WIP Day Lily

Day Lily

18"x24"

Oil on canvas

I have been working on this off and on for about two months. I wanted to try painting like the old masters. First I drew the rough painting in pencil than outlined it with burnt umber thinned with turpenoid. Next I added shadows using the same method. Lots of undercoats and building of layers happened after that.

At the moment I am calling this a work in process. I am not at all sure if it is done. The photo actually looks better than the painting (even with the glare because it's still quite wet). I'm going to have to live with it a bit before I decide.

I'd be interested in what you have to say, please do share your comments. Painting in a vacuum without feedback is not always fun. You can either blissfully love everything you create or be your worst critic. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

So, am I done?

The Girl

As promised in the previous post- 'The Girl'. The painting I thought was all wrong, and her parents thought was just right. Go figure.

Grandson

Wow! It's been a while since I posted, life is very busy at my day job through the first of June, but I will try to post more often.

A while back I decided to paint portraits of two of my grandchildren and give them to their parents for Christmas. I was very pleased with the painting of 'the boy', and couldn't wait to start on 'the girl'. I really felt I nailed it here and couldn't wait to hear what his parents thought.

The other portrait, which I will post a bit later was much more of a struggle. I just couldn't seem to get there, but time ran out and they had to be finished, framed, wrapped and shipped if I wanted to make the holiday.

On Christmas morning I called to get a reaction. Both Mom and Dad thought that I had captured 'the girl' perfectly, but they thought I didn't quite get 'the boy'. Which only shows how difficult portraits really are. People don't see people they love with their eyes alone, they see them with their heart. And so to capture someone's essence in paint, you need to be able to see them through someone else's eyes.

Jenny

This is our youngest grand-daughter, Jenny. We don't see her very often as she lives quite far away. This painting was done using one of her school photos. I love how happy she looks.

I painted a series of portraits of all the grand kids a couple of years ago. I will be posting them here in the next few weeks, while I am working on a new painting.

Generally, I am a direct painter, I don't do under painting, and frequently mix and blend the colors right on the canvas. The painting I am working on right now will be done in stages similar to those of the old masters.

I'll let you know how it goes...

Bald Eagle

I finally got back into the studio this weekend and spent some time working on a painting of a bald eagle.

A couple of years ago, my husband and I rented a cottage on a pond in Maine. This eagle and his(?) mate lived on that pond. We were fortunate enough to see it fly over and also to be able to photograph it sitting in the tree. It was huge!

The shot I would like to have gotten, was when the eagle flew over my husband when he was fishing, about ten feet over his head. The wingspan was incredible. Where is that camera when you really need it. Hubby wasn't even aware of the fly-over.

I don't know if this painting is done. I need to live with it for a while. But it sure felt good to have a paintbrush back in my hands.

It's all in the Cards

My apologies for being so long between posts. Since being an artist is my passion, but not my employment, sometimes my day job takes more time than others. So for the next few weeks, when we are at our busiest, I will probably be posting less frequently.

This particular piece is called "The King of Hearts Steps out with the Queen of Diamonds" and it was created for a doll challenge called "It's All in the Cards" held at the Jeykll Island Doll Seminar between 10-12 years ago.

The idea of the piece was create a three dimensional card deck with the characters literally coming out of the cards. The king and queen both have one arm and one leg still in the deck, and on the back of the piece the jester is more in the deck than out, although he is three dimensional on his own card. The king and queen are coming out of the top of the deck.

The king has 52 heart shapes in his clothing and crown representing the 52 cards in a deck (sans jokers).

Although I have made a lot of dolls, and most of them are more traditionally representational, I have a lot more fun making things like this that are out of the box. I hope you enjoy this piece and a small view into my weird mind.

Once they were small

None of the grand kids are babies anymore, they are all in high school or older, but we all like to remember the days when they were younger.

This painting was created from a composite of four formal portraits done of the kids when they were younger. All were taken in the same year, so the age relationship is correct, the youngest was under two, the two older girls were seven and the young man was around three. Our grandson will graduate from high school this year. My how time flies.

Portrait painting is not my strength, but I do love trying to capture someones essence and image in paint. Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don't. Some time ago, I painted two of the grandchildren in separate portraits for their parents as a gift. I thought the one of my grandson captured him very well, but I felt that I missed the mark on my granddaughter. When the parents opened the gifts, they saw it entirely differently.

It's all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?