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! 

Pet Profile: Rainier

Rainier is 10 years old today and that just seems crazy to me! These past 10 years have gone by crazy fast. 

I can't believe how little she was! About 9.2 years ago.

Rainier today, 10 years old

Rainier, or the grumpy corgi, is actually one of the sweetest corgis ever. She just does not like to have her butt touched so she will growl. (ALSO if you let her sleep in your bed you are NOT allowed to move, and will get growled at for doing so.) 

Rainier is named after Mount Rainier in WA or if you ask my college friends she is named after Rainier Beer. I got her when I was in college and we have been through a lot together the past 10 years. She has flown to Alaska, driven across some states to Utah. She has had to deal with getting 2 little (one large) brothers, Theo and Atlas. 

Majestically Floofy!

Rainier loves people and will do almost anything for pets or food. Other dogs are usually okay by her if they mostly leave her alone. She does love food, and the vet had her go on a diet this past year and it is actually working! She to normal weight and is as spry as ever! 

Doing her thing.

Painting of Rainier in Acrylic

Happy Birthday Rainier! I hope we have many more years together. 

Common Art Scam

I’m going to write about something a bit different this week. Art Scams!

Scammers suck, especially ones that target artists who are just starting out. Hopefully most people are honest and don’t do this, but there has been one in particular that I get quite often. Like once every two months often. Generally it will look like a legit email, from a real email address. Sometimes they even fill out my submission form. However I have gotten it before where I am CCed in the middle of a list.

I am not even going to sensor this because scammers blow but generally the scam looks like this:

Or this:

Normally they have something to do with getting their wife a present. Or they want to purchase a piece on your site immediately. They base their email on something you probably would customarily would respond and be receptive to. They include personal details and make you believe that they are actually interested in your work.

What is the scam?

Their intention is usually money and perhaps personal information. They state that their “wife” handles their credit cards or PayPal accounts, so they have an elaborate explanation about how they will get you the money for the painting (or art). Something common they do is they say they are traveling or overseas, and they overpay and ask you to send the extra amount to their shipping company who is transporting it for them. Once you do pay with your own bank account – you discover the cashier check they sent you is not legit. So essentially you paid them and they didn’t actually pay you, note this is what I have gathered from searching the scam. Sometimes they will ask you to ship before they make payment, obviously don’t do this.

Here is another, this one I did reply to:

My reply just included the price of the painting in question.

This second email immediately sent up the alarm bells, I kindly told them to shove it.

So generally keep an eye out for these “Wife” emails or other complex stories. Other things to look out for is anyone that wants to arrange the shipping themselves or purchase immediately. If all else looks okay but you are still suspicious, google their email address, scammers send so many emails that it may already be on a list online.

Golden Lion Tamarin

Since yesterday was Earth Day, I decided to do a quick animal painting in hopes to shed some light on conversation. This is a Golden Lion Tamarin painted in oil on panel.  8x10

Golden Lion Tamarins are endangered due to losing their natural habitiat due to logging, mining, and urbanization. Zoos and conservation programs are working to reintroduce them in areas of the wild. Support conservation programs and help efforts to save amazing species!

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. 

Where I live on the Internet

I am not at home for this post. I am spending time with my grandma while she recovers from wrist surgery. So today I am just going to throw down some different places you can find my work! 

Instagram - @KendraAldrichArts

Facebook- Kendra Aldrich Arts

Twitter- @KendraAldrich

YouTube- Kendra Aldrich

Tumblr - Grumpycorgi

Dribbble (Design work) - Kendra Aldrich

Behance (Older digital work) - Kendra Aldrich

You can also find me on VERO  as Kendra Aldrich

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!)