Plantie's

Blog Moved!!

2012-12-18T12:25:00.003+01:00

Attention all! This blog will be no longer updated - as I will be using my blog on my website from here on out :) -
http://www.plantiebee.com/blog
I know it sucks - but thanks for the great year and a half of blogspotting and hope to see you on my website as well!!

Happy holidays guys!!! <3

"Brave" Painting Complete and On It's Way!

2012-10-29T20:09:00.000+01:00

"Brave" oil on masonite 20 x 30 cm by Christina Lank

I am so late again! Here is my completed portrait of Amy Lou entitled "Brave" - made with oils on a small piece of masonite. It is one of my first ever complete oil paintings - which has been exciting for me ^^
It feels like lately like finishing things keeps on being interrupted or delayed! I sent off that half complete collab this month, and I have a 60% complete Grimm painting and 3 small oil paintings just sitting around looking happy on my shelf asking me to finish them :P Blah!

But the experience of painting with oils has been a trying but exciting one ^^ I have gotten alot of great help from artists in my collective - the Red Sirens who have told me a thousand and half good tips coming to one conclusion: experimentation!

certificate of authenticity for "Brave"

But there's good news amidst my inability to sign and complete paintings! Brave has been sold to my beautiful model! Who has waited so patiently for the blacks to dry, for the varnish to go on, and for the bubble wrap to go in place!

the pretty part of the packaging!

I got to try out my gold wax seal today woot! It got sent off tonight in the middle of a artic feeling rain storm in Sweden while I wondered how all my friends and family in Maryland will be fairing with the Frankenstorm on it's way :P

So to all of you on the East Coast - keep safe and dry and batten down those hatches!! And thanks again Amy!

Painting of a Collab - Part 1!

2012-10-14T15:08:00.000+02:00

work in progress of my oil and acrylic collab painting

Ah busy days and times. I found out about 2 weeks ago that Amy Minchew and I were chosen to be a part of the fabulous Modern Eden Gallery's collaboration show called "Allied Forces" - in which 2 artists needed to make a piece together.
The scary part has been that the painting needs to be there in San Fran by November 11th - and I needed to paint this and ship to Amy in Georgia in time for her to paint and ship it! Leaving very little room for error :P

progress shot from instagram while I painted the hair upside down :P

I decided I would do a background of trees and a gradient as fast as I possible could in acrylics, and move onto oils later with massive amounts of Liquin to make sure it was dry and ready to ship in time!!

the final part of my half of the collab - with the certificate of authenticity!

Richard built the box frame for me, and I set out to work, even fighting through a virus to get this done :P The title is "Equinox" and was inspired by a friend of mine who once had a dream 10 years ago that I had a blossoming nipple and has never let me forget it hehehe.

Now shes off to Amy with lots of speed and no damage! We've got our fingers crossed!
Next up....Grimms Fairy Tale show in Las Vegas. And therell be some dark birds involved... ;)
Wish me luck!

Paintings come home and oils take over

2012-09-29T14:18:00.000+02:00

my studio upstairs, littered with my oil painting adventures

Hello everyone! It is a rainy Saturday today, and September is coming to a rather quick close. But as it were my oil paintings continue on as I am determined to get these done SOON, at least most of them :P Before I run out of time!

I had many issues with her face, like her eyes, nose and mouth

but I have worked hard to make her look as true to life as possible

I have really enjoyed working on my portrait of Ulrika this week! She, herself, came over last weekend for a bit of a make over and photo shoot for many projects which I hope to work on ^^ I actually met her at the train station in the morning a few weeks back! She's going to art school herself and I was just struck by her beautiful features I had to ask her to let me use her for my paintings ^^
Me sounding ultra creepy aside - I am very happy she did as to me she has a very inspiring face.

As my instagram followers say: The Asian Pocahontas!

I am still working very slowly on Amy's portrait as well. I have actually changed it since I took this photo - more black hair, wider mouth, and fixed that wonky looking eye (I accidently painted over the glare giving her a cross eyed look -_- oops). But that peony has been consuming my time and my patience tbh. Only ever decide to paint a peony if you have vast amounts of energy and the ability to compartmentalize and memorize tiny nonsensical details. *Nods head*.

All my paintings up there, well some of them for a short amount of time

I got my paintings back from Malmö today! Though 4 of them have new owners, I hung up all the ones which either dont, or will be leaving within the next month up to make my walls feel very homey. I have never been able to hang any of these paintings in my house before so its nice to have them up here ^^ If you're interested in purchasing any of the paintings - nows a good time to jump on it! Just email me for details! contact@plantiebee.com

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend ^^

Painting with Oils and Concepting Concepts

2012-09-15T23:11:00.000+02:00

Oh how time flies, and I continue to neglect my blog. Well, I can tell you all the going ons right about now. My solo show opened beginning of this month - which was alot of fun and a wonderful experience!

me at the gallery, with Torn in the background!

