Friday, May 6, 2011

Where the fairies hide....

Where the Fairies Hide
6x4 inches
acrylic on canvas panel

So I made it back out today...and I feel a little better about this painting than the last backyard sketch that I did. I am starting to accept that some days may be just sketches, little paintings I can use to inform later studio work. It is hard to convince myself that not everything is going to work out as a finished painting!

I am practicing painting outside just in my backyard for now, tweaking my set up, figuring out what will work for me and trying to gain a little bit of confidence before I venture out into the world with my paintbox ;-)

I worked on canvas panel instead of watercolor paper today - which was an improvement. I am not a fan of canvas panels in general, I'd rather work on plain panels or stretched canvas, but for right now these are easy - an relatively inexpensive (since I know I will probably go through a lot of them this summer!). I concentrated on just working quickly, getting everything laid out, keeping details minimal. This concentrating on such a small area while painting a landscape is new to me! I changed brushes, changed my palette - both improvements to my set up helped the work flow better. Today was windy, another challenge, plus I also had the added bonus of having my six year old outside with me. I figure if I can paint with styrofoam airplanes being launched towards my head, I should be able to paint anywhere, right?!

5 comments:

Deborah said...

I swear I saw a little fairy peeking out! lol....great job

1,001 Blessings...Deborah

Magic Love Crow said...

Hi Debbie ;o) I am with Deborah, I think I see a fairy peeking out!! Great painting! And, you did it with the wind and a six year old around you ;o) I really love the painting!

Melinda said...

Lol ~ very true! If you can manage with those distractions, you must be a pro! I love the faery home, I imagine I see them in all sorts of stumps and logs while out on hikes. :)

Craftymoose Crafts said...

I've always wanted to paint outside, too. Love the tree!

Debbie Shirley said...

Thank you so very much! I truly appreciate the comments!

And as for my son.....after the third (or fourth!) time he hit me in the head with the airplane, I said "What ARE you doing?!!" and he replied rather sheepishly, he was trying to fly the airplane IN FRONT of me, so that "it could get into the picture"! ;-)

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