Catching up!

I knew I needed to get caught up here but I didn't realize I hadn't posted since October. Most of what I have painted since then has been for the monthly challenges on wetcanvas. If you ever have trouble getting motivated to do something, try to find a good challenge group. I find having an objective and a deadline can help me get started.

The theme for the acrylic challenge in October was autumn. I painted this view from the hydro line in the Duck Mountains. In the distance you can see the grain elevator in my home town. 14x11"

The fantasy/sci-fi challenge was Halloween and I painted this dragon carving a pumpkin. I believe I used Procreate on iPad for this. It still needs some work.

The November acrylic challenge was to paint something inspired by the Hudson River School. They often painted grand landscapes with a lot of distance framed by strong verticals. I wanted to use one of my own references and chose this scene. I don't think I really captured the feel of the Hudson River paintings though but then I also made it more challenging by painting it very small, 2.5x3.5".

I did another digital painting for Resource Factory Tycoon. This was a limited time painting available in the game in December.

In December I took part in a gift exchange in the fantasy/sci-fi forum. Names were drawn randomly and I painted this for a guy who had been a member in both the sci-fi/fantasy and the acrylic forums for some time. While thinking about what to paint for him I thought of a painting he had started of a lady in front of a swimming pool. I thought he might enjoy my version of  a lady by a pool. This was done in acrylics, 7x5".

In January the challenge in both forums was to paint something inspired by a song. I didn't come up with something that would really fit the fantasy/sci-fi forum but I did do something in acrylics, just a little 4x4" painting for fun. Can you figure out what the song was?

If you haven't guessed, keep reading. And yes, I own sparkly gold shoes.

The February acrylic challenge was fun with vegetables. Something made me decide to paint an owl made of fruits and vegetables. 5x7"

In March I did two challenges. The acrylic challenge was to paint something based on your favourite quote. I thought of something Monet said... I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
10x8"

The fantasy/sci-fi challenge was to paint your true self. This is me, head in the clouds and clouds in my head. Done with Painter 2017.

In April I was doing some beadwork, trying to make beaded eggs. It was difficult because it's hard to find instructions in English and everyone else uses slightly bigger beads than I have. I just wanted to try it out though. The first one really took a long time.

This one was quicker but I ended up covering an egg with clay to make the design fit. 

Also did a quick sketch for the fantasy/sci-fi challenge, which was historical monsters. I prefer to do something cute so I drew Cerberus as a puppy.

And this month I did both challenges. The theme for the fantasy/sci-fi challenge was nature. I have been playing a game on Roblox called Fantastic Frontier which has some interesting plants, usually quite blocky in shape, and I thought it would be fun to try to paint some of the mushrooms in the game in a more realistic shape. Done with Painter 2017.

The acrylic challenge theme was Vermeer. After someone found a painting of a meerkat with a pearl earring I got my inspiration.. Dachshund With a Pearl Earring. I used my dog Diamond as the model. The hardest part was getting her to post just right. After many tries I finally got a decent reference but she was looking away so I had to make some adjustments to the eyes. This is 3.5" square.

This is how it looks in the frame.

Oh, and the song was Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes by Paul Simon.

X-wing Box

This was done in August, again in response to online challenges. This time I was able to combine two into one. A fantasy/sci-fi challenge was the theme of technology. An acrylic challenge was to choose an art movement that we like. As I looked through the long list of movements, I saw space was one, which went perfectly with my idea. I used a photo of a nebula as inspiration for the background and the x-wing was my son's choice since I was I painting the box for him. It was also a fitting subject because this year my son and I watched all the Star Wars movies and the Clone Wars together. He was six at the time and it was his first time watching them.

This month I painted a picture for one of my favourite Roblox games, The Resource Factory Tycoon. The game has a painting factory and I asked the creator if he would add one of my paintings and he agreed. Then I decided to paint one especially for the game based on a scene in it. This one was done in Painter 2017.

Here I am all dressed up for Halloween with my painting in the background.

More Challenges from June and July

I took part in one challenge in June where the theme was based on the old wedding verse:

Something old, something new
something borrowed, something blue

We didn't have to incorporate every part of it into the painting but I thought it would be more interesting to try. After some thinking I came up with this - the old pyramids painted to look new with a borrowed business cat (aka Sir Meowsalot) and a blue sky, and some blue on the sphinx as well. I created this with Painter and printed it and gave it to my son who loves Roblox and YouTuber Denis Daily. I kept it pretty simple because digital paintings always take so long for me, and I also moved a pyramid to make it fit my vision.

