Peek At a Painting

The start of a new painting.
Paints ready, water ready, canvas ready and brushes are ready.

I love starting a new painting and enjoy documenting the process as it's developing. Sometimes I'll go back into the progress shots and determine if a piece is headed in the right direction color wise. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't and I have to redo areas.

This small ornament canvas was fun to paint and moved along nicely. The last photo is the finish along with another Maui scene I painted and finished this week. Enjoy!



Progress on the painting.




Adding more color.



Adding a tree changes everything.



The finish on the ornament canvas.
"Untitled"
Acrylic on Canvas
3.5" x 2"



Finish on a Maui scene.
"Maui"
Acrylic on Canvas
11" x 14"

Seeing Spots-Its Whats In Progress

Working away on many commissions and repairs, but wanted to share this one. This is a Lynn Fraley "Rayne" resin whose owner has been a complete gem to work with and has been so very patient. To all my customers and clients, especially the ones who patiently wait while I work on your piece in between whatever life throws at me, thank you for being there and being so patient.

Now, back to work.

Rayne resin in appaloosa.

"Because while life harasses us, love is
only a wave taller than the other waves...."

~Pablo Neruda

What Day Is It?

It's now day 15 into the international art movement "Inktober" and exactly 12 days since I dropped out. Yes, sadly I'm a drop out for "Inktober". I quickly became overwhelmed with other work and was reminded how I came to be more of a painter than an inker. That is, I really dislike using ink on my drawings. I really don't wish to revisit ink any time soon unless I'm penning a very fancy letter with a crow quill and calligraphy nib.

In the meantime, here is what transpired in the studio in place of "Inktober."

Caldero Resin in buckskin going grey.
Recently finished commission.
My commission books are open.











Majorific resin in blue roan Appaloosa.
Recently Finished Commission






Perhaps in November I'll paint little landscapes and still life's during the month. Now, that is something I know I can keep up with cause painting is just an absolute joy for me. Thinking....

Day 3...A Fascination

#inktober Day 3: Pelikan ink on Strathmore Bristol
Day three into Inktober and I was reminded of my fascination with drawing dead things. I know, that sounds terrible, but it's truth. I love to study all sorts of botanicals and biological things, esp when they aren't moving and I can really focus. Even horticulture samples fascinate me as they decay. Plain and simple, the shapes and colors and changes that happen intrigue my artist eye.

Last night at some point my little hamster Raphiella passed away and this morning I decided to make a drawing of her the third in my series of 31 drawings for my participation in #inktober. I decided not to ruin the original pencil drawing too much and just wash some ink about and have found that I like this method of working with ink much better than how I handled it on day one and day two. I believe I'll handle the rest of the month with simple ink renderings and washes.

On the horse front, the Punjabi is finally complete. I'm letting my eyes rest for the weekend and then will revisit him on Monday to see if I still like him.

Punjabi resin in roan.
A commission. My books are open.

October Means Inktober

Day 1 Ink Drawing for Inktober
It's October already! Happy October! It's hard to believe that we are already in the 10th month of this new year. Didn't the new year JUST start?

Every year in October many artists throughout the world participate in what they call, "Inktober". They produce one ink drawing every day for 31 days and then share that drawing through various social media outlets. I remember seeing this event happening last year and thinking what fun it would be to join in. Well, this year, I decided to bite the bullet and join in.

Now, ink was a beloved medium for me long, long ago when I worked at Marvel Comics. I have since been wooed by the lusciousness of acrylic paint (even on the model horses) and I must confess I'm having a difficult time switching my brain to "see" things in ink again. Part of "seeing" in ink is being able to mentally strip away color and just see in black and white and then reproduce that on paper with a pen....one that bleeds, blops ink puddles randomly, scratches your paper up and covers your beautiful pencil drawing with lines that look nothing like what you drew 15 minutes ago. There is a lot of preplanning that happens when one works in ink which is radically different than how I work when I paint with acrylics.

All in all, I'm into day two and I'm already having difficulties and it's a huge challenge for me. Never the less, presented here on the blog today is day one and day two into inktober. #inktober

Day 2 Ink Drawing for Inktober 2014

Winged Things

The end of summer has brought a handful of dead winged insects to my path. The wings on these bugs have been so pretty that it was very difficult not to try and use them in some fashion. I knew no better way to use them but in fantasy pieces. Ive been having a blast remaking resins and little Breyer foals into winged delights. I may even have more coming as more winged things keep appearing in my yard.


A Chaney resin with wings

All Fixed Again!

Before: Broken earthenware china.
In the spring of this year I opened up my studio to china repair and there has been a healthy flow of broken babies into the studio.

The two pieces featured on the blog today were really quite challenging to work on because both were such delicate earthenware pieces. I am happy to report that both are now feeling much better and are ready for the show string once again.

Do you have a china that needs repair? Feel free to email me and discuss your piece. jenndanza@gmail.com

After: Earthenware china fixed.


Before: Broken back leg and tail.
After: Both the back leg and tail fixed.

And There Is More....

And there is more being completed in the studio! Wanted to share my most recent finished commission piece. It's a "Superlumina" resin. She has been completed using mixed media.



Superlumina resin in mixed mediaPlease note that my commission books are open.

Ok, Where The Heck Did You Go?

Ok, where the heck did you go and what have you been doing?

Well, I suppose I needed a longer break from writing on the blog than expected and I got caught up with many things. First, I got very side tracked because of this:


New member in our family.
"Bear" our German Shepard puppy.
Bear playing. He's growing so fast!


.....but because of this fun puppy time I have totally been inspired all around and very happy about...well, just about everything. Here are some other things I've been working on while I was away. These are a combination of commissions and sales pieces.

I am available for commission work. Please feel free to email me at: jenndanza@gmail.com if you have a project you'd like to work with me on. Thanks!

Off Into the Sunset?

"Maui Sunset II"
Acrylic on canvas board
5" x 7"
Sold
No, I haven't ridden off into the sunset, I was just off painting them. I just needed a little break from the blog as I transitioned back into studio work full time. So, if you're reading this wondering what happened and wondering if I'm still painting the answer is, "Yes, yes I am and I am taking on commissions full time too!" If you have a commission project please feel free to contact me at: jenndanza@gmail.com

"Maui Sunset"
Acrylic on canvas board
5" x 7"
Sold

It's All Just....

Finishing up a "Ahab" resin.
It's all just taking a little longer for me to finish pieces at the moment. Juggling many things within the past few months, including division and multiplication with my son (when did this happen???), has slowed production down in my studio. I'm very much looking forward to the summer months and much, much more free time to spend endlessly in the studio working on all my commissions.

On The Workbench

Quick shot of the desk today.
There are many things currently on my workbench including repairs, touch ups, and full commissions. Out of all the work I have been most intrigued with repairing chinas as of late. What wonderful challenges some of these pieces pose and I have been salivating to fix up the worst pieces a dear and very close friend sent to me to practice on.

I have been so pleased with the china repair and how it's all been turning out that I will be opening my books for china repair very soon. Until then, be sure to watch the blog and see how this guy transforms.

Opps! No worries, he'll be
good as new soon!