You Guys Have to Try This! and Some Advice Needed!

This was a fun painting I did today

 Ya'll can soooooooo do this too!

Yes you can

Yes you can

Yes you can!

Go get a canvas right now! 

And don't even think about buying one at Michaels without a coupon !

You can even get the coupons on your smart phone and they will scan it from your phone!

 

The canvas i used was 30 x 40

It's just as easy for me to paint big as it is small, and i get more impact, but you can start smaller if you like

here are the brushes i used

and here are the colors i used

i use these colors ALOT!

Titanium White

Phthalo or Thalo Blue

Ultramarine Blue

Sap Green 

Raw Umber

Y ellow Ochre

and 

Linseed Oil

  

Here were the three inspiration photos i used  

isn't this just insanely gorgeous!?

what i liked here was the colors and the white border with the rough edges

oh yeah,.... and that chandelier and those sconces!

 

another inspiration photo found at a different time

as you can see, i must be liking these colors! 

 

and finally this cute little bird sillouette 

 So, i just got some of that blue painters tape, and taped up the canvas like this -

Then i  just grabbed the big dollar store brush,  dipped it in some linseed oil

 and with it,  pulled in some of the white, a little ultramarine blue, and a little Thalo blue, mixed em up... and started pushing and painting those wonderful colors into the canvas

you will have to dip in paint and linseed oil alot at first because the canvas is dry and will suck that paint right up!

don't give up, just keep workin it! 

I decided i wanted to mix a little Sap Green in with the blue in some places, and some of the darker Raw Umber and Yellow Ochre more near the edges..

(yellow ochre is a wonderful color)

You can see, it's NOTHING FANCY,  just brushing color on the canvas

I do the lighter blue green areas first, because once i get brown on the brush, i don't want to go back into the more pure blue and white areas...  

 

I also left the edges near the tape all messy on purpose, i went right to the tape in some places and purposely stayed away in others to give it that raw edge feel like in the first inspiration photo

Ok, so now i have a big ole canvas with some pretty colors all messy all over it! 

Perfect!

Sometimes as in this painting, i will wipe off my big brush really well and then start at the top of the canvas and softly run my brush from top to bottom

it makes things soft and blendy and watery looking 

Now you just grab your filbert brush - the one with the rounded tip like the tip of a spoon

smooth it into the white paint till the tip is coated in white and kinda flat

and let the brush make the shaped of the petals!

you can even be all smeary and messy at the edges, makes it look sort of blurry and soft

seeeeeee, these petals aren't  that great or perfect, but the whole effect of the painting is still pretty

    

Notice in the first inspiration photo, the petals cluster in different groupings... just mess with that - 

but you wouldn't want to just do petals everywhere in an even way

 

often what you DON'T paint is just as important as what you DO paint!

the petals will pick up some of the blue underpainting and that's ok!

after the painting dries in a few days you can come back and hit them with more white if you want to brighten some of them up

and then...

i just brushed in this little birdie silhouette in white 

....dotted in a few centers in some flowers

made a few impressions of branches

pulled off the tape

and voila! a painting!

After what i've seen you guys do, this would be a piece of cake for you! 

just remember, don't overwork it!

if these blues are too green for your house, leave out the green, use more lavender blues, or for that matter do the background all in shades of pink!

you could even add in some cool script or symbols in the painting!

Have fun!

Be Messy on Purpose! It will make it better!

 

Now to the advice part...

I have this ginormous expensive piece of handmade furniture in my bedroom

i bought it at a consignment shop years ago for $800.00

i looked it up online because it has a metal tag with the maker on it, and it is an $8000.00 piece of furniture!!!!

and ... uhhhhhh.... i kinda want to paint it

but, i think that might be a crime against hand carved fancy furniture laws

This is the piece of furniture where people almost died getting it into the house

and i'm pretty sure it was against all the laws of nature that we got it in the front door since the stairs are right there as soon as you step in...

Mr. Fractured had to pull it up the stairwell with all his might and then this older gentleman from the furniture place, with two teenage boys were there to "help"

everyone just got stuck, 

ted hanging on in the middle of the stairwell for dear life

and the three other guys at the bottom

no one could move  

because if any one moved something or someone was going to break  

STUCK!!!

