My daughter's best friend is going through a mermaid phase right now and asked if I would paint one for her. I, of course, said I would. I first had to find an image, then draw it out of course. What followed is this painting of a mermaid. It's not the best painting of a mermaid, but I think its a really good first try.
My favorite part of this painting is the ribs on the tail. I think they turned out really well. The next painting will probably have some scales, or some such. And I'm always looking to work on hair.
I got about half way through this painting and then thought I needed to have her sit on something, so the rock is somewhat improvised, but I think it mostly works.
I've also made a video to go along with this. As if you hadn't seen that coming.
Back again with another bird painting. This one is a great blue heron. These prehistoric birds are all over the place where I live, and I hope you have them where you live too. Here they stalk the tide pools and seashore looking for small fish to eat. I've even seen them in the fields and on the golf course looking for mice or moles. A big one can stand in excess of 4 feet tall. I don't know what its wingspan is, but its big. They will stand motionless for quite a while waiting for a tasty morsel to come into range. As soon as it does,... Whammo! Thats is. Feeding time.
I've got a nice heron her for you to view. He is in a classic standing stance. Just surveying his surroundings, waiting, biding his time. I've used a healthy dose of cerulean blue in this painting. Used it both in the bird and on the background. The bird itself is tempered with a little mix of my own grey too.
For those of you interested in seeing how I painted it, you can view the action below. Even if you don't give a view to the video, thanks for taking the time to read a bit about this bird. Enjoy the video.
A friend of mine recently moved to Texas. I asked her what the state bird was, and she tole me it was a mocking bird (never looked it up to verify, but I believe her). I felt a wave of bird painting coming on and thought it might be fun to paint. Here is what I came up with.
Its a classic bird shape. Maybe the tail is a little longer than some, but for the most part it follows suit for songbirds in North America.
I looked through a number of pictures of mocking birds before settling on drawing this one. Most of the mocking birds are a light grey to a brown in color. A few, however, had a slight blue tint to them. I don't know if they were juveniles, or if at a certain time of year the feathers look a bit different or what. No matter, I chose to paint mine with a blue-ish tint. I made the eye extra dark. I want the viewer to notice it right away, and looking back at the painting, I think I made the right choice.
Like so many of my painting recently, it is accompanied by a video. So if you want to see how I painted it, check out the video below. Thanks for the quick read. Drop me a line and let me know if you like it or not, or if you'd like to see me paint something specifis.
Alas, that ever present bird has made a comeback on Dabfly Arts. Living by the water, I see them every day. Some days they look like they are having fun floating on gentle ocean breezes, others they look like they are hating life trying to stay warm in a cold winter wind. This guy falls into the former category. He is definitely loving life. Nice warm climate, a nice dock to stand on.
Birds are fun to paint. I don't know why I like them so much. I guess its because each one has its own personality. Every bird I paint gets its own story. This one is definitely looking at something on the dock. Maybe a tasty bit of food has blown onto the wood, he has just seen it, and it about to go over and have a snack.
Whatever his real story, he was a blast to paint. I hope you enjoy it. If you want to see how I did it, I have, as has become my custom, made a video of it. You can see it below. Thanks for the read, and the view if you have the inclination.
I must be on some kind of bird painting kick. Here, I've painted an Oriole. He is sitting on what appears to be a broken branch.
This bird was really fun to paint. The vibrant orange color is made from a couple of different reds, and a couple of different yellows. I did use a pre-mixed grey (payne's grey) but I augmented it myself. I don't usually use the grey right out of the tube. It's mot a bad color, just a little bit flat.
I've given the bird just a few indications of feathers. Just enough to enhance the shape of the bird.
He sits on a stick that has obviously seen better days. Its got some pitting and dents in it.
The background was originally going to be a bit more mottled, but I think I forgot to mix another color into it. As it is, the colors are phthalo blue and ultramarine blue. The green parts are windsor green and viridian. The blue behind the orange really makes this bird pop off the page.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the painting and the quick read. If you want to see how I painted it, check out the following video.
So, I went fishing and didn't catch anything. As a consolation, I painted this fish. Ok, thats not actually how the story goes. I did go fishing. I didn't catch anything. I did have fun fishing with my children. That fishing trip had nothing to do with this painting.
I've been meaning to paint a betta for quite some time. My friends over at Doodlewash painted one about the time I was getting started. I didn't want to post mine close to the time that that one was painted. So I waited. Finally, I was kicking around the studio the other day when I came across the reference photo for this. Finally, I had to paint it. I will admit that the background needs a bit of work. I wanted a really mottled background that had a lot of interest. What I ended up with it s a background that is rather plain. I will admit that I am a bit disappointed with it. But no mind. It is what it is. I enjoyed the experience painting it. You can too by viewing the video below.
