If only thoughts were brush strokes....

Pet Portraits are the latest craze!

Liz Boston — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:26:02 +0000

I just finished my newest pet portrait, it was done from a photo of a very closely cropped close up of a beautiful dog named Pemi! It’s a large painting, 30″ X 36″ and I painted it in oils. I had a great time painting this one, and I’ve still got a few more pet portraits right on the heels of this one!

Pet portraits are a great way to immortalize your pet, or remember one that has passed on. They are also great works of art to have on your walls, because you will ALWAYS love the subject! I am now taking commissions, so if you are interested in a pet portrait or any thing else for that matter, please feel free to email me @ info@lizboston.com. For more details about the prices etc. please visit my website: www.lizboston.com

Happy Holidays!

Had a great time at J.P. Rocks and Rolls!

Liz Boston — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:10:34 +0000

Here I am painting live at J.P. Rocks and Rolls Art Fair last weekend! It was a lot of fun, and I met a lot of great artists there too. Here are a few to check out…

ARTISTS
Shaanti Williams
http://www.whutgood.com/

Mark Quintanilla
http://markq.carbonmade.com

Kevin Byers
http://combat-by-design.deviantart.com/

CRAFTERS
Caitlin M Ross
http://caitcait88.etsy.com

Sweet Spreads
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetspreads

JP Rocks and Rolls!

Liz Boston — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 02:42:28 +0000

Tomorrow I will be at JP Rocks and Rolls! Greeting cards, Prints, and my original paintings will be for sale, as well as my new mini-paintings! I look forward to seeing you there!

Today I visited the Emory Estate

Liz Boston — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:43:14 +0000

The Town of Weymouth has recently purchased a mansion called the Emory Estate. It’s a beautiful big building on a sprawling lawn over looking the Boston Skyline. Right now, the Town is in the process of forming a comittee to decide the use of the building. I’m trying to get onto that comitte, because I think it would be great to have the Weymouth Art Association located out of some part of the Emory Estate. It would be a wonderdful spot for art classes, an art gallery, and even possibly a shop where WAA members could sell paintings, prints, and cards. The huge lawn there would be a great location for an art festival, and possibly plein air painting classes as well. The Estate has a carraige house, which would be perfect for Weymouth Art. If we could use that building for our gallery/class area it would work out wonderfully! Below is a picture of the main building, and the Carraige house. Now I need to do some research on aquiring grants for buildings to be used and refurbished by non-profits.

Mini Paintings for the Farmers Market

Liz Boston — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:50:07 +0000

This Saturday from 9am to 1pm I will be at the Weymouth Farmers Market with the Weymouth Art Association. Art association members, myself included, will have paintings, prints, and greeting cards of their work for sale. Today I painted 8 mini paintings that are all around 2″-3″ to sell at the farmers market. Here is a pic of them below.

Learning to paint leaves

Liz Boston — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 13:08:39 +0000

I have always had difficulty painting leaves. Not just one leaf at a time, that’s not a problem because you can look at it as one single object, but clusters of leaves, on a tree, or a forest in the distance. I always find that they end up looking like little dots.
Well, in my class with Edwina Caci, she is teaching me that in order to paint leaves, you need to think of them as a cluster. First you paint blobs of color so each cluster of leaves has a base color. Then you can start adding shadow inbetween the clusters. Then add dot like marks for leaves, but don’t make the dots too perfect, and some of the dots should be blended together. You need to really look at it objectively, and decide where to place the leaves, color, highlights, and shadow.
Here are some pictures of my leaves so far…

Now offering Pet Portraits

Liz Boston — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:03:06 +0000

I recently finished “Greta” for a friend that did a craft exchange with me. (Karen, if you’re reading this, I’m mailing this painting to you soon!) While I was painting this beautiful dog, I got the idea to do some more of these! So now, I am offering Pet Portraits, they will be 8″ X 10″ oil on Canvas, and $150. If you are interested, just email me a high resolution photo of your pet, it must be clear and fairly close up. I require a $75 deposit, which is 50%, and the other half of the payment when finished.

