Baby's Adventure

This is one of my personal favorites. I wanted to create a world of  adventure for my grandbaby Isaac. In reality he was sitting in my office chair in his pajamas when I took the photo I used for this painting. I wanted him to take his little stuffed lemur LaLa for a naptime dream trip in the boat. The teddy bear and duck did not want them to head out alone, so they hopped in at the last minute.  

 

Big Brother

 

Hannah and Bossy

Pouting Pretty

You might recognize this painting. I posted it a few years ago and was never happy with it so I continue to work on it. The problem is, I know this kid very well, she is growing up so fast. I wanted to capture her attitude. This kid at the age I took this photo could pout no matter how beautiful the world around her was. She loves the gardens and animals, so I put her in her element.

I can paint  a strangers kids and get it right in a jiff.

It is harder when you love someone.

I still see things I want to tweet and adjust.

Bristow Boys

 

I was so delighted to paint this portrait for this family. I knew these kids mom when she was about this age herself! I really believe that familiarity of years of knowledge with the family, helps so much in getting a great painting. One of these boys looks just like his uncle! Oh how I love this one!

Big Brother

 

When the mother of these children sent me this photo and asked me to paint it as a portrait I was absolutely tickled pink. Pink as this baby's cheeks. The photo had a really big white glare spot on the top of the boys head from the camera flash and it was a bit faded. I absolutely love painting children, and rarely does someone send me an old photo that has a baby and child who both have a pleasant expression. - plus the lighting - oh I could go on.  Fast forward to " They grow up way too fast" his little boy is 18 now and his little sister is half his age so she is about 9.

Painting of Mary Carlyle - "Grandma's Chicken Barn"

Bodies First Swan

I tried to capture the solemn moment a young boy has when he has his first successful hunt. This was painted from a photo of my young nephew.

Anne and Her Dogs

8x10 Oil Study

This is a quick little study I did one Saturday afternoon.  I took this photo when I came to  a clients home to capture shots of her dogs in order to paint some large individual portraits. I got home and could not sit still until I got the paints out and dabbled. I took about 150 photos and this was one of the few times that the dogs actually got still. I thought it was precious. 

A Boy and His Dog

I normally do not crop things so tight, but this client wanted a very small painting and in order to get all the expression of  her grandson as well as the cuteness of the dog on a very small canvas you have to be able to work with the composition. She loved it. I loved it- so we are all happy.- My husband loved it too so that was just bonus points.

The Night Watchman

This is painting I worked on recently  to study Rembrandt's style.  Rembrandt painted The Night Watch in 1642 and it is known as one of his most famous paintings. It is also been recognized as one of Rembrandt’s most debatable and controversial works of art. -

Painted it in the middle of a green canvas

Rebekah

I wanted to paint a Portrait of my granddaughter that would depict her personality. She use to tote that old rusty watering can all over my yard and consistently through out her life has shown a love for flowers and animals. One thing about this child though, she loves what she loves and she equally shows great discontent for what she doesn't. I wanted to paint a whimsical portrait that captured all of that. It can be sunny, with lambs, roses and butterflies, but this child will not be too happy with that fence and the rose thorns.

Portrait Study of Les Misérables

Quick Vignette of My Mother in law

One day last year I took my camera over to my Mother In Law's home to take some photos of her. She got her hat, and a book, and placed a beautiful vase of roses on the table beside her and posed. She grows the nicest  roses  so that was a great set up. Time passes and I have been wanting to get around to doing a painting of one of her poses but have not had time. So late one night I decided to just do a little head shot study and  paint a little 11 x 14 study of  her. When I got  to this point I liked it and decided not to change a thing. I gave it to her for Mothers Day and she loved it.I think sometime soon I will try to paint the whole scene.

Saint Lucia

 

 A Catholic School wanted me to paint St Lucia for a festival they are having. They sent me the picture and I called back. "Do I have to paint the eyes in the bowl?" Yes, they said, " St Lucia was was an innocent girl killed for her faith and her eyes were poked out, so that was her "offering, or sacrifice." At first I was a little creeped out, but then I thought of all the places in the world- today- where Christians - young children- are being killed, maimed, & held in prisons for their faith. Although this young women lived many years ago in today's modern world there are other ways in which people sacrifice their life for the life of another, Police Officers, Moms and Dads, Firemen, the Military.  Scripture says " Greater love has no man than this- that he would lay down His life for His "friends." God intends for us  to love others before ourselves. We are called to love those who are different from us, to love those who do not believe what we believe, to be merciful and kind. God is love.

This is painted on 1/4 inch wood and cut out, the back is painted gold and I created a prop for it in the back so it could be set on a table with poinsettias around it  

I decided to show 2 photos because the one with the white back ground ( which is from where I sat the painting in my white shadow box ) does not show that it is a wood cut out. I included of the photo of the painting  on the easel so you could see that it is not on a canvas. 

Posing With His Dogs: Painting from an old black and white photograph.

This was a gift I did for my mom and it made her very happy today. Her father died when she was a teenager and she was the apple of his eye. She told me stories of how protective the two dogs Queen and Belle were when she was growing up. My mother is very stoic - up til today I rarely have seen her get emotional. She kept saying it was like he was in the room with her. Then I realized, all these years all she had was a few small black and white grainy, faded photos of him. Seeing him in color on a 18 x 24 inch canvas brought him back to her. I never realized how powerful it could be to put color into her world in this way. Over and over she called me the next dew months telling how he greeted her each morning and how much it changed her to have him in the room with her. She felt at home for the first time in a long time... in a home she had lived in for over 30 years.

Ride 'em John

This is a painting I did a few years ago of my son on his hobby horse. His daughters now ride the horse and call him Jingle Bells because he has a ribbon and some bells around his neck. Life moves on but Jingle Bells never ages.

How Much is that Doggy in the Window?

Rebekah's Pansy

Hannah in the Sunlight

Hannah in the Sunlight: This Painting won second place in the January 2013 Artist Monthly Challenge for Contemporary Fine Art International

http://www.cfai.co/art-challenge-january-2013-shiny-and-new/