Lately I haven’t had as much time to completely focus on art or start any new projects. I’ve been taking a few online summer classes that have taken up more time than I anticipated. Regardless I still try to draw in my sketchbook a little bit everyday.
But for this post I figured I can share a couple paintings I’ve done within the last year. The first painting is of a really pretty ally way I came across in downtown Scranton when I was at First Friday with a few friends. I ended up taking pictures of the ally and used them to inspire my painting. The painting is on 18” x 24” paper and I used acrylic paint. Before painting I sketched out the buildings, plants and the rest of the composition in pencil. I think my biggest challenge with drawing everything out was getting the perspective just right so it makes sense. Once I actually began painting I experimented a lot with color. I decided to use complimentary colors like blue and orange because they go really well together and also to create a nice contrast between the sky and the building.
At First Friday I also came across some interesting dolls in a vintage shop and took pictures of those too so I could create paintings based on them. One of the dolls I found had green skin and looked like an alien. I had a lot of fun painting this doll because it was different and something I never attempted to paint before. While painting this I experimented with complimentary colors again. I used different shades and tints of green to recreate the doll. Then I painted the doll’s clothing using different shades and tints of red.