I will be adding a new tab to my website for Pet Portraits, and I will be posting them as I do them.

: “Greta” 8″ X 10″ Oil on Canvas

Childrens Art Classes and Artist Website Design services

Liz Boston — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:56:05 +0000

I have been busy expanding my services as an artist. I am now teaching childrens art classes at Frantic Framers in Quincy, MA. You can find a link with details and a sign up sheet on my website. The classes start on August 6th and go to September 17th. I am also offering another session that starts in September and goes through October. Right now the classes are Saturday mornings 10am-11:30am for ages 7-12. If the classes fill up quickly, I will make afternoon sessions available as well.

I am also offering affordable websites for artists. If you are interested in more detailed information about the website design services I offer, click on the flag at the top of LizBoston.com.

Visit my website for more information on Childrens art classes as well as affordable artist website design

http://www.LizBoston.com

learning the details

Liz Boston — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:56:46 +0000

I have been painting in oils for almost a year now, and I’m finding I like them a lot more than Acrylics. The only draw back is that I don’t have the patience, but I will have to learn some! When you use Oil Paints, you have to work in layers, gradually building a painting from the ground up. It will not usually be finished in one day. It takes about a week for the paint to dry to the touch, so if you need to work on a dry surface, you need to wait at least a week before adding your next layer. Sometimes you can work on wet paint, but depending on what needs to be done next, it doesnt always work out so well. I am finding that the colors have a richer look to them than the acrylic colors, and when applying the paint I dont have to work as hard to acheive a blended effect. Oil colors also seem to be more convincingly realistic. When I painted in Acrylic, it was hard to not use bright acidic or cartoony looking colors. Oil colors, even when bright, for some reason, seem more true to life. As I am learning to paint with oils, I am discovering that the direction of the brush stroke matters. When the paint is dry you will still be able to see the texture of the strokes, this makes it very important to consider which way to paint them since it will affect the overall piece when finished. Acrylic paint seemed to be a bit more self leveling. Unless you intentionally painted thick to leave brush strokes, you wouldnt neccisarily see them in the finished piece.

My latest projects are some paintings for friends, I am painting a scene with horses for my cousin, and a pet portrait for another friend. I don’t want to spill the beans, so I’m not going to post pics right now, but I will as soon as they’re finished. I have also made archival prints of my work available on Etsy, http://www.etsy.com/shop/lizboston .

Art in Miniature

Liz Boston — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 17:28:07 +0000

I recently visited the Open Studios in Lowell MA, at the Brush Art gallery and Studios. While I was there I saw that one artist had tiny little paintings in tiny little frames, it was by Vicki S. Green. She had painted little tiny landscapes, and little birds on a wire paintings. I had heard of miniature art before, but had never actually seen it in person. The thing that I thought was really cool was the tiny frames. The frames looked just like a frame you would have on a huge piece of art, only these frames were about 2″ X 3″. After I left, I was wondering where she found such tiny little frames…well on my next trip to Michaels craft store, there they were! The very same frames! So, I decided to get some, and I also got some tiny Canvas paper, (usually used for artist trading cards). When I got home, I looked up miniature painting online, and found that there is a miniature painting association, as well as some very helpful websites about miniature painting. In order for a paiting to qualify as a true miniature work of art,it has to be small, usually less than 5″ x 11″, and it has to be so detailed that it will hold up under magnification, and look as detailed and as well rendered as a full sized work of art. I found some pictures to work from, and began painting. It became apparent very quickly that even my tiniest brushes were way too big for all of the fine details, so I went to Dick Blick in Boston, and bought some 0, 00, and 000 sized brushes. Once I began to use those, the details became a little easier. Here is what I have been working on, the photo I am painting from is on top, and my mini canvas is beneith it. It Still has more to go before it’s done, but it’s just as much fun as painting a full sized piece, and I find it just as challenging.