A Cat Painting

 Yesterday the weather was so sunny and beautiful, it was the perfect day to dig out my watercolors, which I hadn't touched in far too long. In rearranging my bookshelves, I'd come across an old planner illustrated with antique watercolors. One of the paintings which caught my eye was of a sitting cat (you can see it here.)

 

 Here, I've lightly traced the frame I plan to use on the finished painting, and masked off space for the painting. I love the extra thin masking tape from model railroad shops because it has a very tight seal. I've never had a problem with it leaking. I sketched the cat and shadow freehand, adjusting a little as I went to compensate for my slightly wider frame.

My laptop is acting up, and won't let me upload the other photos, but here it is afterwards. The black frame just has an undercoat at the moment. I'll be drybrushing it to lighten it up.

Parlor paintings

 Way back when I first started this blog, I briefly shared the story behind the Renoir painting that hangs in the parlor. My grandmother has two copies of this painting hanging in her house. One was painted by my great grandmother, and the other by my aunt. As a little girl, I loved to compare the two paintings. My great grandmother especially took a bit of artistic license with her copy- she made the blonde girl into a redhead to look look like my grandmother's best friend! Josephine Meyer painted the copy in my dollhouse. I think it's one of the best miniature paintings she's ever done (though I might be a little biased.)

 

 

 The painting below the Renoir is another special Josephine Meyer painting. Josephine told me after I'd purchased it that it was one of the paintings that she'd submitted to become an IGMA artisan.

I couldn't remember anything about the original portrait, and google wasn't being very helpful either. I finally figured out that the painting was a portrait of the Marquise d'Antin by Jean-Marc Nattier. It looks like Josephine changed changed the color of the dress from blue/grey to gold! Josephine also made the gold easel. I've always had a vague idea that I should drape it with a bit of silk or velvet, but I'm holding off until I have the color scheme for this room pinned down. The (standard bespaq) upholstery in this room was light green for years, but I never really liked it. Right now the parlor is in a bit of a battle between the brighter shade of green which I used to reupholster the loveseat, and some brown and pink furniture I stole from other rooms and loved in here. I think the brown and pink will win in the end, but it's a little hard to banish the green after years of picturing it that way.

Pretty Details

A while ago, I bought a little set of brass fan sticks. The other day, I dug them out and decided to give putting it together a go. I made the leaf out of white silk, then painted over it with acrylics.

I kept the sticks of the fan brass, since I was orriginally thinking that I'd make this a working fan, and wasn't sure how a painted finish would hold up to the fan being opened and closed. When I decided that the fan would go in a case instead, I added some dots of paint to break up the brass of the sticks. I used "old glass" for the case, which made it really difficult to photograph.

Now I just need to figure out where to display the fan. I'm leaning towards hanging it in the hall, where the greyish blue wallpaper really brings out the blue in the design. The red of the case interior is a little jarring at the moment, but I've already planned for several touches of red throughout hall. You can just glimpse the red sail of the ship painting on the left.

 Eventally, I'll have two antique pieces of red and blue pettipoint I've been saving made into carpets for the halls. This portrait on vellum will eventually go in the hall as well. It was painted by ebay seller Sylvia Rose, who often copied one of my favorite portait painters, Élisabeth-Louise Vigee-Le Brun. Sadly, I don't think Sylvia Rose has listed any paintings since about 2007, when I won this one.

 

Think Pink: Having Fun With a Painted Table

 

I really had no idea how this table would end up when I began. Lately, I've been tending towards "pretty" miniatures. I've been pulling out my (normally seldom used!) stash of crystals, glitter, etc at the slightest excuse. So once I'd painted the table top and apron pieces cream, I didn't think twice before painting the legs petal pink.

In for a penny, in for a pound.  I added a few freehand roses and ribbons on the table apron...

and more roses and some flourishes on the tabletop. At the very end, I toned down the pink legs. I think this table hit my limit for sweetness!

After the Dust Settles

Christmas is over, and there have been a few new additions in the dollhouses...

 

 The little dummy board I painted went in front of an upstairs fireplace in Mom's house.