Thanks for the view. Hope you enjoy.
If you want to see the video in less than half the time, there is a speed painting of it too.
Mmmmm, just like grandma use to make. Delicious blueberry muffins. These happen to be sitting on the table, but you can't have them they are mine.
I started out to paint something just a little different. You see lot of painting of trees, and flower, and pets and people, but how many do you see of muffins? I know, I know, your gonna say its just a still life like a bowl of fruit, or something, but is it really? I really like painting things that not everyone else paints. From the moment I saw this picture, I knew I was going to paint it. I didn't really know how I was going to do it, but I knew I was going to.
What I did was look at what color the muffin tops were, and develop my color palette from there. The tops were gold, and brown and a really warm earthy yellow. I decided on transparent orange oxide, yellow ochre, raw umber and van dyke brown. The brown crusty parts are really just orange oxide. and the in between parts are mostly yellow ochre. Their is an under layer of raw umber and yellow ochre. The muffin cup is mostly raw umber. I needed to make it similar to the top, but different enough that you could tell it was paper. I tied it all together with a light yellow background and a few blueberries in the foreground.
If you want a more detailed description, you can watch the video below. Thanks for taking the time to view it, I hope you like it, I had a blast painting it.
Here is my latest painting. It is another statue. This one of an angel. She has obviously been outside for a long time and has moss growing on her in places. I've added just enough details to her body and wings to give her form, but the overall impression I wanted someone to take away is that of her have sat outside for a long time.
I started painting her with a base color of payne's grey for her body, then slowly added in some van dyke brown in some shadowy areas, or anywhere that I wanted to make her a bit warmer. (as the payne's grey can get a little cold sometime) I just gave indications of some shadow lines on her body and her wings. They give just enough detail. I kept her face as clean and as bright as I could. I wanted it to be a bit lighter than everything else on the paintings. This was to make her face the focal point of this painting. I'll be t you did it subconsciously. You looked at the entire painting, but your eyes kept coming back to her face.
I'm happy with this painting. I might go back and make the background even a little darker, which would make her a little lighter by contrast, and therefore jump off the page a little more. But if I never get around to doing that, I'm happy with what I have here.
If you have not seen my video of this painting, I've got a link below. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy it.
It was cold in the studio when I painted this. I've got bookmarks on several pictures across the web that I might want to paint one day. I was thinking that if I painted a warm picture, that I might warm up myself.
The picture I took this from seemed like it was taken on a warm summers evening. I convinced myself, after looking at this picture again, that painting it would definitely warm me up.
I used yellow ochre, van dyke brown and transparent orange oxide for the majority of this painting. Those 3 colors certainly put a warm spin on this. In order to cool it down a bit, I used a bit of payne's grey. In some places I used it straight, without mixing, but mostly mixed it with the van dyke brown to warm it a little, almost like a sepia.
I used a lot of layers to build up the depth and detail on this painting. I probably should have done a few more layers.
I did put a little spatter on this painting. I used the same colors that I used to paint her body. In hind sight, I should have done a little more of the spatter too.
I hope you like it. If you have an interest in watching me paint it, I've provided a video below.
Here is my representation of a bridge over a river in Zion National Park. I've been to Zion many times, and it is truly one of natures most stunning places. At least if you like that desert, canyon kind of thing. The red rocks of the cliff faces tower over the valley floors. I don't think there is one place you can go in the park that doesn't have stunning views.
I believe this bridge is at the beginning of the path to Angels Landing. You cross this bridge, then into refrigerator canyon, up Walter's Wiggles, and out across a some very thin rock faces, to the precipice. The last half mile of the trip is not for the faint of heart. There will be thousand foot drop offs, and path's with seemingly no handholds and almost no footholds. But if you make it out to the end, the views are terrific. The last time I went, it was in the mid 70's on the canyon floor, and by the time I got about 1/2 way out to the end, it started snowing, and got quite windy. I didn't know if I should hurry to fight the cold, slow down to combat the wind, or just turn back. In the end, I just soldiered on and made it to the end. Some German hikers were nice enough to let me warm my finger by the camp stove they had carried with them.
As for this paintings, I think I got a few things right. the distant mountain really distant, the close mountain is close. The trees are definitely closer than the mountain and they have a little depth to them. True there could be a little more, but there is some. Even the water looks like it gets closer as it reaches the bottom of the page.
