More portrait timelapses! Check out a few week's worth here! These close out the end of 2017.
Timelapse Catch Up!
It has been awhile since I uploaded some portrait timelapses! Check out a few week's worth here!
Acrylic Painting of Lulu
This is a 8x10 acrylic painting of Lulu the Boston Terrier. Lulu is no longer in this world but her laid back personality and her owners sense if humor hopefully show though in this painting.
This was a fun one to paint! Lulu looks really laid back and it is easy to tell that. The sunglasses proved to be a new challenge for me as I don't work with transparencies often. It was interesting to deal with both that and the reflection.
Here is the timelapse of the painting.
Where I live on the Internet
in General Art
I am not at home for this post. I am spending time with my grandma while she recovers from wrist surgery. So today I am just going to throw down some different places you can find my work!
Instagram - @KendraAldrichArts
Facebook- Kendra Aldrich Arts
Twitter- @KendraAldrich
YouTube- Kendra Aldrich
Tumblr - Grumpycorgi
Dribbble (Design work) - Kendra Aldrich
Behance (Older digital work) - Kendra Aldrich
You can also find me on VERO as Kendra Aldrich
Oil Vs. Acrylic Paint
Oils or Acrylics? The ever looming question for painters, I have gotten the question many times about which I prefer. And for me there really isn’t a straight forward answer, as there are benefits to both.
Some of these are painted in Oils, some are painted in Acrylics. Can you tell which are which?
Acrylics
Acrylic paint was first introduced in the 1950s and are made from pigment in an acrylic polymer emulsion (plastic). They can be thinned with water and the paint dries fast. Acrylic paint can be mixed with various “mediums” such as gels, to create different effects.
Oil
Oil paint is what the old master’s used. The paint is pigment suspended in an oil, which makes it non-water soluble. A solvent is required to dilute or clean up paint. Paint is often thick and buttery (due to the oil) and dries very slowly. Depending on the thickness, it can take days for a painting in oil to dry.
So which do I prefer?
There are lots of things to consider, such as ease of use, clean up, speed of drying, color of dried paint and price. Acrylics dry fast, which is nice when something needs a quick turn-around, as I can work quicker with it. They are also easier to clean up as it just takes water to clean brushes. Oils dry slow, which can be a benefit or a hindrance, they also require solvents to clean brushes. These need special and careful handling. Acrylic paint dries a bit darker than it goes on the canvas, this is known as color shift. Oil paint dries pretty much how you apply it to the canvas. Acrylic paint is usually a bit cheaper than oil paint, which can also be a factor.
When painting one of the most important aspects to me is how the paint feels when coming off the brush. I like thick, buttery, smooth. These are the qualities of oil paint. However, I use heavy body acrylic paint, which does a really good job of getting that same quality in acrylic paint. I can usually make them look quite similar in my painting style. If I absolutely had to choose one I would choose oil, only based on the fact that I like how genuinely buttery it feels when going on the canvas!
Acrylic
Oil
Did you guess correctly?
Acrylic Palette Setup
Acrylic paint dries pretty fast, and I paint for hours- or over a few days. So it is essential that my palette stays wet for as long as possible. This is the set up that I use with my paint so it will last for up to 2 weeks. I recorded a video showing you how I do this setup, this is my first voice-over so bear with me!
This uses the Sta-Wet Palette (Around $17), which is marketed with a sponge and some Sta-Wet Palette Paper. I do NOT recommend using those, the sponge molds easily and the paper rips and dries out in some spots. So using it with heavy-duty paper towels (3 pack for $5) and a tempered glass palette (Around $30) works much better for me! If you don't want to spend the money on the glass palette, a tempered cutting board could work as well, you may need to find something for a backing though.
Also I like to call the piece of paper towel I put on top of the glass, the Moistmaker (if you've seen friends you will get this!)
Miah Acrylic Painting
This is a 9x12 acrylic painting of Miah the Yorkie. Miah is an awesome dog that has lived way longer than the vet originally expected. This painting was a gift for her owner from the owner's daughter.
Yellow is Miah's owner's favorite color so we chose a bright vivid one to use as the background, it really brings out the sunny nature of the painting.
Short Post - Sad the Olympics are over!
in Design
I’ve been watching the Winter Olympics the past 2 weeks, and I am quite sad they are over. I have a soft spot for the winter games, as I grew up in Park City, UT and was there for the 2002 games. These days there are people that I went to high school with that are Olympians! It is really cool to see them on TV knowing how much hard work they put into doing what they love.
Did you know that Art competitions were part of the Olympics from 1912 until 1948? Medals were awarded for works inspired by sports-related themes. While sports-related imagery isn’t really my thing, it’s cool that this was once a thing! I know these days they are working to incorporate art more-so, however not for medals. I do some sports related work in design though! Check out my Ultimate Frisbee designs!
Ryan and Grandpa, 9x12, Oil on Canvas
Ryan and Grandpa Oil Painting
in Painting, Oil Painting
Happy Birthday to my brother and my grandpa! This painting was a gift for my brother's birthday, which he shared with my late grandpa.
I pretty much just focused on reproducing the photo with some more painterly aspects. Ideally I would love to do a painting like this a bit larger and and bit looser. I kept this one pretty tight due to time restraints. In a painting where I do paint the background, I do like ones like this, there are some recognizable elements, but they can be abstracted and a bit fuzzy.
It was also a bit difficult to paint this one due to it's only been a little over a year since my amazing grandpa passed. This photo was taken before I existed, but it shows what a caring, great person he was. Also he was always so tan!
Anyway, Happy Birthday to them both!
Millie Oil Painting
in Painting, Oil Painting
This painting is of Millie, who sadly has passed. This painting is 8x10 and in oils. We focused on featuring her wrinkles, ears, and droopy face. Her owner really loved her titling her head to the side when she looked at you.
“She was almost 100 lbs but thought she was a lap dog. She loved to snuggle on the couch, and was very lazy, until she was outside or around other dogs. She loved to be chased and to wrestle. She could chase a ball for hours but was terrible at retrieving it to the thrower. ”
I really enjoyed capturing all the subtle colors in the black of her snout. It had a lot of violet and red undertones. Working with oils on this one really allowed me to blend those colors together.
