Throw Back Thursday: Wooden Bird Feeder
This little guy dates all the way back to high school! My father made a number of different bird-shaped bird feeders like this one and I got roped into painting many of them. This particular one came back to me recently, so I thought I’d share it with you.
The bird feeder is made of wood with a clear plastic ball to hold the seed. I painted it using acrylic craft paints—the type that come in a bottle with a flip cap. Inexpensive but fine for this type of ‘craft’ project. It also has some sort of clear varnish coating. Possibly polyurethane, but I really don’t remember. Could be whatever “clear varnish” I had on hand from that went with the craft paints. I’d actually expect more yellowing by this point if it were polyurethane. Though really, on a yellow bird, it’s hard to tell if the coating has yellowed!
It’s not one of my favorites of the bird feeders I painted, I admit. But it’s an interesting look back at some of what I was working on at the time. I don’t remember the exact year, but I signed it with a nickname I used during high school, so I know it’s from the mid to late 90s. Originally it had a wooden seed tray—I’m not sure when or why it got changed out to the current PVC tray. It’s possible the original got chewed up by squirrels or something!
Do you have any “art” that you created long ago? How has your art changed since then? Do you work in a different style? Different mediums? Tell me in the comments!
Inspiring Your Art: Texture
One of my favorite things to do with my art is to incorporate lots of texture. I rarely make smooth-surfaced pieces, in fact. Even the majority of my paintings have heavy texture, though it’s not usually the paint itself (like brushstrokes) that gives the texture.
I often add other materials to my paintings to add texture. This can be from various acrylic mediums or from using layers of fabric, crushed glass, or even natural materials like moss and pinecones.
When I work in mediums other than painting, I still typically involve a lot of texture. From my ceramic pieces back in college to my torn paper collages that are one of my current focuses, there’s texture everywhere!
This week, I’d like you to focus on texture in your artwork. How do you use texture? Is it with a smooth surface that is painted or drawn to appear textured? Do you use actual, three-dimensional texture? What do you use to get your effects? Can you think of any new ways to incorporate texture in your art?
Inspiring Your Art: Seeing Art in the Everyday
I like these trees. I see them pretty much every day. They always look to me like they’re dancing, wild and free. I can almost hear the music, when I look at them.
Sometimes, I think, it’s important to take a step back and just observe the world around you. Art isn’t just about making or creating. It’s about seeing. I truly believe that it’s the ability to see what others do not that makes someone an artist, rather than their ability to draw or paint or create or recreate.
So for your inspiration this week, I’m not going to ask you to make anything. Though you can, of course. I’m certainly not going to tell you not to create! Instead, I want you to go out and find yourself a piece of the “everyday” and just observe. What do you see? What does it make you think of? How does it make you feel? This is an exercise you can do literally anywhere. No tools or supplies needed. No sketchbook? No problem!
If you’re feeling a little unsure about “everyday,” I’ll suggest “nature” as a topic—and that can be taken pretty loosely: it can be a forest or a lake or some other outdoor space; it can be animals at the zoo (that’s one of my major sources of inspiration!); it can be as simple as a dandelion growing in a crack in the pavement. But I’m not going to stop you if you want to use a different source for your inspiration. Feel free to choose whatever source of “everyday” you’d like.
What I really want you to do is focus on “seeing.” See the shapes, the colors, the emotions. What do you observe around you that you see as “art”? What everyday scenes can you find “art” in? Tell me what you saw; I’d love to hear from you.
Favorite Art Materials: Water-Mixable Oil Paints
I enjoy painting with oils. They’re my favorite of the painting mediums, by far, though I actually use acrylics more often, since they dry faster and work better for the abstract style I’ve been painting in recently. Another major drawback with oil paints is the solvents necessary for thinning and clean up. When I was in college, that wasn’t a big issue since I mostly painted in the art building. But once I graduated I no longer had a separate space for painting. I didn’t want the solvents and their fumes I my apartment!
For a while, I tried working with acrylics and with water colors, but I just didn’t enjoy them as much. I really dislike working in watercolor, for some reason. I have very few watercolor pieces floating around out there, though there are a few. Eventually, I broke down and got a small set of water-mixable oil paints to try out.
