I Believe I Can Fly

Walking around my favorite lake on a recent autumn day as the leaves gently drifted on the breeze, I came across this small turtle who seemed to have big plans.  Balanced precariously on the tip of a submerged log, he stretched out his legs with aerodynamic precision and lifted his head toward the sky.  With his eyes closed tightly, I could imagine him repeating to himself, "I believe I can fly ... I believe I can fly."  We can dream, can't we?

I wanted a close-up of Mr. Turtle on his inaugural flight, but when I cropped the photo I could tell that the surface of the water would look vertical without some visual clues.  So I decided it would be important to move some floating leaves into the foreground and have them overlap the turtle's reflection.

In my under-painting I worked out the composition with the leaves and added some hints of leaves floating on the surface behind the turtle to indicate distance.  At this point I was excited to begin capturing the turtle's character, as well as the smoothness of the water, while the under-painting was still wet.

In the final painting, you can see the important role that the leaves play in defining the surface of the water and in leading your eye into and around the canvas.  Of course the turtle doesn't care about all the things I did to properly compose him ... he's too busy launching his dream :)

I Believe I Can Fly, available

8x8 oil

Here he is framed:

A Peachy Market

In 2011, my husband and I visited our son who lives in China (I know, he's too far away!)  Part of our travels were in a very touristy area called Yangshuo, so we decided to explore well away from the trappings of the pervasive hawkers.  

We found an alley filled with the local colors (and smells!) of market day.  Eels and snakes slithered in small buckets, carts of live chickens prepared to cluck their last, and freshly (?) cut meat -- whose origin I did not want to know -- was fanned by languid hands to shoo away the flies.  

In all this gourmet hustle and bustle, my mouth only watered when I saw this basket of glowing peaches.  I lingered and savored the moment.

While I wanted to capture this very typical Chinese scene, my real goal in painting it was to show how enticing the sweet peaches appeared to me.  For my composition I decided to use a square format and cropped the styrofoam cooler at the left edge to lead your eye in to the painting.  I loved the triangular shape created by the cooler, baskets and vendor (echoed by her triangular hat!)

To emphasize my center of mouth-watering interest, I used complementary colors -- a neutral blue backdrop for the pinkish orange peaches.  Then I enhanced the glowing effect by keeping the edges of the peaches much softer than in the photo.  I darkened the white of the styrofoam so that it didn't command so much attention and I also lightened and simplified the area behind the young woman so that the lines of her shape would lead back to the fruit.  Ahh ... sweet, juicy peaches.

A Peachy Market, SOLD

16x16 Oil

Date Night

Our nest has been empty this year, but in just one week one of our chicks will be home (after being gone for nearly a year!)  Then our other two chicks will fly home for an all-too-brief but very happy family reunion.  Date nights have been fun and easy to coordinate, but a full nest will be so lovely!

As I admired the peacefulness of these two Canada Geese on a lake near my house, it wasn't hard for me to imagine that they had left the kids at home and were having a night to themselves. You can never have too many date nights, even if you're a goose :)

I chose to use a long narrow canvas to "zoom" up on my subject, the geese, while still taking advantage of the beautiful water ripples that lead your eye around the scene. 

The ripples lead in to the painting at an angle, helping to give the impression of movement ("Hurry before the babysitter catches us!")   It was autumn at Lake Lynn, so the changing leaf colors gave me a wonderful golden glow to play with.  I emphasized the differences between the foreground/background colors to add the illusion of depth.

Date Night, Available

18x36 oil

Little Bear

Today I am sharing some of the fun action that went on behind the scenes in order to create one of my newest paintings, "Little Bear".   I hope you enjoy this sneak peek!

"Bear" is a precious bundle of energy, fur, and love who won the hearts of his family enough that they requested I paint his portrait.  While it was a challenge to get Bear to sit still long enough for me to take his picture (proven by the outtakes below), he did finally pose for about 15 seconds.  Thank you, Bear! 

And what a sweet pose it was!  I was particularly happy that the sunlight cooperated and gave me some great shadows to work with:

My first step in creating the 36x24 painting was to design a road map of my light, medium, and dark values with a 3x2 "thumbnail" sketch.  If you squint at the photo, you can see that the only place I chose to diverge from the photo was to darken the patio so that it wasn't as light as Bear's fur.

