Michael has Left the Building...

...and he has taken the dragon with him!  My latest commission was a real challenge for me because it involved imagination, but also some knowledge of the story of Michael the archangel and the 7-headed dragon.  The client didn't want me to follow the story exactly, which made it a little easier. But it has been a long time since I created a dragon, and I was a little rusty. I did a lot of research, both on dragons, and archangels, and my client did as well. I borrowed some of the background for the dragon from Raphael's version.

Michael was a little easier for me as he was more in keeping with my specialty, portraits.  My client didn't want the typical image of Michael that you see in Raphael's depiction or that of many other artists.  She had very specific ideas, the main one being she wanted him in Medieval-style armor, descending from Heaven rather than fighting the dragon on the ground, as I had him doing in my original sketch.  I borrowed Michael's  pose from a version by Esther Sanz. So above, right, is the final image.

This was one of the most intense commissions I've ever had.  At times I felt completely out of my realm and overwhelmed by the enormity of the project.  I believe there was some divine intervention, however, when my darling studio cat, Gracie, decided to leap onto my palette, which skidded out from under her, knocked over the water bucket, sending the bucket, brushes and water crashing to the floor.  Although none of the dirty water landed on the painting, it did splash everywhere else, including all the drawers of my caddy, so not only did I have to stop to mop the floor, I also had to remove everything from the drawers and dry them.  I know God was watching over either me, the cat or both!

And now I move on...here's what's currently on the easel:  This is Tara, a beautiful yellow lab.  It feels good to get back to painting pets!

Through the Looking Glass

In my continued quest to learn all I can about art marketing, I've come across TONS of information. But the one that peaked my interest the most (well, at this time, anyway) suggested posting earlier artworks--I'm talking like back in the stone age when I first picked up a paint brush.  Well I can't go back THAT far because, silly me, I didn't keep any refrigerator art from my school days (and neither, apparently, did my mother) but I did head down to the studio/basement/garage and started pulling out old portfolios and files, canvases that were stacked along the wall--and discovered a small treasure trove of old work, student work, canvases I'd started and, for various reasons, either lost interest in or got stuck and quit.  Not only did I find paintings I'd literally forgotten about, but with each new discovery, I became inspired again.

I found an early self-portrait (above left), which not only made me laugh, but also reminded me of those early painting days. Back then, I didn't think as much about what I was doing.  I just jumped right down the rabbit hole and did it! And I think jumping in without a lot of thought isn't necessarily a bad thing. For me, anyway, because I have a tendency to over-think things and then I get so wrapped up in the thinking that I lose interest in the painting. I'm not saying there's no value in art education, workshops, etc.  I've benefited from all that. But I think you can spend way too much time analyzing, planning and critiquing, and before you know it you've lost all the emotion and freshness, as well as maybe some of the joy of painting.

Where Shall I Go
Watercolor Collage
by Stephanie Allison

Which brings me to why taking a step back and rummaging through earlier art is beneficial to your art marketing:  it's easier to sell artwork you are passionate about.  If you are brimming with enthusiasm over something you've created, your potential customers will feel that joy as well.  Sometimes (and I am guilty of this) we spend too much time painting what we THINK will sell, and pay no attention to what has actually SOLD and, more importantly, why.  So looking through my old stuff helped me see what I was passionate about and what I'm still passionate about. Digging through the bones of earlier artwork also showed me how I've grown as an artist--where I've been, and where I want to go.

Now I may have arrived late at this revelation, but I suspect I'm not the only one.  Lesson learned:  stepping through the looking glass into the past can re-ignite a lost or buried creative spark.  It has for me!

White Pitcher, Grapes and St. Michael the Archangel

Had to take some time away from daily painting to work on another study for my commission, St. Michael the archangel killing the dragon. But I managed to fit this little one in today--it's a 5 x 7, in acrylics.
       Now back to St. Michael:  below is the study I did--it's pretty rough.  I did quite a bit of research but most of the paintings depicting St. Michael made him look very feminine and unrealistic in the sense that he looked more like he was posing rather than about to unload on a 7-headed beast.  So I ended up using a baseball stance combined with sort of a samurai warrior pose to get what I've depicted here.  I've still got a lot of fine-tuning to do, and I've asked the client to determine hair color.  I may end up changing the outfit too--depends on what the client wants.

 But I feel I've made progress.  I will have to work on both paintings simultaneously so there's a smooth transition from one panel to the other.