I didn’t have very high expectations, I admit, but I was pleasantly surprised. They worked well enough, though the color range was a little limited in the brand I was using. I started with Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colors, since it was readily available in the major arts and crafts stores like Michaels and JoAnn’s. I’ve since found some other brands and have expanded the range of colors I have on hand. I’m definitely not loyal to one brand over another—I have quite a mix of brands in my box of paints!
I love that they still smell like oil paints—I love that linseed oil smell. But what I Really love is that I can clean up with soap and water. No harsh, unhealthy solvents needed. You can thin them to an extent with water, though I typically don’t unless I’m applying a thin color wash over the canvas to tone down the bright white color before I start painting. I don’t like the texture of the paints when they’re thinned with water so I typically use linseed oil to thin them if needed. Definitely make sure you’re using one of the linseed oils that are specifically made for water-mixable oil paints though.
I haven’t tried out too many of the mediums that go with the water-mixable oils. I use the linseed oil, certainly and I’ve tried the Winsor and Newton Fast Drying Medium (I HATED it, by the way. It’s like thick, sticky honey and made the paints impossible for me to work with. You may have a different experience though, so give it a try if you’re interested). I’m not really much of a medium user with oil paints. Acrylics, on the other hand…
I’ve also noticed that some brands work better in different colors—like, brand X has better blues but brand Y has better reds. I’ll try to do a post sometime soon comparing some of the colors from different brands. Some brands also have a texture I like better than another brand. Again, this tends to vary a bit by color. For instance, I really dislike the texture of Winsor and Newton’s Titanium White. I’m still trying whites from other brands, but so far the Lucas Berlin white is working well for me.
Some people don’t like that some of the pigments used in water-mixable oils tend to be considered lower or student-grade pigments. Not that the quality is bad; quite the opposite, in my experience. But they typically use ‘hues’ like cadmium red hue, instead of true cadmium red. Granted, I’d rather not use cadmium-based paints anyway. All in all, I’ll take the safer, non-toxic version, thanks!
I haven’t been able to find out how exactly the paints have been modified so that water can be used with them. I’m a bit of nerd, so that would be super interesting information to me! Mostly I just find a one sentence explanation about how the oil has been “modified” to be compatible with water. Not nearly enough information to satisfy me. I want to know details! Chemical structures, that sort of thing. Granted, I might be the only one who wants to know that level of detail…
The manufacturers claim that once the water has evaporated off, which happens very quickly, the paints cure and age just like traditional oil paints. I haven’t noticed any difference in the traditional oil versus water-mixable oil paintings I’ve done, but I don’t have any really long term data—my traditional oil paintings are only about 20 years or so old and the water-mixable oil ones are even younger. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.
Overall, I really like water-mixable oil paints. They’re safer and easier to clean up than traditional oils paints. I have no problem using them inside my home and they still have that ‘oil paint’ smell. There’s a bit of variation between brands as far as the colors and the textures, so some experimentation is necessary to find your ideal paints. I’d also like more technical details about the paints and how they were modified. I suppose that might be proprietary information; I don’t know.
Have you tried water-mixable oils? What did you think? Do you like them? What do you see as their strengths and weaknesses? If you haven’t tried them, why not?
* Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward me a small commission – at no extra cost for you.
Inspiring Your Art: Easter
I have a lot of fond memories of Easter from when I was a child. It wasn’t a particularly religious holiday in my family. It was more of a fun, family time. But with Candy! It also wasn’t a particularly large celebration—just some Easter baskets in the morning and sometimes a bit of hunting for hidden jelly beans and other candies. Not big Easter egg hunts or anything like that. But still fun nonetheless.
For your inspiration this week, I’d like you think about Easter. What does Easter mean to you? What are your favorite memories of Easter? Is it a religious holiday or more of a secular celebration? What images or feelings does it invoke for you?
New Artwork: Black and White Cat Torn Paper Collage
Here’s a recently finished portrait of a black and white cat. He’s a stray that lives near my father’s house. They’ve fed him since he was a kitten and call him Harry. I got to see him when I visited for Christmas and he came to the door begging for food.
