West Hollywood

Me with "A Rebel at a Rave"  36x36  Oil on canvas

I recently relocated to West Hollywood and I love it.

It does take some adjustments moving to WeHo from Napa.  West Hollywood is NOT Napa.

There, someone had to say it.

 While I am loving the vibrant and creative city that is West Hollywood, I do miss Napa.  Mainly I miss the wine and the food.  Gawd I really miss good cheese plates.  I order them at different restaurants around here and.... *sigh* , I miss Napa. (Any restaurant reading this is welcome to a free cheese board consultation, just putting that out there.  Having me as a regular has it's perks.)

Painting Rocks in Napa

Painted Rocks

So lately I am fascinated by the rock painting phenomenon currently sweeping across the United States.  It started, I believe, with The Kindness Rocks Project and has evolved.  There are "rock clubs" and "rock groups" peppering the nation and most have Facebook Pages.

Bob Belcher

Painted rocks can be found coast to coast in every town, city, burb, and all the rural areas in between.  Literally, they are everywhere.

Oil painting CAN mean easy clean up. Seriously!

If you're anything like me when I began painting I avoided oils like the plague. They seemed too complicated to me and the thought of cleaning up with harsh chemicals every time I felt the urge to paint was a little overwhelming. I stuck with Acrylic and that worked for me.

The mysterious world of oil paint would have to wait, and wait it did. More than twenty years an artist before I was basically pushed into using them by my spouse. (I was gifted a french easel and a full set of oils and brushes for christmas. Oh, the nerve!) I couldn't let it sit around taunting me so I decided to begin my foray into the mysterious world of oils.

Turns out... not so mysterious after all. That was all in my head.

A Wet Brush Learning Experience

I often find myself painting in more than one color at a time and using more than one brush at a time. I always make the same mistake and end up not only mad at myself but spending time correcting a painting that could be better spent.

The picture below shows how I usually end up holding brushes without even thinking about it.  I just naturally end up holding brushes this way when I'm in the zone and don't realize the error until the "oopsie" is made.

Multiple brush no-no

Sketching and Color Blocking, Developing my Process

In the past, when I worked exclusively in acrylics, I would start by diving right into a blank canvas with what could only be described as a hurried frenzy of thick paint blending together on the canvas.  I rushed through paintings, sometimes setting a timer.

My most popular pieces (judged by sales) were completed in 15 minutes.

Fast forward to my new interest in oils.  Although I've been using oils less than a year, I am thoroughly and wholeheartedly a fan, eager to learn more and more.  At first I hated oils, mostly due to my having not worked with them.  The drying time was the most difficult thing to get used to.