Outhouse oil painting

This subject is a bit different. 😄

My wife likes outhouses... not using them, but as a whimsical novelty. So I painted one for her. This wouldn't be any different than painting a barn, cabin, or other structure. I started with masking off a birch tree for later and painted the underlay of the outhouse with black/white acrylics. His takes some time. But detail in this early stage is important for the final product. Below is the canvas prior to oil paint steps.

Then I masked the outhouse after it dried. I used fast flow white as a base medium and started with the sky using ultramarine blue. The trees were added using a 1" texture brush. I varied the colors and values to give depth. Next came the grass area. I peeled back the birch tree masking tape and the completed that part. The final aspect was removing the masking from the outhouse. All I needed to do at this point was scrub on a clear glaze medium to the outhouse and lightly brush in a transparent brown. The brown was achieved using burnt sienna and a bit of ivory black. Again, keeping it very transparent I brushed it on to give the wood color but saving the undertones that give it age. That's it. It was a fun painting that will be put in our bathroom. Because, even bathrooms need a little decor.

Adding mist

I wanted to experiment with adding mist to one of my already completed paintings. Below is the result with the before and after. This is a technique I'd like to work on further to help add depth or other character to certain paintings. I think if I started a painting knowing that I was going to incorporate the mist that I'd do certain things differently.

 After adding the mist. The color was titanium white with a small amount of ultramarine blue. Applied over an already dry oil painting.

Moonlit Beach

The painting I did after work today is called "Moonlit Beach". It's another painting lesson from a Wilson Bickford DVD that I have. I masked the border to leave it stark white, and I think it contrasts well with the night scene. It's done on an11x14 stretched canvas. The stars in the sky are done the same way as snow in a winter scene. I like the sense of movement conveyed by the waves.

Handsaw Project

I've wanted to paint an old handsaw for quite some time. I finally scavenged two rusty saws from a garage sale. I needed to remove the handle and sand down the blade. I then applied a primer meant for rusty metal in an attempt to keep any residual rust from penetration back through and into my painting. After that I applied a base coat of matte black to one side and matte white on the other. The white side would serve as my canvas. Since I was experimenting, I stuck to a painting that I rather like; one of my deer scenes. After painting, I put the handle back on. I didn't do anything with the handle because I wanted to retain some of the old/worn out look to the saw as a reminder of the age. It was great to repurpose this old tool. I'll wait to see how well the oil paint adheres after is completely dries. It's possible that I need to prep the surface differently. Time will tell. So I'm holding on to the other saw until I know for sure. I'm not sure what scene I'll paint on the other one.

Penguins

This isn't my normal style, but I figured I'd give it a try. These are two penguins, parent and chick, watching the sun low on the horizon.

Take Two

Both of my paintings this weekend were ones I've done before. Sometimes I repeat them to become better at a certain technique and other times because someone wanted the first one and it was given away. The butterfly painting is an 8x10 panel set in a really nice wood frame. The mountain scene painting was done on a 16x20 stretched canvas frame. I left the white canvas as a border frame.

In the meantime, I scavenged a couple old handsaws. I removed the handles, sanded the rust away, and then primed and painted the surface to prep them for some (hopefully) nice scenes. I plan to get something moving on at least on of them this coming week.