More silhouettes

More silhouettes! I'm on a rollll. I'll also be working on some custom orders today.
You can pre-order my Boat Hat, Antlers & Teapot Hat pieces on my Etsy now. I'll be making them as they are ordered.

This one is for sale here.

(sold)

(sold)

The Garden

The Garden - 21" x 24", oil, ink & watercolor pencil on Maple
click image to see it larger

The last piece in the series of tattooed ladies. Although I seem to have become strangely addicted to the tattoos  so I don't think this series has ended. I suppose I would call this more of a phase than a series.

 I consider this piece to be the best work that I've ever done. This feeling is a little daunting though.  In a perfect world, I would think that each new piece should be better than the last, but instead I feel like I just get lucky. Since I did these three paintings relatively quickly, I have learned from each piece vital things that I have carried in to the next. My previous piece, Eternal Summer, I wasn't entirely satisfied with how the skin turned out, as I found it difficult to use the oils on top of the primer. For this piece, as an experiment I applied the GAC 100 everywhere but the skin portion: 

I love the way the raw wood soaks up the oils; it makes them dry much quicker that way. I also paint in very thin layers and use linseed oil, which also aids in a faster drying time. The quicker the oil dries, the quicker I get to draw the tattoos! 

As you may know, I am usually the model for my paintings. I find that this way I have the most control over the direction of the piece, and I also don't feel any weird pressure to make it look like anyone specific. I don't try and make my ladies look like me, though sometimes it's kind of inevitable. This time around, I wanted to make her face very different from the others, so I did. She's modeled after Lara Stone, whom I adore.

The butterfly tattoo in her early stages. That afternoon the sunlight joined me through the blinds and warmed my hands.


  

Anyway, I'm strange. I work really quickly and sometimes I think I need to slow down. If I spend more than two weeks on a piece I seem to lose inspiration and I wont work on it any longer. I'm a maniac and will paint nonstop if I have to, while the window of inspiration is still open. If I wait too long, my mind and heart wander to other ideas, other patterns, figures, shapes..
Oils and I have rekindled our romance and I think I'm going to continue this love affair. I have many projects that I do need to be working on, but I'm tempted to just glue myself to my easel and not resurface for a week. Alright, so not the best idea.

xo,
C

NAUTICA

She's all done, for the moment. Minor tweaking is inevitable.

click to see it larger 

24" x 30" oil, watercolor pencil & ink on wood

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Here's a song for you to listen to while I go in to far too much detail about my painting process:

The Innocence Mission - Rain (Setting Out in the Leaf Boat)

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Finished her up yesterday. I'm a big fan of the size, it's a little larger than my normal oil paintings, but still manageable. I had a lot of fun playing with nautical elements, as that world fascinates me so much. The mermaid tattoo is inspired by art nouveau designs. The quote says "fair winds and following seas", which is a traditional mariner's phrase, it's like a farewell/blessing. It gives me chills a little bit.

Throughout the painting process I go through many emotional ups and downs. Mostly switching from "this isn't working, you've lost your touch, Charmaine" and "you know you'll get it eventually, just keep at it". Well, eventually it gets to a point that I'm comfortable with and I take it to the next step.

Here's a little bit about my painting process: the longest part for me is the conceptualizing. I spend a lot of time on the computer sketching in Photoshop, playing with colors and themes. Since I work from photo references I generally draw on top of the photos so I can change the hairstyles, clothing (or no clothing), etc. Once I feel good about the image I'll start sketching it on the wood. Even though my paintings are highly planned out, I leave a lot of room for changes and improvising.

After I'm happy with the pencil sketch, I start with the skin. I guess you could consider my technique more like "finger painting". I like to blend the colors together with my fingers, I find it's a much smoother result than using a brush. (My flesh color palette consists of Yellow Ochre, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Titanium White and Ultramarine Blue.)

Once I am satisfied with the skin, I start the hair (my favorite part). I start by blocking in most of the color and shape with flat black oil paint. Once the black dries a bit, I bust out my India ink and draw in individual strands, just to give it more life.

The tattoos are predominately black watercolor pencil. I know, water and oil don't mix, but somehow the pencil works great on top of the oil paint (once it has dried a little bit). To get the color hues, I mix a lot of paint thinner with the oil so it's nice and transparent. I suppose some linseed oil would work too. If I feel like it needs more definition then I'll go in with my ink to get some darker lines. 

For the blue halo, I was in a bit of a predicament. I felt like it really needed it and I wasn't going to be happy if it wasn't there, but it's difficult to get a smooth and even color when painting with thinned-down paint directly on the wood, as it soaks in so quickly. Then I found an old bottle of Bleached Linseed Oil buried in the depths of my art drawers. It adds a nice gloss and transparency to the oil, which made it really easy to use directly on the wood. It's also thin enough where I could paint directly on top of the hair to get the blue behind it.

Anyway. Yeah. It works wonders. I wish I had used it for the skin! I'm going to experiment with it on my next painting that I'm starting tomorrow. Yes, more tattooed ladies coming up!

Well, thanks for looking, hope you like her.

xo

C

floral birds part II

8" x 10" Watercolor & ink 

Last night I was doodling and couldn't help drawing more flowery birds! One of my shows coming up is garden themed, so I thought this would fit.  I love combining patterns and mediums, kind of like a drawn collage. I'm working on a little floral fox right now, which I can't wait to show you. I'm totally hooked on drawing with watercolors! It was especially enjoyable last night; drawing, listening to some old music that made me feel really nostalgic, sipping on some green tea matcha and a kitten snoozing on my lap. Although, kitten has been a little psycho lately. He likes climbing up Joe's back while he's working, so now has all these little red dots from kitten claws. Awww. But I did give Joey a haircut the other day.
Muahaha. Clippers are fun.

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 Also.. Thank you all so much for your sweet comments on my Facebook giveaway drawing. And it's not too late to participate! Here is the link to the drawing, just leave a little comment and then I'll be randomly selecting a name and announcing the winner tomorrow morning (PST), so stay tuned!.

Thank you for being such sweethearts, it's really encouraging and you all keep me so inspired!
I really wish I could give each and every one of you a drawing.

Happy 4th of July! Alright, I'll stop blogging now, time to BBQ!
xoxo,
Charmaine

summer lovin'

sunny sunshine.

Oh, and we got a kitten today! Oh my goodness, he is the most adorable thing ever. Expect a ridiculously long kitten photo post tomorrow. Like whoa.

SKULL SQUARE

eeeeeeee! little skull flowers!

8" x 8" - Watercolor on Canson watercolor paper

(click image to see it larger )

This little guy is my favorite.

And no, I haven't forgotten about my 50 States series. I've just gotten a little distracted with my newfound love for watercolors and teeny skulls. 

more flowers + upcoming shows

Wow, I am seriously on a flower kick right now.

watercolor and india ink on Canson watercolor paper

Here's a little preview of something I'm working on. 

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I also have two upcoming solo shows in SF. One in July and one in September, more details soon!
I hope your holiday weekend was lovely, the sun showed it's face for a day or so, and now it's back to the feeling like it's November. Drat.

flower balloon and a pretty song

A flowery hot air balloon, for your warm summer days.

Here, listen. I'm so in love with this song:

Anna - Taken By Trees

Flowers + Quilts

Progress shot

I am falling in love more and more with watercolors.

flowers and a teapot

TEAPOT!
I think I've decided to leave it black and white, although I do like the idea of a pale green teapot and light yellow flowers. What do you think?

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And thanks for the feature, 40fakes!