Shortly after my mom flew over to Sweden to visit me and I celebrated my 25th birthday!! For a wonderful birthday present, my baby bought me a huge set of Schminke oils to try, as a transition away from acrylics ever so slowly...

lots of beautiful oil colors and new brushes to boot!

So, during this brief moment of rest I have been doing smaller pieces to see how they work and compare to my beloved Golden Open colors - which I have been a huge fanboy of ever since I started painting with them....

Painting my dear friend Amy Lou

My new amazing easel, with Amy's wolf companion painting on it!

My first ever oil painting around the half way mark, made from a sketch

I wish I could show you a few newer pictures of the paintings but my phone is misbehaving :P Heres what I think between the two: Golden Open Acrylics vs. Schminke Oils

Covering Power: The very first noted difference I made was the smooth covering power of the oil paints. I usually have to paint several layers of an acrylic base to make it look that smooth - so it was a happy relief
Drying Times: You need to be very careful with how much oil additive you use in oils :P I use safflower oil to lessen the yellowing effect on my light tones, and this takes twice as long to dry. It can be very handy to use ofc, using Liquin to speed up the drying can ALSO be very handy but its just about the situation. When using the safflower oil it can take nearly 2 days or more to dry. So have multiple projects ^^
Ease of blending: I work very hard to blend acrylics to the best of my abilitiy, but it can never be completely stand still perfect. You can blend alot easier after fewer layers with oils - but I would say it is much more brush dependent!! You need just the right size of a very soft brush to make nice blending. I have also found it more difficult to add in the darker tones to skin and such.
Color tones: There is a marked difference between the tones of oils and the tones of acrylics. I love earthy tones myself, which in acrylics can be slightly harder to achieve as they are a very vibrant paint on their own. Oils are much more muted, at least from my experience so far (I have 16 colors of oils at the moment). Though I do miss alot of my cool Golden Open colors like Iridescent Pearl or other fun different tonal ranges which add umphf.

art trade envelopes are something I'd like to do more of in the future!

Alot is coming up though and I have much to prepare for.
I will be in the Red Siren Art Collective's show EleMental at the 423West Gallery in Los Angeles on April 13th 2013! I have my concepts all in the works and models on their tasks - but its all very hush hush I am afraid so little photos...

I just got work I have been accepted to take part in a group show at the Auguste Clown Gallery in Melbourne, Australia!! More details on that soon I hope!

And I am also going to be in the October issue of Catapult Magazine! So keep your eyes peeled for that!! I am super excited!! :D

All in all, I am going to be very busy. So my play time with oils will be coming to an abrupt end very soon, replaced by real work. Tick tock ;)
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!! :D

A Day in the Life...

2012-08-25T10:12:00.000+02:00

Ah, times are busy. Though the stress of painting is gone, and to be honest I think I am going through withdrawal symptoms even though I am very glad to not feel forced to get everything done...now the more practical sides of having a solo show begins.

At the gallery with all of the originals...planning planning

I'd like to continue to make these paintings personal to their prospective owners, so I am making work in progress booklets for each of them. As well as certificates in advance - which I got some new lovely paper for from England!

the certificate for Nectar all ready to go!

To make matters a little more stressful, my archival printer ran out of 5 colors of ink...and replacing each one of them costs an equivalent of $40....so you can imagine with that on top of framing and professional photography I am feeling swamped!!

the crazy mess of changing inks on my epson r3000

But besides the time consuming paperwork we have also been having a bit of fun with packaging and new projects! I have a few things lined up to do, mainly a collaboration with the awesome Laurie McClave who is also a member in our art collective Red Sirens!
I wanted to do the painting a bit differently this time, since I usually paint from realistic models and she does not - I decided to paint from a sketch. And I have been sketching alot in the evenings!

scanned in sketch for Laurie McClave collab!

I went for a few of our favorite things: birds, antlers, and ofc a beautiful lady ^^ I scanned it in and placed it on a canvas the same size as the masonite in real life to help me figure out how big it needed to be in the end. I have begun slow work on the background...but it is really slow :P Taking it easy with painting is the name of the game right now - but sure to change soon.

new packaging for orders off of my shop! :D

Another one of my goals for post-painting time was new packaging for orders off of my Etsy Shop! Which by the way is now having a celebratory 20% off sale (coupon code: CELEBRATION8711), since I am completely done with the collection and have all new prints up on there! Its really nice packing these prints, with the new wax seal on them :D Some good old fashioned-ness right there for you! Who doesnt like receiving a pretty package in the mail after all ^^

my wall of art!

And now with my wall of art complete over top of my studio space I am just about ready to carry on with the show and begin a new chapter of my life! Its been 6 long months of work - but I think alot of fun is on its way too ^^ We will see wont we!
I have alot of new concepts for paintings, and even a few new paints to help me along the way :D So lets see! New season on its way, new paintings, new times.
Wish me luck until then!!