 Mom gave me this sweet little framed needlepoint (from this Etsy shop). I thought at first I'd hang it in Pheobe's room, but now I'm thinking it may be better for the parlor.  I'll post more photos when I've made up my mind on the right spot.

 

A Gift For Mom

Every year, I try to make one or two miniature gifts for Mom. This one is a project I've had in mind for several years. Mom loves dummy boards in both real life and miniature. We also have a really sweet English Cocker Spaniel who loves to sleep in front of a fire. Sometimes she curls up so close to the fireplace that she's nearly lying in the coals! For a few months, I toyed with the idea of commissioning a dummy board from Pastmastery, but just as I was ready to commit, they announced they would no longer be making miniature dummy boards.

The other day, I finally decided to try painting one myself. Since I couldn't get the dog to remain in the correct position for long (she's getting old, and kept putting her head down to sleep) I had to do the initial sketch from a photograph. I painted her with acrylic paints on thin birch plywood.

There are still a few touch ups I need to do, but most of the painting is done. I added a toothpick to the photo above for scale.

Here's the back, showing the triangular support piece. I still need to sign and date it, something I always forget to do. It doesn't matter too much when things we make are just staying in our own collections, but we have to double check that everything is signed before each show!

A Painted Bookcase

We didn't have much time to spare at the Sturbridge show, but there was enough of a pause late Sunday afternoon for me to go buy an unfinished wooden bookcase from Bed Miniatures. I had a lot of fun painting it. 

It was a bit shorter than usual, so I bought it thinking it might fit in the eaves of one of my attic rooms. It was just a bit too tall for the attic, so I added feet and made it a standard height instead.

I also added gold to the beading along the edge, though it doesn't show up in the photograph.

Painted Table

Lately I've been really enjoying working on furniture. I've posted about the sofa and chair I reupholstered, and the knobs I changed on Pheobe's dresser. This table was just a fun project.

 This kit was a Christmas gift which has been sitting in my kit drawer for the last few months. It was much easier to paint the base colors while the table was unassembled. The apron got a few coats of blue , and the table top and legs were painted off white.

 I assembled the table before I'd figured out what I wanted to do on the top. Measuring those wedges and filling them in with the blue would have been easier while the table was still in pieces, but I managed! The decorative painting is really fun to do- it's like doodling with paint. I actually used a lot of gold on this table, but it didn't photograph well. Those brownish spots along the table edge, for exmple, are really gold!

Two New Watercolors

... or rather, one new watercolor, and an old one which I just got around to framing. 

 This city street is the newer painting. I tried something new for the frame, first painting it white and then brushing it with gold Rub'n'buff. Unless the frame is in sunlight, the metallic is very difficult to see. Otherwise, it really looks more like an aged, grey-brown finish. I liked the effect for this painting, but don't think I'll use this finish very often.

This portrait is one that I did about a year ago. Unfortunately, I used the wrong type of tape around the edges, and the background bled terribly. I stuck it in a box with a few other problematic paintings, and promptly forgot about it! When I I found it again, I really liked the dark frame, but the bleeding showed, and there was no space for a mat which might have covered it up. I had to use a bit of paint to salvage that white border, but I'm very happy with the way it finally turned out!

Miniature Laquered Boxes

 I've always liked Russian lacquered boxes. I thought I'd try to make some in miniature. A circular box about 1 cm in diameter seemed a good size to start with.  The box on the right was my first attempt.  I had lots of trouble with this one. You can see that the finish isn't quite even, and I thought that it was a bit too tall. I tried to copy a Russian box which my mother owns for the picture on top. The painting on the first one also came out a bit dark. The traditional way to paint these is to gild the silhouette of the scene/figure first, and then paint over the top in thin layers. Since I was only trying to make these boxes look like their larger pieces, I just used a base coat of white paint to brighten the figure on the second box.

 I like the boxes best open. I'm going to have to try a few more of these. The basic box was easy enough to make from card stock, but I'm not happy with the simplicity of my paintings. I may try decoupage for the next set!

New painting

Just popping in for a moment to share this miniature watercolor. Framed, it's about an inch and a half tall.

Sorry to be so quick!

