Small Paintings Big LESSONS

Small Works of Art with BIG LESSONS



Some of life's biggest Treasures come in SMALL packages!

















For quite some time I have been painting small mini paintings called ACEOS. An ACEO is an Artist Trading card, or a painting or work of art that is the size of a baseball card.

For me these small paintings are a way for me to test out ideas for paintings and see how they sell on Ebay without spending a lot of money on large canvas supports. Also, even when I am too busy to paint, or at least tell myself I am, I can usually create one ACEO painting or sketch. Keeping me creative every day.

So these are a few of the small mini paintings I have done recently...

As a matter of fact it was these small paintings that showed me that people would enjoy looking and and purchasing nude paintings I make. So as a test, I made some and listed them for .99 they sold better than expected, and I also shed some of my inhibitions as an artist.
Sometimes these small paintings are my Biggest Teachers in art. I experiment with palette knives, color combinations, positions, subjects... and it gives me an indication of what to paint in larger format.

Art work of the day... Saddlebred Horse Sculpture

American Saddlebred Horse Sculpture
FOR SALE $200.00

It is always a feeling of grand accomplishment with each Sculpture finished. Creating a piece of art that is useful, and 3 Dimensional is simply amazing, there are no words to describe it.

This piece has been painting to look like bronze, though in these photos, it has a "gold" sheen to it, in person, it looks very much like a bronze. This effect takes many layers of blacks, browns, reds, golds and greens to achieve.

The thought behind this sculpture was to create something that was also useful, so I made a dish in this piece so that you can add a candle or some candy, store your earrings in, etc.

This piece was hand sculpted with air dry clay, sealed with an all purpose sealer, which will protect the piece against deterioration from moisture, painted to look like bronze and then sealed again.

This Original piece is for sale for $200.00

This is an Original, so far, no molds have been made from it. If the Original does sell, it is likely that no molds will ever be made. If it doesn't sell, I have plans to get a mold made that would allow me to cast ceramic copies of this and then be able to sell them quite reasonably.

While I was sculpting this piece I was remembering the American Saddlebred Horses that I have been fortunate to own, most all of my horses were heavily Genius Bourbon King bred and they had such wonderful head profiles, long and tapering to a fine muzzle with wonderful bone structure around the eyes and large, very rounded eyes.

They are wonderful horses with a gentle temperament and intelligence. Next to Arabians, I love American Saddlebreds.

Sculpture commissions are welcome and prices start at 150.00 for a small ( 6") Sculpture.

Please contact me at PintoASB@Gmail.com
To purchase with Check, Money order or Paypal

Feedback on Art is a varied and wonderful thing!

Very recently I had someone in the art business tell me that my work was boring and unoriginal, which at first really hurt me, but then, I shrugged it off, remembering that art is so subjective and what will inspire one person, will bore another.

I am a member of the Arabian Horse Forum, ArabianBreeders.net, my ID is "ArabianArtist" and I have to say that is one of the best online forums I have ever been a part of. Their words of encouragement and some of the critiques from the fellow artists is so very helpful as well as reassuring.

It is only human to have lingering doubts after someone tells you in an off handed way that you aren't good enough. Well I am so grateful for the people in my life, even the ones that touch my life online- because they are a great support.

I am always humbled by the kindness and generosity of others. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this blog, and liked my art enough to learn more.

Baring it ALL in 2010!

"What do I do with this frosting?"
11x 16"
Original Oil Painting
For Sale

I am baring it all in 2010 coming out of my comfort zone of painting horses and attacking one of art's more popular, elusive and fascinating subjects: The female form. In some ways I have been very reluctant to display this type of art publicly, and I am unsure why. Perhaps it is my own sense of modesty that has kept my art... censored.

The inspiration for this painting came from all places one of my husband joking about me being a "good wife"... anyways, after laughing I quickly sketched out this painting and immediately set out to paint it. For me, this painting is all in the body language, she has a kind of teasing stance, and the flirt is in the eyes! This woman also has that vintage look, like a pin up girl from the past...

As a piece of art, this painting has great tones, and the mood seems to change with the lighting in the room. Though she is always adorable and sexy. The background tones are as a varied as a woman, and don't make a lot of sense- which if you hear my husband tell it, women don't make too much sense. ( He is kidding ladies! ) The tones are both soft and feminine and gentle, while also dark, complex and intense.

I enjoyed painting this painting, though I did have to work up the nerve to share it with the public.

A vision in Red...

"A Vision in Red"
11x14" Original Oil Painting

My imagination is never far away from the thoughts of Arabian Horses. This Arabian my thoughts were on the big moving Park horses with their huge rolling canters with lots of front end lift. This painting just emerged from the memory of those horses going around the show rings, the riders on them moving in harmony with their exaggerated motion.

It is always a thing of beauty to see a horse in motion. The background for this painting is very suggestive, and really left to the viewer to see just what the background is. Whatever you do see, there is no denying the light and the motion in this painting. The horse is a fiery red chestnut accented by yellows, oranges, reds, and touches of white to illuminate the bright color palette. I used Pthalo blue for the accents on the muzzle, eyes and even on the legs.

The support is actually a tan color, so it seems to showcase the colors very well against it, the whites seem whiter in contrast.

I was in a good mood when I painted this painting, and I believe it really translates in the energy this piece offers. The colors are magnetic, pulling you in, and being so bold, this piece seems larger than life.

I am so grateful for the ability to create art.

A Painting full of Energy

Lately I have had a lot of creative energy, I have been very happy and it seems to be showing in the color palette of my ost recent paintings.

Though there have been moments of stress here and there, sometimes, I use the negative energy and turn it into something beautiful... that is the case with this painting.

It was painted with a palette knife on artist board, which is like an extremely thick version of card stock paper. It is much heavier than water color paper and is acid free and archival quality. The smooth texture seems to make for some interesting paint patterns as you pull the palette knife across the support. I wasn't completely sure if this painting would turn out very good.

Sometimes, it is a gamble to see if the end result "works".

Well, this one works and while the horse and the paint seem to convey a sense of urgency and slight annoyance ( thus the horse's ears are back showing an annoyed look ) however the horse's beauty and the mood of this painting is amusing and powerful to those who view it.

The colors interestingly enough seem to have come together to make this horse look like a Buckskin... a very pleasant surprise for even myself, I didn't even notive that until I had uploaded the photos off of my camera.

This painting is called "Powerful" 11x16" Done in Oils and on artist board.

http://stores.ebay.com/Crooked-Chicken-Studios

Picking up where I left off...

"Hot and Cold"

11x16" Original Oil Painting

FOR SALE on Ebay

Sometimes it seems that when I want to get serious about my Art, life makes other plans and I have to push it back to the back burner. However, the last few months have been rather interesting artistically.

With the economy being poor, and jobs scarce, when our store closed we had no income and no jobs. So I picked up the brush and got on Ebay and began to sell my art again. I am very blessed to own my own home outright so that our living expenses are very minimal and that helpsm because in a poor economy, luxuries like fine art can suffer.

I have probably been more productive as an artist than I have ever been, learning a new medium sculpture, and going back to acrylics for a while and being reunited with the oil paints I so dearly love. Being a professional artist is hard, you never really know how people are going to react to the art you have created, so in a sense, you bare your soul for the world to judge.

In the past few days I have considered how grateful I am to have a skill that allows me to survive, all the while, getting to do what I love, painting and creating.