Whiskers are tricky things. Difficult to make with torn paper. It’s hard to get them delicate-looking enough that they don’t overpower the rest of the piece. I find it’s often better to leave them off unless they’re an important part of the look of the animal. With this guy, the whiskers were definitely important—the bright white whiskers against the stark black fur really stand out and become a critical feature in his ‘look.’
Are there any features or aspects of your artwork or preferred mediums that you find particularly challenging? I’d love to hear from you. Tell me in the comments below!
And if you’d like a portrait of this strikingly handsome guy, you can a print from my Etsy shop, here.
Throw Back Thursday: “Bressay” oil painting
During my first undergraduate degree, I spent my Junior year abroad in Aberdeen, Scotland. I truly loved living in Scotland and would go back again in a heartbeat. During that year I traveled through Europe and a bit in Scotland as well. One of my trips was to visit the Shetland and Orkney Islands in the far (faaaaarrr) north of Scotland. Both places are fascinating, though incredibly different from each other despite being relatively close together.
The Shetland Islands are the farthest northern point of the United Kingdom. The ferry ride from Aberdeen takes 14 hours. The Shetlands are wild and windswept and bare, with no trees in sight. No traffic lights either! There are a number of prehistoric ruins as well as a wealth of wildlife—particularly sea birds, including Puffins.
After I returned to the US, while finishing my degree, I created this painting of Bressay Island in the Shetlands. You can take a ferry from the Shetland mainland to Bressay, which is a great place for walking and bird watching. I spent some time watching the waves crashing against the rocky coast, and tried to capture the power and awe I felt at the sight in this piece. The rocky coastline also reminds me a bit of the coast of Maine, where I spent a lot of summers when I was growing up.
“Bressay” is done in oil on canvas and since it’s one of my earlier pieces, I used traditional oil paints. I’ve since switched over to water-mixable oils for the most part, since they don’t require the use of solvents. I enjoy working in oils—it’s by far my favorite medium for painting. I typically work in acrylics for my abstract pieces and oils for my more realistic paintings. Though I’m considering trying oils for some abstract pieces, simply because I enjoy working with them more. I’ve also been focusing on my torn paper collages lately, which hasn’t left a lot of time for painting. That’s something I need to work on, I suppose!
What is your favorite art medium? Are there any mediums you want to work more in or have been wanting to try? What places inspire you to create art?
Inspiring Your Art: Spring Flowers
I’ve been eagerly awaiting spring, and it looks like it’s finally in sight. The weather is warming up (sort of!) and the spring flowers are finally starting to appear. The crocuses are all up and the daffodils are also starting to bloom now. I know a few weeks ago I had you use crocuses as your art inspiration for spring, but I’m pretty excited about the change of seasons, so I’m going to do it again!
This week I’d like you to consider spring flowers for your inspiration. This time I have a whole bunch of lovely purple crocuses blooming in my yard. I like the contrast between the pale, delicate lavender petals and the brighter yellow stamens. These particular flowers feel like happiness and warmth, to me.
I’d also like to present this photo of some early daffodils in my garden. I love daffodils. They’re bright and sunny and I love their cheerful exuberance. They also remind me of Scotland. I’ve lived there twice and I’ll always remember the millions of daffodils covering the parks and roadsides in the spring. It was truly an amazing sight. I miss Scotland; it’s a place that I really felt at home. So while daffodils remind me of Spring, they remind me even more of Scotland and all the great times I had there.
What are your favorite Spring flowers? How can you incorporate spring flowers into your art? It is the colors? The textures? The shapes? Show me what you come up with!
10 Art Inspiration Ideas
Sometimes it’s hard to get inspired. You get in a rut and the ideas just aren’t flowing. You could, of course, just sit around waiting for inspiration to strike out of the blue, but I’ve never found that to be particularly helpful, myself! Sometimes it helps to have a few go-to ideas to get things moving again. To help you get unstuck, here are a few things you can try:
- Try out an art material or method you’ve never used before
- Choose a color you normally avoid and create a piece using it
- Create a piece of art based on a song
- Use packing materials to create a piece of art
- Create a series of pieces based on a quote that inspires you
- Join an art challenge. A Google search should bring up plenty of options. Here are a few I found: www.deviantart.com/alwaysforeverhailey/journal/Art-Challenges-Mega-List-638643796
www.kickinthecreatives.com/all-creative-challenges/ - Recreate an earlier piece of your own artwork.
