My First Day in My New Art Studio

For the longest time, I did only digital art on my couch, because I had no room in our 800 square foot to do full on painting and such. Its fun and I love digital, but it has its limitations when it comes to experience and texture.

Recently a few galleries have shown interest in my art, but wanted canvases and wanted me to do live paintings, which is hard to do on a tablet. So we cleaned out our dining room which was pretty much just being used as storage, and I was able to throw down a drop cloth and get going with art.

Don't mind my legs that I forgot to crop out of the picture, just wanted to show my set up. I got out my palette knives and started to work. If you've seen my other art, you know I like darker colors. So I did this one with a lot of gray, black and then added some red after.

My cat, Johnny Cash made sure to supervise the entire process.

I used my knife to spread around the paint, make cuts and slashes where needed and basically sculpt the paint instead of brushing it. The process for me is extremely relaxing.

The hardest part for me with physical paint is waiting for stuff to dry. I like to keep moving. I guess its my mania, but I also don't mind the paint being a little muddy for my abstracts, so I don't have to wait super long. Just long enough for it to surface dry then I can add the next color. I know some people think abstract is easy and anyone can do it, but I really find myself sitting and starting at things or painting over something to get it looking right. Its not as easy as some people think unless you're doing a Cy Twombly style paint I suppose.

After messing with a few things, I was ready to add the red and get it finished. I ended up being very happy with it and of the physical acrylic paintings I've done so far, this may be my favorite.

I got the idea this time to use my palette knife for my signature instead of painting it in, and I really like how it looked. I'm excited to take this to the art show on Friday. I'll be at the Brick Arts Center in San Antonio from 7-midnight with both digital prints and original paintings on canvas. Its my first art show in over a year and very first show I'll have canvas paintings, so I'm both excited and nervous.

Last year I did a show called Fright Gallery that had horror themed art. I had a bunch of prints there and sold a couple, which was fun and a good showing for me. I didn't sign up for that show this year because I feel my stuff isn't quite horror enough. Plus its a lot further away. So excited to do this local show and see how the night goes and if someone would like my paintings.

I look forward to using my new studio more and sharing more of my process with you all. Thank you for stopping by and make sure to subscribe to learn more about my art!