Raining Cats and Cows

Bessie's Close-up,  14 x 11 inches, on canvas panel

"Blue Moo"  14 x 11 inches on wood panel

"Sun and Stripes"

For the last couple of days I have been finishing up some more cow paintings.  Between cats and cows I have been having a good time working with color and critters.  The 30 paintings in 30 days challenge had really kept me on a roll and it is hard to believe there is less than a week to go now.  Hope you have enjoyed this month as much as I have.   Added the latest 2 cows to my site on Artspan,  schirosart.com

   And my crazy cat is headed to a new home in New Mexico.

Mary

Music and painting

"Three Cool Cats"  Acrylic 23 x 29 inches

                                                     Prints available at Fine Art America

   Finished this one today and love it!  Acrylic on a full sheet of watercolor paper.  Finished this while listening to the song "Three Cool Cats" by the Coasters, and yep the song is now part of the painting.  So much fun letting music be part of the painting process!

If you want to hear the music here is a youtube link to the Coaster's song

https://youtu.be/7P5Er_qU5FE

The Beatles also did a version, just a fun song to listen to.

Mary

Working with Inks

14 x 11 inches, Ink, "Into the Wind"

                                                                                 

     Off and on I like pulling out inks to work with.  This painting "Into the Wind" was done with shellac based ink.  
     There are 4 types of inks I work with, india ink, walnut ink, acrylic ink and shellac ink.  Each ink has different characteristics.  India ink is classic, moderate work time, dries permanent and depending on the company making it, moderate to course pigment texture.  Walnut ink is a brown color, fine texture and works much like watercolors, in that it does not dry permanent, so it can be lifted after applying.  Acrylic ink I like best when working in mixed media.  Acrylic ink comes in many colors, fine grain, mixes well with regular acrylics, watercolor paints or pencils, and dries permanent.  Shellac ink is grainy, permanent, and dries quickly.
     Shellac based is something new for me, although it has been around a long time.  I am really loving the texture and bit of a shine it has when it dries.  Shellac ink dilutes well just like all the other inks for creating toned washes.  But what I like best about this ink is the very fast drying time. I just love the challenge of getting the brush work down fast, keeps me from over thinking the process.  I haven't tried it with mixed media yet so I have some thing to look forward to.
    Having something new to try really keeps me going, and with art there is always something new to try.
Mary

Play time and paint

Day 17 of 30 paintings in 30 days

14 x 11 inches, "Butter Queen"

                                                                                  Available at DPWs

Decided it was time to have some fun after working in monotones for the last few days.
Got my inspiration for painting cows from the site Paintloose.com
Besides finishing this cow today I had to paint a cat too.  Pretty productive day.

14 x 11 inches, "Sun and Stripes"

So nice to go wild with color and line again.

Hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed painting them.

Mary

Study of trees

For the last few days I have spent my focus on tree studies in ink.  I am planning a large ink painting for my living room, mainly of pine trees.  But before starting the large painting I wanted to spend some time getting comfortable with my subject.

Amber Fringe,  11 x 14 inches

                                                                            

Although this is not pines it is my favorite of the studies I have done so far.  This painting was completed with shellac based inks, like these they are a bit thicker and also dry faster than acrylic or standard india inks.
   With ink as with most water media paints working in layer is a good plan.  Thought I would share a few of the studies showing 2 layer of each one.
 

These 2 studies I started with walnut ink, a dark brown ink that dries like watercolors, not permanent so it can be lifted until the work is sealed.  Added some acrylic ink washes for the final steps.

For the last one I used acrylic ink and tried to approach the subject in an abstract style.

Mary

Paint, ink, charcoal and the kitchen sink

Day 13 of 30 paintings in 30 days....

Sometimes it is fun to try a little of everything at once.  Started this painting with walnut ink, then added some acrylic paint.  Let it dry a while and out came the charcoal and some pastels. Think the only thing missing was the kitchen sink.  

Live, love, play and paint :)

Mary

In need of color

"Flamingo Rose"  Acrylic on watercolor paper, 16 x 12 inches

                                                                                      

 Cold and snowy outside today, and needed something to get me going.  Decided hot pink was the answer.  Used some airbrush acrylics to do this one.  Do not like air brushing, tried it for a while and had paint left from those days.  The airbrush is a fluid acrylic very fine grain pigments interesting to use with large watercolor brushes.

   Hope you like this one.

Happy snow day

Mary

Deconstruction and new creations

Days 9 and 10 of the 30 paintings in 30 days have been spent deconstruction a couple of older paintings.

16 x 20 Acrylic on gallery wrap canvas "Diverging Thoughts"

                                                                                   Available on Artspan

20 x 16 inches on gallery wrap canvas"Dream Boat"

Both paintings were once landscapes that just did not get it for me.  I flipped the paintings upside down and just started brand new ones over them.  Reinventing old art work is so much fun, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Mary

Three in one day

Acrylic and inks

   Today is day 5 of the 30 paintings in 30 days, instead of one I did 3 paintings.  What started as a warm up exercise, ended up with 3 little painting I really like.   I like to sometimes set up a full sheet of watercolor paper, section it off and pick a subject to paint multiple times.  Today I set up a blue vase with some silk tulips and started painting, alternating between inks and acrylic paint.

    Here is the group together...

After I separate and matte these I will be adding them to my Daily Paint Work site.

Mary

Days 3 and 4 of 30 paintings in 30 days

Colorful Cow 1  Acrylic on watercolor paper 10 x 8 inches

                                                                                     

Colorful Cow 2, Acrylic on watercolor paper, 10 x 8 inches

                                                                                              

      These are so much fun to do, Cows of many colors, why not :)

Mary  Schiros  Art

                                                                                

Day 2 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Daisy and Rose"  14 x 11 inches Acrylic

                                                                                          

Day 2, worked with a acrylic paint to make a loose mass of flowers and vase.  Then after letting the acrylic paint dry finished with a liner brush and acrylic inks.  Two done and only 28 more to go.  Should be a fun month:)

Mary