"Anna Claire"

10x8 in Oil on Linen Panel

Yes, her eyes are really that blue!

Mike

10x8 in. Oil on Linen Panel

You have seen this face before in my "Sage and the Sea."

This is the first of my Daily Faces series.  Nothing motivates me to paint more than human faces.  I look for the beauty in any face.  It is always there.  For the first of my Daily Faces, I have chosen my handsome husband.  It was fun putting the twinkle in his eye!  (Yes, I can hear the jokes already.)

My plan is to publish a book of Daily Faces, featuring friends, family, fellow artists, fellow choir members, neighbors...  I will offer the paintings for sale, and make the book available to order at a reasonable price.  

How I love painting people!

Lorraine Nora

20x16" Oil on Stretched Linen
SOLD

Lorraine Nora is the grandmother of my Number One Nephew's wife.  Lorraine's family calls her "Bobo" (Chinese pronunciation is "Baba").  I have never met Lorraine, but I will tell you what I know about her.  In her eighties, she attended her beautiful granddaughter's destination wedding in Mexico, sponsored a family skydiving excursion in California, in which she PARTICIPATED, and somewhere along the way went ZIP LINING.  In every photo I studied for this portrait, she has a joyful expression.  In the photo of this particular pose, she is leaning toward her new great-granddaughter (my great-niece!)  It is evident that Bobo is beloved by her devoted family, and I suspect by all who have known her.

Lorraine has been in hospice for the past few weeks.  My sister commissioned this portrait as a gift for her daughter-in-law,  and yesterday I spent the majority of the day, on into the night until 3am working on it.  This morning, I sent a photo of the portrait to my sister, and subsequently learned that Bobo had passed away early this morning.   No, I have never met Lorraine Nora, but I feel honored and humbled to have spent the last several hours of her life studying her sweet, lovely face.

Smoke Break

18x24" Oil on Stretched Linen
SOLD

A re-post of last week's painting with many adjustments.  The painting was inspired by a photograph of the subject as he was leaning against a white wall, next to a flat white door.  This wall was in a breezeway, with indirect sunlight coming from two different directions, resulting in a flat appearance with little contrast in light and dark.  One strong source of light creates believable dimension.  Had to get creative here...

Smoke Break

18x24" Oil on Stretched Linen

SOLD

One of several of my paintings which will be in a show at The Craft Guild of Dallas in May.  The subject is Kip Maley, an artist who teaches at The Guild, creating beautiful art with molten glass.  Both of my sisters, Lorie and Sheila, will have pottery in the show. A few of their pieces are subjects in some of my still life paintings.  Lorie snapped this photo (one of several I used for this composition), and having met Kip, who is a joy to know, I knew I wanted to paint this scene.

Idalia Grace

14x16" Oil on Stretched Linen

Commissioned Work - Not For Sale

After John Singer Sargent.  (I hope Sargent is still peaceful after that statement, not rolling over in his resting place.)  On a recent trip to the Dallas Museum of Art, I saw Sargent's "Dorothy", which he painted in 1900.  I borrowed the red background, altered the dress, and modernized the headwear. Dorothy's hat would be way over the top for a little girl today!  

In several of the photographs I studied for this painting, I observed that Idalia Grace was usually holding some sort of object in both hands, so this seemed to be a natural pose for her.  Her maternal grandmother, Raydell, brainstormed with the family to determine what object would be recognized and considered dear to the child.  It seems that baby Idalia Grace (called Edee by Grandmother Raydell) was very attached to the the cloths known in Switzerland as "nuscheli".

Idalia Grace was named after her paternal grandmother, Idalia, who spends time visiting her daughter in Switzerland.   "Nuscheli" is a Swiss term for what were originally made to be cloth diapers.  Now they are very colorful and embellished with appliqués of animals, flowers and whatnot, worn as bandanas and headpieces, or made into puppets.  Most often, nuscheli are clutched in the tiny hands of babes who are comforted by the softness of the cloth as they are falling asleep.

I will post "Idalia Grace" on Daily Paintworks as my response to "The Picasso It Challenge".  The challenge is to paint in the style of a painter you admire.  It was indeed a pleasure to study not only this sweet face, but also to delve into the paintings of a master portrait artist via books, the internet, and art museums.  So much beauty to behold...

Edee ~ Portrait Study

8x10" Oil on Canvas Paper

This is a study for a commission I will begin tomorrow.  What a sweet face to contemplate for hours on end!  The larger portrait will be 14x16".

Cat's Eyes

Not For Sale

11x11" Oil on Stretched Linen

Painted from a photograph that my stepdaughter, Catherine, posted on Facebook a few years ago. My very first thought upon seeing the photograph was, "Amazing eyes!"  Actually, Catherine has an amazing face with the kind of distinctive features that inspire a portrait artist to paint.  Catherine Nichols was born in London, England, and is also an artist in Pensacola, Florida.  

