Artwork

 As if I didn’t already have enough hobbies, I’ve reacquainted myself with painting. Way back in highschool I was very interested in pursuing arts and participated in as many art classes as the schools allowed. I even considered going to the Savannah College of Art and Design but the thought of a life as a starving artist wasn’t so appealing. That negative thought put a hold on my creative endeavors (except photography) for many years until just recently with the influence of Instagram, travel, and the encouragement of artist friends to pick up a pencil and paintbrush. Now it is clearly an obsession and it only took a few weeks of practice to get back in the swing of things. 

I started with watercolors after seeing a few artists on Instagram using a small palette of colors to produce works in the field. It wasn't until a trip to Iceland where I was backpacking along the Laugavegur trail when I had a lot of downtime, with no cellular service and no darkness at "night", that I thought a lot more about incorporating some artwork into my travels.  The relatively simple and compact supplies means I can pack it in my backpack and knock out a few drawings and paintings at camp or in a cafe. I've tried a variety of watercolor subjects and formats but I have found that I really like making bookmarks, which is a little ironic for a guy who doesn't read much. I've been gifting them to my nerdier friends who read a lot and have enjoyed seeing their excitement and appreciation of receiving a hand made gift. What draws me to the bookmark size is that I can work on multiple different bookmarks at the same time (3 or 4 taped to my painting table) which is good for my ADHD nature!

Getting back into watercolors has now spawned a new interest in oil painting-- something I don't remember ever trying in school. My artist friend Christian humored my many questions at the start of the oil painting journey and he has encouraged me along the way. He paints realistic portraits of "perturbed" females. Christian's blog.

The subject of (or at least a heavy influence on) most of my oil paintings has been my favorite muse of 20+ years. Most of the paintings began with inspiration taken from a number of artists' works found on pinterest and instagram and I try to replicate them to a certain extent but with my own flavor. I have been choosing art from a of variety of styles to experiment with trying and find a style or styles that I enjoy. Visually I like realism, but it is as challenging as it seems. So, process wise, I enjoy the more abstract figure painting (as in the red hair painting) because it gives more creative freedom. I think the painting with the green dress is a nice compromise in styles with loose, thick brush strokes that look good from a couple meters away.  Painting my muse’s beautiful, curly hair is a favorite.

While still experimenting to find a style I like, I've also been learning (read: "struggling") with how the different materials interact. Some of the cheaper canvases I bought was super slippery and needed additional coats of gesso to be workable. The premium canvases are lovely to paint but are expensive for a beginner making multiple paintings a week. So then I bought some oil painting paper which is pre-coated, but it absolutely dehydrates the paint and is super frustrating to work. One brand of paint I bought is extra thick and does not apply well and needs additional medium to work smoothly (which is another level of experimentation). Otherwise, I've been pretty happy with Winsor & Newton's Winton paints which are a good value for their quality. Then there are brushes. It seems like DaVinci brushes will be my go to. The local art supply store, who now loves my weekly visits, has multiple grades of DaVinci brushes and I've been collecting at least a couple each week as my understanding develops and I find a need. With oil painting I started with large brushes, but I'm finding that I am picking up smaller and smaller brushes to produce fine detail while with water color I've started using larger brushes. 

I've also setup a cozy little space the living room to use as my studio. It's nice to be near the family and the natural light during the day is great. But, now that it is winter time in the nordics, the nights are long and full of terror. I've needed to add lights to the ceiling to compensate and thus starting another experiment- bulb color temperature and brightness. Some artist prefer 5000-6000K, which is where I started, but I just did not like it. Adding to the challenge with color temperature is that I am painting under one light and will likely display them in another color temperature. In the end I’ve settled on 4000K bulbs which are “neutral” white. 

I've really been enjoying the creative and learning process of painting. I feel like it has been a form of meditation/therapy, trading time normally spent death scrolling or watching TV with something that has tangible results from my time. Now a staple in my backpack is my watercolor kit and in my living room a compact painting studio. 

Sorry the photos of the paintings aren't in any order. Blogger makes it difficult to re-arrange them.