See Me Paint

This is me on a rickety chair in the kitchen doing my best not to fall.  I had my daughter take this pic.

I'm hanging onto the fridge and you can see the trash just under the painting.  I don't have an easel and that sucks, but I don't have room for it anyway.

When I need a break I do the dishes or the laundry then get back to work. Only thing I'm missing is getting enough sleep.  I have to paint at night and I sacrifice sleep for my art.

If I am stuck just doing chores all day I get really DEPRESSED!  

Here is the EYE that was painted in when I was just working on that part.  It was not planned but when I stood back to check the texture I was making and saw the eye I was like WOW! How did that happen, I didn't even draw it on there, it was just charcoal smudge.

I have been working on a few more problems in the painting but it is coming along well enough.

In the meantime on my Pinterest page I have found some Ravens for some smaller painting ideas,

some skulls for a few Veritias painting ideas I have.

And I got some Pics of Waverly Hills Sanatorium which are posted on my Fav GAC Stuff board.

Yeah, that one will have a blue color scheme.  

And at church today I sketched out an idea for a horse painting, I"m thinking 30 by 30 of three horses running.  When I fledge out the sketch with color then I can scan it in and show what I"m doing for that.

I'm going to paint a little bit more before I hit the hay.

Loftus Hall almost done

This is really coming together.

Gotta say this painting is really getting eerie.

I don't know if you can see in the final pic here, in the niche where the crucifix is

The shadowy part above it, when I painted it and stopped it looked like an eye and part of a face

like a freakin' apperation

AND THIS WAS TOTALLY BY ACCIDENT

I didn't even draw a face on there, just smudged charcoal to shade it

but DAMN!  looks freakin edgy 

I LOVE IT!

I'll try to get a better close up later. but it looks freaky

I tend to do that in my paintings, an image just gets in there and when I see it I keep it 

Also got a bit of Proveglia sketched out.

This painting to be will be done alla prima in my sketchbook I was writing down notes on how to execute this work and I realized I really need to be working the paint wet on wet, especially for that demonic image. It will be painted in lightly, it is only darker here in the sketch just to get the image right, in the painting it will be more subtle but there.

It's like six am and I haven't slept at all tonight and I do have work at the library, only two hours but I am going to have to fill up on caffeine

Not coffee though, waaay too strong, Tea like Assam or Keemun would work.

I really hated putting my paints away but I needed to stop so I can keep my painting looking good.

I cannot wait for Proveglia, that is actually going to be a quicker job.

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Loftus Hall Up the stairs slowly

At one point I had to white out a section of the railing because I had too much there and after I did that it looked better.  Was told oil is a very forgiving medium, I do love it so much more than watercolor though I have done some great watercolors and it was watercolors that I worked with all my life till I got into oils.

I still have a bit to work on but it is coming along fine, I'm just slowly doing the stairs because I am fixing it as I go up those things.

I also started on a sketch of Proveglia, haven't ordered my gesso board yet though.

On the left you can just barely see the demonic entity that is featured as Zack Bagins tat.

It's not totally detailed just a pencil drawing so it's hard to see when it was scanned

but the shot of Proveglia you can see is green.  My daughter thought it looked like it was on fire, green fire.

It will be interesting, I'm trying to capture the spiritual energy of the place and that is the vision that got to me when I thought of the place.

When I think of Waverly Hills Sanatorium I think of blues, more cold, sad and isolated than anything else.

I don't know what size Waverly Hills will be, I haven't found a shot yet to use as reference, I just know what colors best represent the place.

I have other art ideas apart from Ghost Adventures, it's just these three places speak so strongly I just had to paint them, after these three I don't know if I will do more, it all depends on what strikes me.

I can't wait to see the new episodes, been following Ghost Adventures Crew on Twitter.  

I don't get cable, just internet so I have to wait to catch episodes on Youtube. I want to eventually buy all the DVD's of their shows but my funds only go so far.  I'm not all starving artist here, it's just a limit on how much I can get what I want and when.  I'm just thankful I am well stocked on artist supplies, up till now I hadn't painted for two years.  I just need a new board for the Proveglia project, and I am going back to my old canvases to fix them. Like this one here.

I painted this one a few years ago and now I really HATE that tree on the left!!

In order to fix it I have to white it out.

