"Up Seems So Down" Album Cover- Part 2

 I worked on the album cover some more today.  I decided to change the font, so I took the words out for now and made the sky a darker red for more contrast with the moon.  I also added some trees to make the landscape more obvious. Pine trees have an obvious direction, almost like arrows, so I think they work best for this kind of alternate up idea.

 

Here it is after I played with some fonts on PhotoScape.  I love the double image.  

Small Butterfly Series - Red Butterfly

I started another butterfly today.  You can see the other two I will be doing in the first picture.  I don't know what the name of this butterfly is but I love the brilliant red color.  The canvas is 8"x10".  It will go with the blue butterfly I did last week.  

 

Here is the finished painting.  I still may lighten the red in the upper wings a bit.  I think it may be too dark.

Below is the final version.  I just did a little bit of subtle tweaking. 

Huge Sunset Moth Painting

I love this moth.  It's like painting a rainbow...just so pretty.  I started on it today.  I will take lots of progress pics since it is so huge (36" x 36").

 

I worked on it some more and added the stripes and dots.  I noticed that the spots are not identical on each side like other butterflies.  

  

 I did some more work on this today.  I am hoping to finish it today so I can bring it to the show tomorrow.  Gotta love acrylics.  If this were oil I wouldn't be able to move it for weeks.

Blue Butterfly

I started on a new butterfly today.  I really like this one. It came together very quickly.  I kept the brush strokes light and blended as I painted. Letting some of the underpainting show through as I worked.  Butterflies just make me happy.  They are so cheerful and colorful.

 Here it is finished.  If you look carefully you can see where I adjusted some of the white spots on the left and brought the top right wing up a little.  I love this little 8"x10" painting so much that I am going to do two more to make a set.

Redwood Tree

 

I took this photo while in California this January.  I decided it would make an interesting painting.  I started on it today.  I need to work on the perspective a bit more.  The canvas is 24" x 48". 

I changed the tree quite a bit today.  I wanted a looser, Impressionist feel to it, and I added blue and purple tones to give a more shadowed look.  I also adjusted the width of the tree in places.  I may add just a few more changes, but I like it much better now.

 

I worked on the painting some more today.  Added some highlights to the trunk to make it pop a bit.

  

Here is a closeup.

Landscape Commission

I have been commissioned by a good friend to do a large 36"x48" painting of the Ozark.  It will have a large tree overlapping the mountains.  I am almost done with the background.  I may play with the shading on the hills a bit more.  Once I put the tree in I won't be able to adjust the mountains as easily so I want to be sure they are just right.  I actually started it by covering the canvas in raw sienna.  It leaves a beautiful cast to the sky and hills where it's visible.

I added the foreground trees today.  I will do some more detail in the leaves, but the basic bones are there now.  

 

 I added some more highlights to the foreground tree today.  Also added some detail to the yellow trees in foreground.   I'm still not completely happy with them but I'm liking the red tree. 

 

I worked on the lower foreground trees today and decided to bring them down to show more of the green hill.  It was feeling a bit crowded at the bottom of the canvas.  I like this much better. 

New Commissioned Paintings

Here is my initial sketch for the two 36"x48" canvases. I will be using the top sketch. The other canvas hasn't been started yet.


This is the top sketch set on it's side and cropped. I decided to add more flowers when I chalked it in on the canvas. I prepped the canvas with a grey base coat. It will add depth when I do the lighter colors on top. I will leave some of it showing around the flowers and leaves.


Here the flowers and leaves have been roughed in. I have started to go around them with creamy white. I will add more washes of color on top of the white later. And also add more highlights and shading to the flowers and leaves. I also enlarged the red tulip so it would point more towards the left of the canvas and not straight down. It seemed too similar to the smaller coral tulip to the right of the yellow flower. And I added a couple more leaves.



The client likes the art of Kim Parker so I am doing homage to her style with these two paintings. I am loving the colors and loose brush strokes.

I have decided since the client is going to hang this horizontally that I need to do a bit of editing to make the painting's composition more balanced. First of all, I am going to remove the sunflower closest to the edge of the canvas. Did a little photo editing below.

Here is today's progress (below). Colors are still needing to be tweaked. I think I like the basic shapes now. I changed some of the flowers today to balance the composition. And I added some more leaves and stems. I will probably start on the other painting Monday and then do the final touches on both of them at the same time.


Here are the two finished paintings. Several changes were made as the paintings progressed. The painting on the bottom here is the one shown above in the other photos.

More Butterflies in Progress

Here are my next two butterfly paintings. I'm excited about all the colors in these. They are a clipper (top) and a sunset moth (bottom). I know, I know, a moth is not a butterfly, but I can't resist the colors!!
Here is the finished Clipper. It is for sale at the ASI Gallery in Little Rock.