Gina Lento: Fine Art and Illustration

Garden Lion

I mentioned the other day that I originally wanted to do the Fluffy lion with the sagriffito technique and I forgot to do it and just started to paint the lion. This time, I did remember and I painstakingly etched into the wood the outline of the lion. It didn’t quite come out as I expected, but I do like how the background became more textured. That was a pleasant surprise.

It’s funny how each lion has its own personality. This little guy is hanging out in an arid environment and he is sporting a heart shaped mane, which was entirely by chance. I only used four colors for this heart. The background color which was glazed over, and two colors for the the lion, and the green for the plants. The limited color palette was unintentional at first but as the piece was progressing, I realized that two colors were all I needed to bring this little guy to life. Any more would be overkill. I didn’t even have to squeeze out any white because the pale peach was light enough.

I watered down the Burnt Sienna to give the lion some solid ground. It looked empty until I added the green. I added the flowers using the lion colors from the body and mane. Once the paint dried, I added some shading with colored pencil. My signature is hidden because I didn’t want it to overpower such a small piece of art. I like that the glaze gives some texture and atmosphere. I preserved the piece with matte medium, which is supposed to be matte, but as you can see, it has a little sheen to it from the light.

Overall, he’s a happy guy. I like that I have a character that I can place with in other art. It’s amazing how much inspiration can come from something random, like a blob, ink blot, maybe a cloud in the sky, or shapes in knots of wood.

Inspiration can be anywhere.

Heart shaped art of a lion done with burnt umber and a pale peach. The whole heart was down with only 4 colors, the background, which was glazed over...the 2 colors for the lion and the green for the plants. Values were added with color pencil. — Garden Lion

Fluffy the Lion

Tiny painting rendered on a small wooden heart. Subject is a lion with a pink/orange mane and buff colored body. Background is a subdued orange, — Fluffy the Lion

Pen and ink drawing of a lion influenced by a blob of red paint. — Blobby

Today is National Single Task Day.

I did a small cartoon box of Mack sleeping on the Ottoman. That is Mack’s single task preference. I did have both of them in the studio with me, but Mack wandered off and Lucy is currently pestering John to throw her ball for her. I didn’t post it but I may turn that into a small painting idea.

Today’s tiny painting is Fluffy the Lion. The idea for Fluffy came from a blob I did earlier in the morning. He had a lot of potential so I sketched him out and Fluffy was born. I was originally going to try the sagrifitto technique to create the line of his body into the wood, but I completely forgot after I transferred him to the heart and went right into painting him.

The blob version, pictured here, looked more like a lion that stuck his paw in a socket, and I liked that look. Even his tail was wiry, as you can see in the blob photo. He needed some refinement to become Fluffy but I may do the original blob version, too.

Blobs are a daily practice of mine and many of my characters have come from these blobs. Most of the time I see cats and dogs in the blobs. I guess we see what we want to see. When I get stuck, I show the blob to my husband, who comes up with something that I would not have thought of, which is nice to have someone to add their point of view.

I started with scraped paint and I usually do a whole month all at once so that there is always a blob ready for me to draw in the morning. I start with turning the page around until I find something in the blob. This is why the lion looks awkward on the page. I usually keep to the general shape of the blob, but on occasion, I have incorporate shapes into something larger. As you can see here, I added the paws outside of the painted area. For there I and done my morning pages and move on or I take the blob further, like I did here.

Too-ra loo-ra Loo-ral

Wooden heart painted pink and distressed with a buff color. A singing coyote is portrayed with a full moon, that has a pink heart painted on it. The coyote is singing pin musical notes that use hearts instead of circles.

Today is National Sticky Bun Day.

However, I haven’t done anything with Sticky Buns other than a sketch in my daily ‘toon box where I have Lucy and Mack looking longingly at a sticky bun on the table.

(No, we haven’t had any sticky buns today. But the day is still young.)

What I did paint today is one of my little characters that I call my “coyote Ugly.” I have been doing these little coyote guys since my government days. I was on a conference call many years ago, and I sketched a little coyote on a post it note and called him Coyote Ugly, I guess that movie was stuck in my head at the time. I pasted him on my cubicle wall and there he sat. He moved with me went to left the government to go into the private sector, and eventually came to be stuck to the desktop of my first studio. I have no idea what sketchbook he’s in right now but I do remember putting him in a sketchbook for safe keeping.

(I only have over 100 something sketchbooks, so he shouldn’t be that hard to find.)

Today’s Coyote Ugly is this little fellow who is singing to a love moon. For some reason the “Irish Lullaby” popped into my head so I call this heart “Too-ra loo-ra loo-ral” because coyotes sing many songs and this is a coyote singing a lullaby to his love. I used hearts as musical notes for this reason, to indicate that his song is one of love. His love could be a female coyote for whom he wants to give his heart, or the Mother Earth, who could use a lot of love right now. I like this idea with the coyote and his song. I may continue this trend for a while and make more coyotes. I do have a haiku I wrote for Coyote Ugly and I may do a heart for that, too.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Love Your pet day

Today is “Love Your Pet Day.”