"Omen" - New painting complete

2012-08-17T16:31:00.000+02:00

"Omen" 40 x 60 cm acrylic on masonite by Christina Lank

My final and last painting of the Fragile Things collection is complete!!
You have no idea how relieving it is, after 6 months of leading a full on duplicate life, to finally be done with 8 pieces of artwork *phew*

close up of the Omen girl in the forest

Let me tell you a bit about this painting as it is quite personal to me.
I am not often a superstitious person, that side of me comes out during my darkest or most frantic hours. The biggest one I have is my superstition over the bird: Magpie.

When I was living in England I read something somewhere which started "One magpie by sorrow, Two Magpies for joy....." The nursery rhyme went on, in different versions....saying the number of magpies you see is a different omen coming your way.

Magpies fighting at the bottom of the painting

I had forgotten the rest but the paranoia grew in my head, to the point where whenever I saw an odd number of magpies it always meant something bad was coming, even meant something good.
And when I have been particularly lost in life this obsession with counting birds grows and grows. Mostly because it always comes true, and also Sweden is full of Magpies...

Magpies fighting in the air

The painting is created from a dream I had during one of these bad times. I would become so obsessed with the good or bad omens, I would dream of magpies fighting in the streets all muddled up so I couldnt count if it was an odd or even number.
I switched out the streets for a spooky forest, adding in my favorite model, who represents the mindset of the time. Lost, fragile, on a road with no known end or beginning, surrounded by omen birds fighting out fate if you will.

So! That is my last and final painting for you all ^^
I will be posting it as an archival open print on my Etsy shop, so check it out!
Large limited edition prints will be made for the show, so if youre interested in something larger and more exclusive go ahead and contact the gallery owner here: info@martinscolor.com

Have a great weekend everybody :D!

As summer dwindles and time runs out

2012-08-06T13:55:00.003+02:00

I know I have been a poor sport with my blog.
To be fair I have been swamped with painting for the new show - blah! But I am quickly running out of time before the opening and soon I will be in a brand new phase and hopefully back to being more active right here!

"Equilibrium" 40 x 100 cm acrylic on masonite by Christina Lank

I have been on vacation the last 2 weeks and have spent my time devoting mostly to this painting. It was bought in the sketch phase - so I knew I had to make it something very special!

Moth girl in Equilibrium by Christina Lank

I wanted to make a painting showing the dark and light sides to each of us. More and more I see, hear, feel how we have multiple sides, almost like personalities. Negative traits like selfish, obsessive, judgmental... but at the same time they are harsh you must always think they are actually bred out of the good traits in us as well.

Butterfly girl in Equilibrium by Christina Lank

Judgements can be made out of our good tastes, our good intentions, expecting others to think and act in your own positive ways. Selfish can be born out of your own self determination, focus and ambition...Obsessive is one trait which I have been slapped with which I also find to be a two sided thing. It all depends on where you focus it...

Me holding Equilibrium, you can see how big it is!

The point is it is an entanglement, like the hair you see in painting. We are all versions, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers to ourselves. It takes a long time to accept your other half...and even harder to change it.

But the sentiment painted here is there is always an Equilibrium between the two.

I am not going to be painting a forest scene :P I have my dear model friend Michelle helping me once more :O Who I am very excited about painting as she is my beautiful muse!
Now I must skuttle back to the daily grind and hope wish promise, I will be able to gab on with you lot more in the future :D

"Torn" New Painting Complete!

2012-07-07T14:09:00.001+02:00

"Torn" acrylic on masonite 40 x 80 cm by Christina Lank

Hello everybody! I am happy to announce by new painting "Torn" is finally complete ^^
This painting is the 5th in part of the Fragile Things collection - which will be on display in September at Martin's Gallery in Malmö :)

Let me tell you a bit about the painting!

up close of the young lady catching feathers :)

This painting was directly inspired by the model, whom I know in person. She has a bit of a heartbreaking tale of struggle, hardships, and lives in consistent physical pain do to past injuries.
But it's more than just the physical, there is also alot of torment from within. This is what I wanted to capture in this painting.

and yet she looks hopeful, catching her feathers like dreams

Though this girl looks perfect as a picture in real life, she is proof that no matter how perfect someone may appear on the outside, I have found they rarely if ever feel that way behind closed doors.
Theres always a flaw, theres always something thats not quite right.... these forces are always reaching up from underneath trying to undermine us and pull down down. On the other hand - we also have the light....the dream of being free of worry stress or doubt. The feeling of being perfect no matter what shines back at us in the mirror.

Me and Torn sittin in the kitchen ^^

This painting was inspired by the model who has truly conquered death to fight for life, and its a fight we all make to get it through all the pressures no matter what they may be for all of us.
So, in truth it is a painting about hope - reach to the sky to find a lighter brighter life no matter what may be trying to hold us down.

I hope you enjoy my new painting! It's one of the larger ones I have painted in recent history and there are alot of subtle bits to it thats very hard to capture in a photograph, like sparkly silver bits on her dress... but if youre in Malmö in September I encourage you to come on by and have a look!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Free Giveaway of an Original Painting!

2012-06-29T14:14:00.000+02:00

Original Painting Giveaway yay!

