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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!
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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.
Cheating with a grid is ok!
- When I was a kid, I wasn’t any good at those “duplicate the drawing on the other side of the grid” puzzles.
- I thought free hand was the best authentic way of drawing. Yes, I was a drawing snob!
- Using a grid to draw is NOT cheating!
- Grids are TOOLS! Tools are allowed!
- Artists through history even made grids using string and wood in order to draw a landscape before and during a painting!!!! Google it!
- If MASTER artists used grids, why was I suffering by repainting and remeasuring a cute dog’s face over and over and over again?
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.
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11 Advantages Of Sketchbook Practice Over A Painting Studio Practice:
- Totally portable and on the go
- A pencil and piece of paper are easily found
- iPhone camera to jog memory if I can’t sketch right then
- Everything and anything are fair game to draw
- Junk is ok as it’s just PRACTICE
- Sketchebooks become “idea warehouses” for future paintings
- Color studies and combinations are cheaper to test
- Written notes kept in one place, with the design
- Reference materials created, from random words to actual design notes
- I can just draw without hearing my inner brat voice insist that I follow any rules and lastly
- Sketchbook data mining and data analysis (for all us geeks) give me clues as to what I’ll actually want to paint as the theme of my new painting collections.
Want to see more of my sketches? Head on over to Instagram and follow me @angelinemarieartist
If you’d like to see how my sketchbooks influence my painting, Lisa Call shared photos of my sketchbooks and a little about how I data mine through them here:
Artists and Their Sketchbooks by Lisa Cal
Andy and I just ordered our meals and I had a few minutes to draw the still life that was all ready for me at our table. The sugar packets in a tiny pot, the hand sanitizer, the napkins with their holder. I’m using a Kaweco fountain pen with sepia ink.
Before my watercolors melted, this is a sketch I did of different areas around us. I miss the colors, but I can’t pack them in my purse because they have melted. I already cleaned up the mess and stashed my kit away.
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5 Questions Answered by Keeping a Sketchbook
- What will be the theme of my next painting collection?
- What size, shape and type of canvas do I want to choose?
- Do I prefer to choose a different painting surface than I have in the past?
- What colors do I want to use in my paintings?
- What are some designs I can create now to use later while painting?
I love painting. I want to know what to paint. Knowing what to paint helps me get into a roll while in my studio instead of walking In circles, wondering what to paint.
The last time my art painting studio was in limbo, I filled sketchbooks at a rate of one per month. These sketchbooks helped me paint for hours when my studio was set up and ready to use! Now, my dream art studio is in limbo…so sketching is what I can do now!
If you’d like to see some of my sketches and maybe words from previous years, you click through these:
3 Artist Must Haves mentions sketchbooks
Watch on YouTube here: Sketching Drawing at Frida Kahlo Exhibit at Dali Museum
Via this channel.
Sketches done at home of the turtle release at Playa Tortugo, Costa Rica. It was dusk and the walk out to the shoreline was gorgeous. I left my sketchbook kit safely at home. Sometimes it’s just better to sketch later.
Lucky me, I have friends who understand me and allow me draw while we chat. These are random items and garden scenes at Randy and Maria’s home.
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Lights so I can work even at night and during rainy days… Hooks to find scissors and ruler and paint can opener easily….
Gloss gelling (aka wood varnish) my favorite color wheel to keep paper from disintegrating… A stool for being able to work even when tired….
Life is good. Pura vida.
Special thank you and tons of brownie points belong to my better half Andy.
Want to see how my art table painting space looked before these upgrades? Click this sentence.
Want to see a small part of my old painting studio? This video shows my old studio, the one we let go to move to Costa Rica. The easel and other things are currently in storage for my new future studio. It describes what you can expect during an art demo. You can find it by clicking on this paragraph.
Me at my newly received and “installed” art studio table in November, 2021. Andy added the wheels. I added the screw for my paintbrushes. Simple, basic, easy!
After and now! Three original abstract palm tree designs based on Jubilee Abstract Palm Tree are shown on my art studio table. See the beautiful lights? The new hooks?
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While visiting our neighbor Nacho, I found some rich, black, thick charcoal laying around some flower bushes. The type of charcoal that’s found in a 2x3x1 inch box in an art supply store and sells for a few dollars. The juicy charcoal that oozes blackness on paper…and smudges and brushes away easily to make grays.
Nacho laughed at me for asking for his charcoal. Charcoal in Costa Rica is used as deodorant or for gardening fertilizer, not art supplies. He shrugged and offered me more charcoal. I took just what I needed. After all, I just found an almost endless supply, right across our road!!!
I finally got to make the value chart I needed for class!
If you happen to be in Uvita, Costa Rica, come out and see me and three more awesome artists at Dolce Uvita on Saturday, December 11th, 2021, from 10 am – 3 pm. For more info, https://dolceuvita.com
Finished value chart with the supplies I used. The charcoal is between the tape and sketchbook. The plastic wrap was carefully removed from the sketchbook to “laminate” my value strip so the charcoal doesn’t rub off.
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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:
- This table is light and nimble enough for me to move outside and inside our “now house.”
- The wood is bug and humidity resistant, easy to clean, and allows air flow through and around it.
- This table can easily be repurposed or incorporated into our common living spaces or my art studio.
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.
