An Oil Painting and ...

Here is the painting I've been working on for the past week. It is painted in oils ... wait!

Not 

-Engine oil

or Olive Oil

But

Oil Paints

I decided to paint a portrait of St. Padre Pio

The first day I worked on the face. It is much easier to blend in oils than acrylics because they let you have a bit more time, unlike acrylics who dry out on you.

DAY 1

The second and third day I worked the background in and brushed in his mustache, t-shirt, and cloak.

DAY 2 & 3

And the third and fourth and ... all the other days I worked on it, I added more details including the hair and beard, also touched up some blending.

DAY 3 to Finish

God enriches the soul which empties itself of everything.
-Padre Pio

This piece probably took about 10 hours to complete ... maybe a little less. (I should have kept track.)

This is probably one of my better faces ... but I haven't really painted many faces, so I still need to practice. 

AND as always,

What Will I Do Next

We'll have to wait and see. I have no idea ... actually I do ... but am not 100% sure. I'll wait for  Inspiration to come along and say, 

"Oh. Joshua, why don't you paint that gunny sack?" or "You should draw that chair."

And I would answer Inspiration something like, "You're right Inspiration. You are always inspiring me. What would I do without you?"

And Inspiration would say, "You wouldn't be inspired without me."

And I would answer back, "You have a sense of humor Inspiration. I think you would get along well with Hope, and Patience - probably Perseverance as well, they are all pretty funny."

He would answer, "I can't wait to meet them!"

"I'll introduce them to you when they come home from work."

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- "Drawing is the basis of art. A bad painter cannot draw. But one who draws well can always paint". Arshile Gorky

S'more dogs...

Nope, I did not roast any dogs. S'more was just 3 letters shorter than "some more."

But I did draw s'more dogs! But I am not sure who they are for. Probably some people that have dogs - the dog market?

I exploded, no no ... I enlarged the two dogs from one image - Magic, the magic of art.

The first dog had big ears! I'm guessing it's some sort of chihuahua - for people that want a small dog, but don't like cats. I've actually seen a dog cat. It looked just like a cat, but BARKED!

The Big-Eared Dog

Drawing fur is a bit tricky, so I did what I could.

The second dog had somewhat big hears, medium-ish and a longer face, just look below and you'll see. 

"Eye" like how the eyes turned out in these pictures - they have depth and realism to them. This dog seems as if he/she is looking for something, maybe his/her long lost friend or his owner to come home and give him bacon, or perhaps their shoe to chew on. You never know unless you imagine, or you actually do know.

The Somewhat Big Medium-ish Dog

Sometimes eye like to start another project to get some variety in, so when I wasn't drawing these two dogs I was working on this picture of Saint Michael.

Eye wasn't sure if this was done yet, so I darkened the background so the light areas would pop out more.

And the picture started glowing, like an angel perhaps. Because the dark background popped the light area out so much.

So I darkened some areas by the wings and added some more value in the lighter areas and this is how it looks now.

And what am I doing next?

- An oil painting.

- A portrait

I have it all sketched out on the canvas so I don't think it will change this time, because it's looking pretty good. Maybe I shouldn't add color then - a painting without being painted - my quickest painting.

No, I'll paint it!

Thank you for reading - until next time - when my painting is finished.

“I draw like other people bite their nails.” Pablo Picasso

"One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil." Balthus

My new form of Art!

Where is Art & Have I discovered something

It's just amazing where art can be found. Just look around, there is art everywhere.
I've been asked if I could draw a subject that is white - will a white subject show up on white paper? Very good question - as an artist we have to think, what is white?
There are many different shades of white just like any other color. But really when drawing, white will just be a lighter value - if we shade light and add dark shadows with lots of highlights we can produce a subject that appears white - high contrast will allow the subject to pop.

This got me thinking, what if I could make an artwork using no value at all - not visible to the naked eye!

"Incredible!"

Yes, indeed! So I created a piece of work with invisible ink! Wait. Can we still call this art?

Yes, of coarse! Just because we cannot see it, doesn't mean it is not there.

Here it is - I call it Hidden

It's very appealing to the eye. It moves the eye throughout the page very fluently as if nothing were there. It will introduce a new art form: Invisibilium. It will have critics talking from all over. Many of you may wander what it's like to be the creator of a new art form, to become famous - many of you will never know. I'll tell you though - if I knew how to express it. -but I have to give credit to my brother for the idea - (maybe someone has already done Invisibilium art).

My Current Work

My most recent work I am doing for a customer for their wedding gift for someone else. When enough people order my work I can say part of me is all over the world, from land across the sea.

Four dogs! That's a lot of dogs for one household - maybe they have a big yard. If we had four dogs at our house there would be no space to move around - packed like squash in a mason jar.

-The Sketch

Four dogs - a wedding gift

Dog #1

Dog #2

Dog #3

Dog #4 for the finish

This was a fun piece to do, I've done a lot of dogs lately - I think I'm getting pretty good at drawing dogs. It is pretty paw-some. Woof!

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