- Fill a piece of paper with random lines and marks, then see what you can create with it
- Visit a museum/zoo/aquarium/park
- Try out an online art idea generator. Here are a few you can try: http://artprompts.org/ https://www.magatsu.net/generators/art/ http://drawingprompt.com/
Have you tried any of these suggestions? What methods do you use for finding inspiration?
5 Online Art Supply Stores
So, you’re looking for that one item you that you Need to complete the piece you’re working on but you can’t find it in any of the stores nearby. Sound familiar? Happens to everyone, I suspect, no matter how well-prepared. Sadly, not everyone is lucky enough to live near a ‘real’ art supply store. I currently don’t have any nearby, and certainly miss the convenience. In the absence of an awesome local art supply store, we have to take our art supply quest online. To help with this, I’ve rounded up a few online stores that are worth checking out:
- Jerry’s Artarama (www.jerrysartarama.com)
Jerry’s is my go-to online art supply store. I wrote a more in-depth review earlier, which can be found here. What I love about Jerry’s: reasonable shipping fees and low free shipping minimum; everything I’ve ever ordered from them has been packed very well and arrived undamaged; they carry a wide selection of items including categories that can be hard to find elsewhere (like encaustic supplies!), they have a large variety of items under their own brands, which are less expensive but still high quality. They do have one of the higher shipping charges if you’re below Jerry’s free shipping minimum, so it’s probably worth either adding a little extra to your order to meet the minimum or trying a different site for small orders.
Photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels
- Blick Art Materials (www.dickblick.com)
Blick (formerly Dick Blick) is a well-known art supply store that also carries a wide range of supplies. In particular, they carry a lot of ceramics and sculpture supplies as well as printmaking supplies, all of which are often difficult to find. Their free shipping minimum is higher than Jerry’s, but art supplies add up quickly, so it’s still not too difficult to meet. In addition, their shipping charges are a little confusing, with what appears to be a ‘per-item’ charge rather than a tiered ‘order total’ charge like many other places. If you’re only buying a few less expensive items, however, you might want to look elsewhere. Having said that, if you’re only buying one item, Blick seems to have the lowest shipping cost.
- Utrecht Art Supplies (www.utrechtart.com)
Utrecht is another well-known art supply store which, like Blick and Jerry’s, also has physical locations if you’re lucky enough to live near one. It’s a solid choice, though I personally don’t like the online storefront as well as the previous two. I just find it harder to navigate and harder to look at for any length of time. Their free shipping minimum is currently the same as Blick’s and they have flat rate shipping below that amount at a price that seems in line with other online retailers.
- Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff (www.cheapjoes.com)
This is a site that I have never personally purchased from, but might be worth a look. They’re selection is somewhat limited and their prices are very slightly lower than the other sites I mentioned above. It’s decent for painting and drawing supplies but doesn’t carry much for artists working in other mediums. Their free shipping minimum is very high—unless you’re purchasing a Lot or studio furniture or something, you’re probably not going to meet it. They do offer flat rate shipping below that though, and it appears to be quite reasonable. Blick still has the lowest shipping if you’re only purchasing one item though. If any of you have tried Cheap Joe’s, I’d be interested to hear what you think.
- Mister Art (www.misterart.com)
Mister Art is another site I’ve never personally tried. They do carry a variety of items that fall more under what I would consider ‘craft’ rather than ‘art’ supplies but overall they seem to have a decent selection. Some of the major brands, such as Gamblin, seem to be missing from their inventory, so this site might be a bit hit-or-miss, depending on what you’re looking for. Shipping is…pretty pricey. Their free shipping minimum is the highest of all the sites I’ve listed and below that amount they have a tiered shipping cost based on total order amount rather than the flat rate shipping the other sites offer. They offer considerably better pricing if you join their “VIP Club” for an annual fee (currently $25). I’m not a fan of this type of program but if you intend to purchase regularly and often from them, it may be worth the fee.
What art supply websites do you use? Or are you fortunate enough to have a great local art supply store? Are there any items you just can’t find anywhere? Tell me in the comments!