That Fancy Peacock

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Ta-da! Here he is in all of his crazy colorful splendor. I wanted to paint a peacock, not an entire peacock, just this much, and I wanted it to be artistic. I think I did a good job in thinking through the composition and drawing from many source photos, but what I had in mind for the final piece is not exactly what I got. But I still like it, and other people like it so that's cool.
What I was imagining was something much more loose than I usually paint, that kind of deconstructed as it faded into the top left corner especially. Since I have been such a tight painter and don't really know how to loosen out that much, I think that what I got was a good stepping stone. I wanted the body of the bird to be perfectly realistic, which it is, but among all of those feathers it doesn't stand out quite as much as I had hoped. He ended up with more eyes than is realistic, but it is an artistic representation, so it's all good. Definitely not something to toss out. The colors are very bright, lots of orange and blue streaks mixed in with the bright green in the feathers which was fun (not sure how much of that you can see in the photo). It is definitely a Whabam piece, I'll give it that. It would be an amazing pop of color in someone's home or office. What do you think?

This piece is for sale! 22x28 oil on canvas $450.00 contact juliamillerartist@gmail.com

Roses painted from life

So I finally got the book Alla Prima by Richard Schmid and read it over the past few weeks. I have really loved learning more about painting this year, and I can see myself growing and becoming more confident. I still have so much to learn and master, but at least I'm not afraid to try :)  If you are serious about painting, READ THIS BOOK! He paints completely from life, almost always in one sitting, which is the best way to paint. I don't think I will always be able to paint from life, but I definitely need much more experience from painting from life. Sooo.... Yesterday, I picked some knockout roses from our garden and set up a little box and a light in my studio and started painting on an 8x10 canvas. I had actually picked some other smaller roses to compliment, but they have so many petals etc that when I got to them I said phooey and got a couple more knockouts and painted them solely instead. It was a good decision. They are really pretty easy to paint I think ;) The harder part for me was today when I had to paint the leaves and the background. I'm still not amazing at that.. but I think it turned out ok. The roses themselves are still my favorite part :)
So here it is!

I did notice that I painted differently this time, partly because of my studying and partly because I painted from life with a smaller amount of time (5 hours yesterday and 3 1/2 today). I am becoming more lose and confident..... that I am learning and progressing....and I'm quite enjoying it :) 

In other news, I'm getting stuff ready to start going to art festivals! Purty exciting stuff right there, lots to do to get ready.... Got a tent, got most of the wall/hanging stuff, starting the process of getting prints made etc. All lots of money up front, but I so hope that I can sell paintings! I'll post an update about that soon. I'm going to be doing as many paintings as I can pop out, and I want to do some things other than flowers also, something interesting...still haven't come up with a good idea yet, but look for it! haha. 

And so flowers it will be.

There are many things that I like to paint. There is not much that I do not like to paint. One of the top on my list is portraits....  But there is something that I love in every area of life. FLOWERS. Anyone who knows me fairly well knows that I'm a bit coocoo about flowers. Flowers...... and Sunsets. Hmmm But mostly flowers. The thrill of looking at a flower lasts a little longer than looking at a sunset, and you can take flowers with you... does that make them a little better? Plus, my man can give me a bouquet of flowers, and I just think he's the best :D  
So anyway, I think I was just born to love flowers, and maybe my Dad had some influence in my life in that way. Come to think of it, he has a book of every flower in the world, and they are all paintings, but so photo realistic you would never know it! The flowers in that book were the sources for my first paintings in high school, and I think that they were a big factor in my deciding that I wanted to paint, especially in a photo realistic way.

Therefore, in this time of my life as I am just done with my undergrad and studying painting now on my own... while also teaching and working at the frame shop... I have decided to focus on painting the florals. And so flowers it will be. My goal is to have quite a few ready for sale by the end of the summer, both originals and giclee prints. Start saving your money! 'Cause they're gonna be gorgeous :)

Why I love flowers:
1. They are PRETTY, and BEAUTIFUL, and GORGEOUS
2. They are colorful. I looove color!
3. They smell nice
4. They make me absolutely giddy
5. I love to paint them
6. They are inoffensive
7. They are just the prettiest things in the world...
http://player.vimeo.com/video/27920977?title=0&%3bbyline=0&%3bportrait=0href]
Awesome stop time photography of opening flowers