New Sloppy Art Day

I've done a few bad art/ sloppy art posts before, so here's another one.  Every now and then I get some time and decide to paint a few paintings.  But before I get into that let me explain my painting style.  Honestly, I can't paint life-like/realistically to save my life.  I learned that I am too impatient, and way too sloppy.  But then, I was introduced to impressionist art.  And it was perfect for me.  I found that the sloppier I was, the better I was.

So here's what I have been up to lately.

This one is called "Picasso's Blue Reef."  Of all the paintings I have painted, I think I like this one the best.  I wanted to do something like Picasso, where he had a "blue" period.  I thought, what if I took Picasso's blue thoughts, and used them to paint a coral reef.  So I used all sorts of blues on this painting.  It came out great.  Again, I am really happy with it.

This one is called "Around the Old Oak Tree."  I wanted to so something a bit different.  This was supposed to be part of a five part series.  I'm still working on the series, but this one was supposed to be "Earth."  The picture itself is a little brighter than it is in real life due to the flash.  I think it's a nice, happy painting that doesn't try to over think anything.  It's just nice.

This one is called, "The Little Red Admiral From Argentina."  The butterfly itself is called a Red Admiral, and the species that I painted makes its home in Argentina.  Again, this was something outside my comfort zone.  I actually started painting a butterfly, but it didn't turn out right.  So I painted over that painting, and came up with this.  I'm pretty happy with it.  It has a lot more detail than you can see in the photo.

This is part one of a two part series.  I made this painting and the following one as a "fire and ice" theme.  This of course, would be the ice.  I call it, "Busy Day on the Blue Reef."  Here's a funny note.  I had an idea for a brush I needed, but they didn't make that kind of brush.  So I went to Home Depot, bought a brush, and cut it to the needed shape.  If you see the "seaweed" on the bottom, that's what I used the brush to paint. 

This one is called, "Maroon 5 Clownfish."  Yes, I am a bit of a smart aleck.  But if you look there are 5 Maroon Clownfish in the picture.  I also used my special brush in the middle bottom of this painting.  It's come in really handy.  At first, I wasn't sure how this painting would come out.  But once the finishing touches were put on it, it really started to pop out. 

So that's what I have been up to lately.  Stay tuned.  I'm sure I will spit out a couple more works pretty soon. 

Adrian: Amatuer Craftsman, The Bathroom Cabinet, Part 1

I have a big empty space in my bathroom.  It's true.  Here's a picture.

Really big and empty huh?  For years I have thought of putting a cabinet there, but have never gotten around to it.  So I checked out Home Depot's cabinets and saw exactly what I wanted.  But then I read the reviews.  It seems the cabinet I wanted was made out of particle board with a lot of paint over it.  And they wanted $80 for it to boot.  The reviews were completely scathing, saying they should be ashamed to charge that much for such a piece of crap, and you still had to assemble it!

So I decided, "Hey, I'm a woodworker.  I can build my own cabinet."  And why not?  I have all this hardwood lying around, I might as make it for free!  I decided to make it in a folk art style.  Kind of an open cabinet meets folk art style.

I won't bore you with all the details, and how I completely overheated myself for the first time in 17 years.  No, it's picture time.  I didn't get a shot of it with naked wood.  So here it is after the primer coat, and one coat of paint.

You know what I just realized?  That is the back of the cabinet.  It sure is.  But that's okay.  Because I will most likely have two more blogs about this cabinet.  The second one will show the cabinet once it is painted white for the final time.  The third blog will show it on the wall, and with all the folk art designs on it.

Oh, did I not mention that?  Yes, my girlfriend Lili (not her real name) and myself will paint some designs on it to match my bathroom.  I'm sure this will look great once it's all complete. 

Stay tuned for more.