Mandy

Buy "Mandy" at my Etsy shop

"Mandy"

6" x 6"

Oil on canvas

Amber L Bailey

I have started a project that I think is going to be a great exercise and fun for the people involved. (It's a secret.) I randomly picked this picture of my junior high school friend, Mandy, to paint. She has no idea I painted her...yet. This is another one of my small plein air panels. It was a fun little piece to paint.

September Sky - Original Oil Painting by Amber L. Bailey

September Sky

11" x 14"

Oil on panel

Amber L Bailey

Buy Bailey's painting September Sky on Etsy

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of the clouds with the pinks and oranges shining through them - and the painting turned out even more inspiring than the photo.

Parrot

"Red Feathers"

11" x 14"

Oil on Canvas

Amber L. Bailey

---Again...a horrible picture of this piece...I'm not crazy about this one. On to the next.

Jocelin

"Jocelin"

24" x 36"

Oil on canvas

This is the third and possibly the last stage I'm going to paint on this piece. I had fun tonight and it went rather smoothly. I added finishing pops of red here and there...and I like the results. And as usual, I can't get a descent picture with my camera. One of these days I'll have to take all of my work outside for some better pics during the day.

Sneak Peak

I worked some more tonight on my latest painting. I'm laying the paint on pretty thick and I'll let layer two dry a bit before I continue. Here is a peak at the painting at stage 2.

Wet on Wet Still Life Painting

Today turned out to be a great painting day. I was at the grocery store and got really excited by all the fun colors in the produce section. I decided to go with the big red tomato and bright yellow pepper. I love these! I bought the polka dot fabric place mat at the dollar store the other day. I had fun painting these though I had a couple moments of doubt that they'd turn out the way I wanted. I am happy with how they turned out. This painting was a great practice piece in wet on wet painting. I wanted to finish them in one session and I did. I started out by priming the canvas with a neon green acrylic paint. I thought it would be a fun color to peek through where I let it. Oh, and I took an extra picture to give a better idea of how the painting turned out. I don't know what's up with my camera...or maybe it's operator error. Can't wait to see what I paint next! :)

"Quite a Pair"

11" x 14"

Oil on canvas

Amber L. Bailey

About me, my art and my blog

About my blog

I've been itching to start an art blog for quite some time. I've browsed so many inspiring "Painting a Day" blogs that I couldn't resist starting my own. Although mine won't be quite a "Painting a Day" blog, I do hope to post to it regularly with my latest thoughts or, better yet, new paintings! I am currently working on my own website. As for this blog, I hope it will serve several purposes. First, I would like it to keep me thinking and writing about my art. Second, I want it to be an incentive for getting some new work done. It will hopefully do both and more.

About my art

At this point in my career, I paint with oils, in an impressionist style. My subject of choice is undoubtedly the human figure. I don't quite feel I'm painting if I'm not painting a portrait or figure. I work as quickly and as loosely as possible, and have found that the more I work a painting, the less I like the result. I have also had fun in the past working with still life and landscape. My first commission was a landscape painting. Though I work mainly in oil, I have also done a lot of work in pastels, charcoal and graphite. I've also used ink.


What I want to do next

I want to PAINT! I have found every reason in the book not to pick up a paint brush and simply do what I love. I would like to continue working with the figure and face and to incorporate them into environments - crowds, festival scenes and such. I have done some of this, walking around at parks and outdoor malls, snapping pictures of unknowing subjects. The paintings turned out looser than what I had aimed for but I won't call them failures.

Who I like right now

As far as Painting a Day blogs, I love Carol Marine's blog. I love her style! She finds something, anything, to paint EVERY day and she makes it look amazing. Her blog should be enough for me to look around my apartment, my cubicle at work or my kitchen and find tons of inspiration for putting paint on canvas - or board - or paper! I'm also digging Peter Cox - talk about someone who can express the human form and put his subjects in an "environment" as I like to call it. What I've seen of his work is amazing. Other artists I like include Carla O'Connor, Robert Burridge, Cheri Christensen and Leslie Toms.

Of course, there are many more amazing artists I could take a lesson from.

Stay tuned for my first painting post.