Day 3. Think Like a Child
“Hey There!” 6×6, oil on canvas Meet Henry. My precious godson, child of my best friend Robyn. He’s two, independent and a little accident prone. I found the reference photo for this painting on Robyn’s instagram feed. Henry has an older brother, Marc. I did a large portrait of Marc well over a year ago and have been promising […]
Day 2. Go Big or Go Home
“Clawing” 30x30in, oil on canvas $375 [button link=”http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/denise-hopkins/clawing/365000″ type=”big”] Buy Now[/button] What in the world am I thinking? Day one– 24x36in and day 2– 30x30in? Am I setting expectations far too high? Is the 6×6 I’m planning for day 3 going to be a let down? Will day 97 be a let down? These bigger paintings […]
Day 1. And We’re Off
“Launch” 24×36, oil on canvas $375 [button link=”http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/denise-hopkins/launch/364851″ type=”big”] Buy Now[/button] SOLD I’d been working on this one for a while but could never quite seem to finish it. Nothing like starting a 100 paintings in a 100 days to get you motivated to revisit an older canvas. And it sets the tone– It’s […]
Not Looking Too Far Ahead– Painting Demos Continue
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go” 12×12, oil on canvas A couple weeks ago, my boyfriend Peter and I I took Ezra to the Audubon Zoo. The orangutans were out and playful (on our last visit they weren’t available), but the Elephant exhibit was still under construction. Ezra seemed to get just as excited […]
Painting Demos– When You Learn by Doing
“City Park Egret”8×8, oil on canvas, $100 [button link=”http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/denise-hopkins/city-park-egret/349309”] Buy Now[/button] When I first set out to pursue art whole-heartedly in April 2014, my game plan was to create a series of videos– painting demos. I tried to make a few but was eventually scared off by their amateur nature. I know nothing about lighting, have no special […]
The Grass is Always Greener when Roosters Roam the Lawn
“Backyard Rooster” 12×12 oil on canvas, $150.00 [button link=”http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/denise-hopkins/backyard-rooster/335762″ type=”big”] Buy Now[/button] For about five years now, I’ve browsed local real estate listings daily on my phone. Sometimes I look multiple times a day just to see if anything new has entered […]
Reframing Normal when Motherhood isn’t Unicorns and Rainbows
“View from the Front Seat” 8×8, oil on canvas I think I know more pregnant people at this very moment that I have ever known in my life. Not only am I going to be an aunt (times two!) but at every holiday party this season or run-in with a friend or acquaintance there […]
50 Shades of Grey and Other Lessons in Modesty: What I’ve Learned Painting Every Day
When I started painting in college, I was very much drawn to color. My professor showed us paintings of impressionists and moderns which exhibited what she called a “ping” of rich, vibrant, saturated color. I loved the “ping”. So much so that I think for years I used only “pings,” diluted only by own inability […]
Perfectionism and Art: When Worlds Collide
“Blue Eyes” 8×8 oil on canvas SOLD What is the relationship between perfectionism and art? Allow me to digress for a moment and then come back to that. In junior high my cousin Jacqueline and I filled journals with pictures we cut out of teen bop magazine and quotes we got from God-knows-where since […]