"Humming Dolphin"

"Humming Dolphin"
11 x 15" Watercolor


Having joined a group over on Facebook for artists, I have been having some really great conversations and getting lots of ideas

This group also does a monthly challenge. This months challenge was to combine two things into one, to make an amalgamation.

Mine is a Humming Dolphin, half hummingbird, and half Dolphin. But I couldn't stop there, I also combined a sea anemone and a flower, as well as the sky and the water. Three amalgamations in one watercolor painting

I hope you like it.

The Art of Blatant Theft

         There are far too many people that are pre-programmed to ask for forgiveness after stealing your artwork than there are those that would ask for your permission to use it first.

       Some time ago I was fooling around with the Google reverse image search functions. I fed in about a dozen photos of designs and paintings and around the 13 or 14 one, something happened. It kicked back a whole bunch of results. Here was one of my designs being used without my permission all over the web. There were 28 hits in total. 27 were all one guy that had my design up on different t-shirt sale websites, and one from a university.

      

        First I contacted the websites one by one and started asking them to pull it down. If needed, I emailed them copies of the original pencil sketches, inked drawings, and even linked them to where the exact version of the picture was taken from. Which made it obvious that the design was indeed mine. This was slow going but I eventually got them all pulled, and the guy got banned from all of them. Not that I think that will stop him from doing it again and again and if not with my art, than maybe yours. 

        

        The university was another story altogether. They were adamant about their design being done by their designer who was highly respected and blah blah blah. After much pushing on my part, they eventually asked the designer. He told them they paid only enough to get him to throw something together quick. He grabbed a random image off of an art website that fit the criteria and used it. He admitted his fault and the school stopped using it immediately. They nicely sent me a letter of apology and went about their business in my good standings. Since they were not selling anything with the image on it and not making a profit from its use (A few flyers and banners for their sports team) I did not see any need to pursue further.

        I would suggest that all artists start a quarterly reverse image search of your works and make sure you are not being robbed as well.

        Protecting your intellectual property has always been a difficult task and the Internet has only served to complicate matters. The web has become an unoriginal designer’s one stop shop for endless material to shamelessly ripoff. there is an immensely blurred line between inspiration and theft. Exactly where that line lies is perhaps different for every designer. But for me, it boils down to just being plain wrong. If you can't be a decent creative person with out stealing from someone else... Stop claiming to be a creative person. But then again Pablo Picasso did say that "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

The Art of Procrast… Distraction

Squirrel by E H Paulson

I was going to write an entry on the subject of procrastination, at least that was the original intent. I figured I would make a list or something to see if I could find out why I was procrastinating, at what times did I do it more, and were there specific things that I tended to put off more than others.

I started making my list and got distracted. I then realized that I had indeed gotten distracted and went back to my list, until I was once again distracted by something else. So what’s the point?

There are two kinds of people in this world. The first is the kind that can finish lists… Why do we get distracted?

For me, it seems to be entertainment and I am easily entertained. I like movies and television and often keep it on as background noise while doing other things. However, I find myself frequently watching rather than doing. Not to the extent of impeding my life in any way, but enough that I have started to notice that I do it. This is when I realized that I was going about the subject in the wrong text.

I don’t procrastinate… I am just easily distracted. These are obviously two different things. One is a lack of motivation and one is a problem. There just seems to be a little nudge in the back of my mind that pushes me to do other things, but not in a multitasking kind of way. I just grow bored with the things I have at hand, and move on to something else. 

(Okay I’m back, no I wasn't distracted... someone needed help with something)

Now where was I? Oh yeah, I think it has to do with the way I taught myself to paint. I use a wet on wet technique but I do it in layers. One layer, wait until dry, then do another layer some time later. I used to work on multiple paintings at a time and this was a good way of using my time. Now however, I put more effort into a single painting and concentrate on doing the one over doing many. This is where that extra time is coming into play and not being utilized well. I wait for things to dry and sometimes start new projects altogether, forgetting to go back to the other.

So now that I have finished my actual list. I am going to implement some things to try and get myself back on track. I am going to leave the TV off while painting or reading/writing. I am going to go back to a slower version of multiple paintings at once to see if that helps with my time management and see if I can limit how often I am distracted by outside influence.

Do you get easily distracted or do you have a problem with real procrastination? Leave a comment and let me know. I am always looking for new people to share Ideas and tips with. If you like this blog, please feel free to +1, Like, and Share it your friends. No pressure though.

Making a Splash

It's Monday and so that means I am posting another of my paintings for you all. I hope you like it and that it can bring you just as much joy as it brought me while I was creating it.
This one is a little on the traditional side for me but I still hope you like it.

"Making a Splash"

24" x 18" Oil on Canvas

Available for purchase $200

Prints are available on Fine Art America by following the link in sidebar.

This is a 24" x 18" oil painting is brand new.

All comments are welcome, any opinion appreciated.

Sporadic Video Wednesday

This is  a video from the first and only art show I have ever been in. ( I kick in at about the 4:14 mark.) That is soon going to change. I have been putting in a lot of effort lately and have been seeing some positive results from it all.

In this video, it is clearly demonstrated that I don't like being in front of that camera and jumble my words a bit, hey it happens. Public speaking has never been my strong suit.

)

Visiting the Past

       When I revisit this painting, I have a tough time looking at it and all I can see are the glaring mistakes, improper technique, and bad decisions. But to the person that owns it, it's on of their favorite pieces. I can't explain their attachment to it any better than I can explain why someone doesn't like peanut butter.

"Winter Hideaway"  by  Joseph Finchum

What I see is...The streaks in the background sky. The bad perspective, the not so perfect lighting and the muddiness of it all really show the faults I had at the time. There are many bad choices in this painting. Of course there are. I was just starting out and had limited techniques. Mixing colors is a skill you need to master, especially when dealing with oil paints that get mixed with a bit of or a lot of white. Using to much medium can get messy quick and this is a lesson I learned while creating this piece. Leaving to much paint on the brush would lead to either putting too much on the surface or pulling paint directly off the canvas and just smudging the detail. A gleaned a lot of information on layering and blending paints together that I would not have learned otherwise. Looking at it again now, I think I would have went back in and cleaned up a bunch of things just to make it a little crisper. A few more touches of highlights and properly colored shadows wouldn't hurt either.

Can these little mistakes make us better artists overall? Absolutely it can.

With every mistake and every stray mark we make, we can learn something new. Whether that lesson be a negative or a positive one, is all in our point of view. These are the things we as artists have to think about while we are painting and creating. If we become stagnant, we lose direction and focus. We have to own our mistakes and be humbled by them.

So go out today, pick up a brush and make some mistakes, good ones. Let me know if you have ever made a mistake that taught you a valuable lesson. Something stand out that changed the way you have done on every work since. I look forward to your responses.