Amber Art NYC

Sketch of Decorum by Amber D'Amato To me, she kind of looks like the actress, Chloe Grace Moretz. Creepy quote of the day comes from the Stephen King novel, Carrie: "People don't get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don't stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it."

Mixing Colors! I started reading Betty Edwards' book, "Color." I dedicated a small watercolor Moleskine sketchbook to important colors like flesh tones and colors I love. I created an opal rainbow type of color. Next to each color I noted the recipe of amount of which colors I used.  I have 48 piece acrylic paint set to mix! It's crappy paint by Artist's Loft, but it's the best way to learn. I do love Artist's Loft for having such affordable paints, I wish they were around when I was in college. Paint is expensive! Especially oil paint. Plus Artist's Loft have gel mediums: Gloss, Matte, Molding Paste and Slow Dry Blending Gel. I did buy one expensive item because I had a 50% Off coupon at Michael's, Liquitex's "Pouring Medium." I am way too excited to use the Pouring Medium. I cannot contain my enthusiasm to use it. I seriously need to pace myself before using it because I don't want to waste it on something not that special...

Sidewalk Decor  ~ Photo by Amber D'Amato

Clouds in Northport, NY by Amber D'Amato

Peach Sunset in Northport, NY. Oct 2014 by Amber D'Amato

Northport, NY October 2014 by Amber D'Amato

Sketchbook! Watercolor! Bad Paper! I focused mighty hard on that neck ruff. Retired by Amber D'Amato

I took an online Fashion Illustration class with Katie Rodgers the other day. I am not the biggest fan of my results, but that is because I was listening and painting at the same time. When I applied what I learned without multitasking I ended up with a painting I called Decorum, the previous blog entry. It was a lot of fun. Skillshare is a very cool website. Also CreativeLive is a great website for creative classes too. I love blue flowers.

She's kind of stoic. Jean-Paul Gaultier's Spring 2007 collection is stunning. I used Artist's Loft pan watercolor set, Derwent Inktense color pencils, Crayola glitter markers (pointillism skirt) and Crayola metallic markers. This photo does not do the glitter markers justice, they pop in person. I am a diehard fan of Crayola. I can't give them up. I won't! =D Decorum by Amber D'Amato 

Charcoal Pencils and Pastel Pencils

Ha! I had to start over, one eye was drifting away.  I am a huge fan of Artist's Loft's watercolors pan set  and pearlescent pan set. I bought them for $4.99 each and thoroughly satisfied. So I thought I'd give their oil pastels a go. I was not impressed. They did not blend at all. They might be good if you take an exacto knife to them to get a good point and use to highlight a piece, but their consistency & texture is worse than crayons. I should have heated them up a bit above a candle, but instead I smoothed part of the picture with baby oil and that kind of improved it. I had to be careful, parts did not smooth over, but instead rubbed off and became crumbly. These cheap oil pastels are not even worth practicing with because they'll just discourage beginners from ever using oil pastels again. For a beginner, try Crayola or Cray-pas brands. When it comes to oil pastels nothing is better than Sennelier's Oil Pastels. I own just two colors and they ar...

Duckie and Andie ~ Pretty In Pink Tribute This drawing is all in graphite pencil and I used some stencils for a couple of the flowers, rocket ship and the one jack. The rest is all in freehand. The faces were difficult because I was constantly erasing and rubbed some of the paper too raw. I don't like the saying, "friend zone." I feel it implies that you have to date someone because they are attracted to you. And when guys are upset with you for not being interested in them that implies that you are obligated to like them. I much prefer platonic love. You can appreciate someone and not have to have romantic attachments to them, zero romantic benefits. Duckie gracefully respected that. He's a positive character.

I love facial expressions. Sketchbook and Graphite

I have found watercolor paper's limits. Oh well. The expression on her face looks like she knew her fate. Watercolors on "watercolor paper." "Perhaps watercolour is more art than acrylics or oil, because the opportunity to correct errors is very limited as the colours are transparent... The sun, wind and temperature influences water-pigment-paper!! Everything flows, painting with watercolors!" ~Adriana Buggino

 Charcoal Pencils "Don't you find it odd," she continued, "that when you're a kid, everyone, all the world, encourages you to follow your dreams. But when you're older, somehow they act offended if you even try.”  ― Ethan Hawke, The Hottest State

FREEDOM!!! sketch by Amber D'Amato You need to look on the bright side of a sad time and find the humor. On a totally different humorous yet tragic note, when I showed my mom this she asked if it was me. I need to practice drawing more. I hope that's the case. Yikes, Mel Gibson, you might have a female doppelgänger. =/ This needs to be a t-shirt.

A sketch of someone I know by the name of Lala ;) I took a free CreativeLive business class with Lisa Congdon, " Become a Working Artist ." As I search for jobs I figure I could at least start my own business. It would be a fun side job. Being unemployed sucks, but with anything, there are positive points. I don't know if I have an entrepreneur's spirit, but then again, most artists don't. I created a shop at Society6 called Dilettante Designs. I just renamed it Amber D'Amato because I figure it might be easier. I had considered Amber Jean, but it sounded too debutante, the wrong impression of me. I feel like I chose other names to go by in the past because I was embarrassed. I felt like a business name hid me and I liked that. There is so much involved in creating an art business. Well, that goes for any business, but there is more vulnerability involved in sharing your art because it can be personal. I feel like you need a big ego to shamelessly brand...