So now it's back to the 30/30 challenge until I get the go ahead from my client.  I'm now 12 paintings behind. Oh well....I'm still having fun.

The Walking Stick -- Daily Painting #9

Yesterday  was day #9 (for me, anyway) in the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days challenge.  The "rules" don't say, specifically, that you have to paint 30 paintings in JANUARY, just 30 paintings in 30 days. So...I've fallen behind the group's schedule, but I'm not alone in that, and I think the idea is to paint daily--or frequently, if you can.  So that's pretty much what I'm doing.  Yesterday's painting was a real challenge for me.  I've had a wooden panel laying around in the studio for several months and I decided to paint on that. Eeks! I've never painted on wood before, but I figured, in keeping with my word-of-the-year "explore" I would give it a go.  I gessoed the wood first, then when it was dry began painting. I quickly realized that even with 2 coats of gesso, the wood was soaking up the acrylics. They were drying too fast.  The acrylic medium helped--but I still found it difficult to blend and smooth edges--so this painting has a more painterly, maybe even plein-air look to it--which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I think the colors ended up more dull than I'd hoped.  Since I don't know much about painting on wood, maybe that is typical.

Overall, it was --well, not so much fun as informative and I doubt I'll paint on wood panels again. But hey, if I hadn't, then I wouldn't know, right?



Pulling an All Nighter -- Am I Crazy?

Came up from the studio at 5:00 a.m. this morning--boy, was that a surprise as I was so absorbed in painting I had no clue what time it was! Hubby and all the fur critters were fast asleep, and when I looked at the clock (I don't have a working clock in the studio, except for the computer) I remembered how I used to pull all nighters in the good ol' days--back when I was young enough that it didn't matter what time I went to bed. It felt good, but I suppose I'll pay for it later. But, I finished this little piece--from a photo taken awhile back, when we were doing the horse show circuit.  This was at the Lawrenceburg horse show. We used to plan our summers based on the saddlebred horse show schedule--if it's May, we're in Asheville; June at Rock Creek, July in Lexington, etc.  It was fun and I miss those days!

So this is painting #6 of the 30/30 challenge. I may have to take a break today, as it's already noon and I am just now waking up!
As always, if you'd like me to capture one of your fond memories or a loved one on canvas, give me a holla' and let's talk! Have a good one!

 

Many moons ago I went back home to Fulton, New York and went to a Renaissance Faire that was held in Sterling, I think.  Anyway,  I took a bunch of photographs thinking that one day I might actually paint from one of them.  Well, today I did.  The photograph was actually not very good--too dark, a little out of focus. But looking at it, I remembered why I'd taken the photo in the first place--I loved the woman's face!  She really "looked" the part of a musician (actually,I was thinking more of a milk-maid type, but what do I know?).  So, since I'm still hanging in on the 30/30 challenge (although I'm technically 4 paintings behind), I decided to paint this lady. 

     My word for the new year is "explore," and that's what I did with this painting.  I have a really difficult time with flesh tones. Maybe that's because I've started thinking more about them than I used to. I'm one of those painters who doesn't really plan out a painting: I just jump right in. And that can lead to problems--as in getting the right color flesh tones, or running out of room because I didn't think about spacing....Well,  I've got a ton of books on color and portrait painting, and they all have basic formulas for flesh tones, but somewhere in the middle of making puddles of flesh colors, I forget what I'm doing (because I'm so caught up in the actually PAINTING), that I end up just slapping on color.  But this time, even though I was deviating from the formulas, I figured why not "explore" and see what happens.  And that's what you see above--an exploration of color in flesh tones.  I used yellow ochre, burnt umber, raw sienna,  alizarin crimson, veridian, cad red light, cad red medium--even threw in some ultramarine blue and thalo green....oh, and a little bit of violet too.  Probably not the best way to do a portrait, but I'm pretty pleased with the result.  Might even do a larger version of this one day.  Check back tomorrow for painting #6!

 

 

 

Full Speed Ahead--Commissions & the Holidays

Wow, the month of October literally FLEW past for me--I've been busy, busy, busy with commissions and jewelry and trying to squeeze in a few moments for "playing" in the studio.  But I'm nearing crunch time, so I think the playing is going to have to take a back seat for awhile. I have several commissioned portraits in the works and only a week left till Trims & Whims to finish up the jewelry I've been working on.  Yikes!  But I've discovered over the years that I seem to do my best work under pressure--and a deadline!  Reminds me of my college days, when I'd wait until the night before a major paper was due to start writing it.  Guess I enjoy living dangerously!

