Artsy Fartsy

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Thanks Alldat, I take that as a compliment. 
Back when I was in high school I originally wanted pursue a career in some form of the arts, but in 1988 the college told me that basic arts will be a "thing of the past by the time 2000 arrives" and that I'd need to study computer graphics if I wanted to make any real money in the future.

I am friends with an old high school girlfriend of mine on Facebook.  (Before anyone gives me a warning, my wife has my password and can get on my page anytime she likes.)  Anyway, she is an art teacher in Memphis, TN.  She does a lot of "basic arts" on the side.  All of her sons rooms are hand painted and have floor-to-ceiling murals.  So does their living room.  On the side, she paints portraits for people.  She also finds time to work on her own pieces that she will hang at home or at school for a while and then sells them.  She gets several hundred dollars for her works without much effort because what she does is high quality.

Have you ever thought about that?  You know--producing pieces that are studio quality and just seeing what you could get for them?  You don't have to try to make a living at it.  My friend doesn't.  She makes the art because she enjoys it and then enjoys the extra income later on.  But, she loves doing art and does it regardless of if she can sell it.

I don't think that mine is that good overall that people would want to purchase it.  I will just do mine right now to hang at home or at church for personal enjoyment.

alldatndensum wrote:

Heck, on bass, I don't even use my fingers to pluck the strings.  I learned how to play with a pick due to bands like Motley Crue and Def Leppard using one in the 80s.  I figured that if they used one then I needed to look cool like them and use one.  I never really went back and learned to do it the right way with two or three fingers.  I probably should have taken classes.

I started on guitar and moved to bass and brought my pick with me.  No shame in playing bass with a pick.  Haters can say what they like.  I've never, ever heard, "Love your playing, man but you use a pick.  We're going to have to go with the other guy."

alldatndensum wrote:

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

Love your style man. One thing I've never had no matter what type the piece of art is, I've never had a style of my own. I always admire artists that have their own style. Very cool works indeed.

I have a style?  LOLSo far, my style and technique has pretty much been "open the paint and slap it on the canvas".  That's why I think I would like to take a few classes and learn all I can about this.  I think it would limit me to not learn more.

I say that because of my playing music.  I never had any lessons for bass or guitar.  I play what I have figured out on my own.  I feel limited sometimes because I did not learn certain techniques, tricks, licks, etc.  Heck, on bass, I don't even use my fingers to pluck the strings.  I learned how to play with a pick due to bands like Motley Crue and Def Leppard using one in the 80s.  I figured that if they used one then I needed to look cool like them and use one.  I never really went back and learned to do it the right way with two or three fingers.  I probably should have taken classes.

Luckily for me with painting, there are lots of cool videos on YouTube describing certain techniques.  I am watching some of them to get some ideas.  Hopefully, you will see some difference on the Star Trek painting after I work on it some today.

Trust me. As an artist. As one who has been through several college courses in art. As one who has been an art teacher to all ages.
Trust me- you have a style, I see it. Whether you learn new techniques, or learn from other artists - you will always have your own style.
Again, very cool.

I've been practicing shading a bit lately.

So are your characters a bit shady?

Heheh. I guess so.

Just as long as you aren't practicing Slim Shady.

  Badum Tsshhhhhh !!!!

You talking about the real one?

Oh that guy needs to sit down...

No, he needs to please stand up!

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I've been practicing shading a bit lately.

I want to learn more about shading, getting more depth from the paints, and also layered looks.  On the Star Trek painting, I have added some gesso to the planet and now have some 3D hills and valleys that need to be painted.  Then, I want to add cloud cover and the like to make this look a bit more realistic.  Since the planet is red like in the original series, it reminded me of Ceti Alpha 5 where Khan was marooned by Kirk in The Space Seed & later discovered in The Wrath Of Khan.  So, in the upper left hand corner, I have added some random pink, white, & purple to give us the Mutara Nebula that the Enterprise later defeats Reliant and Khan in.  I like it so far.

