Painting again ... 'Bayne'

Recently, for the first time in more than 15 years, I decided to try my hand at artistic painting again. I never have been a very good painter, but it is a hobby I used to enjoy when younger. More than 25 years ago when I was a teenager, I painted rather often and took a ton of art classes in high school; but not being much of a visual artist, I dropped out of the habit. I painted again for a brief period, one summer or so, about 15 years ago. Fortunately, when the painting bug hit me this time, I still had all of my old supplies and surprise, surprise, they were still in working order.

So far I've finished two pieces of ... well, I'm not sure I can call them art, exactly ... but, well, I've finished two paintings. The first one is below and I've titled it "Bayne" as it is based upon the mountain which appears on the cover of my short novel Bayne's Climb. Nothing special, of course, but I was really just trying to refamiliarize myself with holding the brushes, etc. A third piece of work is nearly finished, and then I'll be onto another project. I'll post another piece of art in coming days, an abstract piece (which was always my favorite form of painting, anyway ... but maybe that's just an excuse since I don't consider myself much of an artist).

Who knows? With some practice, I might get good enough at this to eventually use some of my art for my book covers. At least it would provide me with unique covers.

For those who might be interested in the technical details, I use about a dozen or so different colors of Liquitex acrylic paints and about a dozen different sizes and shapes of Robert Simmons brushes, though for the most part I commonly use only about 3 of the brushes. Since I'm just getting back into things, I am painting on canvas board. Eventually I hope to be painting on stretched canvas, but I want to warm up my skills first. I work in acrylics because I feel they are easier to work with than oils and offer more versatility than oils or water colors, basically allowing me to paint heavy or thin or however I want. I'm also painting on smaller boards, only 8x10 and 11x14; again, once I'm feeling in the groove, I'll likely move onto larger canvasses.

So ... the first unveiling ...

'Bayne'