Wow, 300 likes sure came fast, thank you every for your amazing support!
As a special thank you, I am having a giveaway of your choice of one painting shown above - the Original! Thats a gift worth $180 and a rare chance to snag one just for yourself ^^
To find out how to enter read the picture above! And head on over to http://www.facebook.com/plantiebees to enter today ^^

Good luck everyone!

Painting with Planties Tuesday! #11: Working Through the Pain in Painting

2012-06-26T22:50:00.002+02:00

I am no stranger to messy beginnings. In fact - I expect them.
For my newest project I had one of my more challenging poses...full body straight from the front - meaning very small facial features and alot of room to have things get tricky!

the first layer of skin is always the most awkward

color palette: yellow ochre, paynes grey, cadmium red dark, burnt umber, carbon black, titanium white, pale portrait pink, quinacridone red, cerulean blue *phew*!

All my paints are Golden Open Acrylics, except for the pale portrait pink which is by Liquitex :)

and another layer and another layer

I like working from a solid tone as best as I can. Note!! Something interesting, when working on an already colored background, it really does change the way the skin color goes on. Because this one was blue, all the original skin tones came out crazy orange! The color on my palette ended up being a sortve ashey tone as I added the blue into it - it still came out orangey but just a thought for the future! Probably always best to ad a wee bit of the background color in when you can :)

let the horror begin.

Yeah, scary I know...it gets worse!!

burn victim alert!

Right here, all you can do is laugh. This was the beginning of a 4 hour journey trying to get her face from that to something a little more human. The only way to do that is layers and layers of shadows.
You can see the paint never goes on smooth. That comes with alot of drying times and patience.

Always keep the transfer paper if you use this method!

Helpful tip! If youre working from a direct model like I am and have used transfer paper to move your sketch onto the canvas - always keep it! If features get lost while putting on skin tones, just try and transfer on some more graphite to help you along the way :)

oh the humanity!!

I know its brutal, believe me it was even more brutal for me! The thing is, the eyes make such a difference, but theres no use working on them until the skin shadows are a bit more established...
Like my dear friend Kristin Palmer said to me the word Pain is in Painting for a reason!

okay, wonky eyes, but we're getting somewhere now.

After a small break to let the paint dry and relieve the nerve stress, I went back in and painting on more hair, adjusted her jaw line, and her mouth....as well as tried to figure out what on earth I had done to her eyes :P

there we go that looks better!

oh so heavenly

now it looks alot more like the model and i can go to sleep relieved :P

In the end after alot of effort I pulled it out of the burn victim horror and back into the light :)
Plenty of breather breaks, and some determination....hopefully this painting will pull together nicely!

Now - what do you think, pink or dark purple dress....hmmm

Night night everyone!

2012-06-21T12:23:00.003+02:00

"The Messenger" acrylic on masonite board 40 x 60 cm by Christina Lank

So she is complete! The Messenger is a rather dark painting once again of a green eyed lady with crows coming out of smoke around her. The original concept was meant to be off the sentence "When silenced, it is time to act."
I had this thought of women suppressed, coming out to speak and the woman who would speak for them. Crows have long been a symbol of bad tidings, and also symbolize misjudgement in that regard.

close up detail of The Messengers face

shot of the painting outside

So however dark and smokey and perhaps not fully formed our thoughts may be, they come into action through the crows.

I have some more work in progress shots for you to take a look at since the last time I posted so you can see the painting in more various stages :)

after a few redos on her face, and even an eye color change things started shaping up

I worked on the whole body as if it was to be naked, just because i didnt know how much would be covered in the end.

when the feather collar came on, i was really happy as it added the drama i wanted!

with the hair and the crows going on it really started becoming the painting i had wanted!

The Messenger complete!

Then with lots of smoke, and a bit of red, even on the wings which is unfortunately something so light and tinted its difficult to see in a picture....she was complete!

I hope you like this new rather dark painting I have made :) I really look forward to debuting her at the show in September :O!
For now there are archival prints available on my Etsy shop ^^ - https://www.etsy.com/listing/102623525/fine-art-print-crow-girl-with-feather

Have a good weekend everyone, and happy midsummer to all the Swedish folk out there :D

The painting mill keeps on turning

2012-06-10T21:22:00.002+02:00

digital sketch of the crow girl done the other night

Just a quick post about my new project ^^
I am painting a crow inspired painting, lots of smoke and feathers :)
I didnt use just one model this time around, its a real mash up and work around of multiple people, an idea we've been chewing on for quite some time now.

There will be a lace veil over her eyes, and a symbolic meaning of "When silenced, it is time act."
At least thats how I have always felt and envisioned this painting to come across...

art therapy! feels gooood.

I had a bit of fun too with the background :P
We let paint drip, splattered it on everywhere without much of a care. Its possible only a tiny bit may show in the end, with what I have thought out for it, but its something I never do with my paintings, and it was fun to let loose!

my art studio, complete with artists prints and originals I admire

I cleaned up my art studio a bit today and posted this pic on facebook. I got frames at ikea for my little collection of art prints, minus two which I still need to sort out!
It's a truly inspirational corner I must say!

the crow girls face, work in progress shot

This evening, I spent some secluded time working on her face. It started off WAY wrong. As per usual. But I think its all shaping up nicely now. She's got a bit of that spark of life happening in her eyes...now I just need begin the tedious work on her skin and let the magic take place ;)

Hope everyones had a wonderful weekend! :D

Ophelia's Dream - Complete!

