My Latest Commission

Hi folks!  I HAVE been busy - just not painting much.  But, let me show you what I've been doing for the last month... 

My dad has a good friend who has a champion cutting horse and this fellow asked me to do a portrait of Diamond.  He's a beautiful animal, a cherry sorrel paint.  Here I go...

First of all - Mr. C sent me these two photographs and wanted me to combine them.  He liked the way Diamond is standing in the first photo but he wanted his head turned.  So I had to do some finagling  to get his head turned around, measuring and placement, etc...

 

 

Here's how I finished out the painting.  

 

 Mr. C. seemed very pleased with his painting.  Diamond's portrait now hangs proudly in Mr. C's ranch home - the same one with the lake house that I painted last year.  Hope you like it, too!

New Art!

A few new pieces that I've been working on - just thought I'd show you... click on pictures to enlarge.

Rooster in Black/White   16x20 Acrylic on Textured canvas  $60

(regular size sides painted black - you can frame or not)

Longhorn  24x30  Acrylic on Canvas $150

(no frame needed - deep sides painted black)

Open Tulips  12x12  Acrylic on Textured Canvas $45

(no frame needed - deep sides)

Doodle Doooo  20x20 Acrylic on Textured Canvas $60.00 (my fave)

(deep sides painted - no frame needed)

Sunlight 9x10  Acrylic on canvasboard $40

All paintings have been varnished in a glossy finish and will come wired and ready to hang (except the ones that need frames.)  Shipping will be added to sale price. 

A couple of the pictures are kinda blurry - sorry!  If you think you might be interested in something let me know!  (  fearsome52000 at yahoo dot com. ) I'm planning on doing some art fairs this year and am doing alot of painting for that.  Everything is for sale, and if you'd like something different, I can do that, too!  Thanks for looking!

New paintings!

Just thought I'd show you a few new pieces I've been working on.  A dear friend of mine had an Open House for me in early November - an Art Show & Sale and I did sell several pieces.  What a sweet friend!  I'm trying some different methods, working in acrylics and adding lots of texture with a palette knife.  I find these paintings energetic and SO much fun - a good break from the painstakingly detailed works that I usually do.  Here's just a few...

24x30  "Tuscan Poppies"  (sold)

24x30  "Zinnias & Sunflowers"  $250 + shipping

24x30  "Dancing Poppies"  $250 + shipping

The process starts with a generous amount of gesso over the canvas followed by an adhesive such as decoupage.  Then I crinkle tissue paper or some other kind paper that will give you a good texture and apply that.  Another layer of adhesive over the top of that and finish with a coat or two of gesso.  As I paint, I block in the main colors and continue layering with brush and palette knife generous amounts of acrylic paints until I get the look that I'm going for. 

The edges of these paintings are 1 1/2" wide and painted a rich black. That way, you can frame it for a more traditional look OR hang it as is for a more modern, streamlined look.  Last, I apply a glossy finish lacquer over the painting to protect it and to bring out the colors.

 I was pleased with these results and will be doing more of them.

Holler at me if you have any questions or further inquiries about these pieces!

Thanks for looking!

Some New Paintings...

Hi friends - thanks for hopping over.  I've been working on some paintings that I just haven't been able to get up on the blog yet, so I thought I'd do that this evening.  If you'll notice over on my sidebar, I have my own website now where, IF you're interested, you can see what I have on there and if you see something you like, you can order prints!  Of course, if you'd like an original painting, contact me via email.   I hope it will be a good thing for me.  Anyway... here goes...  I'll try to get back over and put the sizes and prices with each painting on here.   Hope you like what you see!  Take care!

Guitar Player II

Hey, I'm back. I think this is where I left off...  Continue modeling in black, white & grey, getting the canvas covered thinking about design.  I deliberately kept the lights and other objects in the background loose - nothing is going to be in high definition.

