Cecropia Moth - New Painting WIP

I had promised myself to keep up with this blog better but it's sort of like walking and chewing gum at the same time - sometimes difficult to do.  lol  Actually, my hands have been occupied with a paint brush and I really can't type and paint at the same time so I chose to paint. 

A friend of mine happened upon a beautiful Cecropia Moth one evening and took several photos of it which she graciously has allowed me to use as references for this current painting.

The Cecropia Moth is a fascinating creature seemingly created to go from an egg to caterpillar to a moth with a very brief life span only to do it all again.  The following website has some information and videos that explain and even show the process: 

http://lifecycle.onenessbecomesus.com/indepth.html

I'm not very far along in the painting process as I'm using oil for this painting and it usually takes a while for me to paint anyway.  If I use oil, I sometimes have to wait for the paint to firm up to be able to add more paint.

Here is where I am at the moment with lots more to go of course:

The wings are very detailed and seem to have a powdery substance on them which I'm trying to figure out how to paint.  Also, I don't have a detailed drawing for this painting but am just "winging" it, pun intended.  The moth's markings are somewhat complex so it takes a bit of time to figure out where the various markings should be located on the painting.  The beauty of oil paint is that it can either be wiped off fairly easily or painted over if a mistake is made.

I hope to finish this in the next few days.

Genesis Oil Painting

This is another painting with the Genesis Oils as the medium.  The photo above looks a little purple on this computer.  The painting is actually more pinkish which makes it look softer.

As I've said before, I like using the Genesis paints but they're very different from traditional oils.  For one thing, since they don't EVER dry without heat setting them, it's hard to judge how long to leave them in the oven.

I ended up getting one of those heat guns designed for removing wall paper and it works well as you can see what you're doing.  However, it's very tiring to hold the gun long enough to dry the oil.  A large painting would be very difficult.

Back to Painting

I'm sure you thought I had quit blogging altogether but the truth is, we've had some family issues that have occupied our lives and repeated trips to both Florida and Kansas have eaten into much of our time.

Unfortunately, my dear mother in law passed away and although my father is still active, he just had his 92nd birthday.  It's difficult to be so far from family so we do try to visit as much as we can while we still can.

I have been painting and continue to be inspired even though I haven't posted any art in some time.  And even though it's been some time since I've painted regularly in oils, I've done a couple of paintings in them.  And I still flit from one medium to another and have just finished a painting in pastel for a friend.  The colors aren't exact but are mostly ok.

And one of my favorite paintings in oil is the following painting of an owl.

I'm not hugely in love with owls as we have to watch out for hawks and owls when our little dog is outside but I do like this painting because it's much looser than I usually paint.  I also painted it on a floor tile that's about 9 x 12" with a sort of pebbly surface.  The surface really grabbed the paint yet allowed it to flow so I could fade out the feathers on the bottom.

I'll be back to show more of what I've painted in the past few months.