Here is Dante again after several hours. The proportions got reworked a bit, the background darkened, and more paint added all over. The eye on the right is a little weird, but the paint is too wet to respond to any commands from a brush!
Dante
This is a commissioned piece in progress of a magnificent German Shepherd. The customer is unable to see my emailed photos, so I am showing it to him in this fashion. You all can peek over our shoulders – we don’t mind!
Dancing Feet on eBay!
Sierra Swinney is 15 years old and has lived in Three Rivers her entire life. Ballet seems like an odd obsession for someone who loves to backpack with her dad in the local mountains, but Sierra has been dancing since she was four and dreams of becoming a professional ballerina. She has been accepted to the American Ballet Theatre’s summer program in Alabama, and this little painting is for auction on eBay to help pay her way. You can go to eBay and bid on it now, and let’s make lots of money for Sierra!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110554193307#ht_500wt_896
Happy Customer!
More commissions
The German Shepherd is named Dante, and there is no rush, thank goodness! I’ve never painted an animal before, so I’ll need all the time that the customer will allow me to learn how. The almost blank canvas will become redbud blooms. And the dancing feet deserve their own photo, because this is a special little project for my dancing friend, Sierra Swinney.
Sierra has been accepted into some Big Deal Ballet Thing in Alabama this summer and it will cost her a ton of money. When this 4×6″ painting is finished, I will auction it on eBay and the money we earn will help her get to the Big Deal. (Yes, I know it is called something else, but more will have to be revealed in a later posting.)
Last Saturday at the Art Co-op
The title doesn’t mean that the Co-op is closing – it means, well, never mind, it means last Saturday. Anyway, there were several of us who set ourselves up outside to show and sell our wares. My things were off to the left through that gate.
A nice man named Patrick brought some pruning shears and we took care of those errant acacia branches so I could paint without getting slapped in the back of the head. That would have been a serious distraction. The poppy painting got very detailed as you can see:
If you compare it to the entry on May 29 you can see the tremendous improvement. Looks a bit overly bright in this photo. After this dries I will add touches of lupine color in the background and put in lacy poppy leaves . It has to be dry before I try those, because they are very specific and if I mess them up, I want to be able to remove them without wiping out a flower!
Get ‘er done!
These paintings are finished and just drying. The top one is for an upcoming show at the Creative Center in Visalia; Sawtooth with lupine and the snow scene are commissions. The little square is a view of Timber Gap with flowers in the foreground – this is the 3rd time I’ve painted it (but with little changes) because it sells quickly. The 8×10 of Farewell Gap is a wedding gift – unless the parents of the bride decide to keep it! (just kidding, K & T!) Wow! 4 of these 5 are of Mineral King!
the painting process
A former drawing student and good friend asked me to paint poppies for her entry-way. Because she is also a weaver and a student of the Fibonacci principle, she had definite (and good) ideas about the design. After much discussion, this is what I drew for her:
Scary, hunh? Good this you know that I can draw, or you might be doubting my abilities as an artist after seeing this!
N okayed the sketch, so I put it on the canvas.
Good thing you know I can paint, or you might be really worried at this point! I decided that the 2 flowers on the bottom are too close in size and too evenly placed, so as I applied the second layer of paint, I made slight adjustments.
Which end is up?
There are several commissioned paintings that need to be done before the mural begins. This is not one of them – it is a commission, but the commissioner said, “No Hurry”. (music to my ears!) He has a great 16×20″ photo of Sawtooth with Mineral Peak behind it and has been wanting a painting. His vision is a panorama shaped painting on wrapped canvas. I looked up available sizes, and he chose 18×36″. I cropped his photo using brown craft paper and began to outline the shapes in a gray-blue color.
Next, I turned both pieces upside down, changed to a reddish brown, and corrected the shapes. Sounds crazy, but it works! Why? When it is right side up my brain tells my eye “You know what Sawtooth looks like; just draw it!” When it is upside down, my eye says “A little longer here, a little wider there, this is in line with that, that is to the right of this. . .” while my brain says, “Hunh?”
Designing a mural
The most important information I needed before beginning the design was the wall dimensions. Those numbers showed me the proportions of the design, and allowed me to see how big the picture needed to be in order to have a human look the right size while standing in front of the mural. I decided 5′-6″ was the average height and found that spot on the scaled down version of the wall. Then I spread out all my photos. After I saw how many there were, I might have had to go into the house for a knitting break and a bit of chocolate. (But I can quit any time I want.)
There were many more than this, but you probably get the idea without having to see them all.