OK, now I'm going to make a change.  The photo I used to go by of Adam - he had on a baseball cap.  Well, he usually has on a cowboy hat, so I changed that in the next frame and began adding color on top of the acrylic grey-scale.  This is a great idea for oils or acrylics to do an underpainting. There are some oils and acrylics colors that can be very transparent and it's very helpful to have the correct values under the color glazes to show through.

The forms are taking shape - there are random lights and the stage sets in the background.  I'll use lots of color and loose painting to create shapes, colors, and contrasts and just give you idea of him being on stage.

I noticed in the above photo of the painting that the head of the musician looked rather large and out of proportion so in the following photo, you'll see that I trimmed it up a bit.  The painting is nearing done - Sorry there was a bit of glare on it, but you can see what I was going for. 

Thanks for looking.  We're taking this painting to our son soon - hope he likes it!  I think it'll look good in his man-cave - it's all black and silver.  This'll sure jazz it up a bit!

Guitar Player

Hey there, friends!  If you've made it over here, I sure do appreciate you coming to look!  Next up on my easel is a fun little (well, 30x40) piece that I'm doing as a surprise for my son, Adam.  It's for his new apartment - all manly and black and silver.  I decided he needed some color.  We're going to see him in the not too distant future and I'm trying to get this done before we go...

This project is going to be a fun, splashy, colorful, more modern, loosely painted piece.  I HOPE.  I'm trying to break out of my shell and not be quite so detailed - I just wanna have fun with this painting.  Without further ado...

Here's the first installment.  Blocking in with a value study and grey-scale, and getting it sketched off on the canvas.  Since I'm working very large on this one, I have to stand back many times in order to get the proportions right.  I'm not too worried about making this kind of piece perfectly perfect because it's destined to be loose.  I think I'm getting close - constantly refining as I go.

I'm working in acrylics on this piece - thus, it's going to go much faster (YEA).  I am having to learn  more about color mixing in acrylics - they do mix differently than oils, which I am so used to.  But I got to thinking about all the fumes I breathe in while painting in oils.  I love how they mix and the textures I can get with oils. But painting in the middle of summer and winter with the windows open (unless you have a good exhaust system in your home - which I don't) does have it's drawbacks.

AND, contrary to what you may have heard - acrylics can be just as permanent as oils when the painting has been  dried well and varnished with a good quality art varnish.  So, I have changed my thinking about using acrylics.  There is paint thinner or turp, mediums for oils paints, and of course, there are leads and others chemicals in oils, too, that you WILL get on your hands.  It's inevitable.  I suppose I could paint with latex gloves on but that's such a hassle.   I do have a friend that does that.

No, I'm thinking I'm going to make myself learn to use acrylics - at least when painting indoors.  When plein air painting, I'm sure I'll go to my oils.  We'll see... Plus, acrylics can be thinned and cleaned up with water/soap.  They can also be thinned to the point that you could even do kind of a water-color effect. Very versatile.

ANYWAY,  here's the last shot for today...  trying to get some basic colors laid in.  I also am changing the ball cap that Adam had on in my reference photo to a cowboy hat - which is more like him.  This painting is not destined to look like Adam - just loose and funky and musical and colorful.  This photo I'm using is from one of his shows.

I think the head's a little big.  Will have to pare that down a bit.  Good thing about acrylics as you know - they dry quick!  That can be a burden AND an advantage - so far, it's working in my favor!  See ya next time - thanks for looking!

A Couple of Fun Paintings!

I'm branching out and trying to loosen up my painting a bit. These went fast and I didn't stop to take pictures. Enjoy...

Thanks for lookin'!

FINISHED LAKE HOUSE PAINTING!!!

Well, hello there!  Nice to see you again!  I've finished my painting!  It's all done and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I HAVE been working on it along with gardening and taking care of my chickens and working and ... and ...  I took the painting to my customers Friday afternoon and they loved it.  It was special to them because it was their lakehouse, land and cows.  I'm really glad that they were excited to see and have it!  It makes every hour working on it totally worth it!

