Here are all of the pet portiats from February.
Acrylic Painting
January 6x6 Pet Portraits
It has been awhile since I uploaded the pet portraits I do each week. These are all of the ones from January.
The time I spend on each varies, as does the quality of the photos I am working from, so they all look a bit different!
More Timelapse Catch Up!
More portrait timelapses! Check out a few week's worth here! These close out the end of 2017.
Timelapse Catch Up!
It has been awhile since I uploaded some portrait timelapses! Check out a few week's worth here!
Acrylic Painting of Lulu
This is a 8x10 acrylic painting of Lulu the Boston Terrier. Lulu is no longer in this world but her laid back personality and her owners sense if humor hopefully show though in this painting.
This was a fun one to paint! Lulu looks really laid back and it is easy to tell that. The sunglasses proved to be a new challenge for me as I don't work with transparencies often. It was interesting to deal with both that and the reflection.
Here is the timelapse of the painting.
Oil Vs. Acrylic Paint
Oils or Acrylics? The ever looming question for painters, I have gotten the question many times about which I prefer. And for me there really isn’t a straight forward answer, as there are benefits to both.
Some of these are painted in Oils, some are painted in Acrylics. Can you tell which are which?
Acrylics
Acrylic paint was first introduced in the 1950s and are made from pigment in an acrylic polymer emulsion (plastic). They can be thinned with water and the paint dries fast. Acrylic paint can be mixed with various “mediums” such as gels, to create different effects.
Oil
Oil paint is what the old master’s used. The paint is pigment suspended in an oil, which makes it non-water soluble. A solvent is required to dilute or clean up paint. Paint is often thick and buttery (due to the oil) and dries very slowly. Depending on the thickness, it can take days for a painting in oil to dry.
So which do I prefer?
There are lots of things to consider, such as ease of use, clean up, speed of drying, color of dried paint and price. Acrylics dry fast, which is nice when something needs a quick turn-around, as I can work quicker with it. They are also easier to clean up as it just takes water to clean brushes. Oils dry slow, which can be a benefit or a hindrance, they also require solvents to clean brushes. These need special and careful handling. Acrylic paint dries a bit darker than it goes on the canvas, this is known as color shift. Oil paint dries pretty much how you apply it to the canvas. Acrylic paint is usually a bit cheaper than oil paint, which can also be a factor.
When painting one of the most important aspects to me is how the paint feels when coming off the brush. I like thick, buttery, smooth. These are the qualities of oil paint. However, I use heavy body acrylic paint, which does a really good job of getting that same quality in acrylic paint. I can usually make them look quite similar in my painting style. If I absolutely had to choose one I would choose oil, only based on the fact that I like how genuinely buttery it feels when going on the canvas!
Acrylic
Oil
Did you guess correctly?
Acrylic Palette Setup
Acrylic paint dries pretty fast, and I paint for hours- or over a few days. So it is essential that my palette stays wet for as long as possible. This is the set up that I use with my paint so it will last for up to 2 weeks. I recorded a video showing you how I do this setup, this is my first voice-over so bear with me!
This uses the Sta-Wet Palette (Around $17), which is marketed with a sponge and some Sta-Wet Palette Paper. I do NOT recommend using those, the sponge molds easily and the paper rips and dries out in some spots. So using it with heavy-duty paper towels (3 pack for $5) and a tempered glass palette (Around $30) works much better for me! If you don't want to spend the money on the glass palette, a tempered cutting board could work as well, you may need to find something for a backing though.
Also I like to call the piece of paper towel I put on top of the glass, the Moistmaker (if you've seen friends you will get this!)
Miah Acrylic Painting
This is a 9x12 acrylic painting of Miah the Yorkie. Miah is an awesome dog that has lived way longer than the vet originally expected. This painting was a gift for her owner from the owner's daughter.
Yellow is Miah's owner's favorite color so we chose a bright vivid one to use as the background, it really brings out the sunny nature of the painting.
Luman the Lab/Pit Mix Painting
I absolutely adore this painting, I mean look at those eyes! He is all grown up now, (and still cute, I've seen pictures) and this painting is to remember his puppy days.
“Luman is a pit bull and lab mix. He is a very curious, gentle, playful, and caring dog. He loves to dig, and get into things he shouldn’t. He will sometimes follow me around or sit next to me and watch whatever I am doing. He can be very playful, he gets very excited when we come home and will force us to play fetch with him. He often whines playfully when him and my boyfriend are goofing around. What I love about Luman most is that he is a very gentle dog. When giving him a treat, he will slowly move his mouth towards it and grasp the treat with his lips, it is very cute. And in the mornings, we often wake up to him giving us soft and gentle kisses. You can tell that he really loves his home, and my boyfriend and I! ”
Sally Painting
This painting is of Sally, the beautiful herding dog who sadly is no longer around. This was a fun painting to do because the background was really nice to paint along with the dog. The painting is 8x8 in Acrylic.
Detail
““Sally came from herding stock and we bought her at a feed store. When she was a puppy I played soccer with her and she would nip at the backs of my legs to herd me. She was a very loyal dog and was protective of her small pack. If my mom and I weren’t walking right next to each other on a hike then she would run between both us to make sure we both were okay. She was sort of an alpha female and when she played with other dogs she sort of tried to herd them and would sometimes bark in a shrill tone. She was intelligent and really enjoyed playing find it in the house. We would put her in her crate and then hide a toy or food and she would search every room and hiding place until she found it. ”
Sally and the reference photo!