Sunday, October 7, 2012

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Monday, July 23, 2012

A Sunflowers Journey...

as of Aug 17

First off, the painting is NOT done yet! I only wished to share some of the process involved, as I started this piece back in early June.
  It was time to re-use and old stretcher frame.


Here is the Sunflower as of July 21. Alot has gone into just getting it this far.
So much more to go...
 
...it all began because I wanted to use Fibonacci numbers in a sunflower painting. So once the canvas was stretched, the mathematics began. Argh.

Of course, being me, I also wanted texture. That meant filling in all the spaces between the lines, one gentle drop after another, going from both directions. This took more than a little time. Especially because I decided to do it twice. There just was not enough texture for me after the first pass, and I am a glutton for punishment.

Then it was getting the petal base coat on. Went fairly smoothly after the eye-numbing texture part!


Finally I could start to add color, once all the base coats had dried. I thought it would be nice to paint outside in the sun as I worked on the petals...the wind had other ideas, and after I had just painted the last bit of yellow, boom, down goes the canvas face first onto the concrete. It took me 3 hours to clean every spec of dirt out.

So then it was time to add more depth to the seed area. After this became brain chilling, I switched to getting some fill color in and the start of a basic background.
Was feeling pretty good about the progress at this point, knowing I have many hours left to really make it all sparkle. So Saturday I was once again outside, with flower firmly attached to the easel this time and got much accomplished.

So 2 months in, a fair bit done, a fair bit to go, the journey continues...

Thursday, May 3, 2012

WORK AS IT PROGRESSES




From rough charcoal sketch to the glazing as it stands now. Grampas drill is coming along.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Its a Seasonal Thing


Four canvases for one painting of one tree through winter, spring, summer, fall, and back again.



The pieces on the wall.


As they were painted.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

THISBE RETURNS!

30 x 40
Currently doing one of my favorite pieces, Thisbe. Pyramis is here now too, re-united are the young lovers.

Pyramus and Thisbe is the story of two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses/walls, forbidden by their parents to be wed, because of their parents' rivalry. Through a crack in one of the walls, they whisper their love for each other. They arrange to meet near at Ninus' tomb under a mulberry tree and state their feelings for each other. Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a lioness with a mouth bloody from a recent kill, she flees, leaving behind her veil. The lioness drinks from a nearby fountain, then by chance mutilates the veil Thisbe had left behind. When Pyramus arrives, he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe's veil, assuming that a fierce beast had killed her. Pyramus kills himself, falling on his sword in proper Roman fashion, and in turn splashing blood on the white mulberry leaves. Pyramus' blood stains the white mulberry fruits, turning them dark. Thisbe returns, eager to tell Pyramus what had happened to her, but she finds Pyramus' dead body under the shade of the mulberry tree. Thisbe, after a brief period of mourning, stabs herself with the same sword. In the end, the gods listen to Thisbe's lament, and forever change the colour of the mulberry fruits into the stained colour to honour the forbidden love.