Tag: blue

Goldfish in oil pastel

Published on by kmgunnart1 Comment

 I did this piece as a test of a new set of Mungyo Gallery oil pastels along with a new DVD art lesson on how to use oil pastels effectively. As I followed the instructions and sketched out the goldfish with my new oil pastels, I quickly realized the beauty of the lines and colors, and decided to finish it into a completed painting.

A vivid and colorful goldfish changing direction effortlessly and gracefully in the blue water, its scales seem to change from a deep gold to a fiery orange. This is not a complex piece of art, but elegant in its simplicity.

spotted goldfish in blue background to simulate water, worked in oil pastel
Goldfish, 11 x 14 inch oil pastel on paper, prints available

My mother has claim on the original piece, which is oil pastel on 14 by 11 inch primed paper and sealed with Mod Podge to prevent smudging.  She also has a watercolor I tried to do of this image, but made a mistake on and my husband refused to use it as a fire starter for our woodburning stove. Mom agreed with hubby, so I gave her that, along with my first ever oil painting, of the exact same subject on flat canvas. Mom complained that I did not sign either the watercolor or the oil paint pieces, so I promised her this one after ensuring it has a legible signature and date.

Prints are available through my Pixels store, and shirts and accessories through my RedBubble shop. Update: RedBubble has started offering pet mats, and one is in a general fish shape, intended for cats. I love it! It appeals to my (probably corny) sense of cute.

image of my oil pastel artwork Goldfish on a fish-shaped mat for cats
My oil pastel painting Goldfish on fish-shaped cat mat

Blue Dragonfly colored pencil drawing

Published on by kmgunnart2 Comments

A colored pencil drawing on toned paper, Blue Dragonfly shows a very common visitor to our property.  The dragonflies don’t tend to hold still long enough for me to take a couple dozen potential reference photographs in hopes of having one turn out decent, so I found the reference photo over on a site called Morguefile, which has thousands of copyright-free photos for artists and graphic designers to use.

This year we have seen a new color variation of dragonfly – in addition to the blues, the greens, and the copper/rust ones, I remarked the other morning that we have now seen a black dragonfly with yellow segments on the tail. They also have some stunning earth-tone red eyes, about the same shade as the burnt sienna in my oil paints.  Once I get a good enough grasp on the dragonfly body and wing shapes, I’ll try to draw one of those as well, but for this piece I decided to start with the most-familiar blue dragonfly.

colored pencil drawing of blue dragonfly resting on a strand of babr wire on tan toned paper with abstract green shapes as background
Blue Dragonfly, 9 by 12 inch colored pencil drawing on toned paper, original available

The original is available through Daily PaintWorks.  Prints are available at my Pixels store and prints and accessories are at my RedBubble store. My dad says this particular drawing is his favorite artwork I’ve done to date. Considering he has seen my drawings from age five on, that puts it above the couple thousand or so I’ve done the past four decades – so high praise from him.