In July I took part in two challenges. An acrylic challenge was to paint a bucolic landscape with our non-dominant  hand. It wasn't too bad but I wouldn't want to do that again. I also recorded as I painted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXnVN6qQf5k

The fantasy/scifi challenge theme was magic. While thinking about it and looking through my reference photos, I thought weddings can be magical, especially when the reception is decorated in a Gothic/Victorian style. I used a photo I took of the head table as a reference and painted this in acrylic on a 14x11" canvas.

RPG Themed Shadowbox

It has been a long time since I last posted. I'll admit to not being very productive over the past year, though I have done some painting and crafting. Some of it was just for fun and some I will get around to posting online eventually.

I was also working on this project on and off and it is finally finished. It all started with the blue bottle charm which made me think of potions in video games. The idea grew to create something around that theme. When I found a set of old cake pans at a yard sale it didn't take me long to realize they were just what I needed for this project.

This is not based on any specific game but I will say my biggest influences would be Final Fantasy and Blade of Darkness. If you play these types of games you will recognize many aspects of them in this piece. I especially wanted to focus on the exploring and finding things that help you in the game... weapons, armour, potions... and the excitement of finding a new place and doors that open.

There is a mixture of handmade and bought elements in this. The backgrounds of the larger boxes are acrylic paintings and the smallest is simply painted to look like wood grain. There are some handmade polymer clay items; the decoration on the side, treasure chest which opens and has glass jewels inside, sword, shield, round and oval decorations, bricks, stones, apple, candle, and a small silver box. The book is also handmade and can be opened. And then there are some resin pieces, charms, beads, and fabric flowers.

Blue Sky Over Golden Field Commission!

I was recently commissioned to do a painting for the new funeral chapel in Dauphin, Manitoba. I was asked to do a blue sky over a golden wheat field with the Duck Mountains in the background and a little Ukrainian church near the horizon. And in case you don't recognize it, this is meant to represent the Ukrainian flag. It is 4 x 2 feet, a lot bigger than what I normally do! I was a little worried at first but it wasn't too bad, just a lot of repetition. I don't want to look at wheat again for a while.

The client finally saw it in person today and was very happy with it, actually, if I may say, used the words "breathtaking" and "mesmerized". After a long time of little success this is really a thrill for me. Thank you Joe for this amazing opportunity!

A close up:

I will post again when the painting on display.

Frost

It's surprising how many hours it took just to paint the leaves for this, but I got it done, and combined them with more painting, beadwork, and some microbeads to create this frosty picture.

 Here's a close up:

Halloween 2015

I almost forgot to post my latest art journal page. The idea for this first came from wetcanvas.com where the theme for the Different Strokes in October project was masks. I printed mask templates on card stock and cut them out and painted scenes on them, then finished the edges with black embossing powder. The journal pages were painted with yellow, orange, violet, ultramarine, and a little black around the edges. The blue is much darker than it looks in the picture. Then I painted a simple spider on a web and did a little stamping and pasted the masks on. This was all done rather quickly and I saw too late that the angle on one mask is a little off.

Cochin Lighthouse

One day, quite a few years ago, as we were travelling through Saskatchewan, we saw a lighthouse. Yes, a lighthouse in Saskatchewan. So of course we stopped to take a picture and I knew I would paint it eventually. Then last month at wetcanvas.com the theme for the Different Strokes project was lighthouses, the perfect time for this reference. Also, my photo had a very plain sky so I thought it was a good time to go into my stash of sky photos. It turns out that you can't have too many sky photos, but I did find a couple that were suitable and finally decided on the one with the big billowy clouds. I'm happy with my choice.

This is available for purchase on my site.
http://www.mkmcreations.com/cochinlighthouse.html

September Art Journal Page

This has been a big month for us because our son has started kindergarten! He never went to nursery school and really never went anywhere without us or my parents, so it has been a big change for him. And strange for me to not be someplace with him and seeing all that he does. I do enjoy the extra quiet time though, and with him still going my mom's house on some of the days he's not in school, you would think that I should have lots of creative time, but no! This month has zoomed by faster than ever. I did get a little done though, a painting that I still need to photograph, and a page in my art journal.

This month I was thinking about fall and books. I used some soft pastels to create a border around the journal pages. Then on pieces of poster board that I taped down at the corners I used some watered down paint to create a mottled background. I tore some pieces from my favourite book catalogue, Hampstead House, and glued them on and toned them down with paint. Then I outlined some leaves with bronze Plaid dimensional paint, doing a few at time and letting them dry. Then I coloured the inside by putting down some glazing medium and brushing on mica powders. Then I covered the leaves with Glossy Accents. Next I painted the books with Derwent Graphik pens and added a little white paint around the leaves with a brush. I glued the pieces into the journal with gel medium, which is supposed to work well for that but I still got some ripples behind one of them. The final touch was adding little bronze leaves in the corners with dimensional paint.

