New paintings! Options

[Mata]

I'm moving house in a little while, so I've been making some paintings to decorate the place:

This is my favourite at the moment:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=101...e=1&theater

I like this too, but I think I'm drawn to slightly more spooky things usually. I was deliberately trying to make a painting that didn't make me look like I'm a serial killer:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=101...e=1&theater

That whole 'serial killer' aspect of my paintings is slightly concerning, but at least it's fairly distinctive

[Phantom]

I like the second one a lot, though the process of how you went from you initial painting for the first to the end result is amazing

[Hobbes]

I really like the second one. The first one is great too, but the second is my favourite.

[Mata]

Thanks guys. The third painting is on its way - this time I'm photographing as many of the layers along the way as possible. I'm liking it so far, but I'm still not 100% sure what the final form will look like!

[Faerieryn]

They are beautiful. I particularly like the second one. The first is very brooding!

[LoLo]

I like them both, but I think I like the first one more. Very nice!

[Mata]

Thanks I'm working on another one at the moment, but I'm going to run out of wall space if I'm not careful... I may be forced to try selling a few!

[Pikasyuu]

for how much?

[Mata]

I've generally learnt that in life it is good to aim for the full bucks to start off with. In the art world, if you don't take the value of your own work seriously then no-one will take it seriously, so my plan would be to start with around €1,500 for the large pieces. I've spent ten years working on my style, so I think it's payback time. I've not got any solid plans of where I could sell these, and I'm not sure if anyone will actually buy them (they're a bit spooky for most people's tastes), but it's worth a shot.

[voices_in_my_hea...]

Wow, I really love both of those. I think I'm leaning towards the second one for my favourite though. How long do they take you to make, and what kinda paint/ technique do you use?

[Mata]

I use a lot of collage in my pictures. Usually I stick down a base layer of newspaper clippings and photos from magazines onto the canvas before I paint. I use acrylic paints, charcoal, and teabags for the colours (although I've used hairdye, pens, pencils and anything else around me in the past). I use a lot of PVA glue to set things in place and as a way of blurring the charcoal. With enough layers it builds up a nice deep layer with the specks of charcoal held in it, which gives a slight depth to the pictures.

I often use photocopies, usually blown up very large, as a starting point and work over them, adding a new copy on top again if I feel like I've lost too much along the way. I put normal cooking oil on the photocopies to make the paper slightly transparent so the clippings or paint underneath shows through in the white parts of the photocopied image.