Blogs
January Art Break and 2023 Slideshow
I’ve been having a bit of an art break this month. Spent more time reading, practicing learning the piano, and putting together a 1000 piece puzzle (it was a Monet painting, but still :)). Also have become very interested in sculpting with air dry clay, which I will be trying as soon as my supplies…
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New Digital Oil Paintings: Taylor Swift
I’ve been working on improving my digital oil painting skills, and have two new portraits of Taylor Swift to share. Signed prints (any size) are available through my website. Images of each of the original digital oil painting and some variations of them are below: Reminder that I am still open for commissions … it’s…
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Sleepy Kitty Wins First Place!
I am totally elated that Sleepy Kitty won first place in the Semi-Professional category at the Illinois Art League Member show this year! First time one of my paintings has ever placed in a juried show!
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What’s on the Wall at Main Gallery 404
I switched out my art at Main Gallery 404 this week, and wanted to share which of my pieces are now on display. For those of you who have not been to the gallery (you should go!), each artist gets a section of wall to display their art. My spot is located in the middle…
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Bird Paintings
Occasionally (or rather, quite commonly) I get “obsessed” by a particular subject or style or idea of something to paint or draw. That obsession is then followed by a compulsion to create with that idea until the juice runs out. After all of my business during the holidays, I have spent the last week or…
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Multiples
This weekend, I made a number of originals of a painting I did a few years ago called “A Snowy Day in the City.” I actually have lost the original painting, so I worked off a photo of it. I decided to paint additional 5 x 7 originals to use as greeting cards and display…
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Digital Apps for the Traditional Artist: Part Two – Procreate
If you are a digital artist, than you know just how powerful a tool Procreate is for creating original digital art. It is the app that I use for just about all of my digital work, and I know I have only barely touched the surface of what it can do. But I am not…
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Digital Apps for the Traditional Artist: Part One
Photos and Grid My plan is to share with you here some of the digital apps that I use on my IPAD to assist me in my traditional art work. Although I do use my Ipad (2018 IPAD Pro 12.9 inch) for creating digital art, I have also found that many of the apps are…
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Copying is Not Cheating
Copying from a photo reference is not cheating. I often remind myself of this because for a very very long time I thought I could never be a “real” artist, because I always used a photo reference. That is how I learned to draw … I can remember being 5 years old and copying Scooby…
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In the Fall of My Life
As I enter the fall season of my own life, I have a new appreciation for what it means to be “middle-aged.” I have always loved autumn for its colors (who doesn’t right?). Though I will admit I really do miss the unmatched autumn landscape of the Northeast where I grew up. The Midwest is…
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Tribute Portrait
Sharing a tribute painting I did of Ruth Bader Ginsburg after she died in 2020. I — like many — are often moved to make tribute paintings when people die. Like we are trying to preserve their essence in a permanent form. I think it is meaningful. The painting was done all in black ink…
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Not Happy with My progress..
I worked on Frida for about an hour more tonight and I am still not happy with how it is going, I am having a very hard time with her face and skin tone. Looks okay when Ian working on it but when I step away… Ugh think I’m going to put this on hold…
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Little Pieces of Art
I have been under the weather for the past week, getting much worse since Sunday. Went to the doctor yesterday, and it is not Covid, so that is good news. It is hard to concentrate on my bigger pieces when I am not doing well, but creating little pieces of art is manageable — and…
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Painting vs. Sketching Faces
When I was young, the only medium I ever used was pencil. When I took ”Honors Art” my senior year of high school, my teacher would not let us use pencil. Only pen in our sketchbooks. And boy to did I come to love ink! Then, our final project was to paint a self portrait.…
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More Cats (and Dogs too!)!
Here is a collection of Pet Portraits that I have done over the past few years for friends and family. Digital, Ink, Alcohol Ink, Watercolor and Acrylic! Each has a different feel. If you are interested in a pet portrait, and like my style, I am always accepting commissions! Thanks for visiting … and stop…
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Cats!
