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The Eyes Have it!

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Published on May 20, 2013,

I’ve been painting a lot of cows lately – some realistic portraits but mostly silly cows with vivid colors and crazy names. Tutti-Frutti, bubble-gum, neapolitan, purple haze, etc.

If you think those names sound like ice cream flavors, you’d be right! Baskin Robbins started with 31 flavors in 1945 but have since created over 1000 different ice cream combinations. I figure that gives me a lot of material to work with!

I’m enjoying the fun color combinations the ice cream flavors inspire but I was not happy with a few of the cows. I left the paintings alone for a few days to give it some thought and last night it came to me. I need to pay the same attention to the cows’ eyes that I pay to any other creature I paint. My motto – “If the eyes come to life, the rest is easy!”

Back to drawing board with “Neapolitan”. Here’s what it looked like before the change:

neapolitan cows painting

With a little more attention to the eyes, I was able to give the three cows a much better expression!

neapolitan painting corrected

 

 

 

Paint like a Kid!

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Published on May 13, 2013,

I had a great weekend full of artsy adventures but the best thing that happened was that I got to create a painting with a little girl named Madeline.

I was doing a panting demo at Retail Therapy in Santa Rosa Beach, FL when Madeline and her Mom came along to watch me work. I asked Madeline if she would like to help me with a new painting of a cow and she was delighted.

I helped her load the brush with different colors and she spent about 5 minutes applying her own, unique style to my canvas.

Madeline painting

After Madeline finished her painting I offered to add my own style, preserving Madeline’s beautiful brush strokes.

After a bit of fiddling that afternoon, I took a snapshot of the finished cow and sent it to Madeline’s Mom – they were delighted to see Medeline’s finished work of art!

Madelines cow

Thank you Madeline for lending your imagination and child-like sense of wonder to my painting experience Saturday.

It was a true honor to work with you!

 

 

 

 

Why I LOVE Photoshop

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Published on May 6, 2013,

salty dogs painting

One of my new paintings in the “Tails of Imagination” series, “Salty Dogs”, is a small tribute to my salty, sea-faring life on a sail boat.  I decided to set the scene at a Destin hangout to add some local flavor to the piece. As with most of my paintings in this series, I made sure to get a good digital copy while I still have the painting and that digital image will be handy for more uses than you might imagine.

In addition to creating giclee prints and using the image in my “soon to be imagined” children’s book, I can also alter the image for different audiences.

I just finished the first alteration in my favorite image editing software Photoshop CS5.

 

salty dogs painting altered in photoshop

 

Using a clone tool and masks, I was able to remove the original logo and replace it with the text “The Salty Dog”

I found a very useful rope font that I can use to create any name I want for the title block (a kid’s name would be pretty cool).

By the way, FontSquirrel.com is a great source for free fonts for both commercial and non-commercial use.

With the right software and a little practice, you can create lots of uses from a single original work of art!

 

Fishy Feet

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Published on May 5, 2013,

fishy feetMy painted keds were starting to look a little ragged so last week I decided to create a new pair of “Fishy” shoes.

I found a great pair of OP brand canvas shoes and began preparing the shoes.

  • First, I under-painted the areas I intended to decorate with a combination of Golden fluid acrylic titanium white and Golden GAC 900. GAC 900 increases the flexibility and adherence when applying acrylic paints to fabrics.
  • After sketching my design, I began laying down colors: Again using a combination of Golden Fluid colors and GAC 900.
  • After 2 days of drying I applied a layer of thinned gloss medium and GAC 900 to seal an protect the colors.

Voila! Fishy Feet!

What would you like to see on the next pair? I’m thinking an octopus would be pretty cool!

 

 

If a Tree Falls in the Woods…

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Published on March 23, 2013,

 

… and nobody hears it, does it still make a noise?

If your future best friend winds up at a shelter and you never hear about it, will you miss out on one of the best experiences and relationships of your life?

Meet Timber, the latest amazing dog in my “Dog Stalking” project:

Timber - HEART foster

Timber – Sponsored/Fostered by HEART animal Rescue

Timber is Timber is a 2-year-old Catahoula/Bull Terrier mix with a wonderfully sweet personality! Contact H.E.A.R.T Animal Rescue at  to arrange a time to meet him!

Read more about him here on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=437803656295567&set=pb.220078071401461.-2207520000.1364046697&type=3&theater

 

Kiss me I’m Irish!

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Published on March 8, 2013,

 

Lots of projects in the new year and as usual, my blogging efforts have gone to the dogs… literally.

I’m still working to help local dog shelters and rescue groups this year and one of my latest projects is a t-shirt design to benefit a local group called The Rescued Rescuers.  You can find them on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/TheRescuedRescuers

They rescue all types of dogs but their specialty is the Dachshund. To raise money for the group’s efforts they are hosting a St Patricks Day event at Hibuscus in Santa Rosa Beach.

I’ve designed a t-shirt for them that they will sell during the event so be sure to drop by and buy a shirt, have a mimosa, and donate to a very worthy cause!

boxing doxie tshort

 

A Cool New Gallery

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Published on January 23, 2013,

 

Late last year I had the opportunity to join an amazing gallery in Destin: Sawyer Art. Don Sawyer has been painting and selling his fun and funky art along the emerald coast for many years so when presented with the opportunity, I jumped on it!

My art now hangs on the wall in the gallery in Destin and you’ll find me there every Wednesday, talking to customers and when times are quiet, painting!

The Gallery is located at 707 Harbor Blvd (Hwy 98), next door to Graffiti’s and just east of Beach Drive.  Drop by and say hello – I think you’ll love it as much as I do!

robin painting at sawyers

 

Dog Stalking

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Published on January 19, 2013,

 

I’m always trying to think of ways I can help the local animal rescue groups to raise money and bring more awareness to the animals that need homes. With that in mind, this month I’ve taken up Dog Stalking…

littleman defuniak springs

It’s not as sinister as it sounds – I browse Facebook for dogs that are in shelters or foster and in need of adoption and I paint them. I then let the charity or rescue group decide what to do with the painting: sell it, give it to the person who adopts the dog, etc.

I’ve chosen a format for the paintings that is clean and “beachy”. I’ve also kept the size small (12×12 or 11×14) to make the painting affordable.

 

 

Here are a few of my rescues so far – all come from local shelters or rescue groups:

Carmel Littleman Sky
carmel WM littleman walton county shelter SKY - heart adopted

 

In addition to stalking rescue dogs, I’ll also be stalking the dogs of my Facebook friends.

Like my Facebook page www.facebook.com/ABrushwithHumor and you might just see your dog there!

 

 

We’ve got our first “Dog Fight”!

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Published on December 18, 2012,

 

Thanks to a really cute Shih Tzu named Cookie and a airplane crazy young man named Connor, we have our first Tails of Imagination “Dog Fight”!

You’d never know it from Cookie’s laid back demeanor but she’s a real terror in the sky…  2012-10-31_09-43-44_187

 

 

 

 

 

I present to you, Cookie the daring pilot:

600w for FB

16 x 20 inches acrylic on canvas

 

You’d never know it from Cookie’s laid back demeanor but she’s a real terror in the skies…

 

 

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