In my very humble opinion, an animal companion is in our lives to be loved and love us in return. They are with us for such a short time. They deserve to be doted on and spoiled as much as possible and every moment should be cherished, for we don’t know how long we’ll have the pleasure and joy of their company. Unfortunately, life gets in the way, with children and activities. We kiss or pat our animals and run out the door taking them for granted they’ll be there when we come home.

As I have gotten older and became an empty nester, it was easier to give pets much more attention. I have also learned to not take the pet relationship for granted, to make sure I spoil the furred children as much as possible. For as I pointed out above, last year we found out that our time ran out with Chloe. At least we could say she got the love and attention she deserved her whole life.

I have been privileged to have lived with both cats and dogs, although we currently have 2 dogs (again) at the moment. I would like a kitty, but one young animal in the house is enough for now. Lucy is a four legged tornado who thinks she could be a cat, but she is very happy to be a busy, opinionated, bossy Chihuahua puppy of 11 months.

Poor Mack, our elderly gentleman Chihuahua, is suffering through the escapades of the wildling, I swear he smirks when Lucy is scooped up and taken to her weekly dog training class. Serves her right, he thinks.

I chose Mack to be the model for this little vignette. Mack is an agreeable long haired Chihuahua who views all humans as food dispensers. Especially the smaller humans, whom he didn’t like at first, until the food started falling. Now he loves children, the more the merrier because Mack is such a cute furry teddy bear who loves to be fed and children love him. So he’ll turn on the charm and cuddliness and con children out of whatever they are eating, Who could resist the charms of such a dapper gentleman?

So I end this post, in memory of our Chloe. Pick up your fur children and give them a hug and thank them for another day spent with them.

Happy Love a Pet Day.

Small Paintings and Oopsie

I have some small wooden hearts that I picked up at one of my visits to Hobby Lobby. I wanted to do a bunch of these for Valentine’s Day and so far I have completed four of them. One was a gift for my hubby. The reference from this one is from the Museum App, formerly known as the Sktchy App. I have mentioned Sktchy App before because I used to do daily sketches of people. The Museum App is wonderful for drawing inspiration although I have seen writers use it as well.

The photo reference for this little painting was posted by Lora Serra and I loved it because it is a vintage photo and they are so much fun to sketch and paint. The young man and the dog really appealed to me because it was so old fashioned but also real at the same time. I really enjoyed doing this one.

Small heart shaped painting of a young man and his dog. Reference Photo from Museum App. Art completed using Acrylic Gouache and colored pencil.

It’s been a while since I posted because I have been recovering from a multiple fracture injury that happened during a bike ride on October 19th. I remember the date well because I was right in the middle of Inktober and Drawlloween and I hadn’t done my sketches yet for that day. Yeah, I still have them on my “to do” list. I’ll get to them eventually.

We had popped out for some exercise and we were almost finished our ride when I miscalculated a turn and collided with my husband. Of course I was the one that lost control of my bike and went down. I was grabbing the handle bars all the way down but at the last second put my arm down and that was all it took to fracture my elbow and wrist…to be very specific , it was my DOMINANT arm, the one I write with, draw with, make meals with, EAT the meals with…and so on. I was totally incapacitated for TWO months! UGH.

I was very fortunate that I did not scrape myself all over the street. I had some bruising on my leg from the bike seat and ribcage from the handlebars because I somehow got twisted in the bike when I hit the ground, but I am so glad I didn’t have blacktop burn. I did fracture/sprain my wrist and had a fracture in my elbow….So….Eight weeks later, just days before Christmas, I finally got the cast off. I have been playing catch up ever since, while dealing with muscle pain from using my right arm again.

I did get some drawing done during that time…I’ll write more about that in another post. I did a lot of lefty drawings……

Happy Halloween

Well, what started out as an amazing month of drawing, ended abruptly when I had a bike crash two weeks ago. One mistake and I hit the ground. Hubby said it was like watching slow motion. I desperately tried to correct my trajectory with the ground and almost came away unscathed until I instinctively put my arm down. I really need to take tumbling classes or something. Hey, at least I was wearing helmet. I might want to consider kevlar for the rest of me.

I am sporting a festive Halloween purple cast. My thumb and entire right arm are encased in a solid prison. Since I am right handed, I am pretty much at a stand still. I am typing this left handed and using many colorful metaphors because I have to keep making corrections.

This could be a good time to use Siri but she doesn’t appear to be an option on WordPress.

So, I have to sit and do nothing or try to draw with my left hand. I opted for plan B – Lefty draw.

So here is the best that I can do to close out Inktober and Drawlloween.

Bye October 2023.

Inktober 2023 Day 19

My post for yesterday isn’t what I planned. I had a page in my morning pages that I meant to decorate for the month of October and I wasn’t able to get to it yet.

Yesterday morning started out with me working on the October page. I left it for a bit to go out with my husband to take a lunch time bike ride. I figured on doing my Drawlloween and Inktober sketches when I got back.

