Blog

Hi everyone, long time no talky. We have so many people working here I rarely get to blog these days, but it's good to be back. Today I thought I'd share a little about one of my hobbies and something I'm becoming increasingly passionate about, which is oil painting. We're chalk full of creative folks around here, not just with the great web, video and print pieces we put together daily, but everyone on staff seems to have some great talents they don't get to showcase very often. So I'm using today to go through the process of a few paintings I've done recently. It's not quite as awe-inspiring as one of Geoff's time-lapse videos, but it's fun for me to see the process when something's completed.

So with this first painting, I wanted to replicate a painting from an artist I really like. Who better to be inspired by than Picasso? Obviously he's been a popular artist over the past century, coming up with his own unique style for portraying everyday objects and people. One of my favorite paintings is the Old Guitarist, and so I thought I'd try to replicate it as closely as possible, which meant including an underpainting that can be seen in the original. This was a 3' x 4' oil painting on wood.

I try not to do too much replicating of other pieces of art, it feels a little cheap, so I draw inspiration mainly from nature and the surroundings I experienced growing up in middle-of-nowhere Oklahoma. Most of these next paintings are indicative of just that.

This is the photo I started with, taken from the farm I grew up on.

 Here are a couple of photos I took to turn into this next piece (actually 2 canvases placed together). On this one and a few others I start with a grid to transfer the drawing over, so I get all my proportions correct.

There wasn't much of a proces on this next one. I had a photo and just slapped the paint on the canvas with a palette knife. No brushes used in this painting. Sometimes it's more fun to load the paint up thick.

This one was a little different. I hadn't tried a night sky before and although it was one of the fastest paintings I've done, I thought it turned out okay. Looks like a good spot to stare out at the sky, if you're into that sort of thing.

This tree is along the road up on the way to my mom's house. The painting isn't quite done yet, still trying to figure it out.

Another tree-inspired painting from my last fishing trip, and another quick one done completely with a palette knife. I like this one better up close because you can see how thick the paint is and it adds a whole other dimension to it. Still have some little touch-ups to do on this one too.

This obviously was a nature-inspired photo. I liked the color harmony on this, and thought the deer turned out pretty well. I went ahead and made a frame for this one when it was done too. Another grid transfer to keep the deer looking more like a deer and less like a horse with antlers.

And last for today's showing, this one's of a beach in Hawaii I visited last June. I love beaches and would love to paint more of them (on canvas), but alas, I live in Oklahoma. Paintings look so much better if you find the right frame, and I found this one at Hobby Lobby.

Lot of pictures which makes blogging easier, but hopefully more interesting too. Have a great Wednesday, and if you don't have a hobby already- it's never too late to start!