Today I put some more hours on this oil painting.I was so carried away that I even forgot to eat lunch.I can not deny there was a moment of struggle with the oil paints but I also enjoyed them very much.The painting is almost done.It needs a couple of fine details and i have to fix the sky bacause I smudged it when doing the houses.
This is work in progress,one of my few attempts in oils.A friend of mine challenged me to paint her a painting in oils.She liked my acrylic painting of the town of Nessebar but she wanted it bigger and in oils.So,here I am, painting in oils,which is great fun but the only thing that bothers me is that the oil paints dry up so slowly and it takes forever to finish a painting.Here you can see the two stages of the painting,so far.The first one shows the underpainting and the second one gives you an idea about the blocking of the main colors and also my work on the water reflections.The painting is on stretched canvass,size 16x20inches.
ria.I had a wonderful time visiting my family and friends.I had a little bit time to sketch and took a lot of pictures which ,I hope ,will give me ideas for future paintings.The thing that I did not have luck with was the weather.The first three days it was hot in the nineties/ in F/and then overnight the temperatures dropped to 66-68F.It was cold and windy most of the time and it rained.Actually it was colder than it was in Minnesota.Can you believe that?September in Bulgaria is usually still a beach month.I had to give up my plans to take my daughter to the seaside and show her the Black Sea.We had a horrible trip back home but I don't want to talk about that now.
a miniature painting.This one is the size of ATC/artists trading cards/
is my last piece.I have just finished it.I spent the whole morning putting finishing touches on it and also fixing some other paintings.It is not my favourite part of the process of creating but it had to be done.I also signed some of the paintings and varnished them.Yesterday we went to Hobby Lobby and I bought four frames for my paintings.I want to decorate my house with some of my paintings so I had to get them ready.
's painting because the other one needs to be fixed. I posted it at Wet Canvas and my fellow-artists helped me to discover some major mistakes.
in the hotel room.I thought I could use this picture for a quick study with acrylic paints on acrylic paper.I used acrylics on watercolor paper once, six or seven years ago, but I had no experience with that media and did not like it very much. I rediscovered it about three -four years ago and it is my favourite media at the moment.
acrylic paper with Daler & Rowney acrylic paints. The size is 8x10.I used my own reference photo,a picture I took at the concert of my step daughter's high-school band. And this is one of the young performers. 
of July?Because I did.I had wonderful time with my family. We went on a picnic with friends and we had fireworks in the evening .On the next day we went on a trip to Wisconsin ,bought a new piece of furniture ,went to a strawberry patch to pick up some strawberries.I had time to go on a bike ride and even had time to paint!!!
reading a book about the techniques in acrylics written by a team of Spanish artists and teachers.I like the simple language and the helpful demos in the book.I tried to master some of the techniques applying them in my own paintings.The Title of the book is All About Techniques In Acrylics-An indispensable manual for artists- published in English by Barron's Educational Series,Inc.
anything else but this little study of a flute player I painted with the idea to turn into an acrylic painting down the road.I haven't felt like painting recently because I had a lot of worries on my plate.We had a horrible weather in the Midwest the last two weeks.We had to deal with tornado wornings,severe thunderstorms and rivers overflowing their banks.We were on the edge of flooding again and I had hard time sleeping and eating.As we live by a river and a creek our basement started collecting water and we had to check the pump and the draining system every half an hour to make sure they worked properly.Thank God we have been spared this time and my thoughts and prayers are with the poor people from Iowa who got hit the hardest this season.I have been through this and I know how they feel.
As a result of my experimenting with different media, in this case watercolor and pastel ,I came up with this painting.I was working on improving my skills in those media separately when I decided to combine them in one painting.I did not invent this technique, I have seen it in an art magazine years ago and I am glad I remembered it. I am pretty happy with what my painting turned out.I started it with light washes of watercolor trying to establish the value .When it dried up I painted it with different kinds of pastels -soft and hard.
on small pieces recently. It is not so scary if you wreck the painting and waste the materials. And also you can experiment different techniques and media. I've been experimenting with pastels too and I posted the paintings on my other blog-Vanya's Art Journal.
We moved in to our house on March 23,the Saturday before Easter.After seven months living with relatives and in a FEMA trailer we are happy to be home.The house looks brand new from the inside and it is going to look like this from the outside too.We are getting a new siding and new windows upstairs although the second floor was not affected by the flood.We decided to go for it because the new windows would be more energy efficient. And I have another benefit from the whole flood thing-I got a small studio,something I was dreaming about for years.It is just a windowless closet but good enough for me and my supplies.
I painted this little painting about two weeks ago.I wanted to experiment painting on paper with acrylic paints.I used special paper for acrylics but i was not happy with the quality.It buckled after I started painting.Maybe I should use gesso the next time.Anyway if it is framed under glass it will be OK.I used a reference photo from the Reference Library of Wet Canvas.The size of the painting is 4 and1/2 by 6.
A couple of weeks ago I felt like painting something different.I thought it was kind of abstract but when I posted it in Wet Canvas almost everybody thought there wasn't anything abstract about it.It seems to me it is not finished yet,something is missing and I think I will put it aside and give it a try later.I thought to use some rubber stamps with some pattern but couldn't find anything suitable.Anyway I am posting that as a work in progess.I am going to post it again when it is completely done.
This is one of the paintings I did last week during my short vacation.It is acrylics on canvas board.I used a reference photo mainly for the folk outfit.This painting is a tribut to my Bulgarian background.The girl's outfit is typical for the central part of the country where I am from. She is a part of a group dance called Horro.People hold their hands and dance in a circle.
I painted this piece last week when I had several days of vacation.I enjoyed every minute of it.I painted 2-3 paintings in acrylics , experimented with watercolors ,hung around the Wet Canvas forums and sketched some stuff from their Reference Image Library. For this painting I used my own reference photo of the creek I took last winter when we went sledding with my daughter.I love winter,I love snow and all the fun they bring.Maybe because I could never get enough of it as a child.Anyway I come from a warmer country in south Europe.
Yesterday I felt like painting something loose ,free and imaginative.Something out my head.Actually I had a sketch that i made in the car on our way to a party at the lake house of relatives of ours.It was in August last year .Later I decided it could turn into a good painting and put it in my to do list.Finally I came to it yesterday and this was the way it turned out.I am not completely happy with everything in it but I positively like the cat. And also the feeling in it.
This is my new acrylic painting.I was kind of afraid of the challenge-I have never painted a rooster before.I was inspired to paint that rooster for my house which is in a process of rebuilding after the flood.I used a reference photo of this gorgeous bird from the reference immage library of Wet Canvas.I tink I am pretty happy with the result.
I've been working with watercolors recently and this is one of the pieces I like the most.This is a portrait of my daughter Sonya.I used a reference photo I had taken at the city fair.There were a lot of activities for the kids and one of them was riding a pony or a horse.So,I took a picture of her riding a horse and I could capture her feelings of joy and happiness.
My daughter Sonya is my inspiration and my model most of the time.When I don't have any idea or a project in progress I just grab one of her pictures or sit against her when she watches TV or does crafts and start sketching her.I have tons of drawings and sketches of her in my art journals.
I started this painting in the summer using the flowers in my husband's garden.Gardening is one of his hobbies.I picked up and arranged the flowers in the vase,took several reference photos, did a sketch and got the panel ready.I started the painting several days later when I had more ME time.Could not finish it and kind of lost interest.I came back to it and finished it in December,2007.I think it turned out pretty good.
I wish a happy and very successful New Year to everybody.