A Pretty Project

I've always loved antique fans. For a long time now, I've wanted to try making some in miniature. This last weekend I finally gave it a go. Since I wanted the fan to look very delicate, I chose to make the sticks of the fan very narrow, and spread them quite widely. In many of the examples I looked at, it was hard to see the individual spokes, which were so close together there was no space between. I was relieved to find a few historical examples where the sticks were spaced the way I preferred.

This was my first attempt (above). You can see that the bottom of the fan got a little messed up on this attempt, but I kept going, because I wanted to make sure all the other steps I'd figured out would would work the way I thought they would. I used an old gold silk for the fan leaf and tassel. The colors are a bit brighter in real life.

I had a little trouble with the spokes of this fan, as well, but they came out better overall. I used a pinkish beige silk on this fan, and painted three little portraits connected by garlands of flowers . It still needs a tassel.

 This fan had perfect spokes! I painted a landscape this time, with a pair of flower-filled urns flanking the scene.

 Did I mention that these are less than an inch tall, and only about an inch and a quarter wide?  Unfortunately, even using the thinnest silk I had, they are still a little too thick to function, but I think with a bit more experimenting, I'll be able to make them in various open and closed positions. I'm also excited to try a few variations, like adding guards (which most, but not all of the fans I saw had) and maybe adding some painted flowers or gold designs to the spokes!

Another Painting

This was another watercolor attempt. I managed to get the scale right this time. I used a doll to double check the painting's head was a little smaller than life size.

Framing her was a little tricky. I usually keep the matting pretty neutral. Dark green or pale blue are generally my wildest choices. But this was a very warm painting, with lots of pink (it's a little washed out in the photo above). None of my regular choices worked. I tried the bubblegum-pink out of desperation, and was shocked that I liked it.

The frame color was a new shade of gold paint I was testing out. My favorite gold paint finally ran out a while ago, and when I replaced it, it seemed like they'd changed the formula to a much cooler (greenish yellow) gold.  This one wasn't bad, but it wasn't perfect either. It was a bit too warm/pinkish for most uses (though that worked for this painting!), and it needed quite a few coats. I'll let you know when I find my perfect gold again!

 One quick tip: If you plan to do a lot of framing, it's nice to save any matting mistakes (ones where I mismeasured, or the blade slipped, etc.) I use these mistakes to test mat colors before I spend a lot of time custom cutting one in the wrong color. Even a three mats in a dark, medium and light tone can sometimes help narrow things down!

Not Quite Right

When I haven't painted in miniature for a while, I struggle with the scale. I was quite pleased with this woman- until I held her up next to a few miniature pieces and realized she's about 3x larger than life. Of course, this occasionally happens in regular life too. My first "life size" full-body self portrait ended up over eight feet tall! But miniature paintings tend to look 'wrong' if they are significantly over sized.

 I decided to frame her anyway. She may end up somewhere in our 'real' house. I have a small collection of these larger-scaled but still tiny paintings, and I've been toying with the idea of grouping them on a small section of wall. I'll post another painting with better scale on Friday.

My Workspace

This cupboard started off as a slightly clunky but well made commercial piece. I tore off the thick upper doors, added trim to the shelves, and painted the cupboard. The decorative  painting is mostly done with dots and dashes. It's a good piece to put in a shadowy corner: from a distance, the cupboard looks much nicer than it actually is. I'm still working on filling up the shelves, and then I'll give the whole thing a last bit of aging.

I also reorganized my workspace. I haven't really posted about this space, because it's usually a complete mess, but it's been staying slightly neater lately. My workspace is a little alcove in the dining room. It has a lot of windows, but gets the most light in late afternoon.  The small drawers on this table hold tools and miscellaneous supplies. The two gold room boxes protect finished projects until I find a spot for them (the large box is actually the Gallery I posted about a while ago.)All my miniature magazines are sorted into wooden holders underneath the table. The white shelf on the left holds spray paint and various solvents.

Behind my chair are larger drawers holding larger supplies like paint, leather, fabric, and landscaping foam.

