Friday, May 28, 2010

"Chickadee On Cattail" 10" x 20" Oil on panel




I've had this design in my head for a few days now, after seeing a photo of another bird on a cattail stalk. It wasn't a chickadee and this painting looks nothing like the photo, but it definitely planted the seed of the idea.


Also, I wanted to do something different with it, in terms of the format. Therefore, the "mat" is actually a border which I painted with Acrylics. By doing this, I was able to "extend" the bird's tail, leaf and stalk forward, giving it a very pronounced 3-dimensional feel.


I've done this type of theme many times over the years and there's no doubt that it is popular with my customers.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Recent Commission


This was painted from a client's photo, which was taken from the veranda of their Florida home.

It was an absolutely wonderful photo and when I was asked to recreate it on canvas, I could hardly wait to get started. The sway of the grasses actually made me feel the slight breeze on my face.

Sometimes a photo or painting can "send" the viewer there, right to the location of the scene and this photo did that for me.

This is Oils on a 24" x 30" Gallery Wrap canvas ( 1-1/2" thick ) with painted edges, so it's rather impressive in person, just due to the bigger size.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on this!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Knife Paintings




Here are a couple of smaller paintings I did today, using only painting knives. Sometimes, I like to approach things with a looser style and forgo some of the finer details.


The knives always yield a more impressionistic result.


I also tend to use brighter colors when I paint this way, since I'm trying to achieve something not quite so "literal". It's fun to push the envelope a little.


If you're in a painting rut, or itching to do something different, give this knife approach a try.


Just have fun with it and see what develops!