Crown in her Soul

'Crown in Her Soul' 

5 x 7 inches

click here to purchase

'She's the kind of queen that knows her crown isn't on her head. But in her soul." Adrian Michael

This is one of my favorite paintings I've done in a while. I really loved the glow on her face and hair from the light, and the flash of red in her dress, and the colors of sunlight in her hair. And her smooth skin. . . cool shadows in her cheeks. . . I could go on forever I guess. The point is, I loved painting this one. 

I'm always amazed at how some subjects and scenes just click in my brain and it's like I vacate the premises for a minute and my body just paints it like it's on auto pilot. I guess that's called flow? It's a very cool phenomenon. The trick is figuring out what makes that happen and then do more of that haha! 

I'm super behind on blogging lately. I've been creating so much art, it's been amazing! But haven't taken the time to blog about it, even though I do post regularly on Instagram and facebook (crystalcookart on both). 

Heat Seeker

Heat Seeker

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I can pretty much always count on two things when it comes to painting. 

1. It will take longer than I think it will. (amiright?)

2. I will ALWAYS choose the subject with the most beautiful light. 

This kitty was gorgeously backlit, making her ears just glow and causing beautiful catchlights in her eyes. I thought I heard angels singing when I saw the light but it might have been me. ;) 

Something I learned with this painting is to make sure and paint in colorful areas first so they don't get muddied by the surrounding darks. I think I have heard Carol Marine refer to this as her 'island to ocean' technique. 

Fell a bit behind with painting a single painting every day for September, but that's just life and I'm not beating myself up over it. I actually enjoy it more when I split the painting up over two days. . . at least at this size. 

Have a good night everyone! I'll be visiting blogs tomorrow! HUGZZZ, Crystal 

Watching: Blacklist

Listening to: Chiustream with Bobby Chiu

Reading: Love and Gelato

Snacking on: nada

Drinking: banana flavored bcaa's