Watercolors

 Last night I dug out my watercolors for the first time in months. I love to paint in the summer- there's such great light! I realized when Mom and I were setting up for the show last weekend that the paintings were looking a little picked over. I didn't have many cottage paintings left, so I'm going to try to work on more over the next few weeks.

 I've only worked on this one so far. It still needs a lot of work. The frame is only laid on top as encouragement, and to check that the darkest colors are dark enough to show up.

While I had the camera out, I snapped a shot of this painting as well. I painted it for Mom a few months ago, but don't think I ever posted photos of it here. We both love Jane Austen, and while Persuasion is my favorite of her novels, we watch the 1995 addaptation of Pride and Prejudice quite often.



You can see that the paint bled horribly around the edges, which is why the painting is still unframed. I usually tape the edges of my watercolors to keep them neat. My favorite tape is extra-narrow masking tape from the model train shop which gives a nice clean line, but it's a bit difficult to find. I used a different brand of masking tape on this painting, thinking it would be the same, but as you can see it was terrible!

Painting Again

I meant to do more watercolors over the last few months, but what with one thing and another, didn't get around to it. So today, I finally took them out again, and tried a quick mini picture of my brother.

It doesn't really look much like him, but the picture below is a little less than 1 1/4" by 1 1/2, meaning his face is about a half inch tall. I'll do some more work on it tomorrow, hopefully, when the light is better. Somehow I always seem to start watercolors in the late afternoon, though the kitchen gets the best light in the morning!

We're buried in snow, and set to get lots more soon. This was the view out our kitchen window a few days ago. The snowplow couldn't find the driveway!

Broken Laptop and and Mini Watercolors

My laptop is broken. It turns on, lights up, but the screen stays dark. Right now, it's in the shop getting properly diagnosed. The bad news is, there's a good chance that I'll need a new one. The good news is, retrieving my files should be easy, so I won't lose any of my work.
In the mean time, I've been framing miniature watercolours I painted awhile ago. I hate to make the frames, so I splurged on a bunch of frames from Smaller Than Life.

Framed, this painting is 2" wide and 1 1/2" tall.

This is the smallest painting- the watercolor area is less than 3/4" square.

This painting is 1 1/2" wide by 2" tall. The colors in this photograph are a bit washed out- it looks much more cheerful in real life.

New Painting

It's been a while since my last post! I have been working on various miniatures for the past few weeks, but this painting is one of my favorite. It's oil on wood, about 2" tall. It's a copy of Van Gogh's Still Life with Open Bible.

This is going to be difficult to frame. It was sort of an impulsive painting, so I forgot to allow room around the edge for the frame to hide. There's plenty of room on the sides, and enough on the bottom edge, but I'm worried about the top. Please notice the warning along the left side. My mom jokes that "wet paint" is my signature.

Gallery II: Paintings

I posted a few photos last night of this room box I've been working on. I needed a space to store and display all my paintings without a home. The photograph below was taken while I was in the midst of swapping paintings around, and experimenting with the best spots for new paintings. Here are some of the paintings that will be displayed (at least temporarily).

This was the second miniature painting I ever tried, way back in high school. The original, by Virgee Le Brun, is "Julie LeBrun as Flora".

This girl was another early-ish attempt, though I did go back in and work on the eyes later.

I haven't made a frame for this painting yet, but it will go into the box just as soon as I do. I never did figure out the marble columns of the original Alma-Tadema, so eventually I just left them alone.

This was a recent painting. The original, by Edward Robert Hughes, is incredibly detailed. The different greens of the plants were fun to figure out.

I love Vermeer, but have been really nervous about trying any of his paintings. A few new paintbrushes gave me the courage to get my feet wet recently.

This painting was only in in the box for a short while. I gave it to mom for Christmas, so it's going to have a new home. Unfortunately, I got the scale a bit off, so the head looks enormous in a dollhouse, and isn't appropriate for mom's Georgian cottage in any case, so it will probably go somewhere in our real, "big" house.

And just for fun, here is the first miniature oil painting that I ever finished. It was certainly not the first attempt, but the only one that I didn't throw away in frustration. This one won't be going in the box, but it was mixed in with the other paintings, so I thought I'd show it anyways.

Hopefully I'll have more photos soon of the box put together a bit more.