Danielle Calabro

So I decided to step out of my comfort zone, someone I know asked me do do a dinosaur for their sons Teacher. My original response was, "I have never drawn a dinosaur before, but I will give it a try." To the computer I went to get some references to what I was to draw. The teacher did not want a "cute" dinosaur and she wanted it big. What kind of a dino did she want you ask? A big T-rex. As I grabbed some sketch paper the one thing that ran through my head was, "I can't do this"I wanted to give up before I even started. It took a few try and references before I came up with this: Not half bad, you could tell what is was and I thought it came out good. I got the go ahead and started the "BIG" one. Now if I would have had some kind of projector this process would have been much easier. The pictures make them look like the same size but the painted one is about 2 1/2 times bigger the size of the original sketch. As you can see, i...

"Palm Trees at Sunset" 16" x 20" Acrylic on Gallery wrapped canvas painted be me One of my favorite places to go is the beach, it is so relaxing listening to the waves break and taking a nice night walk and letting the wind blow in your hair. We live in Central Florida so we have our pick from the East or West coast. I have put together my favorites. My Top Florida East Coast Beaches: These are the beaches  that we go to for a day trip nothing to far away Cocoa Beach Cocoa Beach - Very close only about 30 - 45min away, No parking on the beach. You have Ron Jon Surf Shop and they have a great little Pizza joint too, you can actually get a 26" pizza it was huge. Best parking in my opinion is across from the Air Force Base, there are no life guards so you need to be careful. Not as many people either, so you don't have to walk another half mile to find the perfect spot because if you are like us, we bring the lunches, towel, cano...

o save a little money I purchased a linen canvas 12" x 16" from  Jerry's Artarama , great stuff! I have also purchased a few 24" x 36" canvas, a lot of paint and my pouring medium. This is definitely my go to place, the shipping is pretty fast, just a few days and the prices are great and even better when they have sales. If I am not in a hurry I will wait those few days.  I have been playing with the Linen canvas (which is actual canvas and not paper with a canvas feel), I got to the point where I was sitting looking at a blank canvas and nothing came to mind so I put some gold leaf on it and left it to play with the kids outside since nothing else was coming to mind. I came back and still nothing so I started adding color, i figured "what the hell, maybe a little color will help", nope, just spreading paint. ARGH!!! Damn painters block, I hate it. I got so pissed off at it I just took my tube of paints and just placed paint sporadically around the...

I have set a goal for myself, my  plan is to have enough paintings done by the end of the year and apply for a few of the local art festivals that we have here in Florida. I am not sure how much work will be involved in this besides dedicating myself to my goal. I know I need to have a portfolio, if anyone has an idea of how to get one together with out spend a butt load of money please let me know, I am all ears. I have also been playing around with the idea of going to some of the local art districts and see if some of the café or stores will allow someone to hang their painting. What better way to get myself out there and get out of my comfort zone.  It's funny, my husband and I were talking about where we are and wishing we could get a break, and I wish the same thing.  I told him if we keep going in the same direction we are, something is bound to happen. I said it before,  I honestly thought if I painted it, they would come, I could not have been more wrong ...

This is my latest addition, once again it has a couple of layer under the finished product. There is something another artist said once and to me it is so true; never skimp on the product you use, it makes a difference. Paint, canvas, paint brushes and all the other stuff we use to create our art can be expensive something; that is why gesso is my best friend. I can save a canvas if I screwed it up or just don't like what I created, just take my gesso and start with a new layer. It also helps to know where you can go to save money. She also said a good painting usually ends up have a few layers, couldn't agree with her more.

"Sunflower" This paint was created on a 24" x 36" x 1 1/2" Gallery wrapped canvas. I have a bad habit of becoming a perfectionist when it comes to my paintings, I had originally started with an idea and it wasn't working for me, I was trying too hard for what I was looking to create. So I started over and with a small idea of what I wanted I put paint on the canvas and created the background. Once the background was done, I stepped back and this is what I saw.  This painting is available for purchase in my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AcrylicsbyDanielle  

"Mountain Sunrise" This painting is on a 10" x 20" x 1 1/2" gallery wrapped canvas This is proof that sometimes out of pure frustration and painters block, good things can happen.  This small painting took me about 2 days to do, I would start one thing only to cover it because I didn't like the way it looked. In the end I dropped the paint brush and just used my hands and let it take me away.  This painting is available for purchase at my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AcrylicsbyDanielle

One of my favorite trees is a Cherry Blossom Tree, they are beautiful in any scene.  This is a 24" x 24" canvas done in Acrylics, I am happy to say I had this one sold before I finished and it is off to a great home.

This painting was done with pages from an old book then covered with a thin layer of acrylic paint mixed with an airbrush medium to thin it out.  I then used Pebeo Fantasy paint then covered with resin.  Mixing the Vitrail and the Fantasy moon gave the tree its bark look. Then I used the Fantasy Prisme and moon to the foliage. Looking forward to see what I can do next with this medium.

This is a 12" x 24" acrylic painting, I was playing with a new technique for the background a new type of blending. 

So my job gets the huge reels that have plastic on it, once we are finished with a reel it gets broken down and thrown out.  I decided one day that I wanted to see what I could do with one and this is what I came up with, this is going to be a table top for my wonderful grill master husband, of course this is an unfinished project at the moment, I am trying to find a base for the table and I will be covering it with an Epoxy Resin. 

Keeping true to myself, I kept up with my painting. As all artist know, canvas is not cheap so this was done on a canvas board. This is the point we're it was time to invest money on the proper materials to let myself grow more. Needless to say, I think I went again little crazy but hey, you can never have too many paint brushes and paint. Cala Lily painted in acrylic paint

I love the beach even if my fair toned skin does not. I figured what better to paint then the one place we love to go during the summer.  This is my first acrylic painting I did since I have started painting again last year. I made the promise to myself after I finished this painting.  This was one dream I am not giving up on again.  Palm Tree by the Ocean Painted with acrylic paints