I have done lots of traditional pet portraits for friends and family. I have also done a lot as part of my Inspire Me Facebook Promotion from last summer (https://www.facebook.com/eileenbackmanart/). And the animal I have definitely done the most … is cats! So I am just sharing of few of my cat portraits because they…
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Building Portrait: Ewing Manor
Ewing Manor is the home of the annual Illinois Shakespeare festival in Bloomington, Illinois (my hometown). Plays run from mid-July through mid-August and are held in a beautiful outdoor theatre on the magnificent grounds of the estate. In the spirit of the festival, I decided my next building portrait would be of Ewing Manor. The…
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Simmering
Going to let this one simmer for a while on my easel, while I contemplate whether or not it is done. I’d say about 75% of the time I do not end up doing more work on the painting, but am I already seeing a few small things I want to touch up. Going to…
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Mind Racing with Ideas ….Procrastination?
Last night and this morning, my mind was racing with ideas for new paintings. I was thinking I could give each of my seven siblings a painting for their home. First I thought I would do a location from each of their current home towns, and then I thought, no, I should do it from…
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A Day at the Gallery
Today I worked at the local artists’ gallery where I am one of the 3 owners. I am normally “back office” but had to fill in today for one of my partners. I love the atmosphere at the gallery, being surrounded by such beautiful art from over 35 local artists in our county. We had…
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Just Wish I Had More Time!
After getting requests for 3 commissions this week, 2 of them did not respond to my reply. I don’t know why that makes me anxious — it’s fine it they still want them, and it is fine if they don’t, right? I did get started on the first of the 3 commissions yesterday, and made…
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Seek Peace Over of Happiness
My college aged son came home for a short visit this weekend. In the brief time he was here, he wrote a message for me to find on my inspiration whiteboard, that I did not find until he was gone: ”Seek Peace Over Happiness.” My guess is it was in response to my quote “Choose…
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A Good Day
I don’t always get to carve out a lot of time to practice art. But yesterday I was able to spend time both in the morning and the evening working on 2 different paintings. Plus, I got a new commission! I love commissions- even though they can be a little stressful, they are my favorite…
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Quiet Morning to Paint
I woke up a little earlier than usual and spent that time working on a water-color/ink painting of a local cafe. I love doing watercolor or ink drawings of our beautiful downtown buildings in Bloomington, Illinois. I usually have 2 to 3 pieces I work on at the same time. I find I need to…
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Becoming a daily blogger
I have been practicing my art pretty much daily since I did my first Inktober in 2018. But I have never gotten into the habit of blogging daily. And I think it is something I want to try. Just as it took me a long time to accept that not all of my drawings or…
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Art Hacks
I have been practicing my art pretty much daily for the past three years, and I have definitely learned a lot (and improved a lot). Experienced artists probably know most of these, but I’ve been learning as I go. Along the way I picked up a few hacks I thought I would share. Toothpaste squeezersWe…
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“But I am not an artist …”
“But I am not an artist …” I have heard this so many times, in particular when people (who really are artists) show me their work. And I always tell them, I didn’t think I was an artist either. In fact, at first, saying I was an artist felt really weird. Recently, a contractor who…
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Play, Practice and Pigeon Holes
Back in another lifetime, in the days before I became a mother, I was a preschool teacher. My favorite group to work with were the 2-3 years olds. Except for the potty training, every day was play. And I was the one who came up with all of the crazy things we would play with…
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Welcoming 2022 with a Giveway
What a year it has been! Keeping the focus here on my art (because I could write forever about the events of 2021), this year has been a dream come true! As many of you know, in August of this year, I became part owner (through a Low Profit LLC) of Main Gallery 404 in…
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Inspire Me
Sometimes my inspiration well just seems to run dry. I just don’t have any ideas of what it is I want to paint or draw. Abstract digital work often fills in the gap. But last year I also came up with another idea. I posted an “Inspire Me” promotion on my Facebook page. I asked…
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Malala
So I know I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I liked the portrait instructor, France Stone’s remark that “resemblance is overrated.” And I suppose for learning a particular technique, that might be true. But I know that every since I was a young child, I have found magic in being able to…
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Third Time’s a Charm
It’s been a just about a year now since I started identifying myself as an “artist”. That leap came after my first sale in a local gallery, and after a few years of sharing my art on social media platforms. Shortly after that first sale, I signed up with Fine Art America (for $30 a…
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Bob Ross, Palette Knives and Mountain Spring
Last month, I finished up my first acrylic painting done all with palette knives. What fun that was to learn a new way to paint, and I am very happy with the result. My sister gave it the title “For Life”. Perfect! (photo on the right) So I still have palette knives on the brain…
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