Painting of Harold

Here is the painting I did of my late father-in-law, Harold. This is from a photo taken prior to his illness, so the memories are good during this time with him. I'm including one of the reference photos I used.

One or Two Posts per Year - That's Pitiful Performance!

I've been painting a lot lately, getting ready for "Red Earth" art show in Oklahoma City, completing a number of commissions, and painting a portrait of my late father-in-law to give to my husband as a Valentine's gift. We'll start with a couple of commissions, followed by a few of the paintings I'm preparing for Red Earth. The three pugs, Charlie, Cinnamon and Ziggy are done in scratchwork on Claybord Black. I've added watercolor to these. The mother and daughter are traditional watercolor on paper. The three indians are from photographs I took at the Red Earth Indian Exposition a few years ago. These are watercolor on textured claybord.

Portraits and Just Plain Fun Paintings

I'm not saying that portraits aren't fun, but there is always that pressure of getting the likeness and pleasing the person you are painting it for! Here are a couple of children portraits I just finished, followed by another Indian Portrait Painting (By the way, I was accepted into the Red Earth Art Show coming up this June in Oklahoma City.) Then the last two paintings are ones I did "just for fun."

Recent Accomplishments

I've been working on a couple of paintings the last couple of weeks. A portrait of two children and another portrait of two dogs. After finishing both, I completed a very quick watercolor of a couple of calla lilies.

I was told the children were at the photographer and the little brother started bugging his big sister, which got them both giggling.

Here they are for your viewing and, perhaps comments.

Been Absent Almost a Year!

So, you might have been wondering where I've been - or perhaps not! Well, we have moved, after living in the same house for 32 years! This move gave me a dedicated location for my Art Studio and Gallery, so that is definitely a big plus for me. Although I haven't been on my blog since the move, I haven't neglected my art, either! I have expanded on the technique I tried on my last post. I spent part of the time while I've not been blogging, doing research to obtain my Indian Tribal certification. That involves locating your Indian ancestors on a tribal role and establishing your direct "blood" tie via birth certificates. We, here in Oklahoma have a wonderful Native American gathering each summer - Red Earth. Part of that celebration involves an art show and competition. Now, I will attempt to be accepted into that show. As we artists all know, art is certainly a matter of personal taste. Since this show is a juried show. It remains to be seem whether or not my entries find favor with the jury.

Here are some of the paintings I plan on entering. I will enter in two categories - painting and mixed-media drawing. This last category will cover my claybord scratchworks to which I add watercolor.

Something Different

I tried something a little different this week, using textured claybord. I started by sanding off a bit of the texture. Then I mixed burnt sienna and burnt umber Dr. Martin hydrous watercolor and layed down a fairly dark wash over the entire surface. I made a sketch of one of the photos I took at the zoo a couple of weeks ago. I had taken some nice photos of the river otters and noticed the colors were basically all in shades of brown. I used various methods to start removing parts of the paint. I've posted the reference photo as well as the painting.

Digging Through the Past

A friend of mine wanted a couple of Valentine-theme paintings. I started looking through old photos. I found some really cute photos of her dogs when they were puppies that I worked into Valentine paintings for her. While I was looking through the old photos, I found one of her two sons when one was five and one was two. It was the two-year-old's birthday and his Aunt had given him a bike. It was really too big for him, but it WAS his. The older brother could hardly contain himself. He really wanted on that pretty new bike! I decided that would make a cute painting. So here it is. I call it "The New Bike."