Thursday, June 27, 2013

Rhythm 'n' Blues WIP 2

I'm slowly working my way down the saxophone. Its taking a while to paint in all the keys and levers. There was a sense of achievement when I got down below the first hand though. 


I still have the golden wash to glaze over on the area immediately adjacent to and slightly below the hand so this area still looks a little orangy red at the moment. This will be my next step and then I can continue on down towards the second hand. 

Ona

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

June's Tip of the Month...Painting Fur

I have had many e mails over the last few months asking me how I paint the fur on my Teds so for my June tip of the month here is a simple exercise to teach you one easy way to paint fur.

Please feel free to try the step by step below. 
The usual copyright rules do not apply to this exercise

 Painting a furry Cube


 Paint in washes of color on the cube. I have used quin red, quin gold and ultramarine blue for my cube but you can use any colours you would like. Apply a wash wet on damp on one side of the cube. Don't worry about getting a uniform covering. Once it is dry repeat this step on the other two sides.


Using a fine brush and moderately juicy paint, begin painting in the fur. Begin at the bottom of each section and work backwards following the direction of the fur. Unlike cotton like material, the fibers do not go neatly in one direction, so you can be haphazard with your brush as long as the general direction is similar.


 The effect of the fur develops with layering, so gradually add more layers with slightly different tones of paint or using a very similar pigment, e.g, for the red I used quin red and perylene maroon, for the blue, I used French Ultramarine blue and an indanthrene/ ultramarine violet mix. You can wash over the fur with a clear wash of water between layers to soften the look. Just make sure you really let the paper dry before adding the next layer of fur.


Repeat with each side of the cube...



...until you have finished


Happy Painting!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Rhythm 'n' blues WIP1

I'm working on a portrait at the moment of my husband James. I've painted my children several times but James mostly likes to hide behind the camera so until recently I didn't have a photo to work from. I must say its far easier when James can help me with the reference photo from behind the camera instead of in front but we managed.

James has always loved music,  it was also through music that we both met so it seemed fitting to paint him with a musical theme. I am still working on his beard and have a lot of work on to do on his hair but his face is beginning to take shape...and yes I do use a tiny brush for a lot of the detail.


The painting is still in its early stages and the camera is struggling a bit with the blues and lylacs in the background.  Hopefully it will get easier to get a good photo as more colour and detail gets added.

Ona

Sunday, June 16, 2013

TWSA Celebration weekend 2013

I've just got back home after attending the TWSA Celebration weekend in Kenosha Winsconsin. It was an amazing weekend filled with spectacular artwork, awesome artists and much laughter and fun.

Here are just a couple photos of the event for you.

Me beside my award winning painting 'Bookworm Breakfast'


Me, with Frank Eber and Chris Beck


The Art Colony Girls: Mary Jansen, Marilyn Wear, Kaaren Oreck, Chris Beck, Jane Freeman, me and  Chihiro Yabe


Having fun together


All the attending exhibiting Artists


Thank you to TWSA for organising such an awesome weekend.

Ona

Saturday, June 8, 2013

www.onak.ca is now updated!

Over the last week I've been busy updating my website www.onak.ca.


All my paintings are now grouped into galleries. Visit the main gallery page by clicking on Galleries in the tool bar on the left of the screen to easily view them. Here is a screen shot of just the first few galleries.


 You can then click on the gallery of your choice to see an overview of the paintings in that gallery.

In the picture below you can see the first few watercolours on my Family life gallery page


From here you can then click on either the pictures or titles to go to the individual painting pages where you can read about each painting and find information about the price and shipping.


Hope you enjoy looking at all the different galleries. Don't forget to have a look at the new Open Edition Prints page and Card Shop too. Lots of great gift ideas here for yourselves and well as your friends :)

Let me know what you think.

Ona

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Distort-Ted

I don't know if you all do the same but when I'm setting up a still life I tend to 'live with it' for a day or two, changing things until I'm happy with it... well I came back to it one time and found that my Ted's who live in my studio had 'found' my set up :)

The distortion in the glass certainly provided amusement for these curious Ted's. Hope it does for you too.

                                                   Transparent Watercolour13.5 by 25 inches

Congratulations to Mary for guessing the correct number of Ted's in the painting. A card will be on it's way to you tomorrow.

 Ona

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Distort-Ted WIP 4

Several of you have e mailed asking for an update so you can see what was behind the orange glass that I was painting in the last post I made. Thank you all for your interest.  I hope you like little Distort-Ted...


 ...He makes my husband and I smile each time we look at him with his tiny paws poking out of the sides of the glass and his face peering through at us.

 I am now working on the next Ted who will be investigating the glass bowl in front of him. Any guesses what he is doing?

Ona