create some nice glazing effects. Another technique I use is my (no longer) secret finger smudge technique, where I'll lay down a bit of color then quickly wipe it off with the tip of my finger, so that most of it wipes off but a subtle trace remains. I use this technique more than I consciously realize, because after working on a still life such as this one for a short period of time, I'll somehow end up with lots of smears of paint on the ends of my fingers and once I've run out of room on my fingers I'll have to wash them off to make room for more smudges.

I never learned any of this in college, by the way. I don't think I learned a darn thing in terms of technique from my professors. They were mostly there for conceptual support. I've had to bumble my way through a lot of still lifes to realize how to work the paint. It sounds cliche but the best way I've learned is just by doing it. If something seems daunting, it doesn't do much good to try to intellectualize a game plan. The best strategy is to jump right in and do it, and somehow things will come together. When I look back on paintings that I was working on several years ago, I'm amazed at how much my knowledge of painting has grown.

I also worked on an 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas abstract, Artwork #10.

There's not much to say about this one yet.

I also created another digital piece using a doodle as a starting point. This one feels a bit more raw compared to the other digital pieces I've done this month. This is Artwork #11.

The doodle was the doggie with hair. I scanned him in along with some hand-written recipes and collaged them together in Photoshop to create this weird scene. In looking back over the digital artworks I've done this month, I noticed they're all rather small and intimate, like bizarre postcards. I like that. I don't have much else to say about this piece. It was mainly an experiment with digital collage working with positive and negative space. I'm feeling a bit mentally exhausted today. I want to get more work done tonight though. So off I go...

I finished Artwork #8! Wahoo! I will take a picture of it tomorrow, because this scan somehow adds a bit of graininess. Hopefully a photo will be better.

In response to Kai's comment on yesterday's post, I thought I'd post the reference photo I used, so you can better see what the toy on the right looks like. It's a girl figure encased in clear plastic. I guess they're called Weebles! And the painting is done with acrylics. I don't use oils, and only occasionally use watercolor.


Today I also started on the second toy still life (Artwork #12) for the same collector. Here is the underpainting:

The fur of the teddy bear is going to be really tough to paint, partly because it requires so much detail and partly because of what I mentioned yesterday about the quick drying time of acrylics. I think I'm going to lighten the background a bit, at least the top part, and make it more lavender. It was difficult to choose a background color for this piece, because there is so much brown and blue in it (the figure on the left and the ball on the right are both mainly blue). If the lavender doesn't look good, I may try yellow or light green.

I also finished the main section of the rooster drawing (Artwork #3).

I added a light yellow design over the math and finished the border. I still have no clue what to put in the left section! I'm still seeing crimson and turquoise...

Now to respond to some comments from yesterday's post...

I'll post a picture of my work space soon!

I'm glad my ramblings about technique are helpful!

And thanks to whoever is reading this. The weird thing about blogging is that you never know if your words are floating off into cyberspace, never to be seen or read again... or if there is indeed a rapt but invisible audience. So I do really appreciate the comments. It makes me feel like all this effort to take pictures and post everyday is worthwhile, not only to myself but possibly to others also. It's nice to connect with others from around the world in this way!

I took a photo of the toy still life, Artwork #8. I think it provides a smoother idea than the scan of what the actual painting looks like:

And to recap the progression of this painting:

Today I had my first real day off since starting my stint as the 30 Day Artist. It was good to take a break! I have a tendency to be a workaholic, but when your work is something you enjoy, it's hard not to be working all the time. It is important for me to make time for friends though, so I was glad to spend the day in good company.

I did do one digital doodle piece today, Artwork # 13:

Sort of a cute litte weird groovy creature. I think the piece could be enhanced with some speakers or a phonograph, or maybe a silver disco ball, but for now I'll leave it as is, thinking less is more. I like how the creature looks cute and unassuming, yet with the huge black shadow and the color circles he looks like some kind of hip funk deity.

I thought I'd take some time to answer yesterday's comments here in this post, rather than tucked away in the comments section.

Kai - it's okay, I hadn't posted the Weebles photo before, that was the first time. Thank you for your comments!

Rebecca - I'm glad this website is inspiring for you. It has been inspiring for me too, and it is nice to know that there are people out there following along on my daily art-making journey. It reminds me of being an art student and creating art in the studio with lots of people around; it's a nice community feeling. I miss that! In terms of how I'm handling this emotionally... well last year I took the plunge to make art my full-time job, so I've been financially forced (oops! I mean "motivated") to create art every day! Which I must admit does add another layer of stress from time to time, but I feel it's worth it in order to achieve my dream. So I've had a year's worth of experience painting every day, which could be why I haven't felt overwhelmed yet. I must admit having to create 40 works of art in 30 days is a bit daunting, since I usually create about 1/3 - 1/4 of that each month if I'm lucky. But I have realized that not everything I do has to be 100% brilliant and breath-taking... it's a reminder that art is about the creative process, not the final product. I also try to recognize how artmaking can be therapeutic for me... it's me sitting alone expressing myself with my paints and the canvas with music playing in the background... and I try to honor that time, because I know that at any moment circumstances may change and I may need to get a "real" job and I know how tough it would be to let go of all this precious artmaking time. So without meaning to sound too wishy-washy or new-agey, I guess honoring and respecting the creative process helps keep me clear of emotional blocks. Hey, I clicked on your user name and I really liked the tomato piece you did! Are you going to do a month as the 30 Day Artist?

