ACEO obsessed?

I just keep painting! Here's my latest ACEO miniature painting. I love the challenge of giving the impression of detail on something so small. What should I paint next? Oh, maybe I should sleep some tonight. :)

ACEOs

I'm so excited to have tried something new today! I started painting miniature watercolors. I painted them in the ACEO format. Art Cards, Editions, and Originals — 2.5" x 3.5". The purpose of painting these is for collectors. Some people collect baseball cards, and now folks are collecting miniature prints or original artwork! What a fun way to have an art collection without spending a fortune.

The only consistent thing I found about ACEOs is the size. Otherwise they can be unlimited prints, limited edition prints, or original paintings. I think I'll start selling these original paintings at my shop www.susanwindsor.etsy.com and I'll also do some limited edition prints. Why not? My favorite part of doing these today was that I could finish several paintings in an hour. I feel like I accomplished something today! Hmmm... what to paint next? :)

A House Portrait

What a thoughtful gift! A friend wanted to give a house portrait to his wife as this was the first house they bought together. So fun! Here is the result.

What I loved about painting this house was how I painted the brick. Before starting, I felt the need to paint every individual brick. But that's not necessary at all and may even look pretty funny if done that way. So, instead I did an overall color on the background and came back in with several bricks in darker variations. You can tell it's a brick house without being hit over the head with that fact.

Another part that was fun for me here was painting the crepe myrtle trees. Watercolor is so fun and you never know where it's going at first. I did a wet into wet technique here by dropping in the wet color of the flowers into the wet paint of the leaves. I think it gives a dreamy effect.

What do you think?

A Family Portrait

This one was long in the making. My sister and her family took a photo like this about five years ago and wanted me to make a painting out of it. Unfortunately back then the photograph was of such a poor quality that it just wouldn't work. And then they went on a family vacation to Galveston, TX... Finally I had something to work with! See the progression of this painting:


Starting to add some of the background color:


Oops. I got so engrossed in this that I forgot to stop and take another photo before I had so much done!


And here's the final! This was the first time I worked with wet reflections in sand. So fun! I think I need to do another like this.