Of course, being only 5′, I’m always short. That’s right, I’m tiny.

This past week has been both eventful and not. Having two days off in the middle of the week is nice and yet also weird since I’m not used to having consecutive days off. Great opportunity to catch up on things had I the motivation to actually do something. Unfortunately, the summer heat hit peak highs on those days so the idea of doing anything at all sounded most unpleasant. Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t a complete slug. I got some paintings varnished and worked on the corrections.

I also came to grips with the fact that some paintings are simply too far off to correct on their current canvas and would need to be completely repainted in order for me to be satisfied with the final result. That does allow me to start off right with the sketch done before hand. When I say sketch, I do of course mean digitally. My sketching skills on paper always leave something to be desired. I think it’s because I’ve gotten so used to the corrective tools available on the computer and didn’t really push myself to learn how to draw properly with pencil and paper. Even on computer the sketches are all simply a loose layout of “I want this pose-ish”.

As you can see, I start off with a very rough sketch and then blend and shade to correct from there. The liquify tool is fantastic for this stage. After I’m satisfied with the form is when I start thinking about color. I have a general color scheme in mind most of the time.

It’s always been a bit easier for me to work on something on the computer and get it where I want it to be, but nothing beats the joy of putting paint on canvas. For the longest time I tried to make the transfer visually since I didn’t have a printer to try to help with moving the outlines over. As I mentioned in my previous post, sometimes my eyes lie to my hands in making sure paint went where it needed to go. Especially if it needed to be somewhat symmetrical. So, there was always something just a bit off.

Now that I have a decent printer and ink isn’t an arm and a leg to purchase only to run out after 10 prints (I’m looking at you, HP), I can really “loosen my belt” when it comes to using the tools at my disposal to affect the results I want. The best thing is that the printer I got to replace the ink-guzzling HP wasn’t much more expensive, but the quality is worlds apart. Bonus, it can print on 11″x17″ paper, so larger prints are an option!

I haven’t really had much cause to use it yet, but I’m still super excited to have it.

Anyway. That’s all I have to say.