I moved my art studio back into my home in April due to financial reasons. This is the first painting I’ve done since I’ve been back to painting at home.  It is a luminescent

Completed pastel painting, 9″ x 12″ on pastel art paper.

palette.  Therefore, there are no strong darks.  I really like how the soft blue background harmonizes with the pinks, peaches, and violets of the iris.  The whole piece has a very soft feeling to it, yet it is very colorful.  This bloom was backlight, and you can see the light gleaming through the center of the flower from behind.

 

I’ve done two complex and involved paintings in the past 2 months, so haven’t been as prolific as usual, which is fine.  This time, I’m working on one of the iris garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden.  This is a small area, but is amazing in it’s sheer concentration and variety of shapes, sizes, and colors of irises.  God is so creative in that there are so many different types of irises.  This is taking

Iris Panorama, oil on MDF art panel, 18″ x 24″

some time to paint, since I have the background trees, the 2 men, the background, iris bed, the middle ground irises is various colors, and two foreground iris buds and white iris.  I had a lot of fun with the shadows of the foreground iris.  They got warmer with the reflected reds as they got closer to the warm red center.  I’m almost finished with this, and hope to get it done in the next few days.  for the color palette, I used Permalba white, cadmium yellow, cadmium red light, dioxazine violet, ultramarine blue, and sap green

I’m now working on a graduation gift for my senior, Jonathan.  He attends Lutheran High School South.  His desire is to be a naval architect/marine engineer.  Our gift to him is going to be an oil painting of a wooden sailing ship with 6 people in board, heeling at a sharp angle.  I looked through a bunch of my husband’s old Wooden Boat magazines, and found this photo on the cover of an issue from 2009.  It is being done on a heavy duty, high quality stretched canvas that is 24″ by 24″.  This is the first time I’ve done a painting in a square format.

There was LOTS of drawing to do first.  It took me about 6 hours just to get all of the drawing done.  I know my son, he is extremely precise and technical, so I wanted to get everything in the proper proportion, and get at least the major aspects of the boat technically correct.  I made an amazing discovery – in high winds, the boom will actually curve!  I never knew that.  I’m glad that I was diligent in getting the drawing right, because if I had a perfectly straight boom, it would have looked stiff and artificial.

Pushing the LImits, drawing is complete, painted the sky.
24″ x 24″

There are many lines and hardware, and I’ve only got the major parts of the boat for now.  After I paint the hull, the sails, and the people, then I will paint all the blocks and lines on top of that.   It would be extremely difficult to paint the sky and water around all the different lines, and it is so easy just to paint lines over the water and sky once these are painted in.  I did get the sky painted in this afternoon.  It is a challenge, because I have to leave at 2:30 in order to pick up my younger son, Andrew, at 3:00.  Being a parent and and artist is a juggling act.  Andrew is going to be in the after school program one day a week, so that I’ll have at least one day where I don’t have to leave my studio so early.

I’m calling this painting pushing the limits.  Part of this is because of how high the winds are, causing this boat to heel so sharply.  The other reason I’m giving it this title, is that my son Jonathan likes to push his own limits.  He is very ambitious and hard working, and likes to push himself to his limits and do his very best in everything he does.  I am extremely proud of him, and I hope this painting shows that.

I got to finish this painting in oil today.  I put some finishing touches on the Face.  The first thing I did was put highlights on the eyes.  I also darkened the mouth, and the corners of the mouth and sides of the teeth.

Oil on canvas panel,
18″ x 24″, completed

This is the first time I’ve ever used transparent white, for glazing.  I mixed a tiny bit of yellow ochre into the trans white so it wouldn’t be icy cold, and softly applied it to the indirect highlights on His forehead, cheeks, and nose.  I also glazed over the face, neck, and hands in a thin red glaze.  I may go back and glaze again in a very thin blue glaze, as the face is pretty warm.

Then, I painted in the background more loosely.  This was fun and relaxing.  I mixed the green using phthalo blue/green and yellow ochre.  This makes a very nice green – colorful and vibrant, yet natural.  For the dark green, I used red and blue to cool and gray it down.  For the light green, I added yellow and white to lighten it and warm it up.  I used a rich violet gray for the darker shadows in the leaves.  After I put in the sky, I added blue reflections on the figure and in the background.  I also added some of the earthy oranges to the leaves, as green foliage often has oranges in it, and this unified and harmonized the painting.  The tree on the right is done in grayer more neutral greens, and the darks are not as dark.  This is to create aerial perspective, which gives it the illusion of depth.

Here are youtube videos from my pastor that explain who Jesus is, and why He came.

Thank God, the holidays are over.  Now I can get back to my regular routine, and do what I really love, which is painting!  I keep trying to talk my husband into taking a trip to the warmer climates at Christmas, to escape all the hullabaloo and expectations of extended family members.  He is a hard sell.  Next year, perhaps.  Then, I can spend Christmas painting beautiful plein air scenes instead.  That would be awesome!  He says he wants to get a palm tree for a Christmas tree.  That will be my gift to him next year.

OK, I finished painting the figure of Jesus in “Jesus Smiling”.  All those folds in the drapery of His robe!  Wow.  I’m glad that all I have left to do is the background!  I hope to paint that softly and loosely.  I generally paint the face and hands pretty tightly.

