As last Tuesday’s post suggests, I’ve really been getting into small forms of art: miniatures. Short musical pieces are fun to compose, and can be dashed off (and, hopefully, recorded) in mere minutes.
I’ve also always been a lover of bric-a-brac—little tiny figurines and collectibles and the like—and am drawn to them in part because of their tiny size. I have a random assortment of such bric-a-brac on my desk at this very moment—an R2-D2 figurine; a little pumpkin finger puppet; a LEGO Han Solo; a little ghost—and have other little figurines in various places in my home.
Not surprisingly, I’ve also come to really enjoy small paintings.
Back when I was getting ready for the most recent Halloween Spooktacular, I particularly enjoyed painting mugs, which I sold/attempted to sell at the concert. I had plenty of acrylic paint leftover from the Spring Jam (where children painted birdhouses), and for Christmas I received some little 5″x7″ canvases.
Amusingly enough, I discovered these canvases when looking for Christmas presents for my three-year old (as of today!) nephew. I was looking at his Amazon wishlist (his mom put it together, not him), and found the canvases… so I added them to my wishlist. That means I have the same tastes as a toddler.
Regardless, I cracked open the canvases and set about with my first stumbling attempts at painting. The first I painted was a pastoral scene, which I entitled “Apple Picking” (also featured in this past Sunday’s Sunday Doodles):
In talking to Mariella Hunt on Instagram (yep, I have an Instagram now—d’oh!), she mentioned how much she enjoys pink apples, so I dabbed in some pink spots as a small nod to her.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to do something with a heart. I really like to use hearts in my artwork and doodles, but I thought it might be fun to do something a bit different, and fuse Valentine’s Day with one of my favorite holidays, Halloween:
After letting the paint dry a bit, I added some additional details—the blood splatter from Cupid’s arrow piercing through the heart-head; gray on the arrow; and additional detail on the cowl:
I’ve had two proposed names for this painting: “Frankentine” and “Valenween.” “Frankentine” has a great ring to it, but the figure in this picture doesn’t seem Frankensteinian enough. I also thought “Valoween” would be a good variation on “Valenween.”
What do you think? Leave a comment. Oh, and if you were to purchase artwork, what would you pay for one of these (if anything!)? Let me know!
Happy Tuesday!
—TPP
One day, with Tina’s permission of course, I’ll scan the Christmas card she made for me a few a years ago – her take on A Christmas Carol – and send it over. The drawings were excellent and often humourous. She’s a serious artist, painter and sculptor but her fun drawings are just as brilliant.
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Learning how to sculpt was on my list for things to do in my retirement – I’ve always been fascinated by sculpting. Sigh … it hasn’t happened yet and I’m three years in. Sigh.
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You should email Tina for tips. You’ve got her email address, right?
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I have yours – is it the same?
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I would love to see that!
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Her pictures of the ghosts are priceless. My favourite is her ghost of Christmas yet to come. You’ll love it when you see it.
I suggested to her that she could market that sort of card. People would buy them in droves. One day, she might consider it.
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I love pictures of ghosts. I would not mind seeing those, either. The idea of making them into little cards is also clever.
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Well Tylet, all I can say about your art is if you enjoy doing it carry on creating, I have seen far worse.
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Thanks, Alys. That was very diplomatic of you.
I possess a very primitivist style. Certainly nothing masterful, but I do enjoy the process of painting. It’s quite fun.
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My daughter taught herself how make resin miniatures – minis are in. Always good to start small – if you have enough artist-heart to fill a small canvas, chances are you will begin to advance to larger canvases.
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Nope. I’ve just sent you Tina’s address by email.
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Got it! Thank you! And a big hug for Tina.
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