One of my grandaughters asked me to sew a pink fleece bunting for her doll, after I had made a purple one for her sister’s doll. I made it and sent it to her and this painting is based on the photo that her mother took for me.
I like the look of quiet concentration as she inspects it. I enjoyed working with the soft and muted colors and using a palette knife for her hair.
My painting of my grandson, titled ‘Happy’, was awarded 2nd place in Painting at the River City Art Association Annual Juried Show! This is the third year I have entered paintings, but the first time I’ve been able to attend the Opening and Awards ceremony. It was exciting and I was delighted!
The Show is up for the month of August at the First Financial Bank, 6th Street, Terre Haute, IN. The award winners will be moved to the Springhill Branch for the month of September.
12 x 16, oil
This is a family member, from a photo I took several years ago. She is an elegant, well-dressed person and I feel I captured that look. However, the colors didn’t seem right until I glazed her facial shadows with what seemed like outrageous yellows and oranges and suddenly it came to life!
Copy of a painting by a Master, oil, 12 x 12 ins
This is another painting completed in a series of lessons with Kari Rajkumar. The original is a self-portrait by John Singleton Copley, a famous and well-established Colonial artist, who moved to London in 1774. I’m afraid I made him look slightly chubbier in the cheeks than he painted himself, but the process was absorbing and instructive.
This is the third time I have painted this portrait. I tried one in Acrylic layers, one in oil and now this second try in oil. I’m glad I persisted as I like this one best! I have been working on more accurate color checking and subtleties of changes in value and temperature.
Painted in glazes.
8 x 8 in, oil on linen panel. Always a delight to paint.
This was exciting! My painting ‘All In It Together’ was selected to be part of this year’s juried Exhibition at the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, www.swope.org.
The show is open to artists in Indiana and the surrounding states of Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio. Out of over 400 entries 76 were selected for display. I was delighted to be included!
We went along to view the Exhibition today. It was great to see all the paintings and sculptures in reality. It was inspiring!
I painted this using the acrylic glazing method-many very thin layers so that the color gradually builds up. The background and much of the hair was painted with thicker, opaque layers.
She is moving fast, enjoying the bright sunshine and outdoor activity. Just like her movement, her youth will seem to have flown by so fast. One flash and she’ll be grown up!
Oil on Board, 12 x 16, 90 minutes
This was a delight to paint during these grey and rainy days!
Recently I tried two more one hour portraits, but this time from photos I’d taken in the past year. They were useful studies, again with good learning experiences involved. The process forces quick decisions, and sometimes they are wrong! In the first picture, the angle of the face should be tipped forward more. (I used this study as a practice for a more finished painting).
In the second painting, the general positioning is good, but the eyes are too low, even though I was comparing distances with the end of my paintbrush. However, she has the right look of intensity and concentration. I’d like to do this one again as a more finished painting.
They are both oil , 11 x 14, painted on canvas board (toned chromium oxide green).
marymayhewart 