Save the Frogs

So I've been working on a project for several weeks now.  It's an art contest entry for the annual Save the Frogs! Contest.  I found the contest while looking for some art competitions online.  I have special affinity for frogs, have since I was a kid.  I used to catch frogs in the creek near my home and I remember the day I was lucky enough to find a humongous bull frog hiding in a bush in my front yard.

With my affinity for frogs and art, I couldn't resist, and decided I'd enter.  I don't know if I'm allowed to share my entry yet, but at some point I definitely will.  I can tell you a bit about the piece though - I've drawn a bunch of frogs in the grass and depicted an image of what happens after it rains.  I can remember many a rainy nights when there were miniature frogs hopping all over the yard and the road.

Save the Frogs! is a non-profit organization looking to prevent the mass extinction of amphibian populations.  The annual art contest encourages artists to be creative and the art is used to spread awareness of the issue.  Last year, the organization received more than 9000 art entries from more than 60 countries.  Anyone of any age can participate.  The contest runs from January to October 15 each year.  This contest is great for adults, students, kids looking for a fun project, and even entire classes have participated in the past.  I had a lot of fun creating my entry, and I encourage anyone who likes art to let their inner artist shine for a good cause.  You can find out all the details and view the artwork previously submitted at Savethefrogs.com/art.  Good Luck!

Art Journaling - The Creation of the Silver Lady

"Silver Lady," by Dayna Winters.

There's been a lot of talk and communication about the Blood Moon in October.  A recent art journal prompt suggested I "create the moon," in a work of art.  I decided I wanted to draw an image of the moon with a feminine appearance.  I've heard some of my friends say that it is not very often you see the moon as feminine - a lot of time the moon is depicted as male.  I originally started the piece with colored pencils.  I got a chance to pick up some blending stumps and I liked how they worked in terms of blending and minimizing the grainy-look pencils sometimes leave behind.  

When I had the basic image done however, I thought long and hard about doing the background with paint.  I decided to go with the urge.  I mixed a dark blue with some black to make it even darker - I wanted to emulate the look of deep space and a darkened sky.  As I worked the paint around the moon image I drew, I just went with it, not worrying about whether or not I went over the lines.  I spread paint into the image as well, to give the image a more unified appearance with the dark space around it.  I took white paint while the dark blue paint was still wet, and I ran circles around the moon's body to give the illusion of light.  The stars in the background were easily created with white, pink, and light blue paint splatters.  I finished the piece off by adding a little black glitter paint to the eye, mouth, and outer light ring. This was my first real attempt at creating anything with mixed media.

When I put the painting away to dry, I had the image tilted a bit.  When I went back to check on it later, an interesting thing had happened...the glitter paint in the eye had bled and dripped down, forming a single teardrop falling from the moon's eye!  I thought it looked amazing and decided to keep it!  My son pointed out that I had painted the blue moon and the moon was not only visually blue, but emotionally blue too.  I titled this piece: "Silver Lady," and the signed original is for sale.  I'll be making the picture available in the form of reprints as well.

Learning to Paint Fire With Acrylics

While working on an acrylic painting I found I had trouble with figuring out how to paint fire so it looked realistic.  This is why I love the Internet - there are so many amazing art tutorials and videos online.  I found a really good fire painting tutorial by Tom Flemming.  I definitely plan to try the technique the next time I'm at the easel:

Once I give the fire painting practice a go, I'll post some of my practice work to show you whether or not I was successful or not!  Keep your fingers crossed. :)