Misfit - Golden Open Painting

I worked on this still life today and finished it. It still dried pretty dark but after varnishing the color ought to pop anyway. It says to wait to varnish. I don't paint with thick paint so I imagine I can varnish it after a few days. I will use an acrylic spray varnish.

Misfit

5 x 7 inches, Golden Open paints

*Note, I posted this 1/1/09, again for a brighter photo, the blue is still too bright. This is close otherwise. It is hard to photograph blue as you probably know. The blue is a deeper royal blue. We had these little Clemintines in our stockings for Christmas. They are so cute and came in a great little wooden crate. Gene just noticed the fruit is from Morocco. They were good to eat as well.

I am going to have a new section on my website called, Jo's Notions, where I will put these small paintings for sale for $50.00, unframed including postage. I sell the framed 5 x 7 paintings for $75.00, so that will be about the same, except the purchaser can pick the frame. They will be easier to ship, shipping is free, by the way.

Acrylic Plein Air - Bird Feeder

I told you that I painted yesterday with the Golden Open paints. It was different for sure. Not like acrylics as they don't dry so fast, but also not like oils. The final look is close to oils as you can blend with them. Like all acrylics, they dry darker for me. I suppose it is because the water evaporates in drying and they change a little. Here is the painting as it was finished:

This is on a canvas panel from Dick Blick, 5 x 7 inches.

This is after I defined the bird feeder and birds as much as possible and glazed with some yellow to try and brighten up the painting. I still need practice with acrylics to have them end up as light in value as I intend them to be when I am painting.

I think I will enjoy painting with these paints. An internet friend from the Scavenger Hunts, Jamie Williams Grossman, tested Golden Open paints and has an interview with Mark Golden that you can download in PDF to read. Very informative and you can see her paintings on her blog/website. She paints in oils and acrylics, mainly plein air, but miniature paintings and more. The Golden site has Jamie's interview and three more interviews with the other artists that tested the paints.

I did a little still life with the Golden Open paints this evening, but again, it wasn't dry enough to photograph in real light and reflects too much when wet. The painting is darker than I want and I hope to brighten up the background. It needs orange and the only red I have is dark, alizaron crimson, so I may try using orange or bright red from my other acrylics. The Golden Open can be mixed with other Golden acrylics, but I don't have those. If I mix with Liquitex, they may never dry. We shall investigate that. Stay tuned.