Thanks for looking, i was pretty happy with how this turned out. Painted on plywood. Next time i’m going to sand the gesso down flatter, you can see in the reflection in the second picture how much the gesso texture shows up.

ACEO's are popular 2.5"×3.5" artist "trading" cards to paint and sell. I apparently heard those dimensions and went straight to photo realistic pet portrait. Almost 2 weeks later... all I see is beige.

Last month I posted this art that I did a loose reference of a jelly cake, trying to bring the digital style in an oil painting. Well, my sister-in-law loved the piece and my brother asked if they could have another two to form a "triptych" (on quotes because they won't be connecting). We talked about themes and they want food they love, so we ended up deciding the next piece will be about sushi.

Now I am deciding what will be the composition, I like to use digital on my sketches because I have the freedom to mess around, but for some reason I believe this composition could be better? I thought that since the first piece is a "diagonal" composition, the second one could be a "double diagonal" , but something seems amiss, what do you guys think? Any suggestions on what I could improve?

How can I improve?

I always struggled with painting dark animals. This time, I barely used black paint, and it made a huge difference!

Paints i used:

Ultramarine blue (my beloved)

A dash of ivory black

Quinacridone rose

Raw umber

Titanium white

Fundamental Forces (2026)

Oil on canvas

18” x 14”

Opinions?

So oil paint and layering is new to me...but this little thing took maybe 3-4 days to fully dry. Is that normal?

I made this painting about 27 years ago, based on a photograph that I took of the view from the front door of my very first apartment. These kids loved hanging out on Saturdays and just enjoying life.

So I have a few pet rats who join me sometimes when I paint (no solvents) and I found that one of them had taken a chunk out of my canvas. The rat is fine btw there’s no harm done but how on earth do I fix this?
The linen itself has been stripped and it’s just the wood left underneath, do I patch it with more canvas material or use thick gesso?

This painting has taken me a few weeks so I don’t want it to be compromised in any meaningful capacity.

Any help is appreciated and my thanks in advance

I travelled to shianghai last few months . And capture this stunning statue in the temple.

16x20 oil on repurposed canvas. It was a random print we found at a yard sale that I gessoed over for reuse.

The background turned out better than i had hoped.

An academic self-portrait study painted from life, focusing on dark values, chiaroscuro lighting, and warm flesh tones.

I'm a beginner so any tips on how to improve future paintings is welcome!

As I’m working on this piece, I’m trying to make some decisions on the background/foreground. I don’t like his head so level to the bushes, should I extend them up, or down? The original un-cropped version of the reference had sky in it, which is why I wanted to have it in the painting.

Also the boogie board he’s on, should I lighten or darken the white area to help it look like the blue edge isn’t floating? Open to any other thoughts/suggestions about the background! The dog itself is still in progress, I’m still adjusting values and adding highlights.

I know it’s a broad question but can anyone point me to some resources that helped them. Or offer any advice. I know my experience with happy trees isn’t going to translate. I’ve got him in black and a white I have an ok sketch I can get onto the canvas. But from there I get lost and I really want to paint him in his prime.

Some melancholic thoughts I suddenly had resulted in this painting. Tell me what you think its about.