2020 Paintings Still Available

This has been a heck of a year, hasn't it? It has been a tumulutous and anxitey riddled experience for just about everyone. We have had to change and adapt to so many new things and impliment different ways of staying connected in a pandemic landscape. I truly hope my readers are staying safe, sane, and supported. My heart and love is with you! 

This year has changed a lot for me as an artist as well. With galleries and art bars closed for most of the year, and gathering not always an option, I have had to try and pivot to come up with new ways to share my work with my audience. It has been challenging! But I must say I am so grateful for the support and purchases made by you all out there that has helped me continue to produce art to share with the world. 

I feel that I have taken this time to grow in the studio, to expand my subject matter and refine some techniques. I am proud of the work I have been able to complete this year, even if my productivity has been down slightly from everything going on in the world. Rather than recap each and every painting I created in 2020, I thought I might reflect on the ones still available for purchase, since it shows a nice progression of where I have been throughout the year. If you are an avid reader, they might all be familiar, but for those newcomers, here is a look back at my highlighted works from 2020. 

I painted "Arcane Magic" in January of this year, before lockdowns and quarantines and election anxiety began. It was a challenge, as it was my first foray with the airbrush. I used the machine to create all the green glowing smoke in this piece, and then handpainted in the other elements. I wanted to conjure up the atmosphere of a wizard's alchemic laboratory, filled with arcane texts, special herbs, magic potions, and his familiar. I love ravens, so this was a fun one to do, and getting the green reflections to bounce off the items in the scene presented a fun challenge. You can click the image to see this piece in my gallery. 

Fast forward slightly to March of this year, and that found me painting the goddess, "Diana". I have always been a fan of Diana/Artemis imagery. She always seems so full of agency, grace, and self confidence. As the goddess of the hunt, she is often depicted with either a deer, or two hunting hounds, somtimes greyhounds. As a former owner of two amazing and beautiful greys, this always spoke to me. I knew I wanted my Diana to have two of those beautiful animals by her side. This painting presented a wonderful opportunity for me in that I got to use colors I seldom if ever incorporate in my paintings. I really loved the warm oranges and pinks in the clouds of Olympus behind the figures. I worked on refining my fleshtone techniques and had a lot of fun painting in the brindle hounds. The rocky landscape beneath their feet presented the biggest challenge for me. I had never painted this texture before, and it took a few tries before I had it where I liked it. Click the pic to see her in the gallery. 

As the rest of the summer slinked by, I began focusing my attention on my Halloween piece for the year. I do some spooky art all year round, but try to have a piece specifically for Halloween. This year I knew I wanted to paint a witch's alter, with moody lighting, potions and spellbooks. I set up a still life in my home to get the pieces right. My mother has two black cats, and they are both pretty mischievious. They are forever knocking things over all throughout her home. Black cats, witches, and potions up-ended...it sounded like a great blend of whimsical mischief to me. It was my husband's suggestion that I do a kitten versus a full grown cat, and I found he fit the scene even better. I have come to absolutely love painting still life elements. I love nailing all the little reflections and shadows down on the inanimate objects. This piece had a bit of airbrushing incorporated in it as well in order to get the potion to appear glowing. This time the challenge got away from me, and that section took numerous attempts to get just right. In the end, the effort was worth it, and I am pretty happy with the outcome. You can click the pic to see this little guy in the gallery. 

This brings us pretty much up to date. I do currently have a work in progress painting for November, and hopefully another one will commence in December to wrap up the year. In a period of such uncertainty, being in the studio has helped to keep me grounded and has aided in keeping some of the anxiety at bay. Wherever you are I hope you can find ways to achieve the same. I am proud of the work I have put forth this year, and hope to continue to impliment the new skills I've acquired into future works. I feel as I go, the tools in my art box get sharper and more diverse, and I am incredibly grateful to my followers for their encouragement and the ability you all give me to keep creating. 

Much love and be well! 

Elizabeth