More Shiva Painting

I think I'll never put my Shiva Paintstiks away. I love them. This is my latest painting placed into a digital background with lots of layers and added textures. Here is the original painting:

After much adjusting and fussing, I finally had to stop. I want to learn more about how to blend the colors better; especially skin tones. First, I need to get more colors in the paintstiks. I'm pretty limited right now in my selection. Then, I just need to practice.

I am making progress in Misty Mawn's Portrait Class but there is one lesson that I just can not get and I really want to do it. We are to use only a black pencil and white acrylic paint on a portrait. I've thrown away about four or five attempts now. For the life of me, I can't get the paint and the pencil to blend right. I always end up with something right out of Night of the Living Dead when I'm finished. Yuk! Why is it that when instructors do something, it looks so natural and easy? ;)

So it's back to the drawing board or, in this case, the sketch book. We will have a new lesson up this week: self-portraits. Uh...hmmm. I may have to dig in my dusty archives for a decent photo of me. But that's a few days away. In the meantime, practice, practice, practice...

Trying My Hand at Oil Paints

It's been a very stressful week filled with some drama. My little fur baby and faithful companion, Isabella, is very sick and fighting to get better. She's day to day...so I've been a little low key. As a way to occupy my mind I thought I would at least try the oil painting lesson from Misty Mawn's class this past week. We used Shiva Paintstiks to paint one of our sketches.

I had many bad attempts that I immediately tossed in the trash. It took me quite a while to understand how to blend with the stiks. I finally ended up with a painting that I was somewhat satisfied with. The top photo shows the painting that I used in a digital piece. I scanned another of my CitraSolv backgrounds, added her to it and then added some more layers in Photoshop. I wish I had the ability to do on paper what I can do in Photoshop!

Here is the original painting on watercolor paper:

I definitely want to work more with the Shiva's. After a while I began to understand where to put the dark colors before blending them; I still have a long way to go. I love the buttery softness of these paints. Most of the blending is done with your fingers and this really does help to achieve the color you want. This has been one of my favorite lessons so far. And for a little while it took my mind to a happier place.

Hopefully, Isabella will come through this sickness. Send her your good wishes!