• Work in Progress

    Colouring owl with markers and media summary

    So I finished the third and the last version of my little owl, which, this time, I coloured with alcohol-based markers (and coloured pencils). Finishing the project makes me really happy but I also feel kind of… empty? I think it’s because I was very excited to see each version finished and then all the versions next to each other, but now the excitement of anticipation is missing. I guess it’s a sign that I should make more arts with the experiment’s techniques (not necessarily 3 versions of the same drawing though 😀 ). Back to the last version of the owl though. As I said before – this one was coloured with alcohol-based markers and I enjoyed the process a lot – it was quick and fun. But even though I specifically bought some additional marker colours that I thought would be great for this project, it still felt…

  • Work in Progress

    Same owl – now with acrylics!

    I’m continuing the experiment with colouring my cute owl with 3 different kinds of traditional “wet” media. In the last post I showed the stages of watercolours that I’ve done first, as I was suggested to do in a comment under my Facebook post. Since to do the markers version I need several more colours than I have (fortunately, they are on their way already!) – this time I’ve coloured the owl with acrylics. Even though I’m very used to acrylics – I paint with them very often – this was actually a double experiment for me, because this was the first time I’ve used acrylic paints on paper rather than on canvas and additionally, I didn’t use my usual paints, but completely different, professional ones that I bought to participate in Royal Talens’s international competition. It’s always good to know your media before you start creating something ambitious and time-consuming with…

  • Work in Progress

    Ulchabhan! …but with watercolours

    My little owl I’ve drawn to help me learn Irish was featured on Ko-fi’s art highlights and it made my evening! I felt and still feel very honoured and appreciated, especially since the art there is hand-picked, not based on likes or popularity. To think someone went to see my work and decided it was worthy of being FEATURED… I still can’t believe it, I’m so grateful, thank you, Ko-fi! I drew that owl, Ulchabhan, to help me learning Irish but then I thought, Owl is a symbol of wisdom, so why not go a step further – with help of my little feathered companion I could also learn other art techniques and media. With the assistance of my awesome lightbox (If you’ve ever considered buying one – just do it, it’s so helpful!) on 3 various kinds of paper, I’ve made 3 sketches based on my original lineart. This…

  • Art supplies Reviews

    Testing Phoenix Artist’s Palette

    As expected, my Mijello palette lost its easy peel-off feature after a while, and because I don’t want to waste my time neither on scratching the paint off it nor on destroying my poor nails while doing it, recently I came back to my old “budget” setting (clipboard + white piece of paper + tracing paper) while looking for a new palette. I tried a small round paper palette earlier but after giving it a few tries I realized it’s just too small for me (size matters! 😉 ). I have to admit though I generally liked the idea of the easy cleaning (you just tear off the top sheet!) palette so I thought I could try out something similar but more matching the kind of palettes I’m used to, so rectangle and A3 size. Since  I was on an art supplies buying spree recently I decided to also add…

  • Art supplies Reviews

    Pencil eraser or Eraser pencil?

    So what’s the difference between a pencil eraser and eraser pencil?Well, one is an eraser and the other one is… also an eraser. Just in a pencil form. And it’s pretty awesome! I bought one a while ago but never really used it seriously, only to test it out. But now as I’m trying to delve more into mixed media traditional art I needed to make a sketch and that’s when I discovered this awesomeness. The eraser (in) pencil I have is the simplest possible Koh-I-Noor Era eraser which it’s super cheap and, surprisingly, super good. It erases pencils really well and is extremely handy when you have to erase only a small detail and your regular big eraser would mess up the other details around. You may say it’s a special task eraser for demanding. I really have no words to express how much I’m in love with this…

  • Work in Progress

    Acrylic painting: Little Sisters (WIP + finished version)

    I was posting some WIP photos of my newest acrylics work on my social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) for a while and now I’m very proud to say I finished the painting with two cute little girls (that are my work colleague’s daughters). I did work on it for quite a lot and I had a lot of fun with the painting but I’m happy it’s finally finished and I can move on to the next paintings WIP photos of which you can also expect to be posted on this blog in… a while 😀 For the time being please check the below progress shots of the little girls painting and the finished painting you can see in my Gallery.   Details:

  • Work in Progress

    Painting videos!

    Hi everyone! After struggling a lot with a gooseneck camera stand to record my painting progress I recently did some research and decided I needed something else to record painting easily. I finally got a new stand and I have to say it was a good idea. There are definitely better stands and setups out there, but for now what I have is enough. Using this new stand is how I managed to record a new painting video without any problems. Unfortunately, my uploading speed is still an issue so I had to speed the video up, but since I’ve already recorded it I also decided to add a voiceover this time! And someone asked me on my Fanpage to explain about what are the hardest parts of the painting process for me so that’s what I talked about in this latest video. Anyway, the good news is – now I…

  • Art stuff

    New finished works!

    Well, to be honest, only one of these works is new, but they are both new to the gallery. First a portrait I painted last year and for some reason, I completely forgot about it, so I never uploaded it to my gallery. This commission was quite a challenge because the reference photo I got was tiny – it had a size of those small photos you put in your official documents like IDs or passports. And the requested size of the painting was, if I’m not mistaken, about 30×40 cm. So as you can imagine I had to enlarge the image quite a lot. It was still fun though and I really like it how it came out, especially the skin colour. Of course, it’s not perfect, but then I didn’t have a really detailed photo to work with and also my canvas wasn’t really big. Fortunately, the commissioner was…

  • Work in Progress

    Acrylic painting: Wolf (WIP #03 + finished version)

    Another interesting week has passed. Where did all the days go? I swear the last thing I remember is maybe Tuesday? And suddenly BAM! It’s Saturday. But I guess I haven’t just skipped the week because apparently not only I’ve been seen at work but I also finished the wolf painting! It took some work but it’s been a lot of fun too. Also I managed to finished it just in time to gift the painting to my mum for Mother’s Day. Part 1 | Part 2 Unfortunately the last Work In Progress photo didn’t save nicely so below is the finished painting.