2012-06-07T22:28:00.003+02:00


Ophelia's Dream - artwork by Christina Lank 40 x 60 cm acrylic on masonite board

Yay, I finally get to post my new painting onto my blog as well! I know I am a day behind (I am that and more with everything now and days) - but I am very happy to reveal my Ophelia rendition and some exclusive close up shots I havent posted anywhere else ^^

condensed flowers in the background, including a dragonfly!

I wanted flowers, lots of flowers. This painting became darker and darker for everyday I worked on it haha, it seemed like I had a harder time pulling it out into the light more than anything else.
I painted this overgrowth once, then again, and then again, each time adding more and more highlights, and increasingly darker shadows....

Lily flowers and lily pads down on the lower part of the painting

However the light did shine through very naturally when I began painting the lily flowers, which to me really popped more than I had expected. If I can blushingly admit, those lily flowers took me about 5 hours to paint (I know, I know...) but in the end I got just the right pink for me :P

Ophelia's face in the water...

Ophelia herself is no surprise - she came quite quickly and naturally. I had a superb model whom I was very grateful for having! At least, the part out of the water came naturally...anyone who follows my blog knows what happened to the part under water!! :O

itsy bitsy dragonfly on Ophelia's hip

The dragonflies were the last time to be painted onto this piece. Richard, my ever loving boyfriend, comes in and out of my paintings depending on what I am doing. He completely ignored this painting right up until the end where he suddenly had many opinions on the gosh darn dragonflies lol! We spent quite some time painting silver, than inking blue...than inking green. They may be tiny, but from afar they certainly do shine!

Ophelia's Dream painting in full - so you may take in the details all together!

I took one nice shot of it outside, during my usual "i hate photography so much" run around trying to find good lighting on a dark painting. Here you can take in from afar all the lights, darks, shades and shadows....with her almost peaceful look.

Ophelia was a painting I had wanted to do for many months, though the original image in my head was a hundred times different! From purples, to reds, to greens and yellows, to deep blues and pinks, its taken a journey from thought to reality.
The imagery of a woman falling to her death from a willow tree, lost her mind crazy, but the character herself in the original play always had to be an innocent factor. One I thought would transmit into peacefulness once she was released from real life, into the unknown of death.

I hope you like my new painting!
If you happen to be in Sweden, you can come see it, and all my other paintings this September in Malmö at Martin's Color + Gallery!
Follow along with all the other paintings I'll be doing for a show here on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/plantiebees

Painting with Plantie's Tuesday #10: When Things Go Wrong

2012-05-22T22:35:00.001+02:00

I am no perfect artist. I have much to learn, and when learning is needed to be done - failing is right along side. I experienced a major fail with this painting - which you will sadly have to witness right here :P
In my head, the logical way of going about the water she was to be submerged in, was to paint her perfectly, then glaze on top to add gradual layers of deepness.
As you can see above, after one later of glaze, it ruined alot. It was streaky, full of dust, and completely unpleasant...

oh when i get angry...

Then I made it even worse with a second layer of glaze, completely stripping all the work I had done on the shading, and adding even worse streak marks. I got angry. I started repainting her skin in a frantic sadness....

I am already really behind schedule now - and the sudden shock of 20 hours of work gone in one night was scary!!!

But - sitting and crying over spilled milk wont help. Like I knew, I dont know everything. But what I can do is try to fix it. And by fixing it - that means starting over and rethinking strategy.
Painting can be like a creative persons mathematics. Its problem-solving through the issues of light dark, mishap and technique.

So I buckled down. And I figured if I couldnt paint the dark over at once, I could at least paint her skin a darker bluer shade....also giving the effect that she is under water. It means another 20 hours of work, and a whole lot of stress and consistency. But itll be well worth it in the end :P

Here you can see I am repainting her hands, but, it wasnt good enough at just that. I wanted more depth. I had already dug myself into a deep hole of "oh crap", might as well test myself even more...

So, I began adding even darker shades to the tips of her body. This way she would look even more submerged.

This is how she looks on my art table right now. It is not perfect, but it is a whole lot better than she was just a day before. Just imagine how shell be after tomorrow right ;)

Lesson: Crap happens. Point is you experiment and test your limits. When shit hits the fan, dont throw out the baby with the bath water! Rethink, reevaluate, and redo.
This painting is important to me, and like with all my paintings...I love her like a little child of mine :P Hopefully by next week! I can show you her done :D

Heres to hoping!

Have a great week everyone!

PlantieBee's Free Giveaway!!

2012-05-18T11:25:00.001+02:00

The picture and title say it all :D I have reached 200 likes on my Facebook Fanpage and as promised I am holding an even bigger and better Giveaway!!

