"Poppy and Bud" completed, some GREAT advice, and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS!

 

"Poppy and Bud"

6 1/2" x 8" oil on gesso board

(will be available on my website when it dries!)

After taking all the wonderful critique comments from you all to heart I made a few tweaks to my oil poppy and decided to call it finished...lessons learned, but definitely MORE to learn, or re-learn about oils...but I'm having FUN!  Thank you again to everyone who critiqued this, who gave me suggestions; they all helped...in fact I've made a list of all the suggestions that were made that I NOW keep by my easel.  I thought I would share this list for anyone out there who may be picking the oils back up again and need some reminders, or for those beginners out there!  The teacher in me just couldn't resist!!
1.  pay attention to the highlights and shadows
2.  sketch the piece and then block in areas of color first
3.  watch for great natural blends...let the oils do their own thing!
4.  try to keep the edges soft until toward the end...then apply the paint in thick strokes at the focal point.  Also that is where you use the highest chroma and value contrast.
5.  timing, process, persistence, and using an alkyd white (faster drying) helps me.
6.  sketch what you want to do on the canvas first, then put the background in first, that way you can be cleaner with the edges of the focus whether you want it hard or soft.  Try to put the darks in first then come back with lights.
7.  when working with acrylics one paints the layers...the same CAN be done with oils but you have to let the painting dry first...like for a week...before you can move on to the next layer...or paint with oils like you would a paint by number...just think flat and paint in all your surfaces...less strokes the better, otherwise mud is all you get!

Isnt' this a great list of advice!!  I hope it helps anyone else out there who is fiddling with oils again, or who may have just started!!

Before I go further, I want to present to you a few wonderfully sunny creative blogs out there that I have passed along my sunshine blogger award to!  I thought to do a few a day so hopefully you could take a few minutes to visit these creative souls!!  Remember the rules...acknowledge the receipt from the one who gave it...pass it along to 12 others...let them know it is theirs...link to them, and link to the giver...that is all there is to it!!

Nicole Smith has a blog called a bunny a day.  Please take a minute to visit her blog and see her wonderfully happy creations!  I love stuffed things, and if you do too...click on over!!

Dana Marie's blog is always full of fun and fanciful work!  Dana has several ventures which I think are quite an asset to the blogging and art world.  If you haven't checked out Inspiration all Around Us or seen her posts on facebook you've missed a lot!  She has also started another challenge blog called Judging a Book by it's Cover, but it is on hold a bit...click over to see how we can get it going if you are looking for something FUN!

Elizabeth W. Seaver Fine Art is another artist blog that I absolutely adore!  Elizabeth's acrylic and collage work is quite fascinating to see.  If you haven't watched her works come to life you are in for a treat!  One of my favorites!

Now to the little 4x4 piece I started yesterday.  I can see I should have had the list of suggestions with me BEFORE I started!  Things I should have been aware of...sketching first...laying in blocks of flat color, keeping edges undefined so I could pull it all together in the end...ALL good advice!  So, what did I do??  I just started with a very simple sketch...layed in color like I do when I am painting with acrylics...thus MUD happened, and I couldn't get my highlights like I wanted...SO, becuase I DID NOT take advice cuz I didn't have my list made yet...I will wait for it to dry before I finish it.  What was the advice...about a week...then I'll post it again, hopefully finished!  STILL LEARNING!  Thank you all again!  FUN STUFF!!