Acrylic Painting

It's fun trying something different here in Key West every winter. I believe experimenting with another art form enhances your creativity as a quilter. This year, I couldn't resist the acrylic painting class wth local artist Maggie Ruley.

A 4 week class to paint a portrait of your pet. Right up my alley. The class was at the local art center, The Studios of Key West. What could be better than walking to an art class? I have waited until the end to share, basically because I had my doubts. I am certainly not giving up quilting to become a painter, but it sure was fun.

We came to the class with a photo.

And used clear acrylic to outline our piece. (Something I have done with quilting).

Then we practiced by drawing it on paper.

Then transferring it to the canvas.

And outlining it with paint.

 

Next step was painting in the general colors and the ground. I was not thrilled at this point. I didn't think it looked like Bailey girl. It did make me happy when people recognized it as a dog! Just kidding! Recognized it as a poodle/cockapoo.

The third class gave me hope. We painted details over the basic colors. I thought it looked more like her, but she had the big shield on her chest that was supposed to be a shadow.

My homework was to do a background. Since one of m favorite pictures of her is on the chair in my studio, I decided to make that my background.

It really made her pop.

During the last class i was able to get rid of her shield, put in wispy hairs and do little adjustments. I think Bailey ended up looking a bit chubby.

Here are some of the other pet portraits.

Maggie was a great teacher. I think everyone did a great job. Now that I have the paints and the brushes, I'm going to play with this. It taught me observation skills and that I need to work on those. Maybe I'll end up with a wall of Bailey paintings as I practice!

 

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