 I did some extra large photos here so you could see some of the details.  These colors are pretty true - I didn't enhance any colors on the editing program.

Notice the A&M picnic table????   They are big AGGIES.  And so are we!

I finally got that "distant" feel in the background trees...

Here is the finished product!  I thought this black frame enhanced the painting, the cows, the shadows and made the colors pop.  Now, hope to start something else soon!!!  Thanks for taking a peek!

Nearing the End

Sorry I've been so lax about posting.  I've not been able to work on my painting much, but here's what I did in the last day or two.  It'll be hard for you to tell what I've been doing as I've been tweaking again.  And beginning work on the fence - which is making me poke myself in the eyes.  So tedious!

Also, I got my lakehouse put in.  Slow going on the fencing.  It goes all the way across the property. I've got it blocked in, now to go back and straighten, highlight and mold it so that it fits into the property. Right now it appears to just be slapped on the surface of the painting.

Forgive my shabby picture-taking.  There was a glare on the right side of the above photo.  But what I worked on here was pushing the distant trees even farther into the background.  Added some reflections and details onto the lake and painted in some t-post fencing. 

Above, I enhanced the shadows and the reflected light up under the eaves under the porch. And the cows have TAILS now, too!

It's finally coming together.  So, since we're expecting rain this week and I won't be able to get out into the garden, I'll be working on and hopefully finishing up this painting and getting it ready to give to its new owner! Hope Riverview Farm folks like it!  I'll take a final photo of the finished painting before I let it go.  Thanks for watching!  Will be starting something new soon! Stay tuned...

Progress on Lake House

Ok, here we go.  It dawned bright and beautiful today - a good day to work on this painting at Riverbend Farm Lakehouse.  Today, I worked on my cows.  Black Angus cows.  I did get them blocked in last week amidst the cloudy weather so today I worked on modeling the musculature and bone structure.  Here's where I left off last week.  Sorry some of the photos have a bit of a sheen on them - the paint can be shiny when wet and I'm also painting near a window...

Above, I begin by cleaning up the edges of the drawings of the cows.  I look at my snapshots of them, and carefully draw their outlines in, paying attention to measurements, placement of legs in relation to other legs... it's a continuous looking back and forth, back and forth, measuring with the end of my brush, etc. until I feel the drawing is correct.

Pay attention to the direction the sun is coming in and in this case, it's coming from above left.  The objects in the painting will all cast their shadows short and to the right and back just a bit - kind of like 1:00 or 2:00 o'clock.  Shadows also must follow the lay of the land or whatever object they are falling on.  My cows don't have tails yet.  I'm going to add them after the paint on their bee-hinds has dried a bit.  Can't let the paint get muddy - then it'll look like our cows have the "scours"... just sayin'...

When I took the cows' photos, they were munching happily on their grass.  They would raise their heads and look at me and then go back to their chewing...

This is a good start on the cows.  It took me a couple of hours to get this far.  Stop and eat lunch, let Bug out, and then get back to work.

Today I also worked on the sky a bit.  Until this painting is completely finished I will continue tweaking until I'm satisfied with it.  I usually put a painting away for a couple of weeks and then look at it again.  Then I can see some things that I missed.  Another way of checking to see if your painting is working is to hold it in the bathroom mirror and look at it backwards.  You wouldn't believe how helpful this is to see it like that.  You can check your design, your contrasts, your actual drawing...

A little more tweaking on the clouds, putting in some really bright highlights where the sun hits the edges of the clouds...

Above, this is what I did today.  It's looking pretty good, I think, and I'm pretty satisfied with it thus far - especially since it's been awhile that I've painted.  I guess you don't forget, and perhaps I'm being abit more careful and paying more attention trying to remember what I learned long ago...

I've got fences to add that will help lead your eye through the painting.  More tweaking on the cows and let's not forget their TAILS.  Note to self - need to make the shadows under the cows follow the lay of the land.  It's sloping a bit and the shadows look like it's flat and straight land.  As you can tell, there were big towering trees behind me when I took the picture.  But that's actually a good way to frame a painting and break up the big expanse of grass in the foreground.