I will paint over it in Titanium white to start over again and fix it.

Of course I KNOW I will have to touch up everything else and that will take time as I go over and think what to change.  

Mmmm I think there is way too much yellow, the staff needs a bit of work. I will start with the tree first and then things will just flow from there I know it.

I have done great work on redos

I also have ideas for new paintings

Ideas just feed off one another here.

How I love it!

Loftus Hall, getting closer

I am getting closer to finishing, still have touchups to do.  I did a layer of zinc white over the magenta which gave the back wall there a rather interesting appearance.  Don't know if I'm going to keep it like that or add a glazed layer to darken it.  I have to finish up the steps then I'll be able to see if it is giving off the right feel I am looking for.  As I am wrapping up this painting I have about five others in mind for my next projects.  Of course there is Proveglia but there is in mind a couple of paintings of horses.  When I finally wrap up Loftus Hall I will blog about what is in my sketchbook.  I have a few sketchbooks, can never have too many.  I like to doodle during church service, keeps me awake.  Sitting still for too long makes me sleepy.

My husband told me at one point when I was working on this painting that I was a better artist than a mother, I didn't contest that but it did hurt.  I love my kids but I don't always 'get' them, I 'get' my art.  I always had the knack of making colors work together.  I haven't ordered my gesso board yet but I will, and I am going to start working on my sketch of Proveglia.

Loftus Hall Almost Done

The stairs are taking a bit to complete but the rest of the painting is about done.

I think it definitely has that spooky quality.  I also just read a bit on Aaron Goodwin's blog about Loftus Hall and now I'm feeling more spooked by it.  It's a good thing because that is the feeling I want to capture in this piece.  I am really proud of this work.  Love the challenge of this.  I had my three other kids staying the weekend at my mom's so all I had to take care of is the baby who will be 11 months on the 15th.

This is a gallery wrapped canvas and I'm painting the sides but I think this baby could use a good frame.

I have very good news, I got some Christmas money from some relatives and that means that with my upcoming paycheck from the Library I will be able to not only get some more Christmas presents for my kids but also get that gesso board I want for the Proveglia project I have in mind.  It's almost three am here and I have to try to get some sleep, I have a long day at the library.  Since I can leave my paints out I might be able to do a bit of work before I leave

that will put me in a chipper mood for the rest of the day.

It's tricky getting pics of my progress here since I am working at night when the kids are in bed and I can't get a good picture unless it's outside in natural light.

But you can see the progress here.  I have started working on the stairs again and you can't see it well but the posts look really good, once I got the color down I added a bit of white for highlight and it looks great.  The whole thing looks spooky, I want it to look foreboding.  On Celtic Demons the owner said when you go up you are at a different level.  The whole place is spooky and dark.  

This post has to be short, the kids are running amok today.  See why I do stuff at night! .

Loftus Hall coming together

When I started working on this I had to start with grid lines to work this picture out.  I don't like using grid lines since as I am drawing they can be distracting though at the same time it's keeping things in place and I can mentally break down the whole picture into shapes and shades and not get overwhelmed with what I am doing here.  I have never done an interior painting like this EVER.  

For many years I have been making paintings that are just straight from my mind with little use of photo references though some sketches from real life like trees and stuff influences some pieces and the sketches of animals and such.  This is different.

I'm wanting to get the staircase as accurate as possible but the coloring has to do with the vision I saw.  

Yeah I started with magenta, but then I layer down Alzirion Crimson.  I wonder if my color choice was inspired by the blood bath from The Shining.  

I really wish I had a way to do a video of my work.  Maybe I can ask for one next Christmas.  

I am planning to block in more of the color tonight but I am doing the stairs slowly.  There is some really good shape and shading and I don't want to lose that in the painting.  I'll be working in magenta and indigo at once to capture the look I want.

Talking about my art and the process of it is really HARD for me.  I don't know if this has to do with my Aspberger's syndrome or the fact I am not at all practiced in this.

I am currently reading a book about NYC artists, transcribed taped sessions that started back in the seventies and goes up to present day.

It's great reading this because I find there isn't a right or wrong way to talk about my work, not really, it's just that I've been pounded on about how everything I do is wrong.

For me it seems I can do my art right.

