It’s been too long since I last updated. This will be a quick one as it’s almost midnight and I need to go to bed. Lucky me, I’m catching a cold and need all the sleep I can get. Which means I should have been in bed hours ago. 
But the paints beckoned me and I answered the call!
Above you see the image I designed for my Art-o-mat placard. I toyed with the idea of painting a larger version of that girl, adding in a bit more detail. I met a friend after work one day this week and she brought up that idea, too. Tonight after work, I stopped and picked up a bunch of smaller canvases. I was thinking of doing it on a 5×5 canvas, but figured out that square wouldn’t work and I wanted it slightly bigger. I ended up with an 8×10.
I drew the image on the new canvas and got down to work. I’m still working on a few little details and I have to paint the sides, but in this picture you can see the progress of it so far. I don’t normally do faces in acrylics (it usually leads to horrific frustration and the tearing of hair) but this time I did. I wasn’t going for a more realistic look or I really wouldn’t have used acrylics. (I prefer a smoother, blended style and can achieve that easier with oils than acrylics.) But I also believe in challenging myself and this certainly did, though I’m pretty happy with how it’s turning out. Though I had thought I'd be doing the face much different than it turned out. It’s fun to play and discover my own style and way of working with the paints. Never thought I’d be using acrylics this often!
I used some of the leftover blue paint to do backgrounds for two more Art-o-mat blocks. So far I have ten of them completed (except for painting the sides with the black gesso) and I have seventy left to go! I am having such a good time with these. It’s fun to be able to work on two or three different images every night. I’m trying out a few new color combinations that I normally wouldn’t use and/or trying out new ideas that I haven’t done before. Very strange how much I like working on such a small scale. Before this project and the ACEO's I did earlier, I use to think that painting something that tiny (2.8 x 3.25 inches) would be frustrating (okay, sometimes it is) and too limiting, but to my surprise, I’m really enjoying it.
I should have more Art-0-mat blocks to show off after this weekend. The majority of my painting time from now on will be dedicated to finishing these blocks, though like tonight, sometimes I have to take a break and work on something else. Variety is the spice of life! It was a refreshing change to paint the quirky girl above, but tomorrow night I’m back at work on the blocks!
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