Entering is simple -
1) Like Plantiebees Fanpage! (link is above!)
2) Go to the Giveaway post on my timeline (which you can find right here: PlantieBees Giveaway), Like/Comment on the post, even if its just a little smiley :)
3) SHARE the post on your own timeline to spread the word!!

Prizes this time around are! -
First Place Grand Prize Winner: 2 archival prints + 2 large greeting cards
Second and Third Place Winners: 1 archival print + 1 large greeting card each

All of them made with the painting of your choice!

The winners will be drawn a week from today on May 25th 2012 :D!

Thanks so much to everyone who has stuck with me, supported me, and have been so wonderfully kind - I truly couldnt do it without you ^^ You are the best!!! <3

~ Plantie ~

Painting with Planties Tuesdays! #9: Ophelia

2012-05-15T19:19:00.001+02:00

Hello hello everyone! Long time no see I know :P
I have been a naughty girl - its been a bit crazy all over the place here - but we are through the thick of it and I am happy to say I am back on schedule and back to the art table.

I started painting my Ophelia rendition a few weeks back, and now I shall update you all with a little step by step through what I have done recently ^^

to begin with! i turned it upside to work on her backside :P

You all caught me during my ... work out around phase...
This means I have done at least 3-5 layers of skin color and I have to keep working it over and over to make it smooth. Which may seem a bit daunting and tedious!

here is the color palette i used! same usual colors, all just mixed up to varying degrees.

here I was starting to add darker lines along her backside, as it was looking pale against the background, unfinished

even though it may look really dark, like along her arm, itll be blended out later. so long as the definition is there to begin with

yes. yes i do have a close up of her chest :P

Besides definitive lines, I am also reworking shade values. I mustve painted her chest area 10 times until I got to this stage. Always trying to make things as smooth as possible. You can see here, I added alot more lights, as it was much darker before.

and then adding lights to the top of her hand, through down to her wrist bone. something i hadnt spotted earlier.

Review, inspect, and review again!

close up of her face in its semi blank state

I then moved onto her face while areas of her body were drying. I wanted to create a very peachy eyeshadow, and pale lips.

first...add on the base skin tone onto her lips to make them extra pale

then the whole pale thing disappeared with a nice pink color, the pink coming from alot of browns and yellows as well

adding a goldish pink color to her eyelids...

I found painting eyeshadow was quite like applying it :P So for all you ladies who use triple shade eyeshadow shades, the same apply here. Light in the middle, medium on the sides, dark on the crease, with a gradient up the eyelid!

my lovely ophelia as she stands now

I then added some extra long black eyelashes and felt pretty pleased! I often dont paint extra make up - so it was fun giving this that detail.

Now, another 10 layers of skin haha, fix her hair (which will be wet - new challenge!) and then....covering 80% of it up with water :P

Wish me luck!
Hope youre all having a great week so far!

Error! Plantie's Is Shut Down!

2012-04-24T21:01:00.000+02:00

I am sorry to say Painting with Planties has to be cancelled this week!

My computer was loveling taken apart by Richard today, and got a bunch of new parts...so now of course the monitor doesnt work. And still doesnt I am afraid!
I am on my work laptop reporting to you my delay in friendly service :P

I can show you my recent sketch however in the meantime.

Ophelia Sketch - Yes I own this image.

This is my new painting, a tribute to Ophelia. For those who follow me on Facebook, I posted this a few days ago over the weekend. I wanted to show you the startings of this on masonite board - but perhaps sometime later I will go over what I have done!

I also have photos from my Easter artshow which I will be posting on Facebook once I get my computer back :P

Hope youre all having a delightful week and fingers crossed to see you soon! :D

"Within" - New painting complete!!

2012-04-21T15:40:00.003+02:00

Hey everyone :) - I am very happy to announce my newest painting is complete!

"Within" acrylic on masonite board 40 x 60 cm by Christina Lank

The painting is called "Within" - painted with a mix of standard Galeria acrylics, and Golden Open acrylics. Its painted on a gessoed masonite board measuring 40 x 60 cm (15.7 x 23.6 inches approx.)

I have kept the main character in this painting a bit of a mystery this time around. The reason being I think shes quite unique, and not always portrayed in fantasy paintings - even though she is a creature from well documented folklore.

Please welcome my Huldra!

Huldra painted with acrylics with her little owl friends ^^

A Huldra - Plantie's little lesson:

I was first introduced to the Huldra from Neil Gaiman's book "Fragile Things" - which is the name sake of my new collection. The book is actually a series of short stories - one being a sortve epilogue to one of my favorite all time books "American Gods". In the story you follow the character Shadow, whom meets a Huldra in England...far away from her home in Norway....

A Huldra is a mythical creature originating from Norway and Sweden. In Norway she is depicted as an unusually beautiful woman with a cows tail. In Sweden - the cows tail may also be a fox's.
The name Huldra is a derivative of the word "covered" or "secret" and she is known as "skogsfru" meaning The Lady of the Forest.