Even if I have a hard time with a certain perspective or make a mistake somewhere I find my oil painting very forgiving.  It's the one learning process I really trust and can fully let go on.

As I am working on this piece I am thinking about the others I want to do.  I got a real love of horses and have seen some excellent horse art on Etsy, my chosen selling platform.

Horses, whales, dolphins, wolves, and yet I am totally focused on Loftus Hall the first building interior I have done since oh Green River Community College art classes when I had to do some perspective drawing.

LOL actually I hated doing buildings then, but I did a few paintings of cityscapes for class. 

I really just wasn't into them, some of them were kind of flat.  

I don't know what got into me though I am a bit obsessed with Ghost Adventures.

It just hit me when I saw that photo of the staircase that I had to paint that, then the other places I really want to paint those too, then I started thinking of other ideas beyond Ghost Adventures Locations.  I have my own stuff in my many sketchbooks waiting to be fleshed out in paintings.

For two years I have not been able to paint and now it's just exploding forth

I have to follow it.  I end up staying up late at night to do this but it's worth it.

Painting on and on into the night

I got a lot done tonight and should stop and get some sleep.

This is how I look now

Yeah I"m beat, time to quit for the night.

I'm really wanting to stay up to do the staircase but I do have to go to work at 10 am, it's only for two hours and I can handle sleep deprivation during that time, just have to make sure I don't run into the shelves as I'm putting books up.  The spatial areas of this painting look really good.

As much work as I"m putting into this I wonder what I'm going to price this thing.  

I really love working on this, it's such a challenge but I'll be glad to get it done because I have tons of other things I want to do.

Of course there is Provegila, but another idea I had talked about at home here was to illustrate straight from my favorite book The Neverending Story, I would  love to paint these scenes but I don't have the funds for that but I can draw them out, got plenty of drawing supplies, just not enough gesso boards.  In fact I used up all my boards but still have some 11 by 14 canvases but those are for smaller more quicker works.

I hope to get some more done next night plus a full sketch of my Proveglia idea.

Drawing Portion Done on Loftus Hall

Oops I din't mean to put all the pics I did up at once.

Well as you  can see in the final two I got ALL the dang drawing done on here and am blocking it in with titanium white and also working the color in at the dry areas, going to put another red layer at the steps too.

Needed to take a break so I am doing the blog now and I'm a bit hyped up on caffeine  Been drinking Earl Grey Moonlight this time.  Not as strong as Assam but I have had two pots already so I"m buzzing.  Last night I didn't do any painting because I wanted to sleep.  Now I'm saying to heck with sleep I'm a gonna paint.  What will I do after this one is done?  I'd say I will take a bit of a break then figure that one out.  I have smaller canvases to use mostly 11 by 14.  I have a few ideas for the smaller paintings from my sketchbooks.  

In the other pics it shows where I stow my paints when I"m done.  It's in an old Caboodles box.  That thing was ment for makeup but I never wear the stuff anymore, allergies, itchy eyes, sniffy nose and sensitive skin.  Don't have a problem with my oil paints though.

You can see my tea and scones on my table.  I had dragged this wooden table from the dumpster area at my apartment complex.  It had two broken leaves which I took off.  While I was expecting baby number three (Aislinn)  I painted the thing.  I LOVE Celtic Knotwork and the table looks awesome.  It is being heavily used so scuff marks and the like are appearing.  The top of the table is the only part painted, I didn't get to do the rest.  I got the design out of a book of Knotwork designs.

I'm going to need to order my Magenta paint.  I have a small tube and I need to buy the larger studio tube.  Whenever I want to try a new color I just get a small one, once I see how much I am using it I order the larger one.

I don't know if I will be able to order a gesso board for my Provegila idea now.  Just waiting but I have a sketch done in.  Been thinking of  placing a the corner of the painting the image of Zack's tatoo that is symbolic of the possession he experienced there.  

In my sketch that corner just looked empty

I  Really REALLY love the wings on this things, and the way the wings are drawn is similar to how I draw wings.  Yeah I think I really need to put that into the left corner of my future painting of Provegila it just makes sense, it connects.  I can't wait to do it but damn it I'm just not sure I can wing it right now because it's Christmas and I still have a few things to get.  Well I'm ready to get back to Loftus Hall.  Maybe I can find some quiet Celtic Music to play.

