Hope's Art Journey

        I painted the 6 x6 painting on the right from the photo on the left.  It was a fun little experiment with lots of texture and one of my collectors bought it.  I like the image so much that I wanted to paint a large one, 30 x 30.  However, I knew it would be a challenge to paint the marsh and palm fronds first and then do clouds behind them.  I felt like a large painting should have outstanding clouds and I didn't think I was up to the task of doing it the way the small painting is.  [...]

I have been reading everything I could find on varnishing acrylic paintings.  The reason is that I have a couple with varnish that shows streaks.  Now, isn't that lovely on a large painting?  Especially when it looks ok in certain lights but when I put them over my couch, I see streaks.  The other reason is that I am in a mode where I am examining paintings that have not sold to determine whether they can be improved or whether they need to be trashed.  The problem is that removing varnish is done by soaking the painting with ammonia.  It is [...]

I just picked up work at two shows and I am looking at all kind of papers I have printed out in reference to marketing and website improvement.  Not my favorite activity.   I have a new supply of canvasses that I am making plans to create in series.  So, I have spent the last few days going through photos of scenes that appeal to me.  My process is to look at photos and lay matboard or the underside of other photos across the image until I find a satisfactory composition.  Then, I measure the area and start working with my proportion wheel to [...]