Mirth

Not for sale.
14x11" Oil on Stretched Canvas

As I was painting "Yellow Roses", I received an email from my friend, Henry, who offered some friendly advice regarding my painting subjects:
                   "More faces,
                     Fewer vases."
Here you go, Henry . . .
About three years ago, I did a photo shoot with my mother.  She had been visiting from Dallas for a couple of weeks and was about to fly back home.   I sat Mom by a window with strong indirect light and proceeded to take pictures - about 40 in all.  Her expression changed according to the subject of our conversation.  She became sad when she spoke of my father, with whom she shared 50 years of marriage until he passed away a few years back.  My sister called in the middle of the shoot, and I put her on speaker phone while I continued snapping photos.  At the time, Mom was living with my sister.  Our conversation became friendly bantering about who was Mom's favorite daughter.  Of course, I was the favorite in that moment in time because I was treating her like a movie star, not to mention the two weeks of pampering, shopping, pedicures and such!  I painted this portrait from a photo that was taken during that conversation with my sister.  I will post it on http://dailypaintworks.com as part of the "Paint an Emotion Challenge".  My mother was 79 at the time and is now 82.  I knew I had captured her likeness when I saw the twinkle in her eyes!

Yellow Roses

9x7" Oil on Canvas Panel

Yellow roses signify friendship.  Yellow roses with red tips, sometimes called "Hearts Afire",  are said to signify new love.  These roses were my Valentine's Day gift to my best friend, my husband.

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Perrier Jouet et des Fleurs

11x11" Oil on Stretched Linen

Nearly fifteen years ago, my husband and I received this very special bottle of champagne as a wedding gift.  It came with a set of hand-painted champagne glasses, in a beautiful gift box.  I thought these Japanese magnolias looked nice with the painted flowers.  I have gotten a lot of mileage out of the Beauty Roses.  It seemed fitting to paint them one more time, certainly on Valentine's Day.  Mike was surprised and pleased that I had kept the bottle, and even more pleased to see me painting this scene.  I enjoyed a lovely dinner with my valentine!

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Natalie

Not For Sale
12x9" Oil on Stretched Canvas

While painting a portrait of my sister several years ago, I began to see her son's likeness.  That is when I knew I was on the right track.  As I painted Natalie, it was encouraging to see the resemblance to her mother, whom I painted over twenty years ago.  This is done from a photograph which I took last summer on the beach.  My great-niece, Natalie.  Precious child.

Romance

11x14" Oil on Linen Panel

The atomizer you see here was a white elephant item at a party I attended a couple of days ago.  I knew I would build a painting around it!

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Six Beauties

The rose . . . ancient symbol of love and beauty. 

 10x8" Oil on Linen Panel

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Lamplight

16x20" Oil on Stretched Linen

Getting a lot of mileage out of that lacy skirt posing as a curtain.  The play of light on the layers of fabric is so delicious!  You artists understand that.

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Breezy Morning

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14x16" Oil on Stretched Linen

Before attempting my previous painting, "Morning Sunlight", I Googled morning sunlight through a window, and found just the kind of effect I was looking for in Peter Johan Kraft's "Morning Sunlight".  I borrowed his open window for "Breezy Morning"

http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/Peter-Johan-Kraft/Morning-Sunlight.html

Today, I decided to take another look before beginning "Breezy Morning".  It was a kick to Google "Morning Sunlight" and find my own painting among the images!

Morning Sunlight

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12x16" Oil on Stretched Linen

The curtain on the right is a skirt with a pleated hemline.  With a lot of manipulation of my lighting, I was able to simulate sunlight through a "window", using aluminum foil to control the direction of the light.   This was a joy to paint!

Tulips in Candlelight

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8x10" Oil on Linen Panel

I enjoyed painting tulips, so here they are again.  Tulips take on a life of their own.  They seem to be carrying on a kind of flower dance, especially when I confuse them with candlelight.  Speaking of candles, did I mention that painting candlelight is a blast?  With three candles, you get three sources of light, casting shadows in three different directions.  Fun!  And, oh yes, when you let a candle burn down to a cloth, you get fire!!  Good thing I look intently at my subject.

Semper Fi No.3

16x16" Oil on Stretched Linen

  I Googled "Marine Quotes" to find a title for this one.  Let's face it. . . there is none better than "Semper Fi", which translates "Always Faithful".  These three paintings are to honor the life and memory of such a marine.  

I did find a website with many memorable quotes.    http://www.usmc81.com/2009/01/marine-corps-quotes/  One of my favorites:  "To observe a marine is inspirational.  To be a marine is exceptional."

Depression Bowl & Cherries

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5x7" Oil on Stretched Linen

Last night I arranged this setup with the bowl and cherries, then proceeded to paint.  I wiped the bowl off several times before going online to see if anyone had tips on painting depression glass.  What I found was that another artist had painted a green depression glass bowl with cherries, and had posted her lovely painting on  Leslie Saeta's blog for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  Honestly!  Depression glass and cherries!

I did not find any tips or demos, so I relied on principles of painting to guide me.  I almost left the cherries out to keep from appearing to be a copycat.  Glad I decided to keep them.