04Aug 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

Process: Tom & Laura’s Wedding Portrait Painting

Commissions
I thought it might be fun for you to see the stages of creating this modern fairytale portrait painting. I scheduled about a month, at two days per week, to work on this 16" x 32" acrylic painting on canvas. To learn more about commissioning a painting, click here. So without further ado: Stage 1: Drawing using graphite and then Pitt artist pen. Stage 2: Grisaille in Chromium Oxide Green. Stage 3: Colour wash. Quinacridone Red, Pthalo Green and Green Gold. Stage 4: Establish background buildings and sky. Stage 5: Working on everything but negative space objects. Stage 6 & 7: Work on the car. Stage 8: Paint the figures and adjust the background to create proper recession and focus. DONE! To see more of my portraits click here. To learn more…
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31Jul 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

Sunflower Seed Paintings 19 – 24

The Sunflower Project
These 6 sunflower seed paintings, exploring a blue-violet/orange-yellow palette, have been brought to you by Tracy Burton, who donated the funds for the materials for these six paintings. They are all looking for a good home! Go here to learn about the project and sign up to receive one free, or donate to ensure we keep this project going!
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28Jul 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

Reading: PANTONE The 20th Century in Color

Working Artist
I picked up this book at my local library on the advice of a friend, and it is just a fantastic read, a must have reference for anyone interested in creating art evoking certain historical periods, or anyone interested in predicting future trends in colour preferences. Essentially, Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker take the reader on a grand tour of 20th century western history exploring the influence of politics, social changes, science, art, design and fashion on colour preferences from decade to decade. From the utilitarian and action oriented colours of war time decades, the soft neutrals of recessions and upbeat pastels of post war returns to stability and optimism, PANTONE seeks to not just show the what and how of colour preference, but also the why, in as much…
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25Jul 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

Fear of Rejection – Lessons from Jia Jiang

100 Rejections, What's the Big Idea?, Working Artist
I watched this (and highly recommend you do as well), [embed]http://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection[/embed] shortly after the new year, but it took me half a year to act on it. I realized that I was hanging too much of my dreams of future happiness on each application, proposal and submission I was sending out in to the world, and then disproportionally thrown off course by very rejection letter I got. So much so that I was finding every reason not to respond to this call or that, knowing how much time I would spend crafting each and how floored I would be if it was turned down. Jiang's talk convinced me I should be taking a more light hearted approach to the process, and I decided to make it my mission to collect 100 rejections…
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18Jul 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

Process: Paintings are grown, not executed.

Art Lessons, Commissions
I was posting some progress images of a wedding portrait I am currently working on to my Facebook page, One Life Fine Art (if you are on Facebook, make sure to like and follow me there), and it occurred to me suddenly that the person for whom I am making the painting could actually be terrified by what they were seeing! The first phase was the line drawing, the second, a grisaille in chromium oxide green, and the third was the layer where I work out my major colour story (in this case a series of full strength washes of pthalo green, green gold and Quinacridone red/violet mix). On top of that I will start to refine the forms and paint in details, balancing lights, darks and colour as I go…
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14Jul 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

Reading: Art Visionaries by Mark Getlein & Annabel Howard

Working Artist
A good primer on some of the major artist's of our times, and their ideas and innovations. It is an easy read, with a democratic 3-4 pages dedicated to each artist, even ones with incredibly long and illustrious careers like Picasso. Each artist is covered with a portrait, a timeline, a page condensing key points about their biography, career and innovations, and 3 or 4 representative images of work. I would recommend this book to beginners interested in getting a crash course in art since the beginning of the modernist period. However, even as an artist familiar with the western canon and art since the beginning of the modern period, I found fresh insights on the work of familiar artists. One critique of this book would be that despite it's recent publication (2016) the…
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10Jul 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

SPAM!

Uncategorized
Okay, I know I have been away since March 13th, and if you have posted a legit comment on a post since then, I am genuinely sorry that it will not be read or posted, however 2800 pieces of spam are a little much to expect someone to sift through in order to find the one nugget of authentic human contact in my inbox. I skimmed the posts as I marked them spam, but for the most part they were neither specific nor relevant to this blog. So, if you would like to have your post actually read and responded to, PLEASE make sure that it is specific and relevant, and is very obviously so. There are so many generic spam posts that are clearly copy and pastes, saying how wonderful this…
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13Mar 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

Sunflower Project Update: Paintings 13 – 18

The Sunflower Project
[caption id="attachment_170" align="aligncenter" width="215"] Sunflower Seed #13Acrylic, 5 x 7by Debbie.lee Miszaniec[/caption] [caption id="attachment_171" align="aligncenter" width="209"] Sunflower Seed #14Acrylic, 5 x 7by Debbie.lee Miszaniec[/caption] [caption id="attachment_172" align="aligncenter" width="214"] Sunflower Seed #15Acrylic, 5 x 7by Debbie.lee Miszaniec[/caption] [caption id="attachment_173" align="aligncenter" width="210"] Sunflower Seed #16Acrylic, 5 x 7by Debbie.lee Miszaniec[/caption] [caption id="attachment_174" align="aligncenter" width="212"] Sunflower Seed #17Acrylic, 5 x 7by Debbie.lee Miszaniec[/caption] [caption id="attachment_175" align="aligncenter" width="212"] Sunflower Seed #18Acrylic, 5 x 7by Debbie.lee Miszaniec[/caption] These 6 sunflower seed paintings, exploring a purple/yellow palette and stripes, have been brought to you by Kamla Hari McGonigal, who donated the funds for the materials for these six paintings. The first four will be going out to Carol Borschneck, Estelle Bungay, Jazmin Tyson and Katia Goussous (in that order) later this week. Sunflower Seed Paintings #17 &…
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10Mar 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

The Multiple Charms of Working in Batches

Working Artist
Work In Batches: I was painting alongside a friend, and she asked what she should do while waiting for the paint to dry on her current piece. I suggested she start a second piece while waiting for the first piece to dry. This is a strategy I frequently use in the studio to get as much productivity as I can out of that precious time. I dont just start one piece, I start a group of pieces, usually 3 to 6, at once, all using the same process. While I am waiting for one piece to dry, I can work on the next one. If it is acrylic I am working with that day (like the sunflower seed paintings), by the time I have brought the last one in the…
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06Mar 2017 by DebbieleeMiszaniec

Having Patience

The Sunflower Project
It seems as though I am always waiting for things to come to fruition. To hear back from that application, or for that idea to catch on. Right now I am working on an addition to my sunflower project that has to do with patience and time. A week ago I planted a Sunflower Seed. I decided to document the growth of this seed through its lifespan. I am interested in what happens to the Sunflower Project during the course of the life of a single planted seed. Right now, I am waiting to see a sign that the seed is even viable. Each of the daily photos has been just black soil. I have no idea if my effort is futile. I must be patient, and wait the requisite…
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