Xlentcrap: Learning to Paint

A friend from work told me that "anyone can learn how to paint". I had started painting miniature figures so I had the paint. I thought I might try a little painting myself.

My Dad and step-mom were moving to Arizona so I made them this miniature scene in a jar of the two of them. I carved the cactus from balsa wood. It was so much fun painting the miniatures to look like them.

I was coloring using some great gel pens and had a hard time getting the coloring of Michone's face from "The Walking Dead" coloring book. I think this may have been my first attempt at painting something.

A friend at work has a daughter that loves "The Walking Dead" so I painted this for her. Since she was only 12 years old I picked one of the less bloody pictures from the coloring book.

In July, my husband and I started watching the old painting shows by Bob Ross. One afternoon we sat on the back patio and pained all afternoon.

After watching a video, same afternoon, a cool painting of lavender using Q-tips.

Another Bob Ross inspired painting. We were on the back patio for nearly four hours.

I have been watching what seems like a quadrillion hours of painting videos. There are some great painters online that love to share their painting skills. They are blessed with great skill and the desire to share. I am grateful!

I took an overnight solo motorcycle trip to the coast. I stayed in Port Orford and walked the beach. I got some cool pictures.

I used the photo to paint the picture below. Turned out pretty cool.

Still having fun coloring. I painted and colored this for the girls in scheduling.

This next one is different parts of different videos, water, lilly pads, dead trees and clouds.

I'm still working on my little "crime in a can". I think the background painting just gives it a nice finish.

Another great video online led me to paint these two versions of an Italian Countryside. The top one went to my brother Mac and the bottom one went to my stepfather Bob.

More painting videos and I did this one. I just love the way the barn came out. I sure want to paint more of those.

I finally finished the "Dubrovnik Fixer Upper" This one was actually all me. I took the photograph while on our cruise in Europe. I painted the picture from the photo I took.

I decided to try my hand at "photo realism" and painted a copy of a can of coconut milk. One of the girls at work has it hanging over her desk.

This one turned out pretty cute. It's a copy of a pear label. It was fun to do and a friend at work snagged it up as soon as she saw it! She is going to frame it and hang it up in her vacation house.

This one is Taarna from the movie "Heavy Metal"

The first two versions of her face were pretty bad - made me laugh so hard. The final version was pretty decent.

Another video helped me do this boat on the beach.

Video - video. Said I was watching a quadrillion hours. I did this tree in fall. Love the colors. 12-2017. Someone else loved the colors too, I put it in a craft sale at work and sold it. It was my first sale of artwork.

The next one wasn't so good. I need to work on it a little more. Or not - and just paint over it.

I'm currently working on three different ones. The first one is for my best friend and motorcycle riding buddy for a Christmas present. It's a picture from a satellite photo of the road around Klamath Lake. One of our favorite day rides.

The barn is inspired from a photograph I took in the Applegate Valley a few months ago. It's for my dad and step-mom for a Christmas present. They don't read my blog so I am safe to post. The blue flowers came out of a bad brush stroke but they looked so cool. Almost like little blue bunnies. It still needs a bit of work.