Gwen

Gwen

24" x 18"

Oil on Wood Panel

[click on the image to enlarge]

Gwen has such a bubbly personality and I just smile when I see or think about her.

This painting presents a composition problem. It's undoubtedly a stronger portrait as a 3/4 study, however the boots are also such a part of her gestalt that I decided to include them in the painting.

It's part of the combination that makes 'Gwen' such a distinctive little girl.

So the smaller image is a cropped view of the actual painting, you can decide if I sacrificed too much clarity in the composition to include a full length work.

Madonna and Babe

Madonna and Babe

24" x 18"

Oil on wood Panel

Corrected and photographed for different portrait camera settings.

Madonna and Babe

Madonna and Babe

24" x 18"

Oil on wood panel

[click on the image to enlarge]

the painting is shown in two slightly different photographs

A Madonna painting is a painting of Mary, the Virgin mother of the Lord.  And by definition or tradition Mary is the dominant figure in the painting. She may be depicted alone or with the Infant or young Child.

So she is seen as the mother of the Savior and also to some she may be seen as a symbol of all mothers.

She is often seen with blue robes and at first it may seem very unlikely that from Mary's humble circumstances she would have such a robe. Nevertheless there is also a biblical injunction found in Numbers 15:38 regarding blue although this refers to the instruction to put a ribbon of blue on the bottom of the robe. [French Ultramarine in this painting]

Blue is also a color mentioned in detail in the priest's clothing and curtains of the tabernacle. This creates a symbolic connection between this color and divinity.

One might conclude that the traditional clothes therefore represent the glory of her person or of mothers and the transcend event represented - which can apply to either the birth of the Lord or the birth of any child into this life through mother.

The actual historical clothes may then have been muted earth tones and today mother may have plain clothes however the painting also represents how we feel about mothers, Mary and the Lord. What does it represent to us?

Red is also usually found on the inner clothing, in this case I choose to put it as a muted color in the swaddling clothes of the Infant, and the background has a transparent oxide red glaze. Red is also symbolic of many things.

I think that we can all identify in part with the feelings of mother as she gazes with some wonder at the new and precious spirit that has become mortal through her sacrifice.

We recently celebrated the birth of a child into our family circle which lead me to consider this painting. She is a wonderful model of mother. Emery Brock kindly modeled the robes and hair for me.

Lois

Lois

24" x 18"
Oil on wood Panel
[click on the image to enlarge]

This painting continues work with a modified Zorn palette.

I planned to do this by substituting Ultramarine Blue for the Ivory black in the palette however I soon realized that the ultramarine had too much warmth or reddish undertone to effectively create the dress.

The dress is Cerulean Blue based.

Lois is 85 years old this week. The painting is based on a photograph taken a few years ago.

You can also see that I'm experimenting with another background. It has some unifying effect because it was made with the blue and Yellow Ochre in several layers.

Happy Birthday, Lois.

Emmy

Emmy

15" x 15"
Oil on mdf panel
[click on the image to enlarge]

Emery is now 9 years old and a precious, wonderful young lady.

Technically this painting is done with what is sometimes called a Zorn palette. I wanted to try a portrait with this limited palette.

Anders Zorn, a Swedish artist, did much of his work in the nineteenth century. He was noted for beautiful skin tones in portraits and nudes. There is some controversy about exactly what his palette was and how often he used it but general agreement about the basic choices.

Overall I am pleased with the lustrous quality of Emery's portrait. I attribute that to the palette and some to a variation of glazing. I chose the mdf for the ultra smooth surface it provides.

Rebecca took the basic photograph that underlies this painting.

Orphans

Orphans

[after Thomas Kennington]

 

28" x 21"

Oil on Sandeply Panel

[click on the image to enlarge]

I decided to try painting another master copy. I struggled with Tennant's landscape but learned a good deal, so I wanted to try a portrait. I wanted to work on the face and skin qualities.

 

Thomas Benjamin Kennington painted Orphans in 1885. It hangs in the Tate in London, perhaps Morgan saw it.

Skin tones are always a challenge and this was doubly so. Both boys, but especially the right hand figure, have a strong yellow ochre hue. I don't know if this was deliberately done and part of their poverty depiction or if the medium or varnish has yellowed. The effect is somewhat lessened by contrast in that the background has yellow chroma and that makes the skin look less yellow

Additionally they are dirty, especially the feet, so one is trying to paint a reasonable skin tone and then make it looked 'dirty'. Well you usually get dirty, dull paint when you try mixing too many colors, so I was constantly checking to see if the skin was looking soiled or just muddy dull pigment.

I enjoyed working on the clothes, the background and ragged blanket.

The little boy looks directly out at us. However he does NOT expect us to be helpful or caring. He doesn't move or show any facial recognition. Truly his hands 'hang down'

I did take a small liberty with the broken dish in front of them, it is slightly altered from Kennington's original.

 The painting has a shifting perspective, or seems to, and the shelf in the upper right has a similar problem. The only viewpoint that makes any sense would be for the observer to be far to the right of the front of this scene [which also works better for the platform] but the rest of the setup doesn't fit that. Or the shelf must not be square but much wider in front than in the back otherwise we would see the face of the left edge - however it does work as an element which points towards the figures.

Similarly all the legs and arms lead one generally towards the small boy's face. And the larger boy's arms circle and touch the little one's face. It provides a great focus point and Kennington painted that face about two levels above my results. Perhaps that is why his is hanging in the Tate and mine is not.

The original is 40" x 30" [mine is 70% that size] so I console myself that Kennington could get more detail because he was working on a larger canvas - at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

I also realized from one of Brad Teare's comments that the only artist's paintings that I want to copy have been painted in a style similar to my own. I admire other great paintings but I don't want to paint them - at least not in a 'foreign' style. I would include in that group the current hyper-realistic or high-definition paintings.

Snowy Ridge

Snowy Ridge

16" x 20"
Oil on Canvas

[click on the image to enlarge]

This high country lake and mountain scene is set in springtime. It is located in Colorado although I have altered it a good deal for this painting.

As I've mentioned before green can be a problem in a landscape and I am pleased with the resolution here.

The water reflections include a couple that are relatively subtle and perhaps don't show enough in this photograph, however I think the eye senses them and it creates a feeling of 'realness'

One simple theme here carries the central mountain hues into other background rocks, and the flowers in the foreground and then nearly unseen it is also present in the rocks on the right front. [and very faintly as a water reflection]. All this creates some unity in the composition.

The dead tree creating a focus point and some tension in this painting was not in the original photograph.