Sinus Pressure by Meg Lyman
11×14? oil on canvas
Limited palette for this one – ultramarine blue, transparent red oxide, and white.
Sinus Pressure
Category Archives: Cats
Octocat
Drawloween: the Conclusion
Here are the rest of them! It was super fun and challenging.
Frankenstein’s Monster (OK Meg’s Monster)
Bat
Amulet
Grave – inspired by the Forks Cemetery
Demon
Mask
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Skull (otter)
8-bit zombie
Candy (laaaazy)
Gore
Just doin skeleton stuff
Mummy
Rat
Witch
Black Cat
Scarecrow (get it??)
Spider
Dragon
Cats x2
Poppy
5×7″ oil on board
Splotch
5×7″ oil on board
More fun cat practice of my dear friend’s kitties. I used the same acrylic colors for the underpaintings on both so they’d have some synergy. Critiques welcome!
Kitties
Sprocket
5×7″ oil on board
Zev
4×4″ oil on board
Cat practice! I’m still fumbling about for my personal “style” with oils, and I’m trying to utilize techniques from other artists that I admire. These two are inspired partially by my class with Qiang Huang, particularly his emphasis on edges and brushwork, and by Karen Mathison Schmidt’s fantastic pet portraiture, particularly her wonderful use of color. I love emulating the styles of other artists- it very clearly highlights
1. how difficult it is, this thing they do and
2. the things I love and the things I don’t love about painting in that style.
Sure, it looks fantastic when they do it, but I am not (obviously) practiced at it, and also maybe it’s not for me. It’s so much fun to try new things and learn how to make your art your own.
Happy October!
Cat Ghoul by Meg Lyman
1.25″x2.5″ oil on board
SOLD
October has to be my favorite month. Cloudy, blustery, beautiful colors everywhere… and Halloween. Skulls! Graveyards! Haunting! I’ve been doing some skull still life paintings for practice, so I’ll share them with you this month. This one is trying out three new oil colors I ordered and it’s on a teeny tiny piece of Stampbord. I really like the sturdy surface in those small sizes – they come as small as 1″ squared! It’s not necessarily made for oils, but it works quite well. The only thing I noticed is that it was pretty absorbent… but that could also be the new oils I was using.
On the recommendation of a WetCanvas forum, I decided to sample Williamsburg Nickel Yellow, Blockx Green Earth, and Maimeri Bitumen. All three brands were recommended as high quality oil paints. I honestly don’t feel experienced enough to say that I can tell a huge difference in the quality, but I do like that none of them were all stiff like some of the cheap ones are. The Bitumen also has a very weird quality to it… when you squeeze it out, it’s got sort of a thick, sticky core surrounded by thinner, more oily paint. It is reminiscent of tar and delightful to play with.
Snoozing
Snoozing by Meg Lyman
5×7″ gouache and ink
SOLD
Another GenCon commission.
p.s. Oddmall was fantastic! Thanks to those who came out.
Oscar
Oscar by Meg Lyman
9×12″ gouache on paper
Pet portrait commission
Angry Derp Cat
Angry Derp Cat by Meg Lyman
Gouache and ink on ACEO
Immediately following my rant on fan art, I post fan art. Oh, the irony.
I love Angry Birds, both the game and the design. I was doodling at the convention last weekend and had a brainstorm – Angry Birds pigs can be made into just about anything! Literally. I was so inspired by the possibilities that I spat out a couple dozen sketches and started painting them right away on ACEOs. It is so much fun and I can’t stop. I doodled a derpy shark that made me giggle whenever I looked at it – I have never sketched anything that made me laugh like that, and I am not used to the accompanying odd stares. From con-goers, no less.
So… am I being hypocritical? It doesn’t feel like it to me – I changed the idea, and I’m just doing it for a fun diversion. I am interested in everyone’s thoughts on this one!
Trouble
Trouble by Meg Lyman
6×12″ oil on canvas
I’ve been going crazy with the oil paints recently! I finally bought some new equipment to help me organize the mess, and consequently, have a system where I can switch from working on gouache to oil and back without much trouble. This was my first oil painting in 18 months, and it was a re-learning process. It made me remember that, at least on a small scale, canvas is a lot harder to work with than gessoed board. Larry Elmore mentioned the difficulties of painting an eyeball that’s the same size as the bumps in the canvas, and I’m nowhere near that level of detail, but I feel his pain. I think I’ll stick to loose, abstract work on the canvases I have, and buy boards for the future. The difference is in the details:
Art frustrations are always learning experiences. ;)