Justin Owens » traditional

A yorkshire terrier, painted

jay — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:31:54 +0000

I’ve been working on a commission to do a painting of someone’s dog, but before jumping into the finished piece I took a break to do this little test painting. This test happened to coincide with a friend’s birthday, she has a family of Yorkshire Terriers, so I used them as my inspiration. The commission I’m working on will be for a dalmation, fun fun! I love animals and having more reasons to paint them totally works for me.

Oil on canvas
8″ x 8″

Daily… Blah

jay — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 01:51:49 +0000

Unhappy with this daily, but too tired to do more than this. Blah.

Daily… Neptune, the god of water and the sea

jay — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:46:07 +0000

Had some fun sketching at a cafe while Kimi made a quick appearance at work. I was doing my usual free form sketching and as I went further along, this guy started to take shape. The rough sketch suggested he might be more of a water creature. I started on some horns, but they looked almost more like a natural crown. That gave me the idea to create the creature behind the myth of Neptune.

Daily… Oil sketches

jay — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 06:07:22 +0000

I did a few sketches today with oils, it was fun working with no particular goal in mind. It was a nice way to just play with the medium.

I didn’t want to wait to photograph and post these later, so I’m dealing with less than ideal images. On the second sketch I ended up doing a few paint-overs to help figure out where I might want to take the sketch.

I was just working on canvas paper again and used a limited palette, pretty much just used white, black, and burnt sienna, plus a bit of blue for the background (greyed down).

Daily… Plein air at the contra loma reservoir

jay — Tue, 10 May 2011 15:28:27 +0000

Well, I didn’t really get any painting done on my plein air camping trip. I did some sketches and one little watercolor study, but that was it. Kind of a bummer, but my own focus is to blame. The trip was incredibly inspiring though and totally worth it.

I went out to Brentwood today to do laundry while Kimi was at work. After lunch I went exploring and found the Contra Loma park in Antioch. The lighting was incredibly boring and flat (in regards to distant hills etc). It made it much harder to try and show depth and form. I exaggerated what I was seeing, while also trying to stay true to the lighting.

The second painting was a study of some trees on the otherside of the reservoir. I was in the shade this time around which was nice, my arms got rather burnt during the first painting. I need to add sunscreen to my plein air kit.

Contra Loma Reservoir 01
Oil on canvas panel
6×8

Contra Loma Reservoir 02
Oil on canvas panel
6×8

Daily… A creature behind a tree

jay — Sat, 07 May 2011 21:25:45 +0000

Was cooling down a bit this afternoon so I started a fire at our campsite and sketched a nearby redwood. Thought I saw something creeping behind it, think it was attracted by the heat.

Daily… A character sketch from a tent

jay — Fri, 06 May 2011 21:21:43 +0000

I got a small flashlight for our camping trip that is super bright. Stuck it in the pocket of our tent when we retired for the night and the inside was completely illuminated. Sketched a bit before falling asleep, enjoying the sound of the river in the background. I do love nature. And bright flashlights.

Daily… A few more

jay — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:20:27 +0000

Daily… Environment thumbnails

jay — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:17:36 +0000

Trying to get back into the habit of sketching environment thumbnails. It’s great studying from life, but I also find it invaluable working from my imagination (and memory). It helps everything stick.

Daily… Two watercolor creature sketches

jay — Sun, 01 May 2011 07:47:05 +0000

Tested out watercolor on canvas paper, seemed to work out alright. Also just getting back into watercolor, hadn’t used them in a while! Simple little creature sketches, but fun!