The back of a huldra is hollow, like a tree trunk. Of which for this painting I placed little baby owls ^^ Because well, I just didnt think it should be empty!

Baby owls sitting in the Huldra's hollowed out back

There are alot of stories about what Huldra's did with humans. Some men say that Huldra seduced them and left them their ugly little babies on their doorsteps. Or that they drained all their energy away.
In "Fragile Things" it describes part of the legend of how Huldras would fall in love with farmers, and that their tails would fall off the more time she spent as a wife - but she always retained her supernatural strength and would demostrate it to a disobedient or abusive husband.

oops, one fell out!

Interestingly, they claim that Huldras originate from a biblical setting - being the children Eve didnt have time to wash before God came to visit their home - God then decreed the dirty ones she hid from him would be unseen by mankind and became the huldrer.
Fits into the quote from the book of which I base my collection from -
"These people ought to know who we are and tell that we are here"

Overall Huldra's are ones who require respect. If you respect them, are polite, and never mention their tail, The Lady of the Forest will reward you in turn!

I had a great time learning about Huldras, and painting my own depiction of one :D
I hope you enjoy her too, and her magical wood setting.
Remember dont mention her tail and have a great weekend!

Inspiration Wednesdays : Sarah Joncas!

2012-04-18T20:37:00.001+02:00

"Crow Charmer" by Sarah Joncas

Hey everybody! Today I'd like to share with you an artist Richard found online a few weeks ago which I think is very inspiring!
Her name is Sarah Joncas :) She is an traditional oil painter who is located in Toronto, Canada!

"Little China Girl" by Sarah Joncas

What draws me to her paintings is her beautiful, creepy, and sometimes even morbid of women in a surreal setting. I love the soft look of her oils, and the thought provoking faces and settings she creates.

"La Llorona" by Sarah Joncas

She works well with creating light and dark settings, I really love her use of color, and the long beautiful hair she paints too! One thing I always love myself ^^

"Angel" by Sarah Joncas

You can see here what I mean very well about the use of color, the wonderful placement of cool blues on one cheek, the small freckles, and the illuminated hair floating ... its all superb!

"Rapunzel's Tower" by Sarah Joncas

"Into Her Blues" by Sarah Joncas

You can see more of her extensive collection of art on her website here!: Sarah Joncas Art
If you know anymore about this artist, feel free to add comments below! :D

~Plantie~

Spring is utterly late, so says I

2012-04-14T13:15:00.001+02:00

Hey all, happy weeekend to you too ;)
I am so cold today - being out in the garden for the first time in ages. It is 50 degrees outside - which apparently I am told is spring temperatures but I feel like I am stuck in a never ending winter.
I cant wait for the earth to get off its bum and turn Sweden a little more towards the sun - I am tired of wearing a heavy jacket!!

my dark forest, with a wee bit of shine on the side

Anyway, I'll stop complaining and get on with it :P
I have been working in the evenings to try and get this background to shape up a bit! Its been a little bit wonky - as I said in my last post I was painting with my standard Galeria paints.
Then I added glazes in different areas, and switched to a few Golden Open colors for convenience...and its created a very odd effect.
The standard colors are very dull and matte. They only come back to life once varnished. However the glaze and the Golden colors go on very bright and shiny and stay that way. So I am having a dilemma of trying to see things clearly as certain parts of the painting just shine out as if they dont belong :P

less shine on this one, yes that grass was annoying

Since last night I have been working on creating dimension in the grass. This has meant using an old brush which has a habit of splitting into several points at the end to place in a grass effect...then go over bits and paint single pieces by hand.
I want to add more of the light colors from the background onto the grass...and so on. So all in all theres alot more work to be done on just that.

I know what youre thinking. What on earth is this going to be a painting of? Well I can tell you I drew inspiration from the book "Fragile Things" by Neil Gaiman which this collection is named after...and also something from up here in the north. Sweden is pretty much the most fantasy-ridden country I have been in. Despite theyre modern distain for all things magical - they do have some nice old folklore from way back when!

Stay tuned ^^
I have come up with concepts for all 10 paintings for the collection, and have to finish one every 2 weeks before Septembers show....so expect alot of stuff out of the woodwork over here :P

Have a great weekend everybody! :D

Painting with Plantie Tuesday! #9 - Background Forest

2012-04-10T20:29:00.004+02:00

Hey everyone! Yay! I am so glad to be back :D
I have had the stomach flu since a week ago, and hadnt been painting or well. moving very much if I could help it :P
But it felt so good today to get back to painting on a new foresty canvas ^^
Today for Painting with Planties I wanted to show you quickly the first 2 layers that would go into a forest further into the background!

Hope you enjoy and let me know if you have any questions, tips or comments!

this was as far as i got during the fu- those were angry sick trees :P

Here we go! This painting will be another dark forest scene, like Rebirth, but with cooler tones to it. I started off with the gradiant light sources in the back, blending with glazing liquid straight on the masonite board.

i can never keep anything clean.

