Painting Over The Cracked Sky On The Palm Tree And Mountains Painting

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the acrylic painting of the palm trees with snow covered mountains had considerable cracking on the sky portion of the composition. When I created this painting in July of 2013 I had used several layers of glittery acrylic paint, which I think caused the cracking across the sky.  I decided to add a few more layers of glittery blue hued acrylic paint to cover the cracks in the sky. After adding a few layers of paint there was less cracking on the sky, but the new layers made the tops of the mountains start to crack. However, I decided the fissures in this painting give it character. Actually, another person on YouTube pointed this out to me, and I am thankful they did. Also, the cracks on the top of the mountains look similar to the snowy patches painted on the peaks, so this just works well. Some acrylic paints just crack, and sometimes it is better to accept how this can create unexpected but fun effects in a painting.

There were cracks in the sky I decided to paint over with sparkly acrylic paint.
There were cracks in the sky, so I decided to paint over these with sparkly blue acrylic paint.

 

A layer of the robin's egg blue acrylic paint has been added to the cracked sky.
A layer of the robin’s egg blue acrylic paint has been added to the cracked sky.
Two days later the paint layer has dried.
Two layers of this blue paint were added, and allowed to dry.
I allowed the two layers of new paint on the sky to dry, but decided I liked the cracking effect throughout the painting. The sky has fewer cracks than it did previously.
I allowed the two layers of new paint on the sky to dry, but decided I liked the cracking effect throughout the painting. The sky has fewer cracks than it did previously.

 

Palm Tree Sunset Shoes Created With Fabric Markers

I used fabric markers to create the palm tree sunset shoes.

Today I finished creating a pair of palm tree sunset shoes by using fabric markers to draw a design directly on the canvas. These graphic shoes were inspired by the sunset view of palm trees with the San Bernardino Mountains in the distance. Thus, the pink part of the shoe is the sunset sky, and the purple portion is supposed to be the mountains. The palm trees silhouettes in the foreground were created with a black fabric marker. The photos below will illustrate how I created these palm tree sunset shoes.

I started out with a pair of plain white canvas shoes.
I started out with a pair of plain white canvas shoes.
I used a pink fabric marker to color in a stripe on the top outside part of each shoe.
I used a light purple fabric marker to color a stripe on the outside edge of each shoe.
I used a light purple fabric marker to color a stripe on the outside edge of each shoe.
Here I used a darker purple fabric marker to draw the stripe on the inside of each shoe.
Here I used a darker purple fabric marker to draw the stripe on the inside of each shoe.
I used a black fabric marker to draw the palm trees on the first shoe.
I used a black fabric marker to draw the palm trees silhouettes on the first shoe.
Palm trees drawn on the back side of the shoe.
Palm trees drawn on the back side of the shoe.
Here I finished drawing the palm tree design on both shoes.
Here I finished drawing the palm tree design on both shoes.
The shoes side by side.
The shoes side-by-side.
The fabric marker designed shoes turned to the right.
The fabric marker designed shoe have a row of palm trees on each side. This is a very Southern California palm tree and mountains in the sunset scene.
The shoes toe to toe.
The shoes toe to toe.
The backside of both palm tree shoes.
The backside of both palm tree shoes.
The palm tree shoes are in an L shape.
The palm tree shoes are in an L shape.
Wearing the palm tree shoes with a long purple skirt.
Wearing the palm tree shoes with a long purple skirt.
I worea black top and a purple pencil skirt, which matched the hues of the sunset on the shoes.
I wore a black top and a purple pencil skirt, which matched the hues of the sunset on the shoes.

These palm tree mountain sunset shoes match outfits with purple, black, and pink hues. The video below illustrates how I drew the palm tree illustration with fabric markers from start to finish. The markers I used for this project were the twenty pack of Tulip fabric markers, and the directions said to allow the illustration to dry for at least twenty-four hours before wearing the item. Always follow the directions when using fabric markers to ensure the ink not rub off onto other items.

The Completed Irina The Cat Painting

The completed painting of Irina the cat with the San Bernardino Mountains as a backdrop.
The completed painting of Irina the cat with the San Bernardino Mountains as a backdrop.

In the last post I shared how I transferred a the cat drawing to the canvas to use as an outline for the painting. In this post I am sharing how the painting of Irina the cat evolved from start to finish.