August 14, 2011
Butterfly Painting
“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you”–Nathanial Hawthorne
I made this butterfly painting using the same collage technique I talked about in the Elephant tutorial HERE.The only difference is that I added painted detail on top of the reverse silhouette area.
I’m currently working on color correcting the image for print in hopes to include it as one of my greeting cards on CardGnome.com.
The painting will be a gift for one of my nieces.
May happiness alight upon your shoulder today!
August 3, 2011
Elephant Love: Collage Painting Tutorial
My neighbor’s baby shower is on Saturday and I REALLY wanted to create an elephant painting for her baby boy, but I hadn’t got to it yet. This morning I decided to try a collage painting. This project is easy enough for someone with very little art skill and has enough possibilities to hold the attention of a highly trained artist. (The verdict is out on exactly where my abilities fall on that scale.)
What you will need:
- A canvas, any size (white is fine, mine was painted blue but didn’t need to be)
-Modge Podge or another acrylic varnish. (Elmer’s glue may also work, but water it down a bit.)
-Paper to collage with. (I used the end papers of an already cannibalized copy of Where the Wild Things Are.)
-Paint brushes. (Don’t use anything nice for the Modge Podge. It will gum up the brush.)
-Acrylic paint for background color
-A drawing or stencil for “cut-out” image
-Scissors
1.
Tear paper and adhere to canvas with Modge Podge a piece at a time. You will need a thin layer of Modge Podge both under and over the torn paper to get a good seal.
2. 
Collage around the edges of the canvas. (I ended up doing this step later, but wish I had done it here.) Let dry.
3. 
Lay your drawing over a piece of press board (like a cereal or graham cracker box) and cut out with scissors. This will make a reverse stencil.
4.
Place reverse stencil on your now dry canvas.
5.
Hold stencil down and carefully dab or paint outwards around image. If the paint runs under your stencil, don’t panic. When you lift the stencil, you can use a slightly wet q-tip to remove the excess paint. I had to do this around some of the edges. Just be sure to do it while your acrylic paint is still wet.
6.
Paint in details as your design calls for (ie. eyes, ears – you can use stencils) and coat the rest of the canvas surface with paint. I added the heart as an after-thought. I just waited for the blue paint to dry and modge-podged the heart over the top of everything. I like the “recessed” look of the elephant, but this technique is very forgiving if you want to add or layer.
DONE!
“Remember: You Are Loved!”
The Greeting Card version is currently available at Card Gnome: Click Here to View
May 3, 2010
New Bird Paintings Getting Started
Coopers Hawk Sketch
Here’s a sketch for the Cooper’s Hawk. I’m still working on the Morning Dove drawing.
These two paintings will complete the room. (One bare wall to fill.)
April 21, 2010
Birds
Late last year (2009), I was commissioned to create some bird paintings for a boy’s room. The clients didn’t want my “cartoony” style, they wanted something more realistic yet still full of personality. They told me which birds they would like to see, and I developed everything from there. Here are the finished paintings:
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- Hummingbird
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- Owl
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- Robin
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- Stellars Jay
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- Vulture
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- Goldfinch
They have just commissioned two more paintings, so stay tuned for a Cooper’s Hawk and a Morning Dove.
April 7, 2010
Monkeys from the past…
Monkey Girl
This is a painting I created for my niece, Teagan for her first birthday. I almost always paint in acrylic on canvas, and this is no exception. I’m also a little obsessed with purple flower patterned backgrounds. You will probably see this again… and again.
April 5, 2010
Speaking of owls…
Owl painting
This is a painting I created a few months ago for a client who wanted more realistic birds on canvas for their baby boy’s room. (There were several in the series.) Just interesting to note the style difference between this and today’s owl drawings. Bit different, no?
By the way, I love doing paintings for kid’s rooms. There are more examples on my website, www.mudpuppystudios.com. If your interested, please let me know.
