"Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul." Vincent Van Gogh

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Ballerina Three

Oil on canvas panel 20x18. I see one or two areas I want to work on a little more. My challenge is to make her seriously elegant and still retain a bit of whimsy.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Ballerina Two




Oh this was such fun to paint - such glorious color and light! The painting is 14 x 18 oil on canvas. The bottom photo is the start and the top photo is the finish. A good painting day today and I am happy!


A Vagary of Happenstance - finished

A few final tweaks and highlights and I will call this done. The color in this piece is somewhat unusual and was foremost in my mind once I captured the gesture of horse and rider in my initial oil sketch and then connected them to their spot in the landscape. I wanted the painting to be mostly high key and developed a palette of soft warm whites surrounding the cool, crisper whites of the horse. The orange and lavenders in the landscape and the lowering blue of the sky suggested themselves as I moved forward. Thank you to Susan Roux http://susanroux.blogspot.com/ for her comment in the previous post concerning color - I do love color and am constantly fascinated how color, value, form all play their role in translating the artistist vision in the mind to the final observable rendition. I think oil paint is a purely magical medium that allows me to place on canvas a glimpse into otherwise unobservable realities. Art and creativity is such a joy!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Quick Study and a Request

Quick study today of a large ballerina - oil on canvas paper 16x12.
I received an email from a friend earlier today with this request:
When sending out Christmas cards this year, please take a moment and send one to a wounded warrior at the following address:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001
Please feel free to copy this and post it on your own blog and Facebook wall. Thanks so much.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Workshop Efforts
















You may have wondered why there are 3 separate pieces of one painting - I wanted to post the life figure painting I did today in my evening class but did not want to put the nudity warning on my blog as I rarely post nude paintings. I was pleased with this one and wanted to post it - I wonder if it was worthwhile editing it like this - lol! The painting took about 3 hours and is 18 x 24 linen board. The instructor, Alison Harris, had to assure me that the model really was green in the shadow areas and once I allowed myself to see that, I did okay. The pose was difficult as she faced me fairly directly but I do believe that I caught the way her weight was balanced on her left hand and arm - if you could see the whole painting you might agree with me! The other pieces are pencil drawings of our previous model Ron - each one about 25 minutes. I am thoroughly enjoying this workshop and am sorry that it will be over next week - it zipped by so quickly.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Christmas Elves



I wanted to paint some of Santa's helpers as if they were very real but not quite of the same dimensions we humans inhabit! I did not want them to appear cartoonish but I did want to keep a bit of whimsy. In any case, it turned out to be a rather ambitious undertaking and here is where I am now with this - almost but not quite done. Its 24x18 oil on linen.
Please check out Gina Brown's blog - she has posted a very touching story of the painting exchange between her daughter Blaire and myself. http://ginabrownart.blogspot.com/