OK so it's the New Year, and not really having anything to give up, aside from a bit of colourful language, I decided to apply my New Year resolutions to my career as an artist!
Having spent the last 22 years (and still at it) designing for a living, I wanted to use the momentum that I had working full time, to the thing that I truly love doing. How could I really start to make a living from painting? This is a question that a lot of 'real' artists still ponder, so I am sure that it isn't going to be a downhill ride! If you google 'how to become a professional artist' it guides you to a site that lists all the things you need to do in order to 'become' professional. Well, I don't know about all that , but one of the things that it advised was that you need to become REALLY good at drawing, and then an expert in your medium of choice.
With this in mind I decided that in the interests of learning and getting good at what I do, I am going to paint the A-Z of dog breeds...26 dog portraits to get my teeth stuck into. As they are not commissioned works, I can be experimental and start to truly find my style. It is my plan to also enter as many competitions (low key) as possible this year, and hopefully at the end of the year have some of my work exhibited, outside of our local art club!
Anyway without further ado, I am well underway with my portrait of an Afghan Hound. I am using acrylics as I want to utilise my work from the Carole Baker workshop, where the technique that I learnt lends itself to fur and interesting backgrounds. Do let me know what you think, and if anyone has any top tips they would like to share, please don't be shy!
Having spent the last 22 years (and still at it) designing for a living, I wanted to use the momentum that I had working full time, to the thing that I truly love doing. How could I really start to make a living from painting? This is a question that a lot of 'real' artists still ponder, so I am sure that it isn't going to be a downhill ride! If you google 'how to become a professional artist' it guides you to a site that lists all the things you need to do in order to 'become' professional. Well, I don't know about all that , but one of the things that it advised was that you need to become REALLY good at drawing, and then an expert in your medium of choice.
With this in mind I decided that in the interests of learning and getting good at what I do, I am going to paint the A-Z of dog breeds...26 dog portraits to get my teeth stuck into. As they are not commissioned works, I can be experimental and start to truly find my style. It is my plan to also enter as many competitions (low key) as possible this year, and hopefully at the end of the year have some of my work exhibited, outside of our local art club!
Anyway without further ado, I am well underway with my portrait of an Afghan Hound. I am using acrylics as I want to utilise my work from the Carole Baker workshop, where the technique that I learnt lends itself to fur and interesting backgrounds. Do let me know what you think, and if anyone has any top tips they would like to share, please don't be shy!
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