Quote :

Trust me. As an artist. As one who has been through several college courses in art. As one who has been an art teacher to all ages.
Trust me- you have a style, I see it. Whether you learn new techniques, or learn from other artists - you will always have your own style.

I shall call it the "Crayola Style" as I feel I am more just coloring using paints than really creating a piece of art.

kerrick wrote:

Oh that guy needs to sit down...

 

I wish I were good at perspective, because I want to draw a series of sketches of an airport, but my proportions are terrible.

alldatndensum wrote:

Quote :

Trust me. As an artist. As one who has been through several college courses in art. As one who has been an art teacher to all ages.
Trust me- you have a style, I see it. Whether you learn new techniques, or learn from other artists - you will always have your own style.

I shall call it the "Crayola Style" as I feel I am more just coloring using paints than really creating a piece of art.

I still count your work as pieces of art.

There's the finished product!  My camera on my phone did not pick up the shading I did on the Enterprise's hull.  There is actually quite a bit of gray that I used for shadow on the hull.  I think it turned out quite nicely for someone who has now completed three paintings over a lifetime.  LOL

Nice!

Dude I really dig that!  Nicely done sir!

It will get even better once I get some acrylic wax to seal the paint.  It will bring a nice sheen to the whole print and make it really scream for attention.  Also, since Andre said that the continents on the planet look like potato chips, I am seeing one at the top that really does!  So, I will probably add a touch of cloud cover there too to hide that.  LOL

Then, I am going to work on this big funky daisy for my wife's cubical at work.  I saw a print I liked at Hobby Lobby, took a picture of it, and then went home and free-handed it on the canvas.  Again, it was $35 and looked like a 10 year old could draw and paint it.  I can do that!  I have it drawn; and I will start painting it soon.  I just want a break after working on this print for several hours over 4 days.

I couldn't leave my Trek painting alone.  I should have been geocaching while the weather was pretty today.  But, I ended up working on this a bit more.  I added more cloud cover on the planet to partially cover the "potato chip" islands in the northern hemisphere.  Now, they look more like land masses but with some cloud cover.

I also added some black and gray to the hull of the Enterprise to provide some shading.  It looks like crap up close, but it looks amazing from across the room.  I would have taken a picture and posted it again.  However, I wanted to wait until the paint was dry so I could varnish it.  You can add an acrylic varnish to a canvass and the colors just become more vibrant.  The dull black of space takes on a shine.  The planet begins to really look real.  So, after the varnish is applied and dry enough to touch, I will post one last pic.  I might have to find a way to "pic-stitch" the three examples together for a real side-by-side comparison.

At one day your paintings are so famous as the ones from Rembrandt are.

Very nice ! Worthy of framing for sure !

So I was cleaning my room today, and I went through some of the notebooks I had in middle school. I was frequently bored in class (those were the days), so I drew stuff, like trains and cars. They're more like (very) rough sketches, but I'm rather fond of them.












(I'd like to have a car like this one… 2 point something 4-cyl, 6-speed manual, rear- or all-wheel drive, strong handbrake, great tires… )

Here's the final print of the Enterprise painting I did for the studio:






Now, it's time to start that big funky flower print I am "borrowing" from Hobby Lobby for my wife.

It looks great now.

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

I worked with this guy who moonlighted in a band ("mariachi" ?).
Back in his earlier days, he ended up fooling around with some gal which upset his girl he was with at the time. She took 3 of his professionally shot band pictures and tore them up. That's all I know of the "reason" his irreplaceable photos were shredded by this disgruntled lady.
He hung on to the "pieces" and several years later when he found out that I do photo restoration, he had me fix them.
Here are the steps I took:

1. I used tape on the back side to carefully reassemble the photo

I scanned in the taped image and imported it into my PaintShop Pro Program and began to work, pixel by pixel......


 until the photo was clean of all imperfections (however, I couldn't fix those AWFUL silk shirts    ):

That is great work!  I'm starting to learn to touch up scanned photos and have total awe for the amount of work you had to put into something like this.