Red peony and my first fairy door

This month I hosted the Different Strokes project at wetcanvas.com and the theme I chose was flowers and they had to be close up, or macro, shots. For my own painting I used a photo I took in my mom's friend's yard as a reference and painted it on a wooden plaque. The total size is about 11.25x8.5" at the longest.

I also made a time lapse video of the painting.
https://youtu.be/hrlAvzD-s48

I also just made my first fairy door for a gift for my aunt. I used polymer clay and a few beads and charms.

My First Mixed Media Canvas

The nail polish picture is painted with acrylics on a 10x8" canvas and then I added texture around it with stencils and modelling paste and also just paint. Then I started adding things like metal flowers, painted fabric flowers, buttons, resin pieces with the actual nail polish in them, a watch face, a mirror pendant, and some beads. Then I decorated a 14x11" wrapped canvas and put the 10x8 canvas board inside the back of it to frame it. It took quite a few days to put it all together.

I also recently finished a digital painting of a polar bear. Prints are available on Fine Art America and Pixels.com. This is one of the polar bears that live in the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg and his name is Storm.

http://pixels.com/featured/polar-bear-michelle-moroz-chymy.html

Art Journal Page 2

This month for the Different Strokes Project at wetcanvas.com the theme was Canadian post impressionism, in other words, Group of Seven type stuff. This was my attempt. I tried to use bold colours and brush strokes but not sure if this really makes me think Group of Seven. Maybe more like Clarence Gagnon, who was also painting at the time.

The painting is only ATC size, 2.5 x 3.5 inches.

Then I added it to my latest art journal page. The background is all acrylic paint. Since this is just for fun and I was trying to do it quickly, it's not as refined as I would normally paint, but I would like to try something like this again in a more serious format. I tried painting some frost and a realistic snowflake, and the swirls were made with a stamp. Plus, there are paper snowflakes and the others are made with home made modelling paste used through a brass bookmark that has a snowflake design cut into it. I also put some of the modelling paste around the little painting. And then there is a little touch of glitter nail polish. The writing is done with a Derwent Graphik pen. I wonder how many Canadians recognize the song title.

My next journal will have thicker paper.

Wagon Wheels

This was inspired by a group project at wetcanvas.com where the theme was wheels of any kind. Someone mentioned these Wagon Wheels and I happened to have some in my cupboard. This is 7x5" on acrylic paper.

Christmas is over

I can finally say I am all done with Christmas projects. One was to repaint this Christmas countdown I made years ago. I had first coloured it with pencil crayons but wasn't very happy with it. I gave it a couple of coats of clear gesso, sanded it a bit because it was gritty, then painted over it with acrylic paint and Derwent Graphik pens.

Before:

After:

The before picture shows just one window flipped and the other one shows them all flipped. Some of those little images were really challenging, the squares are only 1 1/4".

The fabric on my rocking chair seat was really falling apart so I did some sewing. I didn't have enough of anything so I used two different fabrics and just did the seat and back.

Painted Key Rack

I purchased a wooden key rack and wanted to decorate it. I decided to try something that I thought about a long time ago using metallic paints and outlining with black pens. The design was inspired by some decoupage paper.

This was fun to do and I think I want to more like it on some wooden plaques. The wood really seems to bring out the sparkle in the paint.

Carved Bowl painting

I decided to take out my acrylics again and paint this picture from I photo I took at the Negrych Homestead museum. This was in the men's bunkhouse. The scene outside the window was so overexposed in my photo that it was nearly all white, so I had to improvise on that.

http://www.mkmcreations.com/forsale.html


I haven't been doing as much beading lately, too busy with gardening and stuff. But I did just finish a bracelet and started on a matching pair of earrings. I hope to get them posted soon.

Busy beading

One downside to beading is that it can take so long to make something, especially if you're trying to come up with your own designs. A few times I have nearly finished something and realized it would not work and took it all apart again. One thing I was trying was to create a doughnut shape without copying someone else, and after a few tries I finally got one to work. This has chocolate cherry seed beads, iridescent clear beads, and fluted purple beads.

I made these earring just because I think these green beads are really cute, so tiny and nicely faceted.

This beaded ball design is from a book, Crystal Play by Anna Elizabeth Dreager, but I used round faceted beads instead of bicones, which I think made it a little bumpier, but I still like it. I used the same design for the earrings. Red and black beads with gunmetal seed beads, which look really light because they reflect so much.

I also managed a small painting for the Different Strokes Project at wetcanvas.com. The theme this month was indulgence, and I went with sweets and beads! It was hard to concentrate on this though because I kept wanting to get back to beading. I think I will indulge in beading for a least a few more days, and then get back to painting more.
Ferrero and Beads, 6x4" on acrylic paper.