Hey, thanks for looking.  I appreciate your comments - good or bad. I can take constructive criticism and when I get close to being done, I take my paintings to one of my artist friends and have her give me a critique.  I do that for her, too.  Helps to get a fresh eye to take a look.  I'll be back soon, I hope!  Lord willing, we'll keep having some good weather this week so I can paint!  Take care~~~~~

Day 3 - Lakehouse

Day three of working on the lakehouse.  It was cloudy that day, so I didn't really get to paint as long as I'd have liked.  Since I'm depending on the outside light I can only work when the light is right.  At our other home I had plenty of light in my studio area, but I also had some overhead flourescent lighting.  I had daylight style bulbs, full spectrum.  It was close to natural light so I could paint at night.  There was a time when Tony was traveling alot that I would stay up and work nearly all night long.  Once I get started painting, I don't realize how much time has passed.  It's very engrossing for me.

I worked on the sky areas on Friday.  They are always a challenge to make clouds look like clouds.  It's easier in a plein air painting cuz you can just put big swashes of color in there, but this painting is more detailed so the sky needs to be a bit more detailed.  Plus, I had to wing the clouds because the day I took the pictures it was a blue-bird day and not a cloud in the sky...

I wanted this painting to be a remembrance of a bright sunny day with just a touch of Indian Summer, thus a few touches of fall color in the distant trees.  I was trying to get away from solid green.  On the clouds, I first took some white and blocked in where I thought the clouds would direct the eye to the center of interest.  I did not want a white cloud behind the roof of the lakehouse because there would be no contrast. Too much the same color.  So I played with the clouds for a bit until I felt satisfied with their placement.  Clouds are not solid white - if you really look at them, even white clouds have other colors in them reflected up from the ground or from other clouds.

I have the clouds blocked in now, and after they dry a bit, I will go back in and put more subtle colors and modeling into them.  I also worked on the background trees and will suggest some trunks and branches.  Not much detail because it will bring them forward and I want to keep them simple and in the distance.

Don't know if you noticed but in the photo that I'm working from there is a small skinny tree right in front and on the left side of the lakehouse.  It kept bothering me that it was in the way. So I moved it.  I'm moving it to the left of the lakehouse so it won't block the view.  Just a small dab of "artistic license" there.  I painted it out but you can still see a bit of the green foliage that will disappear when I work on the lakehouse.

OK, foreground.  I'm thinking about the foreground.  There is a huge expanse of nothing in the foreground except a hay pasture with short hay.  One has to think a little outside of the box here.  We want to keep the painting and the EYE inside the painting, so I am going to include those dark shadows in the front there.  It helps to "frame" the painting and not lose a wandering eye off the canvas.  Notice how other artists handle this problem in other paintings you may view.  You may see a painting where the artist brings the eye into the center of interest and that's where you're supposed to stay.  This landscape's feeling is peaceful and serene and I want to keep the viewer's interest in the painting and have him/her linger there in that peacefulness.  In order to do that, I will create boundaries to hold your eyes there.

Sorry, there was an afternoon glare on the painting when I took this picture.  You can see where I blocked in some shadows in the foreground and will work on that next time.  I will go around the painting and try to draw the eye inside in all areas to keep it in the mood of the painting.  Below, is a black/white photo - just checking my contrasts.  Again, the glare.  But, it's also a great way to see if my painting is working and has good contrasts.  I think after I get the lakehouse done I will have better contrast in that area.  Right now it's pretty drab.  Working on the entire painting in the last stages I will correct and enhance certain areas, create more contrast with color, maybe subdue some areas, but I want the painting to have a rich contast of colors, darks/lights, warm and cool colors, and detail and soft edges.

Again, thanks for looking!  I have to work for a couple of days, but will be back later this week!