I felt like painting something else for a change. I love dogs, so I thought I'd start to paint some different breeds. Starting with an afghan because they're just sooooo elegant. Beautiful long blond hair!

 Apologies for taking so long to complete this, but I've got a problem   with my sholder and arm at the moment and I'm unable to paint, which is so frustrating. Hopefully, I'll be back to normal soon.

If you'd like tips on painting with pastels, take a look here:

http://hubpages.com/hub/pastelpaintingtipsforenjoyment

For tips on painting with soft pastels:

http://www.helium.com/items/1626190-painting-with-soft-pastels

For acrylic painting tips:

http://www.helium.com/items/1628465-acrylics-and-their-benefits-when-painting-on-canvas

Tips on brushes:

http://www.helium.com/items/1659153-oil-painting-brushes-what-to-look-for

Tips on using oil pastels:

http://www.helium.com/items/1631497-tips-for-using-oil-pastel

We're now in to a new decade, so Happy New Year to everyone and I hope it is prosperous for everyone.

Try something new if you're feeling creative.

Try a different medium, or use different paper to get a different effect.

Look online at some art galleries to see what other people are painting, and for how much they're selling their work.

Go outside for a while on a sunny day, and do some sketching. The landscapes at this time of year can be stunning, especially with snow on the ground. I know it'll be freezing cold, but maybe you could for a while.

Try painting something you've not attempted before. Perhaps painting animals, landscapes, still life, portraiture or abstract.

Mix other substances with your artwork. Maybe incorporate some glitter, or net fabric. Build up with polyfilla and build in some sequins or feathers, shells or twigs. Be adventurous with your art. It doesn't matter if it looks bad. You'll have tried and you might even surprise yourself.

I'm sure you can think of lots of other possibilities. Hopefully, this will set your imagination working.

Bye for now

Stella

Hi

I'm just doing some designs for my store Miss Rupert . Here's the new one. I think I'll call it

"Don't mess with me"

If you're artistic and have dreamed of being able to have your own showcase for your artwork, but haven't had the money to do it, look no further.

Visit Zazzle and open your own store. Create hundreds of products to show made to your own designs.

To get some ideaClick Here

Have you ever decided to write articles and want to get them published on the web.  Well, why not join Bukisa?

You'll be able to submit articles and also send in videos. You could write articles about your artwork and then send in images of it.

Have you ever tried your hand at writing?  Since you don't know what talents you might have until you try them, why not give it a go?  Since you are possibly an artist who is reading this, that means you could always compose some poetry or write a book and illustrate it yourself.

Take a look here at Creative Writing

One artist who has done just that with his blog is to be found at 

 www.richardsonartgallery.blogspot.com

Take a look at some interesting work.

I have been fiddling with this pastel for a few days because I wan't happy with it.  I made a few changes and I put some buildings in the right hand side to give extra interest. If I wanted to, I could keep on making changes, but I think there comes a time when you need to leave a painting alone and start something else.  If you keep on, you have a tendency to "over - work" it and can possibly spoil it, plus the fact that you're wasting time that could be spent on starting another.

I'm in the middle of a pastel painting at the moment.  I like the idea of sunsets so I'm drawing one over a snowy landscape.  I've nearly finished the sky, although I've still got some highlights to add. I've fixed the sky and as I work down the page, I'll fix as I go.  For one thing, it means less smudging, and for another it is easier to add another layer of pastel should you want to do so.  Well here is the first photo of my painting, as it is at the moment.

I know it doesn't look like much at the moment, but the beauty of it is that the painting takes shape as you carry on.  You have to paint in the background first before you add any detail.  Always remember to assess your painting from a distance every so often, so you can get a better idea of how it's looking.

Hi

I 've now had time to finish the acrylic seascape. Painting the sea is interesting because of the colours you can blend together and the movement.  The sea has many shades in it; different blues and greens and on a stormy day different grays.  In this painting I wanted a turquoisy - blue shade with darker tones of dark blue and then paler shades of turquoise.  I blended the colours by putting a few dabs of each colour in places and then getting my damp cloth and with a left - to - right movement going across the canvas.  If you think your paint is too thick or you've put on too much just wet your cloth more and blend away.  Remember acrylics dry quickly so you'll need to be fast.  Don't worry though if you do make mistakes because you can paint over them within 10 minutes or so. And because they dry quickly, don't forget to keep your brushes in water. Don't just leave a brush on your table while you use another, because even though you intend to use it again in a few minutes, anything could happen, like the phone could ring, and then you forget and it's ruined.  Yes, I've done that many a time.