After toning the canvas to soften the harsh white and laying in a simple grid to get the basic placement and proportions correct, I used a warm mix of red and yellow oil paint to sketch the outlines of important shapes.  

With my thumbnail sketch taped to my easel for reference, I began laying in general colors or colors that I wanted to shine through future layers of paint (like the warm orange on Bear's muzzle).  In the image on the right I added a second layer of transparent paint to make the values match my thumbnail road map.  The painting looks sort of wild at this point!

In the next layer I began painting more thickly and using opaque paints.  The image on the left shows my first pass at covering Bear and the one on the right shows my first pass with the chair and background

In the final pass I focused on bringing Bear's soft fur to life with a delicate play of warm and cool colors.  I also added interest to the shapes of the background trees.  At this point, Bear seemed to look back at me in approval.   
Painting his sunlit likeness was a joy :)

Little Bear, SOLD
36x24 Oil 
A big thank you to Bear's people for inviting me in to your home and your lives!

Curb Appeal

In honor of the last few days of Spring, today I am featuring one of the many Spring-inspired scenes that have found their way to my easel.  

"Curb Appeal" celebrates my favorite time of year.  The hope of new life is everywhere, the colors are vibrant, the shadows seem to dance with newly emerged leaves, the thick yellow-green pine pollen coats our patio furniture (oh wait, that's the part I try to forget!)

I love walking through my neighborhood, camera in hand, eyes seeing as if for the first time.  This particular scene caught my eye because of the way the foreground shadow spilled across the street and then the gentle curve of the street drew my eye to the distant sunlit azaleas.

The photo doesn't capture the intensity of the purple-red azaleas in the shadow of the foreground trees.  In fact, the color was so intense that it seemed to reflect right in to the shadowed street!  The fun I had as an artist was remembering those colors and bringing them to life.  I also had fun with the composition, making sure that the dark and light values worked to lead the viewers eye around the scene and back again.

Here's my 8x10 version of "Curb Appeal":

Curb Appeal, SOLD

8x10 oil

And here's a larger, 16x20 version:

Curb Appeal, SOLD

16x20 oil

Role Model

Today I'm featuring a painting that I highlighted in my newsletter last year.  I got so many positive responses on how fun it was to see my "step by step process" that I decided to feature it in my blog too.  Enjoy!

 A couple of years ago I came across this scene at a garden center that cried out, "Paint me!"  It had all of my favorite components:  strong light and show contrasts, stonework, flowers, and great reflected light.  Here's the photo I took:

I chose a square canvas and cropped the scene to emphasize the story I wanted to tell -- the little pot standing in the proverbial shadow of the big one, his "role model".

My Studio Set up
Here's what my studio set up looked like.  I put my ipad (a great tool!) on the right to view the photo and prepared my palette with opaque and transparent primary colors.

Step 1  I toned my Ampersand panel with Transparent Oxide Orange and then sketched basic outlines with that color mixed with a little Cadmium Red Light. Then I wiped out the light areas with a paper towel and a paint brush.  This is the most important step because it tells me if my composition is going to work!

Step 2  I laid in some background greens with transparent pigment.  I've found that transparent paints are great for giving a sense of depth.

Step 3  Then I painted the reflected sky color that I saw, knowing that I would tone this down later on.

Step 4  Worked a little on the mid-ground greenery, keeping it soft so that it didn't draw attention away from my center of interest.

Step 5  Finished covering the background and began with the warmer colors of the stonework...

Step 6  Finally got to paint the flowers!  I wasn't happy with the greenery in the small planter though.

Step 7  In this step I decided to replace the big leaf that was in the smaller planter with a more colorful spray of flowers. I also decided to soften the background so that it would look more distant. 

Here's my completed painting, before framing...

and after framing...

Role Model, Available

6x6 oil

Ready for a good home!  Click here to learn more.

