This was my first serious attempt at painting, or non-digital/film related art. It is a gift for my dad who is a huge Arkansas Razorback fan.

I bought a table top easel, a canvas and some student grade acrylic paints, as well as a few sizes of cheap pint brushes and I set up on the kitchen table. 🙂

Since at this point I can’t draw! I used an image I found on the internet, print it out in the right size and then cut it out to use as a stencil. In hindsight, some carbon paper or a small projector would have worked much easier than the cutting and for getting details!!

I went with a black background and the painted a white base for the razorback outline.

Then I went over that with the red of the Razorback, and after I got the layer down really good I then outlined the some of the black features.

Finally, I put the white teeth, eyes and mark on the hoof for the final details. While student grade acrylic paints are fine, for this piece, knowing what I know now, I absolutely would have invested in a few tubes of better paint for this piece. I am not a paint snob, but you should always consider what your final piece is and what you are using paints for in each project. I still use the student grade and mid grade paints for lot of mixed media pieces, however, in a piece that is all paint like this, I would use quality paints for a better finish.

I was so very happy and proud of his piece and my dad absolutely loves it so much it’s displayed over the fireplace!

Creative learning note: There are artists out there who will try to shame you for tracing or using stencils for your art, but do not be shamed. Whatever gets you creating is art and how else can you learn? Even though I still will trace or use tools to get my images how I want them, doing this has definitely helped me improve in my freehand sketching, which used to be limited to circles and squares!