Bleed The Knife

                                       Bleed The Knife by Julie Akeman

  I have been thinking of this piece all day..and finally executed it tonight. It is by far my most dynamic and edgiest piece for my abstract experimentation series.  I love just working with the purity of the paint, it releases something in me.  My inspiration does come from a darker source.  My own depression and suicidal thoughts back in my teen years..however, as much as I was emotionally suffering then I didn't take the knife to my wrists..I was squeemish about pain and blood and didn't want to end up in a hospital strapped down to a bed you know..I've read enough stories..still didn't have a lot of help back then to deal with my anger and rage..and now..I'm dealing with a lot of anger at being cooped up and having to deal with a very annoying seven year old..yes I'm talking about my daughter..who has no concept of boundaries and is really pushing me to the edge..I have other kids and I don't have this issue.  I need a place to express my stress, anger..and really it's more than just her, it's EVERYTHING.  I just see a lot of beauty in this piece as well as darkness.  It does remind me of The Cure's Mixed Up album cover..I think the colors are just what I like...it's still an original piece.  One I want to do is inspired by the Corona Virus..that's going to be something!

Midnight Painting

                                Artwork by Julie Akeman....titled  Desolation

                                    Artwork by Julie Akeman  titled Frustration

I think the enforced isolation is getting to me.  I'm not the most social of creatures but not being able to work my day job..at a library..because of the damn virus..well..it sucks..but I am plugging into abstract..it seems to be the only thing I can tap into right now.  I wanted to do abstraction for awhile and I have been wondering what would make a good abstraction..well dealing with my current emotions it's coming out in it's own story.

New Abstract Painting Video

SEE VIDEO

With the virus shutting the schools down in my area I have only night time to work on my piece..need some diversion...this video shows me working on an abstract..I put on the Never Ending Story soundtrack to help fuel my inspiration..enjoy.

Finished piece...I call it Skyburst

Space Dragon

Art by Julie Akeman

My finished Space Dragon..might make some adjustments later..don't know..after I've done a load of work I let it set for a while to dry..the beauty of oil paints is that you can work quickly and you can leave it alone and change it up later..I did love splattering the paint..have to wait for it to dry to see how doing it that way will work once it dries.

Painting Space For a Dragon

Video

Hello friendly followers..Akemanartist is at it again..I am working on more creative dragon paintings on small canvases..if you would like to buy one just keep following me, oils take a bit to dry through I am using water soluble oils which doesn't take as long but still need a month to be sure.  I will be revamping my Etsy shop and will get things in place..keep following.

In this video I just did a spacelike background and yes it will have a dragon but it's going to be an outline of one and I will try to get a video of that process too.

I only used three colors of Lukas Berlin watercolor paints

Titanium white

Ultramarine (one of my favorites)

and Cobalt Violet

I prefer to paint fast and work alla prima for the most part..sometimes I wait for the backgrounds to dry before I add my dragon..it depends on how I want to do it..working wet in wet I have to make sure I want to alter what I have going on..in another background I decided to let it dry before I add the dragon..I try both ways of doing this and really I like both ways..it all depends on how I want to mix the paint on canvas.

Due to some issues you have to click the video link, it goes to my Facebook page.

And this is another background for another dragon to be painting..stay tuned.

Moon Dragon

The background for my next dragon painting..calling it my moon dragon..probably going to end up as a series just so I can work on the job of backgrounds then letting the paint dry a little then adding the dragon..working wet into wet...maybe I'll be the Bob Ross of Dragons haha.

I'm listening to Pink Floyd's What do you Want From Me (I don't own the rights to the music)..audio not that great..had to balance the laptop to do the video.  Someday I'll get a camera and stand.  I painted the background the day before with water soluble oils, then start with a sinuous line to mark out the shape of the dragon.  Probably best to watch with the audio off..it's pretty hard on the ears.

The stars are fun to add...I have to step back to see how they look..trying to make them sparkle.
You can see the basic shape of the dragon and it's very similar to the Luck Dragon I did last year..basically in the same position..this one the snout is a lot shorter.


I do love the Chinese style of dragons with the fur waving in the wind..and yes I love Spirited Away..love to see it again.  I want to work at doing this over and over again to get the feel of doing the dragons in this kind of way..I love mixing the paint into the canvas..my art teacher..the only one I didn't like and also found out none of the other teachers liked her..was always against mixing onto the canvas...be free to experiment for yourself you know...that's how you find your style..try different brands of paint.  I use Lukas oils, they dry quickly, and now I switched to their water soluble oils because they are so easy to clean and you really only need water to mix..and I found out that I can also use acrylic with it on the surface..did a small experiment to see if they do work since they are water based and yes they do.
If you have any interest in buying my paintings please comment..let me know what you like..My old Etsy shop has been inactive but once I get my artworks lined up I will try to put things together..I am a single mom so this is tough.  My ex hit one of the younger kids, they got taken into custody, and it took a couple of days to get them released to me..three kids..and I work part time at a library so it's been my wish to support myself better through my art..which takes time and support.
Thank you for reading this..let me know what you like..and I hope to make prints because really these oil paintings will be priced high..I put a lot of work in it.

My art on video

I am testing out to see how this handles..I did a video to a friend of mine about my art.  I am considering doing Patreon and they upload a lot of videos..well..I don't have the best of video equipment now just my laptop.  This is a test run to see how this works then I can seriously consider doing videos through my laptop till I can afford a better camera set up..we all have to start somewhere.

I first started this last year during October, inspired by one of my friend's poems, yes Corey from Ghosts of Home we were talking about werewolves and I showed him my original drawing, said I really should do it as a painting and I started it but didn't finish it, now back to work on it.

That was the original sketch done years back so as you can see it was really rough but still had the idea of what I wanted only while Red was looking scared (as well as looking like an alien, she looks like E.T.!!)  In the final painting she holds a dagger and she's got this I'm not bothered look about her...she seems down right Fey..quite a difference.