For A Friend.

I painting this for a friend.

High School Dayz

This is just part of a painting I never really got to finish.
It's hard to see some of the detail in the brush work.
It was done in water color, when I was like 17. I've gotten a little better at
water color since then, so I might revisit this painting some time.

Fly On The Wall

I need to get motivated and excited about painting again.
I'm starting small, and hopefully working my way up to
much larger paintings. This is a small water color painting
I did a few days ago.

Before and After

Sometimes even when you think you're done with a painting, you look back at them and still feel they need more work. With this particular one, I knew the background needed more work. I also worked more on the soldier's uniform and sprayed the whole thing with a gloss finish.

The painting was done in acrylic paint, on a 40 x 30 size canvas.
I'd like to paint more cubism paintings. They look neat huh?

Sometimes People Just Want You To Paint Some Flowers

Over the holidays I painted a few paintings for people. This was one of them. The only instruction I got was that he wanted flowers. He was a horticulture major in college, so he wanted a painting of something he knows a lot about.

My favorite paintings I do for people are always when they give me the freedom to do whatever I want to do. I think I get my best results when I don't feel too much restraint when painting.

I decided to paint a surreal painting involving flowers. I looked at a lot of different pictures of flowers, and sort of came up with a story.

I don't really want to get into the story. I don't generally like explaining what things mean or represent in my paintings. Most of the time other people's own interpretations interests me more than my own....well sometimes.

Tiny Dancer

Haven't been posting much, but its not because I'm lazy or have lost interest. I have been really busy painting and drawing...pretty much none stop. I have a couple new pieces I shall post later.

This Is What Happens...

....When I haven't painted or drawn anything.

It's A Process, Maybe Next Time Edition

This is the first dog portrait I've ever done. Some friends wanted a portrait of their dog, so I was happy to paint it for them. I had fun painting this. It's definitely not the last dog painting I will paint.

Inside Out

This is a self portrait inspired by one of my favorite artists, Rene Magritte. Don't want to get too into meaning, but you should be able to notice how his work influenced this painting by looking here. The painting was done with acrylic paint on a 30" x 40" stretch canvas. Sometimes I like to place my paintings in different surroundings and take a picture. Is that weird?

Hey Where Did You Go, Motivation?

The other day I opened another blank canvas I had purchased. It's 30" x 40". I had this idea I wanted to paint, so I sorta forced myself. I began to mix A LOT of paint, and threw it onto the canvas. As soon as I began to cover it I got bored and was over it. I didn't even finish covering the whole thing. I just put it away. Forcing myself to paint has never really produced my best work, so I don't know what I was thinking. I think it's because of lack of inspiration. At least partly.

It's A Process

I showed the finish product a few days ago, but I took pictures of the process. I'm trying to get the hang of water color again, So hopefully I keep getting better. This is my first water color portrait in a pretty long while.

Someone Wake Up The Green Day Guys

I found a pretty big stash of water color paints in my room not too long ago, and I have been trying them out ever since. I've never really been too into water color. I think it's probably because it frustrates me. I like blended colors. Leaving noticeable brush strokes in paintings is something I don't really do. The first couple pieces I tried doing were bad, but I stuck with it. I've been doing portraits, which is probably one of the hardest things to do with water color. So far this has been the one that has come out best. It's a present for my younger brother. I finally finished it the other day. I think I'm going to try and paint the other four members....we'll see.

Also...Goodbye September.

The One With All The Birds.

So after thinking about, I decided to finally make an Etsy profile. I've been looking at a few stuff on the site, and have heard a lot of good things about it from friends, but I'm still not 100 percent sure about it. It doesn't hurt to try though. This is the first painting I decided to try to sell first. I'm positively optimistic about this. I think.

Check my page out if you'd like, my name on it is JohnAre . Click the link or go to JohnAre.Etsy.com!

This painting was done with mostly Indian ink and some water color, on a 18" x 24" piece of water color paper. It was the first time I tried using Indian ink. I liked it, but it was incredibly hard to control. A lot of people like the crow, which makes me happy because it was one of the most frustrating things I have ever painted. The painting doesn't have an official name, but somethings I call it down.

High School Dayz

So looking back at this painting, I'm realizing how damn creepy it looks...Which makes me like it more.

Another Abstract Update

Me and Daniel worked some more on our paintings yesterday. I think he's getting closer to being finished with his, if he isn't already. Mine still has a few more hours to go I think.

Four Square

This painting actually took me a while to finish. I was stuck for a while. Didn't really know what else to add to it. It sat in my room for about a year, when I finally picked it up again and decided to finish it. The whole idea I had with this painting revolved around the composition. I wanted to arrange everything so that the painting itself could be hung on each four of its sides. As far as color and subject matter go, the painting shares the same characteristics as the other paintings from the series.