For the background I mainly used my old acrylics - the standard Galeria ones. I made the mistake of using my nice Open colors on Waiting to Fly for the background and pretty much destroyed the white and blue tubes I had. Not going to happen again! :P
We have here - Hooker's Green, Cadmium Yellow, Titanium White, Prussian Blue Hue, Burnt Umber, Lamp Black, Payne's Grey (the only Golden Open color I used) and Cobalt Blue....

those are quite some tilty pine trees.

Since I can never draw or paint a straight line. This is what my furtherest away trees look like lol. I used the same colors for the lightest part of the gradiant and added some more blue and black for the color of the trees. Then I added a bit more and made darker trees on the outside.

no this is not straight black! Paynes Grey, Prussian Blue, and a little Lamp Black

I added then the darker trees, the ones that will appear to be closer to the viewer. This is after several attempts of trying to make them look not so gnobbly but I figured hey. Its nature. Itll always be perfectly flawed :3

fan brush ftw!

Now - its time to create foliage. And because I know otherwise I could be spent bent painting thousands of non-existant leaves, I use a fan brush and plop down the illusion of foliage in the distance. I use the same color as the dark trees, but also mixing it with a teeny tiny bit of white for some varying tones closer to the bottom.

the effect from afar

Adding only a few solid lines for branches, I fill in the whole area with foliage to create proper looking pine-esque trees in the distance!

zoomed in a bit

I also darkened the grass around the trees as it should be close to black but I am just working my nerve up to that now.
From here, I will add more gradual layers of trees with varying amounts of detail to them to create a sense of depth in this night forest scene.

Thanks everyone for stopping by!
Hope everyone has had a great Easter holiday weekend and are settling back into the work week ^^
Till then ~

Working and reworking photos

2012-03-31T22:15:00.001+02:00

the original, 2 prints, and the reference - equals one headache for me

I am still struggling with photography. I did screw myself over with this painting - as I varnished it and it became a complete mirror before I photographed it.

I spent 6 hours, took over 250 photographs and used 2 different photo programs trying to correct and fix and rework.

Christinas Photography Structure

Because it was reflecting everything, including me and the white walls in front of the painting I built two structures. One for me to hide behind on the floor and one to cover the wall :P And it still hasnt fixed all the problems!

another version of Nectar. we're still working and working

We went through in Lightroom today more of the photos I took. This one has more of the original colors - less purples. You can see the detail in her hair better. But the problem areas such as the streak marks from the gesso underneath catching light and such are still driving me up a wall.

the version of Nectar I posted before

On the computer, I like the one I posted yesterday - but it wasnt working out with the printer. The one above, the more yellowy one came out looking a bit more true to life in a print. Bah!!
I am really afraid the structure may have to come back up as I dont know if I will ever be able to photograph this painting correctly :P
Youd think by now I would have learned to not varnish a dark painting before photographing it but alas. I want to bring out the colors with the varnish and wind up causing tears of frustration instead :P

If you have any hot tips, thoughts, feel free to let me know! :P
This my tale of behind the scenes madness this comes about after all the painting work is done ;)

Nectar - Acrylic on masonite board complete!

2012-03-30T19:00:00.000+02:00

"Nectar" acrylic on masonite board 40 x 60 cm by Christina Lank

So! Shes finally complete! I have to admit this painting took me longer than expect as I kept doing and redoing things... but we got there in the end :D

This is a painting of the lovely Lakhsmita - who kindly let me borrow her face ^^ I was very inspired by her big dark eyes and her long twisty hair and just knew some portrait had to be made!

And what better way to start off my collection "Fragile Things" than with this beautiful young lady

My inspiration ofc came from her first. I had this feeling about something empty, but sweet - an empty heart perhaps, a bit of vulnerability.

I think she has a very endearing look to her, but almost as if shes oblivious to all thats around her...

the hummingbird in flight by the magnolia in her hair

Including the hummingbird about to feed off the flower in her hair!

I spent a good 6 or so hours today trying to get a good photo of this painting, thanks to its darkness :P

Prints for this painting are availabe here!: http://www.etsy.com/listing/96472241/pink-magnolia-hummingbird-dark-portrait

So please go and check it out and infinite thanks for the support of my artwork!!

Etsy Shop Now Open!!

2012-03-26T09:02:00.001+02:00

Hey everyone!!

I am really happy to announce that I have finally opened my Etsy shop officially ^^
I finally had a collection of paintings ready, the ability to print and create, and am so excited to say its here!!

PlantieBee's Art Shop!

This is a big day for me :D I have wanted to do this for so so long and am so happy to be a part of the Etsy online selling crew!

I hope you stop by - you should see most to all of the paintings up there already, and ofc all new work will be added there as soon as humanly possible!

For now I am selling archival prints - and hopefully soon in the future I will be adding greeting cards, bookmarks, necklaces, and more!

Waiting to Fly on Etsy!

hot off the press! and ready to grace your walls :D

Thanks to everyone for all their support with my artwork! You keep me motivated to keep painting and creating ^^ Lets hope this shop opening is the start to many wonderful and grand things!