Bird oil paintings Birds Studio Tips Good Books How to eat healthy quotes original art Tracy Haines

I love painting birds and flowers from time to time.  Few items in nature allow full- on color like these two subjects do. This sweet Junco is available from my Etsy shop at Tracy's Etsy Shop

Studio Tip of the Day:

Before

Get rid of chocolate from your studio!  I filled a lovely wire basket with small bites of chocolate, after reading another artist's blog about how every studio is incomplete without chocolate.

This has not worked for me!  One small indulgence always, without fail for me, leads to 20 small indulgences and I might as well just buy and eat 3 KitKat bars a day.  I feel bloated, sluggish and decidedly unhealthy lately.
I am now detoxing on Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live and feel oh so much better!

After



His book is interesting and full of great tips on eating well. My husband and I have committed to giving this a try for a full 6 weeks.  Stay tuned! :)

Quote of the Day:

 Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take; and good poets make it into something better, or atleast something different.The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique,  utterly different from that from which it was torn. - T.S. Eliot
This is true in art as well.  Wolf Kahn thinks so.  So does Austin Kleon.  So do I.
Enjoy your day and thank you for checking in!  :)

Acrylic Underpainting by landscape artist Tracy Haines,Figurative, the zone, right brain activity

For so long I've wanted to tackle this image of my daughter, which was taken several years ago.  I liked the casualty of the pose, the attitude. It's Jordyn!

I finally started!  This is the acrylic underpainting.  I don't often start an oil this way, but lately have been playing around with loose acrylic underpaintings to get the canvas covered.  I will continue the painting in oil, and I will attempt to keep the end result loose, too.  I love a painterly quality in works; just not a big fan of especially tight paintings-although I admire the realists.

What is particularly fun about this approach, is that once the tough work is done- the work requiring left brain activity (which is always a strain for me , and why I beat a hasty retreat out of medicine)-one can put in "time out" the chatty, over- analytic left brain by, say, listening to an interesting podcast.  This frees up the right brain to take over and allow a more fluid, intuitive completion of the painting.  For me , this is where the painting really comes to life.  This is that zone where I lose all sense of time and place and self.

Thank you for checking this post out, and I will post the painting again once it's completed.

Decluttering art studios artists tips and recycling paintings by Colorado landscapes artist Tracy haines

In my never-ending attempt to de-clutter, I read yet another book on the subject called the life changing magic of tidying up by marie condo ( no caps in her book title)

I am starting to put some of her tips to use.  As you see in the photo, I have been hoarding art magazines.  I keep them, because I realize that a style I don’t care for today, I might be inspired by tomorrow. But my studio is starting to feel too cluttered again.  So, I’m slowly going through the magazines, tearing out paintings I like and filing them in a binder. The rest were heading for the trash- until I stumbled upon a neat idea.   I use brightly colored images from the art magazine to provide a backdrop for artist quotes that I  add to my paintings that sell online. 

I feel good about this, because I am recycling, and it’s fun to make things when I don’t feel like creating a work of art.  ( It's a great procrastination tool, if you're looking for one! )

THEN, the remains of the magazine go to the recycle bin.

Encaustic painting by landscape artist Tracy Haines

Pin painting

This is a 6x6 encaustic painting.  From time to time I like to try out new media.  It keeps my work fresh and helps me avoid artists block.

More of this kind of work is available from my Etsy store.

My Etsy store

Encaustics are paintings done using melted beeswax with or without a medium called damar resin. Damar resin helps harden the wax, making it more durable and transparent. The finished painting has a wonderful mild honey scent.  One can paint with colored wax alone, as in this example, or use a mixed media approach , incorporating collage and other media. It's a versatile medium, lots of fun, and is gaining in popularit