Yard Guard

This gorgeous rooster was one of the many that my husband and I saw as we were building latrines on our recent Rotary service project in the Dominican Republic.  While his colorful plumage was eye-catching amidst the dusty gray backdrop of his surroundings, it was his prideful attitude of "yard guard" that really caught my attention.  He was protector and defender of his family's turf, dust and all.

I made a couple of changes in my initial sketch to improve the readability of the scene:

1) Lowered the background tire so that the rooster's head would end above it and not look like he was wearing a giant halo,

2) Modified his tail.  As beautiful as it was, I didn't think it would be believable in paint.

After settling on my composition, I painted over the sketch lines and let them dry a bit before moving on to thicker paint.

One final change I made was in the rooster's stance.  I changed the angle of his legs and added a shadow to emphasize his defiant posture.  He seems to have a bit more personality this way :)

Yard Guard, 6x8 Oil, Sold

Framed:

Fiddling with the Light

I loved the simple composition of this scene as I looked down on this violinist during our trip to Italy several years ago.  It was a hot day, but he found a cool spot to play in the shadow of a giant pillar.  His music was lovely.

While the composition was simple, the perspective was not.  I probably went a little overboard with the detail on my initial sketch for such a small painting, but I really didn't want to finish the piece and then realize the perspective was askew.

After my sketch lines were fairly dry, I quickly covered all the warm sunlit areas in transparent yellow and and the cool shadowed areas in transparent blue. You may need to put on sunglasses for this...it's pretty bright!

The final painting is much softer.  My goal was to stay true to what originally inspired me (the simple composition) while "fiddling" with the warmth of the reflected light on the pillar and the musician.

Fiddling with the Light, 6x8 Oil, Sold

Sweet Treat

As I finished painting "Sweet Treat I" and "Sweet Treat II", ice glazed my front steps and my poor dog skidded down the back ones.  I am ready for the warmth that brings these jewel-like birds to my kitchen window!  These two paintings are a re-visit of two that I painted at the beginning of last year,  but this time I used a smooth panel for my painting surface and a new palette of colors.

Here's one of the original photos from my kitchen window:

Step 1, sketched with pastel pencil on a 6x6 panel (and flowers, instead of a feeder):

Step 2:  Quickly covered the sketch with paint so that it wouldn't wipe away easily

Step 3:  Covered the background with a dark transparent green mix and a quick-drying medium

and then covered the bird and plant with transparent colors in the same family of colors that I wanted to see in my final painting.  My palette currently consists of Michael Harding paints in Ultramarine Blue, Indian Yellow, Permanent Rose, and Zinc White

While the medium was still wet, I laid on thicker layers mixed with zinc white.  

Here is this year's version of "Sweet Treat I", 6x6 Oil

and its companion piece, "Sweet Treat II", 6x6 Oil

They look great together :)

Click here for more information and to see them on my website.

Hydrangeas

Fearrington Village in North Carolina is perhaps the most idyllic place I have ever plein air painted.  This scene is one of the many views that called out "paint me!" on my first painting trip to Fearrington.  

I chose this dramatic hydrangea bush because of the rich blue blossoms in the shade and the play of light that leads your eye down the path and around the bush to beauty waiting to be discovered.

Here is my painted version, which won third place in a "Miniatures & Small Works" show:

Hydrangea, 6x8 oil

Custom framed 

Available

Venice Gold

A few years ago, my husband and I strolled through Venice on the first stop of our 25th anniversary trip.  This scene caught my eye because of the way the water turned golden with the reflection of a brightly sunlit buildings along one of the city's many canals ...

I cropped the photo to draw the golden light closer,

and then created a simplified sketch on canvas.  I was careful to get the architecture and perspective correct at this point (much easier now than later!)

One of the fun things about painting is that there are many "correct" ways to start.  For this painting, I chose to begin with my darkest area, which is the shadowed water that leads to the foreground boat, and then use that dark value to "key" my other values.

I painted each area almost to completion before moving on to the next, but always while comparing values -- darks vs. lights.  The important thing in this painting was to capture the essence of a golden glow, which meant that subtle value changes really mattered.

My process continued in this manner until the canvas was covered and then I went back for a second pass to make color corrections and add nuances.

I really love the way the lines in this composition lead your eye from the foreground boat through the golden sunlight and then along the walkway back to the foreground.  This painting was part of my "Making Ripples" solo show and helped to raise funds for a Rotary clean water & sanitation project in the Dominican Republic that my husband and I will be volunteering on in January 2015.
Venice Gold, 20x16 oil, SOLD

Here's the original cropped photo again for comparison:

Baby and Ewe, Anew

What happens when artists create paintings that they aren't quite happy with?  

Sometimes the paintings get wiped off the canvas while still wet, sometimes they get painted over when they're dry, and sometimes they serve as fuel for a farewell bonfire.

Another option is to put them out of sight and hope that the passage of time will bring a fresh perspective on what isn't working.

Today's painting falls in that last category.  I created "Baby and Ewe" last year, but as much as I loved the subject matter, there was something about it that didn't work for me.  After keeping it out of sight for several months, I decided to revisit it and immediately could see what was bugging me.

The original painting, on the left, lacked depth because the field of dry grass was too warm in color, making the sheep and field appear to be on the same plain.  I'm much happier with with the "Baby and Ewe" redo.

 Here's what I did:
1) Repainted the field a more neutral color
2) Added more texture and interest to the grass 
3) Increased the contrast on the sheep 

Voila!  Baby and Ewe, anew!  8x8 oil

Golden Oats

My favorite time of day to be at the beach is late afternoon ... the sand is cooler, the colors are richer, the shadows offer dramatic contrasts, and the hustle and bustle settles into a quiet peace.  Golden Oats celebrates that time of day.

I started with this image, from a glorious afternoon in Nags Head, NC. 

After sketching basic placements, I squinted my eyes at the photograph and painted an undercoat of cool colors for the shadowed, darker valued areas that I saw.  From this beginning, I felt that it would be a strong composition, leading the viewer's eye in from the bottom left and then moving around to the steps, followed by the dunes on the right, and then  back to the entry point.  At least that's what my eye does :) 

In the first coat of thicker paint, I tried to stay true to my initial dark/light composition while laying in more accurate colors.

This next, and final, step took the most time, with lots of subtleties to show depth, but I feel that it successfully captures my favorite beach time of day.

Golden Oats, 12x16, SOLD