Coming soon

Here's a sneak peak at my current work in progress:

Stay tuned for more. Same art time, same art channel. (Click on the link for fun, or for you super-youngsters that didn't get my reference). 

For more posts like this, check out:

Work in Progress Finished- Take 2

Work in Progress Day 1- Work Past the Ugly

Lessons learned

I mentioned in my last post that I had learned a few things from my most recent painting experiment. So, in no particular order, here they are!
Lesson #1: Prime, prime, prime!

It's important when using oils on wood that you prime the surface. Over time, oil degrades wood and paper, so you need that primer as protection for the wood. This I knew and I did apply a couple of coats of clear matte medium to protect the wood. What I didn't fully appreciate was the importance of preparing the surface for me, specifically. If you look closely at the image above, you can see the bumps and roughness in the surface of the wood. I didn't realize how much that would distract me. I swoon for super smooth painting surfaces, so the texture of the wood bothered me. 

So, in short if you're working on wood with acrylics and you like rougher surfaces and texture in your work, don't worry about priming. Jump right in! If you're using oils on wood and like texture, a couple of coats of gesso or matte medium should work fine for you. But if you're a lover of glassy finishes like me, sand, prime, repeat ad nauseam.

Lesson #2: Use a good reference photo (or model if working directly from life).

This was my reference photo, which wasn't absolutely terrible, but didn't provide me with what I needed for this picture. Had I been striving to recreate this picture, it would have been doable, but to recreate the patterns and shadows of the face in muscle and patterns, I should have used a clearer, not so blown-out picture. 

Lesson #3: Get out of your comfort zone.

This experiment was pretty far out from realistic portraits of everyday objects and their reflections and that was great for me. Try a new painting surface, subject, or technique! You'll never know your own style unless you explore. Who knows, it may turn out even better than you imagined! Or it may turn out that it's not your cup of tea at all. Either way, the experiment will be a success. 

So what about you? Learn anything new lately? Discover a love of a different subject or technique? What have you been experimenting with? Let me know about it!

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A few of my favorite things

Magical Mystery Painting Revealed!

At long last, as promised, here it is!

"First let me put on my face" by Erin Hardin
5"x7"
oil on birch

Like I said, pretty different from anything you've seen from me, but not ENTIRELY different from anything I've ever done. A couple of years ago I did this:

"Emotional Skin"
by Erin Hardin

for "Heads Up, Alabama!". "Heads Up, Alabama!" was a public arts display sponsored by the Alabama Psychological Association to raise awareness of mental health care. I was one of 30 artists in Alabama chosen to decorate one of these huge fiberglass heads. Here's an article in the Birmingham News about the program (with another photo of Headley, as I affectionately called my Head). Here's another photo so you can see the size.

The inspiration for my design, "Emotional Skin" came from one of my professors in grad school. I've probably mentioned before that I have a M.Ed. in counseling from the University of Montevallo. During my internship one of my professors described a person with borderline personality disorder as "having no emotional skin," because he or she feels all emotions more strongly than normal and they all hurt. That image stuck with me and so for this project I thought of how a person might patch their emotional skin in healthy ways. I loved that project, so I thought I'd experiment with a few paintings based on that concept. However, I ran into a few challenges with the painting. All good learning experiences, but challenges nonetheless. I'll go into what those challenges were and what I learned from them in my next post. For the time being, here are a few more close-up images of Headley for your perusal (that's kinda a fun word). 

One clear, bright sky, eye

And on stormy sky eye

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Art Bite 1

Art Bite 2

Art Bite 3

Art Bite 4

Art Bite 5

Have a taste

Here's another bite of my current work in progress

I'm having so much fun with it! Stay tuned for more bits and pieces.

Magical mystery painting

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was trying out some new painting surfaces since painting on metal takes so much time (not to mention the fact that I mount my own metal pieces). As promised, here's an update on how it's going.

This week I'm working on this...

lovely birch panel. At first glance (and first touch) it was super smooth. But, alas, wood is made of fiber so it didn't stay that way. Since I use oils and oils will, over time, degrade wood if applied directly, I primed the panel with a couple of layers of acrylic matte medium.

I'm super excited about my newest painting. It's WAY different than anything I've done in a while. I'm having a blast. Instead of showing you the whole thing in progress, I thought it'd be fun to show you little bits and pieces along the way. So, here's a tidbit:

You can probably tell from this little piece of the painting that  the surface is a tiny bit rough. So far, I like it pretty well, though. Stay tuned for more little puzzle pieces of my mystery painting