I might try this one again. Or at least I'll do some other paintings from Zion. As with many of my recent paintings, i did a video to go with this. If you are interested in seeing how I did it, you can see the video below. Thanks for taking the time to view and read.
As you have seen in an earlier post, I've started on my Christmas cards a bit early this year. I didn't want to wait until the end and then have to rush to get them done.
Yes, this is essentially the same card I did last year, if you were lucky enough to receive one of those, but with a couple notable exceptions.
Even though this years cards are not really what poinsettias look like they are much closer than I got last year. Last years had much longer thinner leaves/petals. This year, I've moved to a bit more of a realistic flower, but not too far.
This flower, as you can see, has red petals, but each petal also has a healthy dose of yellow also. The effect gives the petals a lot of life in them. They look much better than just a plain old red petal. And if you look closely at the second level of petal, you will see that not only is there yellow in the red, but the shadow color is actually green. 3 colors in those petals!!! Finally, the green leaves aren't just green, they have a bit of yellow in them as well. Just enough to bring them to life a bit.
Well, thats probably more than you wanted to know about how I painted this christmas card, but since you asked. Oh, wait, you didn't? Well, I wanted to tell you anyway. And don't forget, if you want to watch me paint it, you can do it below. Thanks for the quick read, and take a look at the video, it's really pretty good.
Don't forget I've got some social media accounts. Check them out below.
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So, I have started painting my Christmas or Holiday cards for this year already. I want to start early. Last year I got a little behind, and it was hard trying to catch up. So here is the first one that I am posting. It is of course some hanging ornaments.
You might wonder how I got the balls so perfectly round. Well, let me tell you. Electrical Tape. It is the perfect size for balls on a 5 x 7 card.
So, I figure I've got about 20 cards to paint. It seems like a lot, but not a lot. Between work, family and friends, that could easily be many many more. I've limited the number to just those that have made the biggest impact in my life over the previous year.
The cards? Well, last year, i bought packs of them at the local hardware store. This year.... Amazon. I got a pack of 100 for 30 bucks. Thats pretty good. I'm pretty sure that means I get them for 30 cents a piece.
I think this one looks pretty good, and its pretty easy to paint. If you have an interest in seeing how it did it, you can watch the video below.
I did a similar painting several months back. It just kind of happened organically. I didn't purposely go into thinking I would paint all the negative space around an object, but it kind of worked that way. In this painting, I specifically set about trying to paint only the negative spaces. I do with I had mixed in maybe a little purple or magenta with all the blue but I came out pretty neat.
Also, I think, that if I do this again, or maybe I'll go back and do it on this painting, that I'll incorporate some veins into the leaves. I did put the button in the middle of these flowers, but that was all. Perhaps a bit of veining will really bring this painting to the next level and give the leaves a little more texture and depth.
Well, regardless of whether I go back and do more or not, I had a great time painting this one. I hope you enjoy the painting, and if you would like to watch it, I do have a video of how I did it.
This is my latest painting. It is the HOPE truck from Dripping Springs, Texas. A friend of mine took the picture and it was too much for me not to paint it. I had a great time with this. I love all the rust and faded colors.
Painting the shadow and darkness at the top of the painting (under the eaves and the tree shadow behind the building) was completely terrifying to paint. I had what I thought was a good painting, but needing the shadow and I had to put it on. the color is so dark, I was afraid I would totally mess it up.
Luckily, I like the way it turned out.
I was told that maybe i should have left the windows jus ta bit lighter, and darkened the ground below the truck. Hmmm. Something to think about.
I love this painting. It is hanging proudly in my office. I'm so juiced at the way this one turned out, I can't wait to paint my next one.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to see how I did it, I do have a video. Thanks for the quick read. Hope you love the truck as much as I do.
What is cooler than a bunch of Sea Lions lounging on a buoy in the ocean. If you are a sea lion, then nothing. These guys are just snoozing and watching life pass them by. It sure was nice of someone to put this out in the harbor for them to sleep on.
If you are a mainlander and haven't come across sea lions before, you really need to make a trip to the coast to find some.
I live a half mile from the Pacific Ocean and I can hear them barking all night long. I don't know how far their voices carry, but it sounds like they are just across the street.
When you encounter them in the wild, they are naturally inquisitive and, of course, always looking for a bite to eat. They patrol the harbor hoping to get anything that might fall off a fishing boat, or whatever tourists toss to them (don't do the latter, please).
Anyway. This one was a hoot to paint, and if I do say so myself, turned out pretty good. I've got a speed painting of it. If you can spend a few minutes it's not a bad view.
