Chris Beaven

I enjoy meticulously painting the spines of harry potter books on the shelf, a very important part of Patties life.

Another late day doing art, although I spent a lot of time earlier in the day stretching my canvas for the next painting.

Right after work today I had to shoot off to the mainland for a Dr appointment so I’m doing my art much later in the day than normal.

After sanding and two more coats of gesso on my next painting I had to work on Pattie’s portrait with some extreme construction noise distracting me.

Most of the background on this painting has been a lesson in chroma and reducing its intensity.

I just spent a little time on painting the dishes today because I was putting many coats of gesso on a new painting.

I’m not working on two paintings, I’ve determined the next painting’s composition and I have started preparing its canvas.

A birthday present given a funny name by Pattie and one that has stuck fondly with us for many years.

I spent most of the day today traveling and waiting with errands on the mainland. As I write this I’m totally exhausted but happy that I got some work done on the painting.

I didn’t get much done on this painting today as I was doing a lot of preparation for my next portrait.

I’ve worked on this painting now for 100 sessions. Most of the session have been an hour or shorter but this is still the longest I’ve ever worked on a painting.

I’ve started preparation for a new painting that I will work on in tandem with this painting. I hope to increase my motivation with variety.

Today was a shorter session as I need to run off to a friends house to take photos for another planned portrait. I now have two more portraits in the works.

Another session with the top shelf. I’m working from left to right and at the end of the line is a bunch of elephant figurines.

I worked on more items at the top shelf today plus I went through over 400 photos taken of Patrick yesterday. I’m excited for the next portrait.

The small mass of items at the top of the shelves includes fairies and a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t recognizable, at this point it is just texture.

I’m now working on a couple angles to the right of the tiny portraits. These will be much more indistinct and fuzzy than the portraits.

A photograph in a photograph, but so tiny that I have to spend several sessions getting every little tiny stroke/dot correct.

With today’s post I’ve finally caught up with all my posts after my vacation a week ago.

Even though the objects seem like detritus most have some history in Pattie’s life, today I’m painting tofu containers and fabric from Ireland.

For this session and many others I’ve moved to the top of the shelving unit and started with all the complex items stacked up there.

I don’t really care too much about the surface of the painting. Everything is intentionally left flat, my focus is on describing what I see.

I can’t seem to bring myself to generalize any of these objects into broad strokes, I see much importance in every tiny thing.

I’m working on a section of the shelves that holds nothing but sea creatures, mostly mammals like a Beluga whale and dolphins.

I’m continuing my work on the top left shelf full of vegetable animals.

Today I’m working on the top left section of keepsakes which is a group of animals shaped like vegetables, or is it vegetables shaped like animals.

We are back home from the cruise and I’m doing my art later in the day, it is good to be back home although I’m still rocking like I’m on the ship.

It’s 5am Sunday and I’m working on my painting while my mind is racing with things I need to do before our trip, so I plan accordingly.

Some days are easier than others. My drawing time today was much more frustrating than last week.

She collected small colored sand castles when she was young. I remember seeing them in stores when I was much younger also.

I moved on to the fifth shelf out of 16 today and I’m trying to keep the colors and values the same through every session.

I spent the short session today painting a wizard figurine on one of the shelves in the background.

This painting has one goal and I make sure that everything I add to the painting is in service to that one goal.

For today’s session I finished painting the one figurine above and to the left. It wasn’t much but that part is done.

Just a little progress today on the painting. I only got a small area done but I’m happy with it’s quality and that is most important.

While focusing on edges it’s helpful to overlap brush strokes for objects that are right next to each other, rather than painting up to the next object.

All of the items in the background may seem randomly placed but I assure you that most are very important details that have a narrative in this story.

Today I worked on the cushion and box that Pattie is sitting on. I’m moving all over the painting picking out easy subjects.

I decided to work on the background shelving today, I’m still a bit sick so I chose an easy section. The square directly to the right of Pattie’s head.

It’s important to recognize my mindset when beginning a session it can make a huge difference in my performance.

I’m working on her legs now, not much to say as I’m still sick and trying to do art daily without messing up anything on the painting.

The medicine I’m taking for my cold is making me groggy and unfocused so I recognize this and work on something simple.

I have a cold and even though I don’t feel like it, I’m going to do my art today. Because I set an achievable minimum.

Yeah, the titles of my posts lack any vestige of interest, I’m not a writer, I’m an artist so I’ll be literal.

For this session it was really easy, I had a wonderful call with my brother and painted Pattie’s Knee.

I’m done with the shirt and I’m on to her almost hidden hand.

In areas where the surrounding values are very dark I find it easier to start with the darkest of them.

On lazy days when my motivation is running low I focus on smaller areas to help me get started.

Not much to update for this session, I’m still working on the shirt and will be for the next few sessions. Lots of bluish gray and subtle values.

As I painstakingly render the folds in the shirt I’m also thinking about the texture of the fabric.