|
Once the paint goes on the canvas, the grid disappears. These cats are done in my “goofy cats” style, meaning I use collaged acrylics to draw them. So how do I use a grid when the original penciled in grid is gone? Using one of those quilting rules, I drew up grids with a permanent marker on cut down pieces of used laminating plastic sheets. I hold up my plastic grid to my painting and compare my painting to a digital photo with a grid on it. As I compare my painting to my digital photograph, it’s easier to fix lines and colors by flipping the plastic grid sheet on and off my painting.  I use the app Grid# to add a grid overlay to pet photos. I have to adjust columns and rows to the size of the canvas. If you’d like to see some of the custom dog and cat paintings I’ve done, please visit my webpage about them. Click on these sentences to see and get a free eBook of how to work with me for your custom pet painting.  Holding my clear plastic grid against my cat painting in progress helps me check the drawing. Read more about why I began cheating while painting custom pet paintings by clicking these previous blog posts:
I Cheat When I Paint Pets Using the Grid in My Painting Studio 4/6/2022 Using the grid in my painting studioHow I make grids on canvas I now begin every custom pet painting with a grid as I learned from painting dog Nakita. The ruler is a quilting ruler, if you’re wondering. If you need straight lines for any project, this type of ruler beats the school ruler hands down for ease of use!  1. After adding my own layer of gesso, I take out my ruler and pencil in one-inch squares. 2. Using an app, I add a layer of squares onto the digital photo of the pet I’m painting. 3. Once the grid is penciled, I can draw the cats onto these canvases. The unique part of these cat paintings are that they are going to be done in “goofy style,” not “realistically.” The lines will blur when I add the acrylic skins and papers. The grid will still help as I paint and collage in the cats. I’ll show you how I keep using grids in later blog post. If you’d like to see some of the custom dog and cat paintings I’ve done, please visit my webpage about them. Click on these sentences to see and get a free ebook of how to work with me for your custom pet painting.  Two custom pet paintings have their grids penciled on their canvases!  This is the 2nd quilt ruler I have because my blue one was in storage. As you can see, it doesn’t have the lines across in grid style, which makes using this particular ruler very difficult when measuring out smaller than an inch increments. It’s in my studio…but it will spend more time hanging out than being used. If you want a quilt ruler, try to find a version of my favorite one! 3/30/2022 I cheat when I paint pets Nakita’s face angle was tricky to capture, but it’s true to her photo. I repainted this cute dog a number of times to get her smile right. Nakita was the last custom dog painting I ever drew free handed. I spent extra hours repainting her doggy smile. I learned quite a lot from painting her…including that
Cheating with a grid is ok!
I now begin every custom pet painting with a grid. If you’d like to see some of the custom dog and cat paintings I’ve done, please visit my webpage about them. Click on these sentences to see and get a free ebook of how to work with me for your custom pet painting. We live in a very small, cute house while we build our new home in Costa Rica. This means very limited art painting making happy space. This is ok, as I’m sticking to studying for a class I’m enjoying. Everything is small for this class: paper swatches, painting surfaces, supplies, etc. This is good…because as I make new things there is limited storage space, too. The first few weeks here were spent at the coffee table and the back patio tables. I’m still spending time at the coffee table for things like collaging and cutting paper. I adore my new art table. We decided to have local Uvita craftsman Freddy make us this table. Here’s all the reasons why we love this table:
 The back patio table during a painting session. My heart brother Jim says it looks  My art studio at the coffee table. This space is used only to glue collages, write, and maybe some digital work.  Me with my new table by Uvita craftsman Freddy. Wheels added by Andy. 8/25/2021 Repost of Cats MeowOriginally published at the end of 2013, this is one of my most popular blog posts. Simon passed away on August 22, 2019. We really miss him. He’s survived by Ghost and Tuxie, our yard cats. Blogger doesn’t tell me why a post is popular...just that it is by the counts of eyeballs to it. I’d like to think it’s the cat gods saying Simon is happily waiting for us in heaven. It’s also been a while since I blue taped off a set of cards the way I did this piece, Cats Meow. I just began a new set from a big sheet of paper by folding the paper instead of taping and cutting. I’ll cut these out as I finish each. They won’t have a border like Cats Meow. The paper I used to love is no longer manufactured and the price of similar paper multiplied by  Cats Meow, ~4 x 6 inches, mixed media on paper, copyright 2013 by Angeline Marie Remember those little paintings all lined up in a grid row? The ones I use up extra paint instead of wasting paint?
Cats Meow has paint, ink, and stencil experimentation. Simon, my studio sentinel, is often in my studio. Well, Simon insisted on appearing in this little card. Just like Simon insists I stop painting, sit on the floor, and give him love. Spoiled little cat...but I love him. If you are wondering about the missing white border on the left side...yep. Lesson learned from sheet one was to make sure I have blue tape along all sides of the paper before adding blue tape to the center. It will still frame out quite nicely. It's my attempt to include a mat with the little painting. If you love Cats Meow, it is available for $28 unframed and $48 mounted on canvas. Shipping is included in both prices. There is only one of Cats Meow because there are too many textures in it to look good in reproductions of any kind. It is currently unavailable on my website, but you may email me at angeline@ angelinemarie.net for it. |
CategoriesAll Art In The News Art Studio Cats Classes Costa Rica Painting Painting Studio Pets Sketching Drawing, painting both analog and digital, and other artsy things while living in Costa Rica.
You can follow my blog the easiest by adding your email to my list by going here. I keep that list secret because I don’t like spammers, too. You’ll even get things that I don’t share in my blogs! 
|
RSS Feed
