Tag: painting

Fantasy

I write a lot of fantasy fiction. It began when I was in high school. I like fantasy because it’s about what’s not possible. My journey into fantasy didn’t begin with writing, but with art. Fantasy allowed me to explore my imagination—there was no limit to what I could draw. It could get silly at … Continue reading Fantasy

Painting from Memory

This week, I found an old mind-to-hand exercise painting from 1986. I occasionally did mind-to-hand exercise paintings to keep my coordination and reflexes sharp. Instead of painting something in front of me—a still-life, for example—I painted from memory, which is what mind-to-hand exercise painting is. I used acrylic paints because of their quick drying time … Continue reading Painting from Memory

Reminiscing, part 2

I’m still peeking at my old photos when I should be labeling their storage boxes. I can’t help reminiscing when I do. (You can read Part 1 here.) I see old photos of an entrepreneurial boy trying to earn quarters. Quarters were important pieces of silver to us kids because we could buy a long-neck … Continue reading Reminiscing, part 2

Winter’s Coming

November brought some snow to my neck of the woods and the touches of winter put me in a writing mood. Many of my writer friends partook in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) during November, trying to write a 50,000-word first-draft novel by the end of the month. I, on the other hand, worked on … Continue reading Winter’s Coming

A Bit on Writing and Art

With NaNoWriMo in full swing, I’ve been seeing a lot of fiction writers write about plot. I’m a short story writer, but I’ve been through plenty of classes for novelists that teach Aristotle’s 3-act structure of Beginning, Middle, and End, and the popular 4-act structure (which lengthens and halves the Middle section) for novels. I … Continue reading A Bit on Writing and Art

It Began With Watercolors

Like most kids in the U.S., I began my painting experience with a child’s watercolor pan set, also called a box set by my Canadian cousins. Those sets had a small painter’s brush and six blocks of colors bound by gum arabic inside: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Even at the high school … Continue reading It Began With Watercolors

Allow Mistakes

I think sometimes we strive too hard for perfection that when mistakes happen, we’re too hard on ourselves for not achieving perfection. As a wildlife and landscape artist, I learned early on to plan out my paintings to avoid mistakes. My sketchbooks brim with the many plans I used to reduce mistakes in my finished … Continue reading Allow Mistakes

Acrylic Painting: Black Bear At Beaver Dam

This post features the evolution of a black bear I painted in acrylic on canvas in 1989. Enjoy. It began the year before, in 1988. Black bear weren’t common sights around my neck of the woods, but I caught a glimpse of one while I hiked some swampland and stopped to sketch and photograph a … Continue reading Acrylic Painting: Black Bear At Beaver Dam