Took Time Off

I took this weekend off from working.  No painting, no etsy, no blogging, no taxes. Actually that last sentence is a lie.  Saturday morning I updated esty listings and it's Sunday night and I'm writing this blog. But I didn't paint and I didn't do anybody's taxes. I will do both of those things tomorrow. It seems like I've been painting, updating and blogging every day since we opened the Etsy Store.

A month ago I made reservations for my husband and I to go to Pala Indian Casino and the timing was great.  Saturday morning we drove the I-5 south towards Oceanside California.  Lucky for us we had bumper to bumper traffic from San Clemente all the way south. We stopped at the reststop just past San Onofre power plant for a short break from traffic.  Nice view from here.

We arrived at the casino early in the afternoon and I suppose I should have just cashed in a bunch of bills when I walked in to the casino and threw them in the air.  I like to sit at the penny machines and play for a while but I didn't bring any luck with me this trip. 

We had a great room with a mountain view, a jacuzzi tub and dinner reservations at the Oak room.     

So no luck winning any jackpots but I really had a nice time getting a little diversion from Work.  I'm back at it now and will post art tips soon.  

Dan, my son is putting together a new website for me that is going to be killer.  I'll let you know when it is up so you can check it out.

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PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

Remember the first person to be able to tell me what painting won the Gamblin paint company's Torrit Gray art contest the year I entered Torrit the Tiger will win a small print of this painting.

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Happy Being a Drip

Sometimes I'm surprised when I set out to paint something and it comes out just like I hope it will.  I decided to add water drops to the fern in the front of the painting and the drops would fall off the plant into the river and bounce back up.  I've painted waves, lakes, oceans, water in a vase but never bouncing water.

On the other side of the tiger the water is rolling with the movement of the tiger.  I thought I'd give that image a try first.  I had the original photo of the snow monkeys in the water and this little roll was in that photo.  I paint at work, (I own a income tax office that gets pretty quiet after April 15.).  I set up my easel and pallet and said what the heck, I can do it.  When I finished the water roll and it actually looked like water rolling I was so surprised and happy.  I showed the painting to everyone that came in the office.  Sometimes I still can't believe I can paint.  Weird.

So, happy with the flat water on the right side of the canvas I felt strong and went on to the water drops falling and laying on the ferns hanging over the water.  

After painting on the water drops it was only logical that the drops would be falling into the water. I had to try painting bouncing water plus the ripples and the cross ripples.  Sometimes I wonder why I create more work for myself.  In this case the idea of all the water and the drops really worked.  I did wipe off a lot of the ripple effect and I did have to keep trying over and over to create the water look but painting it was worth it to me.

Well that's it for this painting.  When I finished this I was surprised I could paint in black and white with so much freedom and expression.  I realized that I pulled off stripes on a beautiful animal.  Trying new things like water rolling and dripping gives me a feeling like butterflies in my stomach, nervous hoping I can do it justice.  I found I liked using the limited color pallet so much that I painted two more black and white paintings,  "Ghost in Torrit Woods, a snowy owl and Waiting for a Friend,  silverback mountain gorilla."   Check out the finished "Torrit the Tiger, Ghost in Torrit Woods and Waiting for a Friend" on my web page or purchase a print at my etsty store listed below.

Please click FOLLOW my Blog.

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!>

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

 Remember the first person to be able to tell me what painting won the Gamblin paint company's Torrit Gray art contest the year I entered this will win a small print of this painting.

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

It's always better with a monkey bath

My brother David owns "The Bookman" a used bookstore in Orange California.  I can sit for hours on the floor in front of the animal section and look through the picture books they have in stock. The smokey misty feel of this tiger painting comes from a type of photo I've seen in one of those books.  Whenever you see those reverent photos of Snow Monkeys in the hot baths of Japan, with the human eyes, nearly asleep with their family, notice the mist  rising around them on the water.  When I was putting this tiger picture together in my head that smokey mist is what I kept seeing around her.  I started this painting with one of those steamy water photos.  I laid in different shades of rocks and mist with my big brushes.  The tiger was now blocked in and looking so interesting I realized the background was a bit boring.