Painting Loftus Hall

I got a lot more painted tonight, it's like one thirty six now, am, I"m still buzzing so I am going to blog about this piece now.  When I paint this thing I keep thinking of the theme to The Seventh Guest game.  Been a long time since I thought about that one, I never played it, too hard but my dad had bought it for himself.

I like to have music when I paint, usually something that goes with the mood or theme of the painting, last night I was listening to Celtic Circle, got a bunch of Celtic music on there, works well with the painting.  Tonight I don't have any music playing, My soon to be 11 month old is asleep in her playpen just in the living room. I don't want to wake her.  No I don't have an Ipod or whatever, can't afford it, I have a CD player and my dvd player will play but I don't want to wake anybody.  I just play the music in my head, I happen to be hearing Seventh Guest now.  If I am working on a fantasy painting I will usually play the soundtrack of The NeverEnding Story.  I did get the blu ray version on marked down.  LOVE that movie.

Anyway, about the painting, the banisters have been giving me problems but I think I finally got them to look right, going to be painting a lot on that part.  I am getting the back area done but had to look for more pics or video shots of that area since my print out is very dark.  Still with all the challenges and difficulties I have this is coming out pretty well and I am learning alot on how to work in perspective, which is my weak point.  I'm going to have to look for the book on how to draw buildings at my library and see what help I can get.

I actually never really liked doing buildings before because of perspective problems.  But I'm doing that anyway, working on places that GAC have been to.  Now I am a person of limited funds so I have to think about on what to say no to in order to say yes to a new Gesso Board.  Loftus Hall is being painting on a canvas I had bought some years back.  It's my last 30 by 40 inch canvas.  I want to do Proveglia and the gesso board (which is stronger and warp resistant) costs more than the canvas but is worth it for the archival quality.  The size I'm looking at will cost about $45.  I can wing it for this month.  I have to wait till I get all the bills payed then wait for my next paycheck then check things over to make sure we don't go negative, we have done that a LOT but have gotten better.  Just had to learn to say NO to stuff, mostly that means no fast food or outside eating, or at least limiting it, that was what was costing us big time.  We just can't afford it.  It hurts me when I can't get canvases or rather the gesso boards.  While waiting to be able to afford it I still have my sketch books to capture my ideas.  I have more ideas than I have the money to get the boards to do it but I am learning patience in that area, it will be worth it when I can finally get what I want.

Loftus Hall Project Progress Report

Really getting there.  Sorry the second picture is kind of dark but it shows the structure of the painting more and the first pic shows the color I chose.  My twelve year old daughter walked in on me while I was painting and said are the stairs covered in red velvet.  I was like huh, She didn't understand what I was doing so I said I chose a color scheme to capture the mood of the place, I'm not painting it the way it looks in the photo, I am painting emotively.  I STILL don't think she gets it because her mind can be pretty literal sometimes.  I started painting the stairs in magenta, then when that was dried I painted in alzirion crimson the shadows were started in Indigo then overlaid with Cobalt Violet.

I'm planning on doing one on Proveglia and that one has a green and indigo color scheme in mind.  Waverly Hills feels more blue and white but I haven't started looking for shots to decide what I'm really going to go for, but the feeling I get is isolation and distant, a certain coldness and desolation there.

I don't know how many painted layers is going to be done for Loftus Hall, As many as it will take till I declare it done, or rather the painting says it's done.  

Bison Dreams

I did this one over the Thanksgiving weekend and it's now dry so I scanned it in.

I LOVE this painting.  It's very different from that overflowing water Jar I did and this one is done all prima style.  It was all done at once, no waiting for layers to get dry.  Had to be very careful to get this one done right.  I"m pretty good with mixing colors.  When I was a kid I did watercolors.

After High School my parents finally got me an oil painting set, Bob Ross paint set.  His method did not match well with mine let's put it that way.  My parents used to always tell me Oils were hard to do.

When I did take my first oil painting class at Green River Community College I learned that oil is actually the easiest medium to use.  I also learned than in the beginners class I was the best one out of everybody. 

I knew how to mix my paints, I didn't get 'mud' I painted really well when I used a photo reference since that was what I did when I did watercolors, copy photos.