Here is a pumpkin for your Halloween pleasure. It obviously hasn't been picked yet, but I wouldn't expect that to last. This on looks good enough to carve up and put on the front porch.
I've been doodlewashed!! Our good friend Charlie over at Doodlewash asked me if I would do a small piece for his website. He's got quite a few people asking for videos for beginners, and boom! there I was.
Check out his website. Not only is Charlie a fantastic artist with interesting paintings and takes on his paintings. He also asks guest artists (such as myself) to submit for his site. The result is a website that is replete with interesting and beautiful artwork. Please take a moment and check out his site.
For some reason, I felt the need to paint another old truck. I just cant seem to get enough of rust and faded paint. So here it is, an old Ford sitting in a field. It looks like its been here for about a dozen years or so. No wheels at all, so it is never gonna move.
I love the effect of the distant trees in this painting, and I can live with the sky. I only wish I had painted the truck in my usual way. One piece of sheet metal at a time. It usually allows for nice breaks in the painting and I don't have to paint the joints between the panels.
Well, I like this and even the field seems to have a lot of texture to it. Enjoy.
Oh, and by the way, it comes in video too. Check it out.
Its been a long time since I posted a video like this. A quick to the point paintings. It is what it is. A sunset behind a lake with some trees in the foreground. It looks spectacular, and its spectacularly easy to do.
I've made a video you can watch if you want to see how I did it.
This is a little cove out here in the State Park just south of Morro Bay. There is nothing around for miles. Every time I see it, I think there is gonna be a pirate ship anchored just off shore.
Here is a picture of a VW parked on the street. Could be anywhere, but in my mind its somewhere like Philadelphia. Or maybe some other big city in the eastern US.
The car is just sitting on the side of the street begging to be painted.
Oh, like many of my paintings from the past few months, this one comes with a video. If you have an interest and wanna see it, click the link below.
There are whales that migrate past my home every spring and fall. This is just a quick representation of one of those whales breaching just outside the town harbor.
Oh, and by the way it come with a video to. You can check it out here.
So I was messing around and thought I would paint a duck. Tried to do it pretty quickly and somewhat loose.
I thought it came out pretty good. The colors muddle together just a little, but its still pretty clear what the edge of the duck it. The wing is a bit so so. I tried to put a dark line to represent the ducks back wing, but I don't think it quite worked out.
Oh well, its still kinda a cool painting. Hope you like it.
In a quick painting session over the weekend, I managed to bang out a few tomatoes. These ones look so good you could pick them off the page and eat them.
I went with a lighter background rather than darker. As I made up the story of the tomatoes in my mind, these were still on the vine in late summer. The heat of August is bearing down on these tomatoes. They are hanging just under a large group of leaves and waiting to be picked.
Mmm they look delicious and ready to pick off the vine and put on your dinner table.
Additionally, I made a video about painting these. Check it out.
I decided to do a quick study on the differences among form, color, and hue. Can we, as a viewer, see the differences, or the similarities, if a form has a color that is distinctly not a natural color.
In this picture, the goose has more intense color than the background, making it stand out from the background. Also, the background goes from less intense to more intense as we move from top to bottom, making the bottom seem much closer.
The goose itself has proper form of a goose, but the colors are anything but goose-like. our brain tells us its a goose and to not worry about the odd colors. I'll bet than when you look at it your brain even fills in a bit of the wing shape on the goose.
Well, like I said this was just a fun exercise to do. I hope you like it! Oh, and I almost forgot. There is a youtube video to go along with it.
Here is a little painting I did over the weekend. It Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I've been there many many times and it is truly a beautiful place to be. I painted a picture of the lakeshore a few years ago and always wanted to do another one, but never got around to if for some reason. Well, last night, I finally did it. I make myself sit down and paint it again. Of course, I had to make a video to go along with it.
I had a lot of fun painting it, I hope you enjoy viewing it. and if you are so inclined, paint along with me.
I haven't forgotten about all you avid Dabfly Arts readers. I have been busy. In the past week, I've worked overtime, held a garage sale, been across town about 14, flown to the moon and visited the rings of Saturn. Let's just say I've been a bit busy. Well, no matter, I'm back and putting up the pictures I should have been putting up all along.
The first painting is of course some apples still on a tree. They must be getting ready to pick they are slowly turning red. The second a Scrub Jay which we have in the western states. They are actually really nice birds, not like those nasty Blue Jays. Finally a simple painting of a Kingfisher. Each of these now comes with a video showing how I made it. (Picture on left, video on right) Take a look to see how I do it. Thanks for the view.
Just putting in a little practice last night. These two were painted on cheap paper.
