Woodland Fairy Painting in Process

I have been working on this large 6 foot painting for the past few months.  I am still far from finishing it, but I thought I would share a few photo’s of my process and how this painting is progressing.

The canvas was so large, it wouldn’t fit on my easel, so I hung it on the wall.  I put paper behind the painting to protect my wall as I am a very messy artist! 🙂

 

I am now blocking in all the little fairies and sprites that the fairy is protecting under her cape.

 

I went back and re-worked some of the background and trees.

An angled view…

The little ones are starting to look like fairies and sprites! 🙂  I am enjoying creating all of their little faces and personalities.

I still have a lot more to paint. My goal is to finish by the end of the year.  That gives me about two more months. I have been working on smaller paintings while I am creating this one, and will probably continue with that schedule.

I hope you are enjoying this fall weather and have a Happy Halloween!

Have a wonderful, creative, and joyful day, Janell

 

 

 

What’s on my Easel Today

It has been a busy summer, and I haven’t shared much of what I have been doing in the studio.

Poppies2L

These are a few smaller paintings I have created.

MermaidPaintingLW

And this new painting from my Nostalgia series.

DressFormsPaintingLW

I also finalized my sketch and began working on a 3 x 6 foot painting from my “Wildish Spirit” series..

PrintofSketchesWL I combined about 25 drawings from my sketchbook of all the children under her cape.  I then tile printed it out on my 8 1/2″ x 11″ printer and taped them all together. I’ll just say it took me a while! 🙂 I am really excited about this painting, it has been a long thought process to create it.

WorkInProgressLW Here is the painting in progress, The canvas was too big to fit on my easel, so I hung it on the wall.  I am still working on the background, but I am going to start adding the figures this week.  (That big mess on my table is a fairy garden in process.)

With my Achilles tendon surgery this spring, I had gotten behind on varnishing my paintings. The good thing about this is if I do a few paintings all at once, I don’t have to wash my varnishing brush so often. 🙂

Varnishing A Mermaidl

VarnishingpaintingsL

I also have a video of my varnishing process on my Facebook page if you are interested in seeing how I do this process.  It is of my “Carousel” painting. Here is the link to the video: https://www.facebook.com/JanellMithaniArtist/videos/10155436508417021/

I hope you are having a productive summer, too!   I would love to hear what you have been doing.

Have a wonderful, creative, joyful, day! Janell

 

 

Posted in Art

Flowers on my Canvas

This painting began during a painting workshop as my demo painting. A few weeks later, I finished it in my studio.

I do love Painting flowers.

I hope you are having a fun summer.

Have a wonderful, creative, joyful, day! – Janell

Posted in Art

Woodland Animals to Decorate a Nursery

A few years ago I created a group of woodland animals for my niece’s baby. She was decorating his nursery in baby animals, so I created some art for her walls. I also loaded them to the website Redbubble.com and ordered some really cute t-shirts and onesies.

OwlWeb

I didn’t think much about it at the time, but I went ahead and made the account public so that other people can order these sweet little animals on t-shirts, bags, phone covers, and even stickers. I have had quite a few orders and I am thinking of adding some new animals to the group.

PorcupineWeb

The porcupine is the most popular, followed by the fox.

My favorite, is the baby moose. He is Soooo cute! 🙂

MooseWeb

Which is your favorite?

Do you have any suggestions of an animal I should add?

Are you on Redbubble? If yes, let me know and I will follow you. 🙂

Have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell

Posted in Art

Painted Dresses for the Fairies

I have spent some time, trying to woo the fairies that live in my garden and studio into doing a bit of cleaning for me. Recently, I have even painted them some beautiful dresses.

Vintage Romance painting by Janell Mithani

Oh, but to no avail…they just aren’t interested in sweeping up my messes. Unfortunately, I share their disposition! 🙂

But, the Altadena Open Studios Tour is quickly approaching, and someone needs to get busy!

Do you have any ideas to motivate my fairy friends? Or me? 🙂

dress form painting by Janell Mithani

Dress Form 1, 10″ x 8″ acrylic on canvas

Well, I am off to find a broom and dustpan…

Have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell

A New Painting of Tall Trees

painting of tall trees by Janell Mithani

“Growing Tall” Acrylic on canvas, 12″ x 36″

This painting of trees growing in the forest is inspired by the trees I have seen on my trips driving through California and Oregon to visit my family.  I used a narrow, tall canvas on this piece to emphasize the height of the trees.

I am busy working on three new paintings. Yes, I am working on them all at the same time. 🙂  I do this sometimes as one painting will need some drying time, so I switch to another one.   I also think I create more pieces when I work this way.

Do you ever work on more that one project at a time?

I hope you have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell

Happy Creative New Year!

This the year to be creative!  I just know it! 🙂  Have you been thinking about doing something fun and creative?   Let’s make time in 2018 and make it the best creative year yet!

Now that the holidays are over, I can share a few of the gifts I made for friends and family.

I created this painting for my husband for Christmas.  Morro Bay is one of our favorite places to visit.

painting of Woody car at Morro bay

My sis wanted a tree painted on wood for her birthday…

I have also been working with some of the buttons from my ever-growing collection!

 I hope you had a wonderful holiday  season!

Have a wonderful, creative, new year, Janell

 

A Self Portrait Painting

A couple of weeks ago, I taught a “Self Portrait Painting” workshop.  This is my sample painting.

Actually, it’s my first painted self-portrait.  I’ve done a few self-portrait photographs when I needed to update my headshot, but never a painting.

I worked with a limited color palette that was influenced by the beautiful paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci. It was a bit different approach than my usual colorful palette.

We had a great time in the workshop and it was so fun to see all the different paintings.

Have you worked with a limited palette lately?

Or created a self-portrait?

Have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell

A Sweet and Fun Loving Puppy Snuck into My Sketchbook

Look who snuck into my sketchbook! 🙂  I sketched this sweet little dog for a client.  His name is Oscar and he is dachshund.  Isn’t he just adorable?

Oscar drawing of dog by Janell Mithani

I started out with a light sketch, adding shading and highlights as the drawing progressed.  I used 2B, 4B, 6B pencils with a little charcoal at the end for my deep shadows.  I also used a 1/4″ blending stump and a gum eraser.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Hope you have a wonderful, creative, day!  Janell