Work In Progress.....Part 4, the conclusion

Well, the piece is finally finished. Not much more was done to it today other than the addition of some yellow ochre and a little highlighting with organge. I'm very happy with it and glad that I finally got around to completing the piece. It will probably be a while before I endeavor to use oils again as I usually like to work at a much faster pace, but I've enjoyed the experience.

I've also settled on a title for the piece, "Brilliant Autumn" and will be listing it in my shop on Etsy once the paint has completely dried through. Hopefully it won't take too long, however realistically will take about a week as I was a little heavy with the paint.

Thank you for following and I look forward to trying this "blog as I go" approach with my next piece.

Update on Work In Progress

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post to update everyone on my recent piece. I haven't forgotten, but unfortunately it's been shelved until next week....possibly as early as this Sunday due to a Halloween gathering I'm preparing for Saturday.

Rest assured it has not been forgotten and I look forward to resuming work on it as soon as possible. Thanks again for following along.

Work In Progress part 3

Today I feel rather productive. This morning I went out for some fall fun with my two kids and had a blast making leaf piles and then destroying them. Yeah, leaves make great mulch and act as nature's compost.....but who can resist raking them up and then immediately jumping in???? Well, we couldn't and as a result the motivation to start working on my latest painting was renewed.

Today I managed to get a lot done and had a hard time putting the brush down. I've completed all I can for now though and will have to wait for this layer of paint to dry before moving on to lighter leaves. As always, the slow drying time of the oil paints can be a bit of a bother forcing me to leave longer amounts of time between sittings than I would like, but it's paying off and I can honestly say that I'm happy with the progress. Believe it or not, the initial blocked in orange of the leaves is still a little wet!

Work In Progress part 2

Well tonight I attempted to continue work on my fall foliage piece.......and I am now completely reminded as to why I am not fond of oil paints as a medium. People who know me can confirm that patience is not really one of my strong suits and oil painting is definitely something that requires patience. With watercolours and acrylics the process is much for final and you have to work quickly. Oils are very forgiving and will stay wet for days at a time. They blend beautifully and their colours are so very vibrant.

Last night I was unable to work on the piece as the blocked in foliage and the sky were still very wet and any brush strokes I made were blending the surroundings in. So, I shelved it thinking I could pick it up tonight and continue on with little difficulty.

I was wrong. Although I was wrong though I did manage to get the trunk and thicker branches blocked in and some shading worked into the trunk. While I'm getting frustrated at how little I was able to accomplish I am satisfied with what was laid onto the canvas. I will have to adapt my thinking on this piece and the speed I was hoping to finish it....if not anything else it will be a lesson for myself.....and one I am looking forward to seeing through until this painting's completion. Once the sky and leaves completely dry I will go back in to paint in the finer branches.

Work In Progress......part 1

Well, for the first time in over two months I have managed to grab a paintbrush with the intention to paint.....a picture. That alone isn't the only thing that has made me feel successful tonight. This also marked the first time I've attempted a piece using oil paints in at least a year and a half if not in almost two years.

Oils are great....fantastic......however I find them very hard at times to work with and requiring a LOT of patience. Patience is not one of my stronger qualities, so that said I tend to gravitate more towards watercolours and acrylics.

I am very often taken by the strong and powerful colours that autumn brings, making it a very popular subject for me. Right now this is only the first sitting with this piece and I can only hope that I keep up the momentum. I'm hoping that by keeping up with updates regarding the piece as it progresses I'll be more motivated to keep up the momentum and see this one through to completion.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.........

So many ideas, so little time to implement them......

It seems that my latest addition to the webpage has gotten the wheels turning in my head. Well, that and having finally set up my office/studio/guest room after having moved in almost two months ago. I'm finding my head is swelling with ideas and what seems to be the start of inspiration. While I've gotten everything out of the boxes, I still have to get the studio part of it finished. I'm finding that displaying a bit of my own work is helping.....along with the new page added to my site page at logansmeadow.com displaying work I did earlier this year. My hope is to start marketing myself and getting my name out there. I need to pick my paintbrush back up and stop making excuses why things won't work.

As an artist we can be our own worst critic, and worse still, we can be our own worst source of procrastination too.........I'm hoping to snap out of it soon.

Keep your eyes peeled.......hopefully this feeling of inspiration will produce something that will work for me.

New Web Site Content

Hi everyone! Nope, I haven't completely disappeared but have an update instead! Things are moving steadily along as I settle into my new home and while I haven't been able to site and create any new works I have managed to put aside some time and add a new section to my website. I now am showing pics of the mural I did a while back on the actual website and am now offering to do these to those that live nearby to my location. Check it out at logansmeadow.com

Colourful Overlap and Dawn Creeps

Well, finally something new from this recently silent artist! I haven't really had much time to sit and create much of anything lately, however this past week I was able to channel enough inspiration to come up with my two latest pieces.