Geranium Joy

To me, one of the many joys of summer is the eye-popping color of the brilliant red geraniums that always grace our front steps.  Somehow the colors seem to get more and more vibrant each year!  The little painting that I'm featuring this week is based on a photograph provided in a great workshop I took in Kentucky with artist Dreama Tolle Perry.

 I started my painting on a smooth 6x6 panel and sketched the basic shapes with an orange-red because I wanted some of that color to peek through in the finished piece to unite the painting with the geranium red theme. 

Using Dreama's technique, I quickly covered the whole canvas with transparent colors mixed with a fairly glossy medium.  Since I use a palette of only three transparent and three opaque primary colors, I mixed the colors I wanted before applying.

 

While the first layer was still wet, I painted the second layer much more thickly and included my opaque colors.  I had the most fun hinting at the shape of the geranium leaves by defining their edges and allowing bits of leaves and blossoms to "be free".  It was a joy to paint ... Geranium Joy.

Geranium Joy, Available

6x6 oil, framed

Window Box

As the weather warms up I know that my beautiful window box pansies, planted in October, are not long for this world.  In honor of all the pansies ready to give up their spot to make room for summer flowers, I am featuring their smiling, sunny faces this week.  This picture, from last year's bounty, inspired a small painting I call "Window Box".

I chose a 6x6 square panel to paint on because I wanted to echo the shape of the corner of the  window box so that the softly draping blossoms would stand in contrast.  Since I'm the boss of me :), I freely changed colors and rearranged the flowers to encourage the viewer's eye to move through and around the blossoms.

Window Box, SOLD
6x6 Oil

Special Edition! Creating "Umbrellas by the Sea"

Vernazza, Italy, under the warm glow of dancing yellow umbrellas ... sipping liquid grapes ... breathing in the gentle caress of a sea breeze ... this is one of the many reasons why I know that life is a gift to be gratefully treasured, especially when it is shared on the 25th anniversary of marrying my best friend :)   This is a scene that took me five years to decide how to capture, but once I got started I couldn't wait to complete my vision.

 I knew that I wanted a large canvas because Vernazza is nestled in the embrace of a very high ridge overlooking the expanse of the Mediterranean Sea.  I chose an 18x36 canvas (big for me!) and then cropped the image to emphasize what I loved most -- the large sunlit yellow umbrellas.

I started by sketching the basic placement of shapes with a fair amount of accuracy.  I used a pastel pencil because it was easy to make changes, if needed.

 

 Once I was satisfied with the placement, I "sketched" with paint and let it dry so that I could paint over it with transparent paints without disturbing my road map.

  Since the umbrellas were what I was most excited about, I started with my favorite part (dessert first, right?)  I painted the whole area with transparent indian yellow (using an oil medium called "Archival Lean") and then laid on opaque paints quickly so that the underpaint was wet enough to be picked up where I wanted it to be.

 This next part was fun because it made the umbrellas really start to "pop" with the complimentary colors.  I laid in transparent ultramarine blue for the mid-ground church and, again, quickly painted opaque colors before the underlayer dried.

The fun continued in similar manner...

At this point, I needed to make a decision.  The photograph blocked the background hills because of mid-sized trees that had been planted along the marina edge.  But, this being Vernazza, I really wanted to capture the sense of being small in a large place.  So I chose to look through the trees and imagine the steep hill that lay behind.  This was not easy!  You will see that it took several iterations.

My challenge with the next portion of this painting was to make it lively without breaking up the simplicity of the overall "values" I had planned (squint at the final painting image and hopefully you'll see what I mean).  I also didn't want to paint every single chair leg and table top because I know that less is often more since it allows the imagination to create far better stories than the paint brush is able to.

I knew I wanted to work more on the background hill, but it would be easier to judge what needed to be done after painting the foreground.

At this point I had covered the canvas, but I knew that several areas needed a bit more attention...

 

On my final pass, I created depth and interest in the background, adjusted the boats and water, added texture to the potted bushes, and worked on a few shadow and light nuances.  This painting is currently hanging at the Waverly Artists Group and looks great next to its companions, Ready for Limoncello and Fruit of the Vine!

Umbrellas by the Sea, available

18x36 oil

(here's the photo again, just for fun comparison)