Coco - Thank you again for posting your comments, I really do appreciate it! I look forward to watching your 30 Day journey next month. :) I chose to work with acrylics mainly as a default, because I don't like oils and watercolors are just too... watery, for my current purposes anyway. The reason I don't like using oils is because of the smell, the mess, the need for good ventilation, and they take forever to dry. For some reason I just clicked with acrylics. I like their opacity. But I also like their versatility - you can apply them really thickly (like oils) or very thinly (like watercolor). I also like how you can mix them with different mediums and gels to create different textures and effects. I also (usually) like how they dry quickly, so I don't have to wait weeks for a painting to dry like with oils. I'll probably never use oils again, but I may dabble with watercolors again at some point. For now I'm quite happy with acrylics... and colored pencils... and Photoshop.

Anyway thanks to everyone who reads this and to everyone who posts their comments... it is much appreciated! I'm 1/3 of the way through this month - 2/3 to go!

I worked on the 16" x 20" abstract, Artwork #10:

The colors are so off in this photo!

I also started a new 8" x 10" abstract, Artwork #14. I decided to experiment with a new method of designing the composition. I don't normally draw out my abstracts, but I was curious how drawing out some shapes would affect the look and outcome of the painting. So I lightly drew in with graphite:

And then colored it in. I drew more designs on top of the first two colors, and colored those designs in with red:

So here it is now:

I have several ideas about where to take the painting from here. I could either really push the abstraction, or I could make it more of a pop art painting with a few more abstract elements and a layer of realism over top. Hmm... decisions, decisions. I'll decide tomorrow.

Well I'm happy to say I got a decent amount of sleep last night and I had a productive day today. I finished the head of the teddy bear in Artwork #12:

I know I've said it before, but painting realistic-looking fur with acrylics is really hard!

I worked more on Artwork #10, which I hope to finish tomorrow:

And I also finished the experimental abstract I started yesterday, Artwork #14. Here is a scan of the finished painting:

And here is a flow chart depicting the painting's progress:

I've always really admired Australian Aboriginal dot painting, and I've always wanted to try my own version of a painting that relied heavily on the dot motif. One thing I like about this painting is the sense of depth created by overlapping. This painting reminds me of two things: one is an underwater scene of various marine life and bubbles, and the other is an inside look at the body on a cellular level. Either way this painting has a very aqueous feel, in which everything seems to be floating around and intermingling with everything else. Adding all the dots turned this into a really happy painting. I'm glad that I experimented with a new style and method and I'd like to pursue this line of work further and see what comes of it. I'd still like to see what happens if I incorporate some kind of pop realism into this kind of piece.

Well now I've got some business stuff to take care of so I will sign off and catch you again tomorrow!

I had a late start to my artmaking today. I ran a few errands in the early afternoon and a friend stopped by just as I was getting ready to start painting. It was nice. Today was one of those days when I was feeling social and would much rather have been hanging out with people instead of sitting alone painting. It can be hard to get motivated to paint on those kinds of days, but I find that if I force myself to sit down and do it, after 30 minutes to an hour I'm perfectly happy painting and I don't want to stop. On those kinds of days it's usually really hard for me to concentrate on realism, but I wanted to get this commission done so I started off by finishing the teddy bear. He's pretty much done:

I might even be able to finish this piece tomorrow. It helps sometimes to get the harder parts over with first.

I also started a new set of abstracts. A few weeks ago a collecter emailed me and asked if I had ever considered doing any art cards in my abstract style. I thought it was worth a try so I'm doing a set of 9 art cards (also known as ACEOs) in my funky abstract style. Each miniature painting is 2.5" x 3.5" inches, created with acrylics on unstretched Fredrix Canvas, the kind that comes in a pad. It's my first time using canvas from a pad, and I was pleasantly surprised. I started out by dividing a sheet into 9 sections, and then creating an underpainting:

From here I'll be adding more colors and detail to each piece. These will be Artworks #15-23. I've never done abstracts on this small scale before, so it will be interesting to see how they evolve and what challenges the scale may present.

I finished four of the little paintings that I started yesterday (Artworks #15-18) -

You'll probably notice that the one in the lower left looks a bit different than the other three. For this one I just added different designs in black paint, for a comic book feel. For the other three I added lots of different colors and designs. I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out. Because they are so small they have an aura of intimacy, yet they are so vibrant and joyous that they just jump out at you. I have five more to paint from the set that I cut yesterday, so I might try using some metallic paints on those to see how it looks.

I also finished Artwork #10, the 16" x 20" abstract, but I'll post a pic of that tomorrow.

I'm almost done with Artwork #12, the second toy still life:

I finished the chimp and I was about to finish the little blue guy and the blue bouncy ball, when all of a sudden I just felt really burnt out, like I couldn't concentrate on painting anymore. So I stopped. I felt I was at a good stopping point anyway. Ever since starting my stint as the 30 Day Artist, I've kind of let other aspects of the business side of my art take a back seat, so I decided to spend this evening attempting to catch up. And there is so much to do! I'm leaving for England in less than 4 weeks, and there are so many loose ends to tie up, both personally and professionally. Plus I need to plan ahead for my trip abroad and make sure I have all of my artwork here organized, and all the art supplies I'll need for the next 4 months ready to take with me. So I'll be quite busy for the next 4 weeks! I love it though, I really thrive in this kind of active mental state. I think I need to have a lot to do and a lot to think about in order to feel productive and happy. On that note, I better go start taking care of things on my to-do list!