Factual Friday: Be Healthy!

Good morning Lured Ones,

I hope your week went well and that your weekend is off to a great start! I'd say my week has been pretty dang good, with a lot of fitness, great discussions, painting time and of course Halloween. With things going so well, I've been in such a good mood that I can see it in my work. I prepare for a painting faster, get through a painting with more enthusiasm, and I don't stress out about the little things as much. This kind of positive outlook has encouraged me to write quickly on the importance of good physical, mental and emotional health in painting (and anything else really).

In addition to this, I'd like to share a contemporary artist that I recently found. His oil paintings are fantastic and I'm loving his color composition as well as style. Check it out!

"Braids" by David Gray, dgoilpaintingtechniques.com

Although P90X is rough at times, my body and my art work is thanking me. I have so much more energy in my days to be more productive in everything. And today I read an article from a contemporary artist that I admire on the importance of a healthy lifestyle. He mentioned that letting his fitness slide had affected his back, which eventually affected his work because he couldn't sit all day painting without pain in the lumbar region.  So after getting fit again, he saw the change. You can read more about it by clicking here. I encourage you to visit his site (http://dgoilpaintingtechniques.com) and also look at his work. He is a fantastic artist. And he is also a PLU alumnus. What a small world right?

In addition to my physical health, I feel that emotionally and mentally I am in a good place. This is not to say that I wasn't before, it's just that I feel so enthused and excited for my days recently. A friend introduced me to the book "Finding the Hero in Your Husband" by Julianna Slattery and I've been reading it with an open mind and open heart. It has opened my eyes to many things and has given me kind of a refreshed outlook on how to build my home even stronger. That tid-bit and discussing it with my friend in more detail today, a sort of book discussion on a few chapters, has gotten me so motivated to be better.

Now I know that this isn't the most novel thing in the world, but it is important. So there it is, my thought for this week's Factual Friday.

See you on Sunday Surprise (I think you're gonna like the surprise).

<3 Kara

Happy Birthday Bob Ross!

Happy Monday everyone!

"We don't have mistakes here, we just have happy accidents" - Bob Ross

Google did a doodle today for Bob Ross's birthday and I was so excited to see it. He was had an influence in pushing me to paint, although it wasn't quite apparent at the time. I didn't speak English yet so the only thing I understood from the show was how beautiful colors could transform a blank canvas into a beautiful scene. That with his pleasant and clam demeanor made his show one that I watched frequently after school on PBS.

A friend of mine from college is also a big fan of Bob Ross and his techniques, so I'm sure he appreciates what Google did.

If you don't know who Bob Ross is, look him up, I highly recommend it. In short he is a contemporary oil painter known for hosting the show "The Joy of Painting" on PBS and from then became an instructor for many, published instructional books and sold a line of art supplies. He always set a very pleasant, calm and happy mood for his show and made tons of "happy little trees".

His techniques consist primarily of the wet-on-wet technique where you build layers of oil paint on each other without waiting a lengthy time for the preceding layer to dry first. The techniques he demonstrated were relatively simple, yet effective in creating beautiful scenery with gorgeous mountains, lakes, trees, rivers and sometimes cute little creatures.

Anyway, I hope that was a good treat to start your Monday. Tell me what you think about Bob Ross and if you've ever seen his show back in the day or even reruns of today :)

Take care!

<3 Kara

Sowthistles and Grasses Speed Painting

Happy Sunday!

For most of you, I'm guessing you have another day off, so hooray for that!
The good news for me today is that internet is back online! Woot! A couple of days without internet and I feel so disconnected. When did I become so attached to the web?

So, with internet available, I am able to share with you the second video for the painting Sowthistles and Grasses. I did mention that I am making a speed painting clip, and it's here! It's about 2 hrs of footage, sped up by a lot of times hehe. I hope you find it enjoyable.

Have a great afternoon!

<3 Kara

Sowthistles and Grasses (oil painting)

It's Friday! And it's Labor day weekend! So I hope yours is off to a good start!

Yesterday I finished a painting and I'm so excited to share it with you all :) It's based from a tutorial painting by Brian Bennett from the book How to Paint by Angela Gair and Ian Sidaway. So this is definitely not an original, but I'm proud of it nonetheless.

The medium is oil paints; this was my first experience with oil paints and it was very interesting. It took me a bit to get use to mixing paints with a medium, and also cleaning up with a lot more care. Furthermore, this tutorial was to practice palette knife painting techniques and that's a challenge in itself. The brushwork was minimal, which meant that I had to suggest certain details based on how I lay paint down with the pallet knife.

To learn more about my experience with this painting, please watch this video below! I am also making a bonus video showing about 2 hours worth of live painting, sped up 16x, and will be available soon! Have a fantabulous weekend!

<3 Kara