I sketched them both to look alike, then set aobut painting them in slightly different ways. The end result is drastically different birds in the end. I'm not sure if I like either of them, but I don't really dislike either. Tonight, probably more birds.
A robin in winter. I will admit that this guy doesn't display all the personality of some of my other birds, but he is cute anyway. I was painting from a picture that had been taken in winter. I can tell from the snow on the little stick the bird is on, but I couldn't make out what was in the background. So I tried to fill it with cool colors. I wanted to leave them a little light so as to not take away from the bird, but just give an indication of temperature. Now that you know its cold in the picture, I bet you can really see it.
I made a video to go along with this so you can see how I did it. Interested parties can follow this link.
I hope you enjoy this little bird and I hope you enjoy the video. You keep looking and watching, and Ill keep painting and posting.
Continuing with the airplane theme, I give you this navy corsair. It was, of course, super fun to paint. I've liked these since the first time I ever saw one as a kid. I think is must be the crazy bent wings. At any rate, this is my interpretation of one of these great planes.
I didn't intend to do this, but it seems like the whole painting was done with a couple of different shades of blue. They were ultramarine, pthalo, and cerulean. Both the plane and the sky are basically nothing but these three colors. I'm glad I put in a little yellow on the nose and the red in the logo.
I'd love to get some feedback on this. Let me know what you think either here or on the video link. Thank you
Wanted to do something just a bit outside my comfort zone last night. This is what I came up with. It is a little tight, but I'll probably have another go at it and see if I can't loosen it up a bit.
Im happy with the sky, and happy with the mottling of the green on the plane, but somehow I just don't think it comes together quite right.
I don't quite know, but I don't think its too bad. Let me know what you think.
These Two were practice for my video ( which can be found here. ) I just threw on a mottled background to make the birds stand out a bit. They were a little too stark on the white paper. I love painting birds, and think these came out great. I hope you enjoy them, and if you have a chance, take a look at the video.
I'd love to get some feedback on the paintings, both here and on youtube. If you've got a moment, leave a message, and/or like and subscribe to my channel.
For anyone not able to follow the link above, here is an additional link to the video.
I actually meant to make a video about these. I sat down and started painting last night, but the paper and I were feuding a little. Or maybe it was the paint or the water. I don't know but whatever it was, I wasn't feeling confident enough to make a video about these. I am hoping that I'll feel it more tonight, but we'll see.
This is an agapanthus. We have them all over here in California. I was asked to attempt to paint these. This is a first attempt. It's ok, i suppose, but it dind't quite turn out how I wanted. I think my paper was too wet, and got too much run in my colors. I'm gonna revisit this and see if I can't do something a bit better.
Not sure I got it quite right. I get a little lost in as I go toward the center. It's just the first one I've done. A start that I hope I will be able to improve upon quickly.
I have been out of the studio for about a week. I didn't really think I would be able to sit on the stool and paint an entire painting without my back erupting in pain. Last night I ventured out, and the pain was manageable. So, with that in mind i started to dabble again. This is the result.
Having gotten a few fresh fruits and vegetables over the weekend, what do you think I did? Of course I painted them. Mmmm delicious potatoes and zucchini.
It's so fun to sit down and just paint something and have fun with it.
The second painting is one I had fun with before painting the one for the video. It was just a really quick test to see if I have colors and shapes mostly correct. I think I got it.
If you like it, feel free to leave a comment and let me know. I had fun with this, I hope you enjoyed it, and take a look at the video.
I had a little time on my hands during lunch, so I decided to sketch a few fruits. Yes, red was the theme. I gave myself two minutes a piece to paint each one. I like the apple and the single cherry. I really want o like the double cherry but the shadow i put on it kind of ruins it for me. The tomato..... well, i think it went a little south. lol.
Here is a little painting I did over the weekend. It Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I've been there many many times and it is truly a beautiful place to be. I painted a picture of the lakeshore a few years ago and always wanted to do another one, but never got around to if for some reason. Well, last night, I finally did it. I make myself sit down and paint it again. Of course, I had to make a video to go along with it.
I haven't forgotten about all you avid Dabfly Arts readers. I have been busy. In the past week, I've worked overtime, held a garage sale, been across town about 14, flown to the moon and visited the rings of Saturn. Let's just say I've been a bit busy. Well, no matter, I'm back and putting up the pictures I should have been putting up all along. 
Just a quick drawing a tree that sits in front of my house. This tree is slated to be cut down in the next weeks. I am going to miss it when its gone.
The second painting is one I had fun with before painting the one for the video. It was just a really quick test to see if I have colors and shapes mostly correct. I think I got it. 