Well, I had a bad fall off my bike, so I had to finish this drawing with mostly using my left hand. I am also typing this with my left hand. I did get x-rays and they don’t think anything is broken but I have a sling and it’s painful to use my right hand/arm.

I am not sure what sketches I’ll be able to do for a few days so this may be the final for Inktober/Drawlloween 2023.

Inktober 2023 Day 18

Good Afternoon!!

Today’s Inktober prompt is “saddle.” Most of this month I have been drawing sketches from my head or making them up. Today I opted to just draw from a reference photo so I could get the details of the saddle correct. I also used a reference photo for the owl. I use the Museum App on the iPhone whenever I need reference photos because they are free and there isn’t any copyright because the photos are posted by the people who take them. They are aware of that the photos could be used by an artist and by posting them, they are giving their permission for them to be used. The idea behind the Museum App is to give artists and creatives inspiration for their art. Many members posting photos are also artists.

The horse was posted by Patti Sandham and the Owl was posted by Kosta Milovanovic.

What I will do after posting my sketches here is to also post them on the Museum App. People love to see what artists do with their photos. I was pretty basic on both of mine but I may also pull them into Photoshop to color them or incorporate them into other art. Or I could just use my sketches as my own reference photos for another piece.

Pen and ink drawing of a horse with a Western Saddle. Reference photo from the Museum App. — Saddle

Today’s Drawlloween prompt is “ominous owl.” This owl actually looked pretty agitated and was giving the photographer the stink eye. The eyes in the photo are orange and they are really cool. I thought of just adding the orange to the sketch. I still may. He/She was a little fluffy and looked pretty well fed. I think owls are pretty cool. We used to have owls nesting in our trees in Port St Lucie. We have Barred Owls around the house here and hear them a lot, which means Lucy doesn’t go outside unescorted. There are Eagles and red shouldered hawks, too. And Osprey, but they eat fish.

Have a great evening!

Pencil drawing of an ominous owl, who actually looks pretty annoyed. Reference photo from the Museum App. — Ominous Owl

Inktober 2023 Day 17

Good Morning!!

Today’s Inktober prompt is “demon” but I opted to go with my gut on this one. The temps have dropped considerably where I live in Florida. We are in the frost zone now so we do have to watch for our tender plants when it gets down to frost temperatures. Last night’s temps were down to about 55 or so which for us, is pretty cool. I had to take Mack to Gainesville yesterday which is even further North so I was wearing jeans yesterday! It was chilly up there!

Mack was sitting outside today in the sun, just loving the cool air. Lucy on the other hand, was shivering and would lay in the sun to stay warm. It’s funny how that works,lol. Early this morning, when they went out to go potty, Lucy flew into the house and onto the bed and dove under the covers. Mack sauntered in and looked at Lucy like “really?”

So my little sketch today was my take on the temperature disparity on the two dogs. Mack really does roll his eyes at her in his way. They do have the Bonnie and Clyde thing down, though. I just had to get up and investigate because I her bags rustling and someone left the panty open and the two thieves were trying to open the bags of dog food…..well more Mack…Lucy was studying the process intently. The pair of them are a piece of work.Today’s Drawlloween prompt is “ghoul” and I have been pulling out my pencil stash because some of my mechanical pencils are too light and I have been trying to make them work. I had an “Aha” moment when I realized that one of them was sporting the B lead and the others had come with HB. I just need to get the different sizes in B instead of HB. I had a lot of fun with this one. I love Halloween!

Pen and ink drawing of two chihuahuas sitting in a backyard. The one chihuahua is longhaired and is rolling his eyes at the skinny smooth coat chihuahua that is all bundled up because the high temp in their area of Florida today is 70 degrees. The lizard in the grass has a sweatshirt on. — It’s below 70 in Florida

Have a great day!

Pencil drawing of a ghoul standing in a grave, gnawing some bones. The cemetery his is digging up is old and appears to not being cared for so he has the run of the place.

Inktober 2023 Day 16

Good Morning!!

Today’s Inktober prompt is “angel.”

I did a sketch based loosely on Chloe, as an angel somewhere over the Rainbow Bridge. It’s been a while since I sketched her, and she’s been gone since January. The sting of the pain of her loss is still there, though Lucy is a good distraction. I had to do my sketches in a hurry this morning because I have to take Mack to Gainesville for a specialist appointment. So I did my sketches quickly this morning and I am making my post a little short today as well because I need to leave in a few minutes.

Pen and ink drawing of a chubby chihuahua the has gone on to the Rainbow Bridge. She is sporting a pair of wings and a halo and is floating among the ethereal clouds of eternity. — Angel

Today’s Drawlloween prompt is “Black Lagoon.” Today’s sketch is a mixture of pencil and colored pencil because I couldn’t quite get the effect I wanted in just plain ol’ pencil. I like the light effect of the colored pencils so I may keep using these for the rest of the month.

Have a great day!

Pencil drawing of a black lagoon with a deadish tree and spanish moss. There is a very large gator floating in the water and there is a ring of water indicating that something is there underneath. — Black Lagoon