Joan A Hamilton's Digital Painting Site News

Another couple of options for people looking for inexpensive original art

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:49:57 CST

White Magnolia's by Joan A Hamilton

1.   Create your own.
2.   Buy directly from an artist via their personal website.
3.   Buy from online art galleries that have print on demand products.

Wanting art to hang in your home indicates you’ve ‘got soul’! I started painting my own art digitally with Corel Painter eight years ago because I couldn’t afford to buy it. Because I loved watercolour so much I focused on mastering that medium painting digitally. It took a few years, but I eventually produced art I wanted to hang because it made me happy, reminded me of a favourite place and it added colour and peace to my small one bedroom condo. Not the mention the joy of being creative and having other people really like my art as well. I have been selling my art privately and online in several places, the least expensive being JoanAHamilton.com for several years.

I use (mostly) Ikea Ribba frames and change my art fairly often (not as often as I should though). The metal tabs holding the innards in are rather flimsy and seem to be getting flimsier every year (anyone else noticed that?). A permanent solution is using a staple gun. It’s possible to remove the staples, but not as easy as tabs. There are better quality frames you can buy with this ability to change the art frequently if this is your path. They have a new frame with mat out which cost a little more and look a little sturdier. I haven’t tried Virserum yet, but plan to for some art I will have hung in a hotel in downtown Toronto.

There are (let’s just say many) websites that artists are selling their work on in every style and medium imaginable. You find such sites through places like FolioTwist and Fine Art Studio Online There are print on demand online art galleries such as Fine Art America, Red Bubble which sell reasonably priced prints in various formats. The least expensive choices are posters, or prints (often various papers offered) which you can frame for less on your own.

This post actually began as a response to a commenter’s request for idea’s on where to buy inexpensive art on the Apartment Therapy The January Cure blog I follow. When I wasn’t able to paint I turned to cooking and, believe it or not, organizing and cleaning my home as a creative outlet. As a result I found myself following several Food bloggers and a couple of decorating and DIY type blogs. The other half of Apartment Therapy is theKitchn blog. My favourite DIY blog is Young House Love. Their new book Young House Love is very popular because of their engaging personalities (and those of their ‘children’ Clara their toddler and Burger the dog), their enthusiasm and sheer ‘down to earthiness,’ about them. You should check them out. They’ll either make you smile, or make you feel energized and creative. And they have really great decorating and DIY ideas!

Cheers and have a great day!

Painting Again and I Hope it Lasts!

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:45:38 CST

My apologies for shamefully neglecting my blog for the past 6 months. There have been many things going on in my life which did not leave me the time or the heart to paint and blog about it. I really hope to get back into it on a regular basis, but it might take some time.

Crossing Over by Joan A Hamilton January 2013

This is the first painting I have done in nearly six months. It is in honour of my sister Marie who passed away Dec. 29, 2012. It is a devastating loss to me because we were very close. She was my biggest fan, patron, and supporter of all things artistic. I promised I would paint again.

It is a symbolic, fantasy kind of piece which is born of my thoughts and feelings. Trying to come to terms with the reality of this passage. One we will all make. Marie faced her journey with a brave, calm dignity. She was at peace with her fate, and I must accept it also. She was my big sister setting a shining example of grace and strength right to the end.

I think the depiction of some deer crossing over, the moon as the white light at the end of the tunnel, the gently falling snow and the mysterious light coming from the front (maybe an angel? ...that's as good a way as any to explain the errors with light and shadow in this painting!) give it a sense peacefulness.

I tried not to give it too much detail so as not to distract from the main elements, but it just didn't look right without the foreground foliage...to me anyway.

Since Marie's favourite colour was blue (we had so many things in common) I think she would love the colours in this painting.

Slideshow of My Art from Fine Art America

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 09:37:36 CDT

I see that only ten images are in this slide show, and I didn't get to choose which ones. I guess that's because I only have a free membership.

Testing to see what this looks like and investigating the possibilities of signing up for Fine Art America's Print On Demand Program. To be able to do this you need to sign up for a Premium Membership which is $30.00/year.

There is an impressive line up of Features Available with the Premium Membership. I would really like to know if any of you have sold work through Fine Art America and have you examined samples of the work beforehand? Please drop me a line or comment on your experiences with them. I realize their are many other variables to consider in whether you have sold work or not, so the real question is are you happy with the quality of the printed artwork (including Canvas Prints)? Are your customers happy?

Thanks and Happy Painting!

New Technique for translucent petals with digital watercolours

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:26:02 CDT

I tried this today because I wanted the light to seem to be coming through the layers more.

"Translucent: allowing light to pass through, but only diffusely, so that objects on the other side cannot be clearly distinguished." Just checked the dictionary in Word for a definition to make sure I was using the right word.

Digital watercolour variants in Corel painter 12.1 often don't have the translucent quality that I expect them to when I paint with them.

I have found that calibrating the brushes and squeezing the angle of a circular dab brush makes a nice brush for applying a digital watercolour stroke. Varying the pressure will vary the intensity of the colour and the width of the stroke mimicking a traditional watercolour brushstroke a little more. The Hue and Value are set to change very slightly too.

The brush I used for this was my DWC Wedge with fringe which is in my new Floral Watercolour Set which is not released as yet, but it is so easy to make your own. Check out all the brush settings in the illustration. Start with a Circular dab, digital watercolour, digital wet abrasive and go from there.

DWC Wedge brush with fringe is a staple brush of mine. I use it with different fringe levels, at different angles and sizes, and of course with diffusion on and off.

Most of the strokes needed some blending , but I wanted to keep some of the edges. Before I experimented on the layer, I duplicated it, locked it and hid it from view. Then I did my diffusing and blending on my petal and it was looking kind of opaque so I reduced the opacity of the layer by about half and turned the hidden from view layer back on. It was obviously too dark, so I reduced it's opacity as well. Lo and behold the two layers together had a different look that appeared more translucent to me (at the time anyway! lol!)

I'm going to experiment more with mulitple digital layers. I was obviously using more than one digital watercolour before, but had not duplicated the layer and blended differently on each one, then changed the opacity according to what I wanted to show through more.

Which watercolour style looks freshest to you?

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:49:26 CDT

I really would like to know what you think? That's really two questions isn't it? Okay one more ... which one do you like better (and why?)

Think about it as if you were going to buy one. Which one would you be more likely to buy?

Please help me out in my product survey and drop me a quick line via the Contact Form or Leave a Comment. Thanks very much!