Art Tales - Miniatures

I began painting oils and acrylics in my younger days before my wife and I had children. Somehow I got away from painting when we started raising children and doing all that goes along with that. When I began painting again about six months ago, I started out with miniature paintings. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at small paintings, so I began with 3"x3” and 4"x4” canvas panels. I enjoy creating a painting in an hour or so, using no great quantity of paint, and I enjoy the challenge of working with some of these.

Small paintings evidently don’t sell well, even at small prices so I seem to be doing it mostly for my own enjoyment. I have found a little shop that sells creations of senior citizen artisans in the picturesque town of Georgetown, Texas. I’ve sold a few pieces there.

I like creating miniatures so much, I believe I will always include them in my repertoire. They make nice gifts when presented on a small folding easel for displaying. I think a problem with doing so many small paintings might be this: I tend to use the same small brushes and strokes for a larger painting. Often this makes a larger painting more detailed than I intended. It takes longer also, since I don’t use the larger strokes that other large format painters use.

As I said in my last blog, I’m still searching for my own style, but it seems these small details might be a part of that style, whether I want them or not.