Back in October, I posted a work-in-progress of 2 beautiful dogs: Prescott and Fallon.  I thought it might be cool to show the progress of this painting.  Here is the initial stage (left) where I just blocked in the shapes and colors on the canvas.
And on the right is the current stage.  I've added in some eye detail, worked on refining the coat on the retriever, and worked in some color on the background.  When I paint, I like to move all over the canvas. It helps tie everything together, plus keeps me from focusing too much on one spot, which can create problems. In the next stage, I will finish up the eyes on both dogs, continue to refine their coats, and finally finish off the background.  I'll post the completed painting next time! 

A couple of weeks ago, I finished the portrait of Kirby(left) for Kitty Key.   This was a birthday gift for her sister. I hope she liked it!

Well, that's it for now. I'll post photos of my new jewelry creations as soon as I can--and of course, the works in progress. I have 2 "people" portraits I'm working on and several more pet portraits coming up.  I love it!!

Two WIPs and a Cat!

Wow...the ol' brushes are really getting a workout these days. I continue to work on the commission of the two Pekingese, concentrating primarily on their eyes. The client wanted the dogs' tails more prominent, so that's what I'm working now.  Here's a pic of the Pekingese work-in-progress:


Also on the easel this week are a couple of portraits I plan to donate to the Shelby County No-Kill Mission. The first one is Cheyenne, a beautiful kitten up for adoption at the Shelby County Animal Shelter.  Isn't she adorable?  Bet she'd be nice and cuddly during these chilly September nights!

And finally, still a work-in-progress, is Woody, also up for adoption at the Shelby County Animal Shelter.  I'll post a pic of the completed painting as soon as it's done.

Meanwhile, if you're in Shelbyville this Saturday, September 10, I will be one of the vendors at the Lifebridge Mutt Show and Rover Run at the Shelby County Fairgrounds.  Lifebridge is another organization whose mission is to educate young children about being good pet parents.  The Mutt Show is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  I will be stationed in Floral Hall, and would love for you to stop by and check out more of my work, and enjoy the other events as well! Admission is free!

WIP -- Pekingese pups!

Took a break from playing with clay and beads to start this pet portrait of two adorable Pekingese:  Buddy and Lucky.  I'm using acrylics for this one, and I've just blocked in the images, not worrying too much about details yet.  Painting a black dog is very challenging--if you really look at black dogs, they aren't completely black.  This  dog also has very dark eyes--but we also know, don't we, that black eyes do have color in them--ya just gotta look! 

This is just the first pass with color. I'll be adding more details and have asked the client for his input--after all, who knows the dogs better than the owner?  I want to make sure the viewer gets a feel for the dogs' personalities. I will be lightening up the background a little, too, so the black dog shows better. 

It's good to be back in the studio. I have so many ideas for paintings as well as jewelry--I can't possibly do it all. I need to clone myself--several times! 

Check back soon for progress photos and maybe some new jewelry pieces. I've been experimenting with the Millifiori technique with polymer clay.  Will post photos soon.

It's Sooooo Good to be Back!

It's been a long time, but I am finally getting back into my studio, and back to writing.  I have several paintings in the works that are in various stages of completion.  Last week I was able to spend a couple of hours in the studio, and couldn't decide which painting to work on...the portrait of Charlie, my dog, or the Irish landscape scenic, or the purple pansies...too many choices.  I opted to work on the Irish landscape, but not enough so you'd notice. I'll post a picture when I've made more progress.

Meanwhile, today I attended a wonderful writing workshop, sponsored by Clear Creek Writers in Shelbyville, KY.  "Confessions of Working Writers II" was led by author Annie Jones, with authors Ann Gabhart, Virginia Smith and Sherry Chandler conducting short breakout sessions throughout the day.  The keynote speaker was Laura Resnick, who writes science fiction, romance, fantasy and creative non-fiction.  It was a wonderful day, well attended, and I left with a new perspective on my budding writing career.  Lots to think about, and you may see some changes in this blog, as I try to incorporate some of the things I learned from these talented writers. Here are some links to the writers and the two writers' groups I belong to. I highly recommend you check them out! 

Clear Creek Writers
Green River Writers
Annie Jones or Dear Helen Hartman
Laura Resnick, Ann Gabhart, Virginia Smith and Sherry Chandler

Since I am still here on earth, I guess I wasn't raptured, so please check back in a day or so for more updates!