MY challenge was to paint my own ideas.  That was when it got really rough.  I was willing to experiment and do bad paintings but I got some very bad feedback from my parents, 

Once my dad said my art was nothing but childish drawings

hmmm guess he never read a bio on Picasso

And when my second daughter was born my mom was asking about me going back to work at the library and she added Julie you think you are an artist but you really aren't.

uh huh ok whatever

I don't tell them about my art anymore, and they never ask anyway.  At least once at the local art show I showed my Water Kelpie and my mom said it was the most interesting thing there compared to the others.  Yet I didn't win, and really the only reason why I don't win these things is because I don't follow the rules of painting.  I go off on my own.

I"m heavily influenced by Monet, Manet and Degas

But I do take to painting layers but I am into the Fantasy  side of things.

I'm not going to blog about my Loftus Hall project tonight, I'm going to work my ass off on the painting and get the foundation layer done.  I got the stairs part pretty much figured out.

Loftus Hall Trouble

I took my sketch drawing to work with me today since I was going to be sitting in at the Children's Section for three hours, it took me an hour to finish what I need done.

My problem is, in the painting, looks like I drew too many steps, what I know is going on is a perception shift, as the steps go up you don't see the top of the step like in the bottom of the drawing here.

I have to go back and smudge a bit.

I also noticed in the drawing itself I have drawn too many posts on the left side.  I guess I was too busy practicing drawing the post to keep count, doesn't matter, I got it down right on the canvas. I just have to fix up those stairs.  

Perspective has always been a challenge in my drawing, more so now since my right eye has a partially detached retina.  NO I am NOT going to get it fixed, no health insurance, can't afford it and cant get on Obama care because my income is TOO LOW go figure.

I work part time as a library page, not a lot of money coming in but enough to get by.  I will never work full time again because I just can't handle it.  I have kids that NEED me.  I mean they need me to be there not mentally checked out and depressed because I spend too much time in a job I don't like.  

Besides that I have a mild form of autism known as Asberger's 

The job I have is not highly social which is calming for me as opposed to the forty hour work week I used to do as a cashier in a small grocery store. I kept doodling on small pads of paper to keep my mind sane.

My art gives me something to think about, a lot

its a place I can go to that gives me energy 

instead of sucking everything out of me like most things.

I seem to be pretty good at it though I still have things to work on.

I have done charcoal reversals, pen and ink, graphite drawing watercolor

Oils (my favorite)

Ceramics and stained glass

These were my first projects in glass

this is the top half of a colored pencil drawing I did what  like 9 years ago

when I scanned this it cut off the knotwork boarders 

This is Abraxus, a unicorn from a story I have been writing.

Yeah I make stories too but they take even longer to get down on paper, it's the editing process that gets me bogged down, not so with Painting, I just keep going till it's done.

I'll keep chugging at Loftus Hall till I'm done,

I did get some drawing down on the canvas but I think I need to rest up and try painting

the next night, let my brain figure out how to work those steps.  Most of the drawing work is done. I'm making progress just a bit slower than I thought it would be.  

Loftus Hall Project Phase 3

I started painting the griselle the foundation of this painting.  I like this stage though I haven't finished drawing it all in yet I can 'sculpt' the areas and fix problems and I can see what I am doing better.  I have the painting hanging in our kitchen and I'm using a cereal box to steady it and I have a reference drawing laying on top of that.  I keep standing back and looking at it to make sure everything is evened out.

I needed an up close shot of the staircase and found Aaron's Vlog on the place.  I took some sketches.

That helped me out immensely   I was up so late last night that I had trouble staying awake at church.  Brought my sketch book with me to doodle in to try to keep me from  zonking out.  

I still have to clean up my area in the kitchen.

That's our kitchen table, there is a celtic knotwork hound painted on it.  I'll have to get a shot of that when the table is clear, looks really cool.  As I said before I am way into Celtic stuff.  

This is another of my favorite pieces, the Water Kelpie.  Legend goes that these things lures children into the ocean to drown them.  Well I made my Kelpie NICE.  I LOVE the vibrancy of this painting, IT looks better in person.  I can never get a good enough picture to do it justice.  Well time for me to log off and clean up and get some decent sleep.  I got a day job to go to.  I work as a library page.  It's the bottom of the ladder as far as jobs go but I do love the books and being able to know when stuff is coming in.  It doesn't sap out my energy like other jobs.