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.