My palette was: Permalba white, yellow ochre, cadmium red light, burnt sienna, pthalo blue,  ultramarine blue, and burnt umber.  I combine the ultra blue and burnt umber to make a really rich optical blackness/darkness.  I add a scoche of yellow ochre to the white so it is not stark, chalky white.  I use this white for the bright highlights.

Anyway, I start with a detailed drawing.  That way, I don’t have to worry about form while I’m painting.  It gives me a good, strong foundation to start with.  I had drawn the figure in about early to mid December.

I still want to tweak and add final details to Jesus’ face and hands.  His eyes need the outer highlights, and I want to do some more modeling on the fingers.  The background will be a very soft, semi-abstract background of trees and sky.  I really like how the color of the robes harmonizes so well with the hair and skin tones.  The skin tones were : white, yellow ochre, cad red lite, ultra blue, and burnt umber.  The robes are: burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and white.

Completed Iris Series #3 oil painting. size 16″ x 12″, oil on canvas panel

I did this a little while back.  I’ve been quite busy with a college visit, and my son’s 18th birthday, which was yesterday.

This is the 3rd in the series.  I’m very happy with the color combination.  The bottom petals a deep, rich red violet.  The use of accents of hot pink is a trick I learned from my mentor/teacher Jerry Thomas.  It really brightens up flowers that are deep purple.  When the sunlight hits the petals right, there truly are shots of hot pink on purple flowers!  I thought the cool striations made for a very interesting detail.  Note how the yellow in the lower petals is almost a chartreuse, with a hint of green, but the yellow of the upper petals is more of a gold/apricot yellow.  Nature is so interesting!  Also, see how the red/orange of the beards reflects onto the adjacent petal surfaces of the gold petals.  Another interesting detail, is the bottom shriveled bloom, has just a touch of the vivid red/orange, along with the dull gray/brown of the spent flower.  I really love to put interesting and unexpected details like these into my paintings.  My very first art teacher, Yvonne Shephard taught me how to notice and paint these details.  She was my art teach when I was 8 years old.  I have fond memories of learning to paint with her.

Here is a link to the etsy listing where it is for sale.

completed oil painting

We all go through times of grief and sadness.  This is a fallen world, and sin and brokenness causes us grief and frustration.  Jesus became man, and died on the cross to pay for our sins.  He can identify with us in our sadness, hurt and loss.  This painting is to show us how Jesus Christ cares for us, not just from a distance, not just in a theoretical way, but He cares for each of us in an intimate, empathetic way.  Isaiah 53:3 from the Old Testament of the Holy Bible says that

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

I realize that when I do a painting of Jesus, I risk offending someone, because I can’t help but give Jesus a certain color of hair, or skin, or certain features.  My hope and prayer is that people will look beyond the physical attributes of Jesus, and see past that to the truth.  Jesus said in the gospel of John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life.  no one comes to the Father except through me”

the hair and robes were just painted

My little guy Andrew was such a good sport Monday.  He was sick, and he missed school because of it.  My plan was to paint, and I promised him I’d let him rent a movie if he would go along with me to the studio.  This way, he could watch a movie on his portable DVD player while I painted.

I was able to paint in the hair and the clothing.  All those folds in Jesus’ robe.  It makes for some interesting patterns of movement, and gives me a chance to play around with value systems.  I made his inner robe a tan color.  For the hilights, I added white and yellow ochre to the tan, and for the darks I added ultramarine blue and burnt umber.  I was very pleased with the effects of the blue sky reflecting off the hair.  I used burnt umber and white for the hair.  That was straightforward.  Here it is.  I think Jesus mouth or mustache will need slight tweaking, as the upper lip seems to be missing, he.  It is amazing how with the human face, if the slightest thing is off, it is so obvious.  Whereas when I’m painting flowers, it is not noticeable if something is slightly out of proportion.  I will add some hilights to the hair and to the robes.  Then, I will paint in the background, which will be a soft landscape.

Click here to go to my etsy store.

First oil painting of my new iris series.

I’m starting a series of oil paintings of irises.  Last spring, I took hundreds of pictures at the Missouri Botanical Gardens of the iris beds.  I was truly overwhelmed with awe at the sheer variety in color and form of the iris!

I painted this mainly with palette knives, as I did my previous orchid series.  I like the way the front violet petal turned out.  The blues and violets work well with the magentas and oranges at the top.  I have progressed around the color wheel with the use of blue, violet, magenta, red, and orange.  I completed the flower on two days ago, then did the soft, green background today.  If I remember correctly, this is a size 12″ x 16″.

Face is complete – will do minor changes to eyes.

I’m really excited about this painting.  I modified the face, smoothed it out, and lightened up some of the shadows.  I also painted in the hair.  I now realize that the skin tone on the face is grayish and ashen, so I will be warming this up with reds and yellows.  Also, the iris of the right eye can be made rounder.  Otherwise, I’m happy with how the face is turning out.  I have yet to paint the outer highlights on the eyes, and the hilights on the hair, beard, and mustache.  Perhaps I will get a chance to work on this tomorrow.