The first I've called Colour Overlap (list on Etsy HERE) and was created using watercolour pencils and ink on watercolour paper. This one started out as a neat little doodle that built itself up into it's own painting. It was a lot of fun and I do wish these kind of pieces would pop into my mind more often.


The next piece I've title Dawn Creeps (listed in my Etsy Shop HERE). This one was inspired purely by purchasing the ink! The rest really just popped into my head as I picked up the brush. A much more spontaneous piece, I am very pleased as to how this one turned out. I love contrast and this piece is one that has really grown on me. I'm hoping that this will be one of a few that I get out of my system in the next couple of weeks.

In The Spotlight

Last Friday my husband, a few friends and myself went to see a local band in concert. I bought the tickets as soon as they went on sale and was extremely excited to get to see them in person. The headlining band was Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, a newer very local band to me that has been the soundtrack to much of my digital creations lately. The music is upbeat and very inspiring! Well at least to me anyway ;)

One of the opening acts was a band by the name of Crooked X. This group I had never heard of before and looked quite young (they are actually.....I googled the band for their myspace page). Their style was more Rock than USS, however we enjoyed them a lot! I have very varied tastes and I absolutely loved the sound.

In The Spotlight was inspired by a picture I took while in the crowd surrounding the stage. While the shot was blurry and you couldn't tell who was who I really enjoyed the positioning and the lighting......and so I created this. I will more than likely be exploring these pictures more in the coming weeks so hopefully I'll have a few other pieces to show.

This piece is currently for sale in my shop over on Etsy HERE

Rock On!

The Mural is completed!!!!

And I'm feeling great about it! This has been one amazing opportunity and experience to work with such a large canvas and creating a piece that will be enjoyed by people who matter to me. I just can't wait for the kids to see this for themselves and I'm looking forward to seeing their reaction first hand next weekend. Below are the pictures of the final work. All that is needed is the protective finish and it's done. While the pictures are pretty good representations of this piece, the in person view is just incredible. I'm most thankful for the spark that was lit through painting this. I have for far too long put my brushes aside and it was rewarding to pick them up again. I'm hoping to get the opportunity to do this again soon. And if I do.....I'll be sure to post it here.

And now for the pictures......enjoy!

Murals, a 3D canvas......Day 2

Well another long but very satisfying day. I have managed to complete a lot and very much like last time am very very very sore. But this was definitely worth it! Now I shall leave you with the pictures of today's progress. One more solid day and this should be finished.......

Murals.....one very large 3D canvas

Well today I have started a way of painting that is very new to me. Today I started painting a mural which will be enjoyed by some very special kids in my life. This morning I set out, supplies in hand, to start my very first piece of "3D art". While now I am extremely sore to the point that typing this is difficult, I am so satisfied with all that I completed on my very first day. Over the next few weeks I'll be keeping you all up to date with the progress of the project right up until the completion. Who knows, maybe this is something that will take and I'll find myself doing another one in the future. *note about the pictures* These were taken using my camera phone so the colours aren't 100% true to the actual thing.

Before:


Midway through the day. The sky has been painted with two coats of light blue Flat paint and I have begun "ragging" the distant trees. There will be a great deal more detail added later on.

And finally the end of Day 1. The sky is painted, the background trees have been ragged on and the baseboard is painted as well. It will be another two weeks before I get to work on this again, but hopefully Day 2 will show as much progress as today.

Where reality meets vision....

And this sadly seems to be where my latest piece of art is stuck. And I hate it. I really try to work past these little "ruts" and keep on plugging away at the piece. What was in my head for this piece looks so far from what I am currently creating it's starting to be disastrous. And yet I can't give up on it. It doesn't really appear to be anything special. Just a mermaid. No great detail, but I want to finish it.
And yet looking at it frustrates me. I've put it down and picked it up and yet can't finish it. Each brush stroke and pencil marking seems to be doing it no good.....and I'm frustrated.

Should I give up? I don't know yet, but I think I will shelve this one for a little bit. Sorry. It seems taht I can't get my hands to quite co-operate with my head. And this is where this piece will remain.

New Layout

Hello everyone and welcome to the new blog! I've finally moved away from the barren white that the old blog possessed and moved into something that compliments the main page, www.logansmeadow.com

I hope you enjoy it and hopefully I'll have another new piece of art to post about by the end of this weekend, stay tuned!

Expanding into yet another site

Currently I am in the middle of setting up shop in a new site known as Artfire. I will still be selling my work through Etsy, however I thought that I would test the waters with this new site. I've so far only listed one piece there but the plan is to list a few more pieces through sometime next week. I'll be sure to list more details regarding the site and the pieces to be listed, so please stay tuned!