I added more rocks to the left of the tiger. dark crags in the background for depth and ferns in the foreground.  I thought the painting was really becoming interesting.  Now I began searching for water reference material. Reference photos are a big part of my work. I usually use somewhere between 3 to 20 reference photos for my paintings.

Please click follow my post to continue seeing the way this painting developed into one of my most popular paintings ever.

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

I am helping to support a great animal rescue center with portions of my sales from my Etsy sales site.  I am giving 10% of all sales to this fantastic animal rescue center.

Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary
http://foreverwildexotics.org/

 Remember the first person to be able to tell me what painting won the Gamblin paint company's Torrit Gray art contest the year I entered this will win a small print of this painting.

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

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Cellphone Critic

I like to hold my paintings up to a mirror when I feel there is something off in the way the animal looks, like the eyes not looking in the same direction or the stripes not going around it's body.  I found I can see what was is bothering me that way but try holding a 30 x40 painting in the bathroom mirror a few times and I believe you can call yourself a dedicated artist trying to achieve perfection.

A few years ago my husband, Kevin bought me an iphone.  Even the first ones had a great built in camera and he set me up with email capability.  One day I was so happy with the way the painting was starting out I took a picture of it in the early stages and sent it to myself.  Seeing the picture on my computer screen was a revelation.  Somehow it was like holding it in the mirror.  Every flaw that I was willing to see was right there.  For starters the water here isn't flat.  I was also extremely happy at the things that worked. I could see the reflection in the water was going to work. 

This is the first picture I took of a painting with my iphone.  I had already put the tiger drawing on canvas and was figuring out the background.  I rarely pencil on anything other than the animal itself.  

 This is the next day after blocking in the tiger.  I was so excited about this painting.  The day before I had been to the Art Warehouse here in Westminster buying the canvas. I had already decided I would paint a tiger in water and found a canvas that fit.  When I was checking out the clerk gave me a tube of gray paint from the Gamblin art company and told me they create the paint each year from the pigments that end up in their air filtration system and then they sponsor a contest.  The idea is to paint only with gray, white and black.  I was so scared to try this, I always paint with color.  I didn't know if I could pull it off.

Here is my pallet that day.  I had no idea I would have so much fun.  I was free of color.  All I had to do is paint in tones, light, medium and dark.  

In the next few days I will post more pictures of this painting in progress.  At the end of this series I will give away a small print from my Etsy shop of "Torrit the Tiger" to the first person that correctly guesses or figures out what painting won the Gamblin art contest this painting was entered.

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards!

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Welcome!

Welcome Readers!


Thank you for visiting my new blog!

My name is Laura Curtin.
I am a Southern California artist who takes pride in craftsmanship and realism.  I combine my natural artistic ability with extensive research for my painting projects. Working predominantly with oils, my paintings depict wildlife in their habitats. Each painting tells a story, look into the animal's eyes and the surrounding detail for the true character alive in each painting.

I have been painting wildlife for more than 25 years.  My paintings are numerous and many have purchased by private collectors. I enjoy going to workshops and private painting classes with other artist to learn new things.  I learn a lot about life in these classes in addition to art.

Children love the fun and amusing aspect of many of my paintings.

Enjoy a copy of the children's book "Langur Monkey's Day" Illustrated by Laura Curtin.

I will be covering many topics in my new blog from painting, wild life conservation, inspirations and personal insights.

My newest blog is posted, please check out Cellphone Critic!

Visit my personal portfolio website:
http://www.LCurtin.com

PURCHASE 8x10 painting prints, holiday & birthday cards

Thank you for stopping by, hope to see you back soon.

Enjoy a few of my favorite paintings below.

 Torrit the Tiger

24" x 36" Oil on Canvas

 Pink Elephants

22" x 28" Oil on Canvas

Let's Play

24" x 30" Oil on Canvas

 Ghost in Torrit Woods

24" x 36" Oil on Canvas

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