Uncategorized – Page 14

Hang paintings easier. 5 tips

January 22, 2014 by alaskanraven

1) Determine the center of the painting. Hang it so the center is at eye level. This is approximately 60″ from the floor, but make it comfortable for your height. Do this when the paintings will be viewed while standing.
Hang paintings lower where you want to view them while sitting down. It is usually best to keep paintings 6″ above the top of the couch or the chair so no one bumps into them.

2) Worried about hanging a painting on sheet rock and you aren’t going to use the stud? Use a drywall anchor for a screw to hold the painting. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Put a sticky note on the wall below the marking to drill a hole. Fold it in half so it catches the dust from the drill. Or tape a baggie to the wall under multiple holes if you are in the mood to make a bigger mess.

3) It’s easy to use the picture hooks that you simply hammer in. These are more secure than simply putting a nail in the wall. The package will tell you the weight they can safely hold. Use your scale to weigh the painting. Weigh yourself with and without the painting and then do the math.

4) Use two picture hangers when hanging heavy items. Put a piece of masking tape between the two holes and use a level to make them be at the exact same height. Your paintings will never be crooked.

5) Consider breaking the rules! I saw a painting hanging on the wall behind a cabinet. The bottom edge appeared to touch the top of the cabinet and reached all the way to the ceiling. The painting was the width of the cabinet and it made a beautiful bold vertical statement and looked great. Experiment and find innovative ways to display your art.

Enjoy your artwork and don’t worry about the holes in the walls; they can be repaired. It is more important that your house feels like a home and you get refreshed and energized.

I hope my artwork helps you unleash your creativity and fill your home with color and light. Stroll around the gallery at AlaskanRavenStudio.com or visit this gallery.

Add color to your world with ideas from Alaskan Raven Studio. Sign up for the free bimonthly mailing here.

Audacity. Do what you didn’t think was possible

January 12, 2014 by alaskanraven

Audacity. Isn’t that what living is all about? Do it. Be audacious.

Street lamps, sunshine and old buildings make a feast for my eyes. I have wanted to experience this place and have the audacity to paint it. Renoir painted it from a cafe window in the spring of 1872. He sent his brother out to talk with the people in the street to make them stand still for his painting. Monet sat at the same cafe window in the fall of the same year and painted his version.

One hundred and forty one years later, my brother and I walk across the oldest bridge in Paris, Pont Neuf. My first day in Paris. We ate crepes and headed for the Seine. I was oblivious to the people, totally immersed in the sensation of walking on the stone in the shadow of tall street lamps.

My first painting gathered the facts of what I saw but lacked the feeling. How to capture the sensation of actually being on that ancient bridge?

I started again with a bigger brush and larger sheet of Arches watercolor paper.

Swashes of color for the sky. Very wide sidewalk. I hint at the shapes of buildings whispering secrets. Street lamps march to the horizon. I paint the woman walking toward me, but no, she became me and I turn her around. I’m a transparent orange silhouette immersed in my own experience. The world is a kaleidoscope of orange sunshine and blue shadows.

This is what Pont Neuf feels like to me on my first day in the city of light.

Brilliant orange and full of possibilities.

See more paintings in this gallery.

Add color to your world with ideas from Alaskan Raven Studio. Sign up for the free bimonthly mailing here.

Unleash Your Creativity

January 12, 2014 by alaskanraven

Paintings are fun to look at. They evoke all kinds of emotions and help us see our world in different ways.

A painting can be YOUR inspiration
Be on the lookout for paintings that make you want to do YOUR own art. You might express your creativity in baking, gardening, carpentry or even designing rockets.
Whatever your choice of self expression:
1) find paintings that inspire you to create.
2) buy the painting(s)
and
3) put them in a prominent place in your home or office.

Why?
It will put a smile on your face and enthusiasm in your morning routine. Invest in yourself. That is a good investment. Buy art that you like, don’t let others influence your decision. Choose art that speaks to you.

Would you like other ways to jump start your creativity?
-Stop waiting until you feel inspired
-Everyone is creative. That side often gets shut down early in our life. Bring it back to life.
-Play in the “creative sandbox”. There is no right or wrong way.
-Treat yourself kindly.
-Commit fifteen minutes every day. Or make it five minutes if that seems more doable. The point is to spend a few minutes every day focused on your creative passion. If it evolves into more time, bonus. But five minutes every day will evolve into great achievement. I promise.
-Keep it fun and be open to innovation.
-Keep focused on doing it. That is the accomplishment. Give yourself the freedom to not expect to like the final product.
-Celebrate the fact that you simply played. It gets the mind to work.
-Paint wildly!

Find out more about this painting here

Portraits are a Treasure

December 26, 2013 by alaskanraven

It has been several years since I painted portraits. I chose a subject that I knew very well. I put fresh oil paint on the palette and got to work.

Loose brush strokes
I wanted to achieve a likeness but keep the brush strokes loose and lively. I like loose sketchy lines and open areas of canvas. Being able to see the action of brushstrokes makes it feel more fresh and interesting to me.

Composition considerations
The main emphasis is on her eyes. I spaced the other darks in her hair and background to make the eye flow around the composition. I chose colors that complemented her hair and complexion.

Added meaning
I emphasized the earrings because they hold a special memory from her great grandmother.

9"x12" oil painting, "Darcy" — 9″x12″ oil painting, “Darcy”

I loved being able to give her something special for her birthday. She will be able to hand this down to her children.
Future generations will be able to see her beautiful, warm smile in a way that photos can’t capture.

Happy Birthday to my daughter, Darcy!

The making of a rainy day watercolor

September 14, 2012 by alaskanraven

Downpours of rain formed translucent curtains across the valley.
How could those shapes and colors be expressed in a painting?

Dark blue pigment with a touch of orange, then more blue flowed into the fibers of the paper. The wet fibers expanded but held onto the different pigments. Yellow ochre, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, cadmium orange. More water. Clear water softened the edges. Colors were moved back and forth as the brush searched for the right shape and texture. A dry brush picked up pigment and exposed the white paper. Puddles of paint slid into new areas, mixed, spread and made surprising effects. Some puddles were left untouched to change some more before they dried.

THIS IS THE MAGIC OF WATERCOLOR
Work quickly, go after a plan but be aware of what the paint does on it’s own. Evaluate the surprises. The quick change of direction or too long a hesitation will make or break the success of the painting. Paint changes as it dries on the paper but there is time to alter it while it’s still damp. An intentional brush can make an impact if carefully done.

Put a wash of deep pigment onto the paper that appears too dark so it will dry to the right value. This is a continual challenge. If it dries too light, a second wash of color will darken it but put on too many layers and the wash looks dead and uninteresting.

This time, the colors remained interesting when they dried. The colors worked well together and the tree shapes were formed by the pigments intertwining. I left them alone and gambled that they would look ok when they dried. This time they did.

TIME FOR A BREAK
This is one of the most important parts of the painting process. STOP and LET IT BE. Walk away. Do something else. Do this BEFORE you think it is done. BEFORE you have overworked the painting. I know this only because I have overworked MANY paintings. Soften the edges of the washes before you stop so you can come back later and and add to it.
The following painting was stopped. I took a picture of it and left the room.
When I returned I spent some time thinking about it and decided to add the foreground, darken the clouds and make some other small adjustments.

Is it better? You will have to be the judge of that. I like it better. The contrast of the foreground golden trees complements the cool tones of the valley. The darker clouds appear more ominous and capture more of the mood that I was trying to achieve.

You can see more of my paintings in this gallery.