Drawings and Paintings
I created this 6″x 6″ painting for a friend of mine. She’s starting an Indiegogo campaign soon and asked for donations of items she could use for incentives. So pleased with how this turned out. But I like the preliminary painted sketch better. Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes.
The quote isn’t on the original painting. I just thought I’d try creating a meme that I could share on Pinterest. Feel free to pin it if you’d like.
Last month I decided to take a break from artist trading cards and work on something larger. I found an old 5.5″ x 8″ mixed-media sketchbook that I had not quite finished and and some tubes of black and white acrylic paint so I decided to practice acrylic portrait painting.
I find that I really enjoy painting portraits in acrylic despite the fact that a sketch like this would have probably taken much less time if I had used oil paint.
I start with a basic sketch and then just build the image with lots of thin layers of paint. I make sure that I move from dark to light, just as if I were working with oils. My method is probably a lot more tedious than it needs to be, but I like the results.
In June my friend Anita invited me to participate in a swap/exhibit put on by Art with a Heart in Altrincham, England. The theme was “In Bloom” so I had to do something with a floral theme.
So I figured, hey, why not? Sure I hadn’t drawn or painted any flowers in a couple of years, but since it was early in June I had all month to practice and it would all be cool. But it wasn’t.
I forgot all about the swap! I got a message reminding me that the cards needed to be in the UK by the end of June. This was one week away. I figured I would need at least five days for the card to get to the UK, so I needed to make something fast.
I rummaged around and sketched and gritted my teeth. Nothing happened. So I just threw up my hands and said, “I give up!” and just let go. I decided I’d loosen up by drawing the impression of a flower and recklessly drew squiggles and then looked for some shadows to play with. Before I new it I had this card.
By just messing around I ended up with something so much nicer than anything I worked hard over. Relaxing and seeing what happens works for me. Why do I not remember that? Ever?
My card made it to the exhibit in time, the cards were displayed through July and I’ll get a lovely card back in the mail sometime soon. All that fuss for nothing.
Enjoyed making this ATC for a trading partner I got acquainted with on my art trading site. Turns out we are both Tom Hiddleston fans, so she requested a drawing of him as Loki from Marvel’s Thor series and I was happy to oblige.
I’ve never had much luck drawing Mr. Hiddleston, but this time it worked out. So thanks out there to Therese in S. Africa. Your Hiddles card is on it’s way to you.
Happy Fourth of July to my U.S. friends! Enjoy the long weekend.
:* :* :*
Here is the last gift for the Secret Solstice gift swap that I participated in last month. This was the one I was most nervous about. This cowboy painting was for my new art pal Joan. At some point we had done an ATC trade and she had requested a cowboy drawing. I made her a little pen drawing with a lot of hatching. She liked it, so I thought I would surprise her with a larger cowboy painted in color. The problem was I hadn’t worked in color for quite a while and I wasn’t sure if I could get my groove back by the mailing deadline. But fortunately, I pulled it together and made some decent color choices. I sure would like to get more comfortable with the medium though.
Joan told me how much she liked the painting. Boy, was I relieved.
The other day I posted about the Secret Solstice gifts I made last month. Here’s the second gift I made. This was for my old mail art pal Annette. We’ve traded a bit here and there for about five years now. I knew she was a Poe fan and since I’d been drawing a lot of Edgar Allan Poe portraits this year I felt it would be pretty easy to do another. This one is 5″ x 7″. It was nice to work a little larger than I’m used to.
One more gift to go…coming soon.
Happy Solstice everyone! The year is just clicking by isn’t it?
A couple of months ago I signed up for a Secret Solstice swap on my one of my mail art trading sites: IllustratedATCS.com. It’s like a Secret Santa, only we do it in the spring. Each participant is assigned a person to make gifts for. Fortunately each person fills out a profile detailing the sorts of things they’d like to receive. My gift recipients opened their gifts earlier this month so now I can share the art I made for them.
I agreed to make little gifts for three people. My gift category was “mini” meaning I would agree to make a smallish art piece (like a 4×4 chunky page or a 5×7 or postcard sized painting) and then some candy or ephemera that they might like.
I was thrilled when I found that I had been assigned to make something for Joy Northrop (she makes fun mixed media collage pieces). I had just made an ATC trade with her and I knew she loved Boston Terriers so it was fun to make a couple more dog drawings for her. I liked how they turned out. I was tempted to keep them.
More gifts to come!
© 2014 Mellanie Collins
2.5″ x 3.5″
ink and markers on bristol
Here’s another film noir-inspired ink portrait. This woman is checking over her shoulder because she thinks perhaps she saw something odd out of the corner of her eye. Or not.
© 2014 Mellanie Collins
2.5″ x 3.5″
ink and markers on bristol
I received another request for a Poe artist trading card. Folks sure like their Poe. I think I might have made this one a bit chubby.
To any of you who have liked my Facebook Page: Hugs and kisses to you all. I already have 122 fans and counting. It’ makes me so happy to have so many people following my work.
This month I’ve been working on some gifts for a Secret Solstice swap on IllustratedAtcs.com. I have three partners so I’ve been busy trying to make some special goodies for them. Once they’ve received their gifts I’ll post some images here.
I love making art for people. It’s all part of the equation isn’t. Make + Share = Fulfillment. At least that’s the equation that’s working for me right now.
Not much going on in March and April. Too much useless introspection and not enough art-making.
The plan for May is to fret less and draw and paint more.
We’ll see what happens.
Mellanie Collins, Artist