Somehow... we finally got it in, but it will NEVER go out again!

in case you're wondering - that ribbon hanging there has the key on it...

So, anyway.... do i paint it???  I mean it is pretty, but i keep thinking it would be really wonderful with some Annie Sloan old white and some darker paint in the carved areas ...

I don't know...

 what do you guys think???  

...the end...

Ok, She Has a Name!

I have NEVER,

In my life,

Seen so many cute names in one place...

I'm gonna have to paint 30 different paintings just so i can use the adorable names ya'll came up with!

I wrote down each and every name for future reference!

I got alot of "Claras"  some "Claires" and some "Belles"

And then when my friend Mandi from a la Parisienne suggested that she looked like a French cow

I thought she did too!

she talked about how the french love their cows

i think i love anyone who loves their cows

 so then i knew

she had to have a Frenchy name

so i decided on

"Clairebelle"

i don't know if that's for sure frenchy, but it seemed to be, and it suits her

for lack of a better place to hang her

i just put her up over the wire shelf i use to cover my heating/air vent thingy

 

 I like her with the silver trays

which, as you can see are crooked

 

above you'll see the basket i'm trying to load up with some dried and faux hydrangeas...  

gotta work on that

My friend wants me to take her to the shop to sell her

but i don't want to 

might have to take her to the photographer so i can make giclee prints of her

I only choose a certain few paintings to make prints of

speaking of prints,

here is one all carefully wrapped in plastic getting ready to go to her new home

  

you can see the glare of the plastic on her

this print is called

"Kiss My Nose"

because, don't you just want to kiss that little brown nose!

 

Most of the prints i sell, are large, and it's too expensive to ship them already stretched on a wooden frame

around $150.00!

This one is just small enough 20 x 27 that it isn't as expensive

and mailing it already stretched on a frame is around $50.00

did you know you can find other pricing and size options on my website

cindyaustinpaintings.com

it's a little cheaper to order there too because i don't have to pay etsy fees  

so anyway, most of the larger prints come rolled up in a tube

and the person buying it has to take it to be wrapped around and stapled onto a frame

I imagine it's a little anticlimactic to receive it rolled up like that

but, oh boy...
 just one more step at the framers having them stretched on a frame

and they look amazing!

just like a big beautiful original oil painting

 

plus you save around $125.00!

     

Did you know that every time i decide to make a painting available for giclee prints 

i have to go get a very high resolution photograph taken by a professional photographer?

My paintings get photo shoots with draping and lighting and everything!

The man who does my prints is an artist in his own right, he shows his photography everywhere, and travels all over the world looking for beautiful shots

Once this photograph is taken

then he and i get together look at proofs to get the exact color match we want

Some of my paintings are difficult to color match because i use subtle colors

One painting took 15 proofs, and two photo sessions to get it right!

it was the painting of the sheep below... 

  

I was picky, 
and he was patient

but we finally got it!

 

This is another one of my favorites

I didn't want to sell it either!

It looks so pretty with white slipcovers and neutrals and grays

  

I hope i don't sound like i'm bragging
I screw up my share of canvases!
 

but sometimes i like my paintings too!

Sometimes i won't sell an original painting, until i know i can get a print of it myself!

Once someone orders a print, i contact him and ask him to get started on the print
they are ordered one at a time
 

It has to be printed, then fully dried, and then be sealed

I only like a certain heavy bright white archival canvas that he uses just for me

even the type canvas can affect the color of the print

the humidity can too

Once i pick up the print

i look at each and every one to make sure it is right

and then it is packed up and sent off to it's new home

There is nothing mass produced about this process

it is very organic and personal

 the canvas and inks are all archival, museum quality  

the highest quality materials on the market that you can buy

ok, so now your eyes are probably glazing over from all this talk about prints... sorry

Here is an interesting story

My friend's dear sister died suddenly about a year ago

and she came up with an idea i have never heard of, but thought it was a great idea

She asked me to add some of her sister's ashes to a painting

Wow...

Here is a soft little seascape i did for her

 her sister's ashes are in the sand in the foreground

ya'll might think that's kinda creepy

but i thought it was a brilliant idea!

and i felt honored to be able to do that...

So...., sorry about the long winded talk about prints

but i thought it was important to explain the process at some point

 that's all for now!

...the end...