What are you working on?

[Flowercat]

Looks interesting so far, Artyczar

This is what I started today. I still have some of this cheap canvas board lying around that I don’t really like too much.
But since I already have it, why not use it?
I’m recently really into painting faces.
So made this little sketch of a family.
I had no plan, just picked up a pencil and started.

I have never painted/ drawn a child before so this will be interesting.
I’m quite happy with the sketch so far.

 

[brianvds]

I love this Brian! Why wouldn't you call it "work?" It's wonderful! I love those colorful balloons and that goat is awesome.

Had so much fun painting it, it didn't feel like work.

 

[Flowercat]

It’s amazing regardless brianvds, I personally think paintings always turn out better if you had fun while doing them.
It’s such a cute painting

 

[Artyczar]

Looks interesting so far, Artyczar

This is what I started today. I still have some of this cheap canvas board lying around that I don’t really like too much.
But since I already have it, why not use it?
I’m recently really into painting faces.
So made this little sketch of a family.
I had no plan, just picked up a pencil and started. View attachment 34142
I have never painted/ drawn a child before so this will be interesting.
I’m quite happy with the sketch so far.

This is looking awesome! I am really taking to your style and think you should think about making an illustrated book...if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[stlukesguild]

Had so much fun painting it, it didn't feel like work.

There are a number of "artists" who struggled with this assumption that what came easy or naturally to them must somehow be inferior. Arthur Conan Doyle felt that the Sherlock Holmes novels were of little merit and so wanted to be the author of great history novels that he killed off Sherlock... only to bring him back some 10 years later after his history novels did nothing. The German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (not that one) composed an opera for children for his sister entitled Hänsel und Gretel. He felt it was just "child's play" all his life, wanting to actually compose grandiose operas ala Richard Wagner. Hänsel und Gretel was embraced by the conductor/composers Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss as the oh so "serious" conductor, Herbert von Karajan. It remains a favorite of the holidays to this day.

Some time ago I posted an artist's quote that suggested that we artists often dislike those things that are most us in our work forgetting that this is what we are all striving for... our own voice.

 

[brianvds]

Some time ago I posted an artist's quote that suggested that we artists often dislike those things that are most us in our work forgetting that this is what we are all striving for... our own voice.

It remains to be seen whether I'm striving for cartoon fishermen floating above shark-infested waters, but you never know...

Have you ever seen that movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona? Cristina has this thing about expressing herself. But all her life she has had the same problem: she doesn't really know what she wants. She always only knows what she doesn't want, and it is always whatever she's been at for a few months.

I feel a bit like Cristina. I have been at it for decades, without ever finding that whatever-it-is that I want to do. Can't ever settle for a particular style or subject matter.

The good news is that at least on the web, that doesn't matter at all - I have managed to sell pieces in any and every style I have tried out, including two previous efforts with the whimsical approach. So maybe you'll see more of my weird, floating friend...

 

[Artyczar]

...I feel a bit like Cristina. I have been at it for decades, without ever finding that whatever-it-is that I want to do. Can't ever settle for a particular style or subject matter.

The good news is that at least on the web, that doesn't matter at all - I have managed to sell pieces in any and every style I have tried out, including two previous efforts with the whimsical approach...

I know exactly what you mean Brian. I suffer from the same thing, and that thing they call "imposter syndrome." I can never decide if I want to do abstract, semi-surreal cartoon figurative-type stuff, or landscapey things. So, I do all three. I don't have too much issue with selling them here and there and people don't usually question it, but I do. I also think the "art world" does. I feel like I'll never get into another gallery if I don't pick one and repeat it over and over and I'm damn lucky that I have one gallery that believes in me. I mean, I am! In the meantime, I can't help myself. I want to keep creating all the ideas that come into my head.

 

[snoball]

I'm starting work on a portrait of 2 little Yorkie dogs. Hardly got the last one off the easel before getting this commission. Maybe I will actually get back to painting a bit. Commissions keep me motivated and obligated. Working under pressure but if it goes well, I enjoy it.

 

[Marc]

Starting to draw for a spy or mafia picture set in Italy but realize I know nothing about guns and I'm afraid to look them up on the internet because I live in New Zealand. I only safe thing I can think of is to look up James Bond.

 

[Artyczar]

Sno, congrats on a new commission. Sounds rewarding. And Marc, the James Bond thing is a good idea., or any action-type movie. Congrats on the job in any case.

 

[brianvds]

Starting to draw for a spy or mafia picture set in Italy but realize I know nothing about guns and I'm afraid to look them up on the internet because I live in New Zealand. I only safe thing I can think of is to look up James Bond.

Are NZ's gun laws so strict they'll lock you up just for looking up guns on the web? You may possibly get good material on Wikipedia? One could perhaps also get good material from film stills.

 

[Flowercat]

Or documentary’s about guns or gun related topics . That might work to ,if you need reference pictures.

 

[16ga]

Starting to draw for a spy or mafia picture set in Italy but realize I know nothing about guns and I'm afraid to look them up on the internet because I live in New Zealand. I only safe thing I can think of is to look up James Bond.

As an American. What do you need to know?

 

[Artyczar]

Still waiting for a lot of this oil painting to dry so I haven't gotten much further with it; some outlines, another pink stripe in the bedpread, and such. I have quite a bit to go, like their pants, more detail on the brown-haired person, documents, rainbow, carpet area, etc. The paint is THICK, so it's an impatient wait. Had I worked left to right, I wouldn't have this issue.

 

[Terri]

I love this one so far! It's getting better and more nuanced the further you take it. And this thick paint? YUM!!! It's kind of amazing.

 

[Flowercat]

It’s already starting to look great. A very interesting concept

 

[Marc]

Are NZ's gun laws so strict they'll lock you up just for looking up guns on the web? You may possibly get good material on Wikipedia? One could perhaps also get good material from film stills.

No, but I'd probably get put on a watch list, with possibly a knock on the door from someone in in blue to find out why I was doing so. They'd then be reassured it was with good intention and leave me alone, but I'd rather not go to that trouble.

 

[brianvds]

No, but I'd probably get put on a watch list, with possibly a knock on the door from someone in in blue to find out why I was doing so. They'd then be reassured it was with good intention and leave me alone, but I'd rather not go to that trouble.

I'm curious to know how they would know what you look up online. Are people's web searches extensively monitored in NZ?

 

[Marc]

I imagine it's not the web searching, but some sites that have flag alerts from our service providers. Who knows which ones. I'll have to curtail my usual habits of over researching subjects. When I did Windmills, I felt necessary to know how they worked. I shan't do that.

 

[brianvds]

I imagine it's not the web searching, but some sites that have flag alerts from our service providers. Who knows which ones. I'll have to curtail my usual habits of over researching subjects. When I did Windmills, I felt necessary to know how they worked. I shan't do that.

I suppose if you simply search for tings like Mafia movies or westerns, you may find lots of reference material without having to search specifically for guns.