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As I was checking out our outside laundry system at our new home in Costa Rica, a bat landed on the wall above me. It was about six inches long. I was happy to see it, but sad as it was a late morning. It let me get a single photo and then took off. ©Angeline Marie MartinezIt’s very weird being in Costa Rica for October.
The whole Fall Thing didn’t make sense to me in Florida, anyway, so it almost feels like a bit of relief, lol.
It’s great not having to listen and watch a constant onslaught of marketing about Fall Things like harvesting, warm colors, sweaters, pumpkin spice, fire places, Holiday Shopping, etc. Everything is green here, so all this straw stuff makes even less sense in Costa Rica than in Florida. I hate the cold, not a pumpkin spice kind of girl, anyway!
So far, Alexa provides tunes to a simple speaker we brought. The music is interrupted by US commercials about…you guessed it…Fall Things! I still don’t understand everyone’s excitement about all this, lol!
I did see some Halloween decor in a store here. One store, on what amounts to two long shelves. No candy on display, just decor!
There are two seasons here: winter and summer. Cooler or Hot Hot. Rainy or Dryer. There is truly no “sweater weather,” unless you count that Andy and I wish we had an extra bed sheet during cooler nights, lol.
This little bat is one of many we enjoy watching fly about our new temporary home in Costa Rica. Happily, this is the only bat we’ve seen in the daylight. It’s a poor photo, but I was lucky to get it!
Happy Halloween and Happy Fall Things!
These two bats were sleeping under the outside roof of Los Gatos Locos Restaurant. The music and lunch conversation didn't faze them at all. They snoozed over the outside railing with three more of their family, not shown here.
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Front cover of my Outage Thrive Kit; inside page of the last Outage Thrive Kit, circa October, 2020; back cover of Outage Thrive Kit
Front cover of my Outage Thrive Kit; inside page of the last Outage Thrive Kit, circa October, 2020; back cover of Outage Thrive Kit
Front cover of my Outage Thrive Kit; inside page of the last Outage Thrive Kit, circa October, 2020; back cover of Outage Thrive Kit
If I were still at my job, I would be working an outage RIGHT NOW.
I’m not going to explain any nuclear power vocabulary here at all.
I’ll just say outages require all employees to work six days weekly, for a minimum of 12.5 hours daily. Add the commute time to all of these daily hours. Outage duration might be three weeks or longer, dependent on scheduled work, etc. All outages add up to very exhausted employees.
I was one of those glazed eyed, unhappy, exhausted, trudging, trying to do my best, miserably scared of getting sick employees. I was barely conscious of my birthday and Halloween...I was barely conscious at all. My days were drive to job, do my best at job, drive home, do a couple of chores, try to enjoy time with Andy, and go to bed!
Quite a few outages ago, artist Carol Trice was having to work some overtime for her job industry. She made up a book similar to this one, with sticker rewards.
I adore stickers. I copied Carol’s idea.
This was one of the few ways I could still feel like me...adding reward stickers to my calendar day. To earn a sticker, I had to spend at least five minutes on that option. Those minutes were precious.
Yes, I had a Must Do List, too. When Andy and I had to work outages, I printed systems for myself and worked them. All of the lists got stickers. Andy rolled his eyes, but I had my list and our outages ran smoother.
I threw out this book this year!!! I kept my collected leftover Halloween stickers, because, I love stickers, lol!
I kept my instructions for how to make and use another book like this. I prefer to abandon ever needing a book like this again, but life is weird. Maybe I’ll make one for doing art biz things? Hmm…!
If you need a thrive kit like this, I’m happy to share my instructions. Step one is get some great, happy, fun, bright stickers like you can find at Dollar Trees in the US. The stickers can be any theme of your choice. You could do like old school and stick to gold stars, too. Next steps are find a cover, make a list, repeat and print the list.
Pura vida from Costa Rica, where I’m figuring out what’s next!
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Tomasina and I in my old studio. We were saying goodbye to the space...and Tomasina helped me smile. Originally posted to my IG.
When I found Tomasina in my art/workout suitcase, I burst out laughing. Andy asked why I bothered to bring her. My reply was for my reaction...to laugh with joy. She’s now on a tiny shelf, looking out at me.
Yes, we still have a stake in the USA. So if you have any of my contact info, much of it will still work. It might take a few days to get back to you.
Anyway,
Andy and I bought a slice of land here in Costa Rica in 2019. We are now renting a place while our new home is being constructed.
We’ve officially been here two weeks, today, this posting.
Four months ago (or maybe 5? Time is flying...so it was this 2021), I bought some acrylic gouache paint, some paper, etc. to work through Color: A Workshop for Artists and Designers.
Andy and I had no idea where we would be living during construction...but I best prepare to have a very, very, very small space for an art studio. This color workshop takes up a small work space and requires a very small amount of supplies. I gift myself a creative break, finally get to learn from this book (had it 6 years!) and still get to PAINT!
I filled the carry-on travel suitcase with our gym supplies and my art supplies, the book Color: A Workshop, and a few other things. Art things went back and forth from a storage unit box to the suitcase. I made a promise to myself: whatever is in the suitcase will have to work for me. The next time I’m allowed to open the suitcase is when we are in Costa Rica.
The gym stuff was easy, lol!
As we slowly move into our temporary home, the last setup is my studio space. My suitcase remains full of art supplies...but I get to rummage through them! I found Tomasina...and burst out joyfully with laughter. I’m so happy to have my old friend with me.
Is there something that you packed for yourself and found later that it made you laugh with joy? What was it?
