Sketching.....

Dryad painting walkthrough

I took photos of my process. Here is a walkthrough-

Materials used:

Strathmore mixed media paper, pencil,watercolor, colored pencils, acrylic ink(brown), brush tip marker, and a tiny bit of white acrylic.

I started with a basic sketch of the face. I did not add much hair or the branches. I wanted the paint to do the work there.

I then began to add light washes. I believe I used yellow ochre for the hair ans skin, and brown for the branches. I used a wash of rose madder on the nose, cheeks, lips and any parts of the face that would be ‘rosy’. I used a blue wash for the sky and the shadows on the face and neck.

I continued to add color to the hair. I chose a reddish brown. I filled in the iris of the eye. I did not worry about painting around the pupil, since I was going to color it in with a dark color later. I noticed that the brown on the branches was washing away as I painted, (My first time using this paper) so I simply wiped it away with a damp cloth. I used a small brush and some brown ink to define them instead. It worked well. I also used a bigger brush and used the brown ink in the hair. I used colored pencils to add detail and wildness to the hair.

I got out my brush tipped marker and filled in the pupil and lined the top eyelid and added more wild hair and loosely outlined some of the branches. I used the colored pencils to shade the details of the face and neck and added a couple of tattoos. I used pinks and browns. I then used white acrylic to make the shines in the eyes and.a reflection on the bottom lip.

I finished up using more colored pencils just to darken the rosy bits and the shadows. I drew eyelashes to accentuate her eyes

And here is the final product- scanned and available in my Etsy shop.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlutterblissArt

Feel free to leave comments or questions for me. 

The fox and the snow

Yesterday I woke up to snow. Lots of it, which was perfectly fine with me. I love hanging out in my PJs with nowhere to go. Until I realized I needed to go grocery shopping. Until the toilet clogged and no plunger was to be found. It was time to drive to get supplies. Anyone who has lived with snow is probably well versed in the snow dance. First you bundle up, sweep(literally) the snow off of the car, scrape the windows, warm up the car, all without trying to freeze yourself. So I did that. Then there was the driving part. That was an adventure. No one can see the lines on the road under the snow, so it is kind of a free for all. I also know now, that when the snow is slushy from all the traffic, to drive about 20 miles an hour and that it is ok if everyone passes me. I take comfort in knowing that if I wreck it will not be my doing. I like the cold. The snow is just so new to me. I have lived in Florida for twenty something years and I have always known that I preferred the cold weather to the sticky, sweaty, humid Florida. Although, I do miss all my friends there.

I also did some painting yesterday. This is my second attempt at painting a fox. I didn’t get very far on the first one. It was a very rigid looking fox and looked very forced. It will be gessoed for a future painting. This is the one that I finished



“Fox in the evening”

11inx14in

acrylic on canvas

for sale.

To see what other things I am working on visit my facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HollyBroxson.Art

So, I just have to say sometimes life is uncanny or strange or any of those kinds of descriptions. Is there such a thing as fate? Do we really see signs of what is or what is to come? I have no idea. I only know that I got this fortune in my fortune cookie last night. And for a moment I was excited by the idea that it could be true:


I know it is just a factory printed fortune in a factory made cookie, but the odds that I, a self-representing artist, could get that fortune is pretty cool. And a little inspiring.

I also had the pleasure of playing with some pics on my asus memo pad, grand machine that it is.This is one of the ones that I did. A little disturbing, but fun nevertheless.



It is a pic of my face, distorted by a fisheye filter- then painted up like a scary carnival clown. Fun, isn’t it?

Thanksgiving and the Dragon.

I spent most of Thanksgiving resting. Since I am in Colorado and so far from my family, we just had a peaceful day at home. I did work on this, however.

I have sketched dragons in the past, but i have never actually painted one. I think there will be many dragons in my future.

This is a photo of the painting and it is for sale. As soon as I get a good scan, I will have prints available in my Etsy shop. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlutterblissArt

https://www.facebook.com/HollyBroxson.Art

email: flutterbliss@gmail.com

How to get dried paint out of your paintbrushes tutorial

Today I would like to share how I clean and how I have saved some of my brushes. I have seen artists destroy paint bushes just by letting paint dry in the bristles. Some brushes are very inexpensive, but the cost can add up after a while. Some brushes are very expensive and it can be a tragedy when they get ruined by dry paint. What I usually do is clean them right after I use them, but on occasion they need to be deep cleaned or I have let the paint dry on them (shame on me!).

This is what you will need to start- murphy oil soap(available at most dollar, grocery, and big box stores), a clean jar, some cling wrap, and dirty paint brush

1. pour a small amount of the murphy oil soap into the jar.

2. Work the soap into the bristles gently against the bottom of the jar.

Optional: sometimes if there is a lot of dried paint, the brush will need to be wrapped in cling wrap so it can soak and the soap won’t dry. It can be left to soak for 30 minutes up to overnight. a ziplock back can be used if wrap isn’t available

3. Work the brush gently in the palm of your hand. You can use your fingers and nails to loosen stubborn paint.

4. Rinse the brush really well with cool water. If the brush still has dried paint in it. repeat process.

After I get the paint out. I like to follow up with a little ivory bar soap. It is so cheap and does a great job cleaning, conditioning, and shaping brushes.

This method can be used with oil paint and acrylic paint. I have even gotten dried paint out of my clothes with the murphy oil soap. I hope this helps!

Hares are finished!

It was cold and snowing this morning and I had to run errands. I did finish the hares, though. It is still untitled, but I wanna show it anyway. This painting is for sale and I will have prints up on etsy just as soon as I get this baby scanned. 

This photo is a bit truer to the original than the pics in my previous posts. I just found my camera from the move.