Spontaneous abstract

Yesterday I decided to do an impromptu abstract. 24x36 acrylic on wooden panel with brushes. No specific inspiration- it just sort of began taking shape as I worked! Loving some abstract these days!

Baby Caleb

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to paint a mural for the nursery of some friends and soon to be parents. I always feel its a complement when someone trusts me to paint their WALLS!
The inspiration was the sea life bedding, and they wanted some friendly creatures, coral, etc to grace the walls of the nursery. This was such a fun project, and we can't wait to meet sweet baby Caleb!

Artfields

I'm very excited to be a part of the inaugural Artfields competition!

"ArtFields is a first-of-its-kind, Epic Southern Artfest Competition and Celebration to be held in the historic community of Lake City, South Carolina. The 10-day event will feature live music, dancing, delicious Southern foods and we will award a life changing $100,000 in cash prizes to winning artists". 

-www.artfieldssc.org

I'm one of the 400 finalist- with work to be exhibited from April 19-27. There is a "people's choice award", for which you must be present to vote, and I'd love it if any of you are (or know someone) in or near Lake City could make it by to cast a vote! My painting "Main Street" depicting Main St. United Methodist in Dillon, SC (The church in which I was raised and married) will be exhibited at Gloria's Antiques on Main Street in Lake City.

You can learn more at http://www.artfieldssc.org/, and you can view my work in the online venue gallery at http://www.artfieldssc.org/portfolio_1349969562/glorias-antiques-and-gifts/

I was very excited to get a little publicity this week!!! Check out the links below.

The Gazette of Goose Creek published this article:

http://www.ourgazette.com/article/20130418/OG27/130419606/0/OG&slId=1

The Summerville Journal Scene featured local participants in an article you can see here: http://www.journalscene.com/article/20130416/SJ27/130419729/1042/local-artists-vying-for-100k-in-artfields

Spread the word, and thanks for reading!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday! The first painting in this post I've been slow finishing, but it's one of my favorite commissions ever- I was really excited about he outcome. It is 16x20 acrylic on canvas! I've been tinkering with his one since January, just painting. Little at a time... You can see earlier stages in the previous post.

The second painting is rotated 90 degrees, sorry about that. This was done start to finish his afternoon, just because... Brian jokes that I am obsessed with pumpkins, and I know his is out of season, but I've been wanting to do this since fall! Better late than never. It is 11x14 acrylic on wooden panel. I think I have some minor tweaks to make to this, specifically in the vine and stalks. I'll post the finished product soon! Thanks for reading!!!

Oh and the last picture is Sadie doing what she loves to do best in my studio- that's look at the neighbors cat!!! See the cat?

Work in progress...

16x20 acrylic on canvas. I'll post more about this piece as I finish, but for now I just wanted to give you a glimpse into the studio activity over the last few weeks!

To get you caught up....

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! To bring you up to speed, below are several Christmas commissions. I'll walk you through them.

A friend commissioned this as a gift for his wife- it is a tree that is very special to her family. 16x20 acrylic on stretched canvas.  First the photographs: 

The painting in progress:

 and completed: 

Closer view:

The next painting was a commission from a friend for a family member. I loved the photograph with the trees in the background. This is 11x14 acrylic on stretched canvas.

Next: a friend commissioned a painting of their dog as a gift for her husband. 11x14 acrylic on stretched canvas.  I painted the whole canvas gray/blue, then transferred my drawing to the canvas with tracing paper which helped so much! Sometimes I erase so many times and redraw that by the time I get  around to painting, there is so much smudge and so many lines I forget what is what!

Background in:

Beginning the darkest parts of the coat:

Finishing up the head:

Finished:

Closer view:

This was commissioned by a friend getting married as a wedding gift for her husband in November: 11x14 acrylic on stretched canvas. I love dogs on the beach! First the photo:

Then the painting:

Next is a pair of paintings commissioned by my aunt as a gift for my uncle- love them! One is of second battalion, one is of the chapel. Both are 11x14 acrylic on stretched canvas (the most popular size right now).
I began by painting the background blue before I did the drawings.

I ended up making the blue a little more gray, I guess after I took the photo. I painted these side-by-side, working on them simultaneously, so that the colors would be the same. Unlike oils, acrylics dry in minutes, so I didn't want to remix colors- I want them to read as a pair. The underlying blue is left in spots shining through, which not only unifies the composition of the individual pictures, but ties them together.

Finished pair:

Closer views of each painting:

This next painting was commissioned by a friend as a gift for her boyfriend- of a cabin that is particularly special to his family! Also 11x14 acrylic on stretched canvas, I began with a red base before the drawing:

I got pretty nervous about the red, thought I might have to go back and redo it because it was too bold, but then I fell in love with it as i started layering the colors on top of it! I chose red because I wanted it to feel very warm and inviting!

Sorry this one rotated itself in uploading!

And here is is finished:

Closer view:

A few paintings I was working on at once in the corner of the studio:

This is a 36x48 acrylic on stretched canvas painting, a Christmas gift for my maternal grandparents for their place at the beach! This is the photo I worked from:

This is actually more coral/less red. Nana has pillows this color in her living room, where I knew the painting would hang. I did the drawing on top of the wash. THIS was a stretch, because the photograph is predominantly cool colors. I really wasn't sure it would work.

Background water wash:

blocking in the heron:

Some feather detail:

Adding marsh and mud:

working some corals into the heron:

Finishing the head and working some coral into the background:

A zoomed-in view:

Special thanks to my Dad for holding the painting so I could photograph it outside:

A 36x36 acrylic on stretched canvas painting- more blue herons. These were a Christmas gift for my parents! I didn't document the early progress, but it was very similar to the one above. This is where it was before the finishing touches:

And finished:

Closer view of the herons:

The full painting finished:

Next is a 36x48 acrylic on stretched canvas- a Christmas gift for my paternal grandparents. I began with a brown wash, no drawing.

Blocking in the composition and the shape of the marsh by painting in the sky and most of the water.

the pluff mud:

the base layer of marsh grass:

lightening up and adding some trees in the distance:

darkening the water in the foreground:

I thought I took a better final picture of this last one- next time I go to Dillon I will, and will post!

Thanks for hanging in there with the really long post! I have 2 commissions to get going on in 2013, but hoping at some point to get caught up with them and maybe develop a body of work that isn't 100% commission driven. THAT'S my new years resolution! Thanks for reading!