my corner of nowhere particular
I am proud to announce the completion of my second painting!
ta-da!
This one was inspired by a Graham Gercken piece. Check out his original here.
I really like his style. It’s colorful and vibrant with nicely textured strokes. I’m not sure what I’m going to try next – perhaps I’ll try something original.
I’ve decided to try my hand at painting.
My maternal grandparents left me a whole bunch of carving equipment after their passing. It was a much appreciated gesture as my grandfather and I shared an interest in wood sculpture. Included in the inheritance was a huge box of paints. Only a month or two ago when I started casually looking at painting did I begin to recognize the scope of this inheritance.
The stockpile includes 30-40 tubes of acrylics and paint brushes aplenty – it’s a mammoth supply. To help organize the collection I fashioned a custom paint-brush/pallet knife holder. Check it out:
What brought about this new interest? Mainly the fact that we’ve been looking for art for our home. I have a special appreciation for contemporary pieces – bold stretches of colors across big canvas and that’s the type of thing that I might be able to mimic. So let’s learn!
To start, I found a youtube video that provides a tutorial. This guy is great! I tried to mimic as much as I could, and I’m pleased with the results but I have a long way to go:
I learned a bunch through this process. Pallet knives are tricky to work with. So easy to clean, but difficult to manipulate for fine detail. This is likely why there’s an impressionistic feel to many pallet knife pieces. The swipe of a knife provides a very rewarding swath of color and it’s fun to overlay different colors and generate a warm gradient.
Next up I’m going to try and use a photograph from our recent Italy trip as a template. I’ll keep you updated with my progress!
It has been a long time since I created any MSPaint art. As I look at my proudest drawings, I long for the less busy lifestyle that provided an opportunity to liesure my time away playing with pixels and 256 colors.
Heck, I think I’d go so far as to say that I’ve let go of art in general right now. I have about a dozen or so art efforts that are growing roots into their dusty shelves.
I thought it might be fun to revisit some of my favorite MSPaint endeavors. I’d love to come up with some clever way to silk screen, stain, or maybe even paint (for reals paint) some of these images onto apparel, wood, or classy canvases.
If you have ideas on how I could do this, please feel free to leave them in the comments.
Click ‘more’ for a look at some of my best MSPaint pieces
Big news, good readers. I am taking a rather substantial step forward in technology. If you recall, I mentioned to you my promotion into a Marketing position here at my company. But what I had not mentioned, was that I’m also switching teams in the great battle of Mac vs. PC.
For those of you that know me best, you’ll understand that it’s not the mouse usage, or the shortcut keys, or even the unfamiliar file organization that I find intimidating. No, it’s the lack of MSPaint. I use that program for pretty much everything. And now… to be without my beloved MSPaint… it’s a bit daunting.
This, accompanied by some of my new work obligations, have inspired me to pursue the unthinkable:
I have contacted a photoshop tutor.
As I begin my walk down this path, you can expect a whole new world of visual professionalism on this site. I’m sure that I will be sharing my explorations with you, so hold tight. To start things off, I’m purchasing a Wacom tablet. No fooling around. If I’m going to do this, it’s going to be awesome.
