Larry the French Bulldog - Watercolour Pencil Pet Portrait by Renee Dillon in Orange, Pink and Grey

I finally got around to trying out my new camera and uploading a video to Youtube. I've been wanting to post a video of my art for a while now. I'm still a little daunted by the process, but it was more simple than I thought it would be. My camera setup and editing skills will get better with time and practice.

The beginning of the video is cut off because the camera went to sleep while I was setting up and pressing the record button just woke it up rather than starting recording. That's something to keep in mind. I've also found out that recording sessions are recorded to about 29 minutes on still cameras, as the sensor heats up more quickly than conventional video cameras. That wasn't an issue on this occasion, but I was a little wary of it because I don't want to burn out my new camera.

For my first video, I painted a french bulldog with my Derwent watercolour pencils and waterbrush. I haven't used watercolour pencils in years, so I need to get back into practice using them. I like the control of coloured pencil combined with the softness of watercolour, but they can leave scratchy pencil marks that don't blend out very easily. The lineart was drawn with my Bic Mark-It in Tuxedo Black, which is the best waterproof pen I've found. It's important to have a waterproof pen when working with wet media or it will bleed everywhere and become a mess. Trust me. I still remember the times before I knew waterproof pens existed.

I've also been looking into the Icarus Drawing Board If you haven't heard of it, it's a heated pad that warms coloured pencil as you work and melts the wax to form a softer, blended image more quickly. At over $200 for the smallest version, it's a little pricey, so I've been looking for a homemade alternative to melting coloured pencil wax. Burnishing with baby oil works really well, but I've left oil stains on work before by accidently using too much. Finding the right art materials and techniques can be a long and complicated process, but I'm slowly getting to where I need to be.

I'll post a picture of the finished artwork later. For now, enjoy my speed painting of Larry the French Bulldog.

New Articles on Infobarrel

No new art today (at least not yet) but I have been taking the time to write Infobarrel articles. Seems like a really good way to make some passive income. I'm also quite interested in hobbies that require having a collection of something, so each new article feels like a victory. In nine days I've written seven articles, three of which have already been published. Three are pending and one is still in the draft stage awaiting some small alterations. The articles that have already been published are How Much is Your Art Really Worth?, Press X To Meow - A Murdered: Soul Suspect Video Game Review and How to Join a Link Party to Increase Your Blog Traffic. If you have time to check them out, I'd really appreciate some more views and reads. You might learn a thing or two as well, so that's nice.

Hoping to get more game and TV show reviews out there, as those are pretty fun to write and easy to personalise. But for now I should probably get back to painting and see if I can put some more artwork up on Society6. I need to start uploading to Fine Art America and Saatchi Art too. Always so much to do and so few hours in the day.

Thanks for looking. :)

"Pete the Corgi", Acrylic Paint Pet Portrait, 6x6

"Samantha" - Pals Paper Arts Colour Challenge PPA 218 - Moroccan Style Abstract Digital Art in Purple, Yellow and Grey

Time for another piece of abstract digital art for a colour palette challenge, this time for Pals Paper Arts. The colours this week are Hello Honey, Crumb Cake and Blackberry Bliss, which sound delicious and make me want a desert. 

This one has a little bit of a Moroccan or Arabesque style to it. Like the sort of thing you'd see on a scarf in a marketplace somewhere.

"Samantha", Digital Seamless Tiling Art, 6x6

I've also added this one and  "Jasper" from yesterday to Society6. You can now buy prints, cushions, clocks, iphone covers, galaxy covers, duvet covers and more with these designs printed on them.

"Jasper" - Color Throwdown Challenge CTD308 - Digital Seamless Tiling Abstract Design in Yellow, Orange and Pink

Yellow, pink and orange is one of my favourite colour palettes, so I was very excited when I saw this week's Color Throwdown Challenge. This week I decided to go back to seamless tiling abstract artworks. I haven't been making enough abstracts lately, and I need a few to get some greeting cards or post cards printed up. Also a few Spoonflower fabric designs. Maybe some throw cushions. I'll see where it takes me.

I went a smidge brighter on the yellow to get it a bit closer to the banana yellow shade of the bottles. That shade of orange is similar to the one I used on "Austin", which reminds me of orange sherbet. The shapes I've used came out looking like lanterns and hourglasses. That's one of the things I love about making symmetrical tiling abstract art - you can get an idea of how something is going to turn out, but the end result is almost always surprising in some way.

"Jasper", Digital Seamless Tiling Abstract Art, 6x6

Remember to follow Renee Dillon Art on Facebook if you'd like to stay up to date with my new work. Thanks for looking. :)