I love the part when I can get a small amount of white on my brush and draw the brush across the canvas where I think my waves should be. This is trial and error and you may need to keep applying and standing back from the canvas and looking critically over it.  The sea looks totally different close - up to far away on a large canvas and what looks OK close - up, might not look as it should. 

Remember that the shore needs painting and I chose a Naples Yellow Deep in Amsterdam range for this, mixing in some yellow ochre for shading.  As the waves are breaking gently on the shore, the shore is visible through the colour of the sea.  I love this part because I blend the turquoise with the Yellow Deep to get a wonderful greeny turquoise shade and then when it's dry, I go over it in places where I think my sea foam should be.

Don't forget that you can change things if you're not happy with something.  At times, when I stand back, I think the tones are wrong, so I change them.  It's hard for me to actually say a painting is finished because I could still find little details I'd change, but sometimes it can be a bad thing to keep putting finishing touches to it.  It could be perfectly OK as it is

Well , here it is.  I hope you like it.

You can see the masking tape which will be taken off shortly, and i will build up the paint and highlight waves with white.

Hi

I like to alternate between painting with pastels and painting with acrylics although I sometimes have 2 on the go at once.  There are reasons for that.

The first is that it stops boredom because you can change from one to the other.  The second is that I have an outside influence which determines which one I paint.  And that influence is Toby, my Jack Russell. As he's elderly and can't get upstairs now and he won't let me lift him, I'm afraid I'm led by him.  If all's well and he's asleep or not bothered, I'm upstairs painting acrylics.  If he starts letting me know he doesn't want to be left on his own downstairs, well, I go down and paint with pastels. And then we're both happy!

I've started a canvas which will be one of a set of three.  They're quite big and will all be of the sea. I'll share with you the creation of the first one.  Before I begin to paint, I take some ready - mixed polyfilla and thin it slightly with water, and then I build up the canvas in places to give texture.  In the case of the sea, I use it to give the impression of movement.  I build up some of the sky, and if there are mountains I can show the outlines. If there are buildings, I use it to show certain outlines to give a real, textured effect.

I outline the beach area with a water - colour pencil and then I measure down from the top with a ruler, to get the horizon line. Making sure it's straight, I then put masking tape along it with the top of the tape along the line of pencil.  This provides a mask for the sea but allows me to paint the sky.  I can then start to build up the colours of the sky,  It's better to build up with your paint and remember that acrylic dries quickly.  Always have a wet washing-up cloth to blend the paint in as you go.  If painting a sky or sea, blend from left to right.  Have a look at the picture above.  The masking tape was moved so that the bottom of it was on the horizon.  This means that I now have all of the sea which can be painted.

I think I'll call this pastel painting " Sunset Over The City"

Well, here it is.  I thought you might like to see what it looks like set within a cream double mount. I kept using fixative as I went and then I added a few more highlights to the sky when I had finished.  I hope you like it.

Hi,

It's taking me a bit longer than I thought to finish this painting as I keep getting distracted with other things.  Here is a close-up of some of the buildings, and I'll keep you posted about it's progress.

Here is the photo of the painting which shows it half finished.

As you can see, there is still alot of work to do.  I outlined the buildings first with pastel pencils and then I started to fill in the sky.  I use a rubber at the end of a pencil to blend the pastel to get the finer details like the chimneys and roof tops.  Well, I'll carry on and hopefully soon I'll show you the next stage finished.

Hi,

I thought it might be a good idea to show you the progress of some paintings over the next few weeks.   I normally have one or two paintings on the go at the same time and at the moment I'm in the middle of doing a pastel and an acyrilic.

I might as well start off with the pastel. It's a bit too dark to photograph it tonight, so tomorrow I'll place an image here for you to see it as it is at this stage.

What I want to achieve  here is the stunning sky that almost looks as if it is on fire, and the contrast between that and the higgledy piggledy roof - tops.

First of all I outline the buildings with a pastel pencil.  This is being painted on heavy - duty cartridge paper.  I know it doesn't have the same grip as pastel paper such as Mi - Tientes, but I can get so much more detail on a smoother paper, and I do fix it.

Then I create the sky, using a fixative lightly, and then I can add more pastel in places if I need to.

Well, that's all for tonight.  I'll add more tomorrow.