"I didn't know you could DO that!"

That's what someone said to me yesterday. The man's neighbors had hired me to create a set of three big canvases for a dining room wall, and until then it had never occurred to him that this sort of thing was possible.

The canvases in question -- each 40" high x 30" wide. My years of experience as a muralist meant that the size was not a challenge for me. The homeowners wanted an old-fashioned Italian type landscape with a medieval/Renaissance procession of figures, with five banners that would represent the family's five children and their occupations.

This is all oil paint, and the decision was made by the homeowners and their designer (the wonderful Mary Mackmiller of mackmiller design + build)  to keep the colors low-key so that the art would fill the space but not overwhelm it.

Crow and Magpie in their Best Attire

This pair of drawings are about 7" high x 6" wide, and they come from ... well, I've been drawing birds since I was five years old, and this week I allowed myself to go ahead and put some "silly" ideas I had on paper, and see where it took me. These are the same mixed media technique I use for so many of my animal portraits: layers of watercolor, pencils and pastel on heavy cotton paper.

Surely there's a story here, a fall festival of the Corvid family, perhaps. The Steller's Jay will be next in this series, though I don't know what his headdress will look like yet. I'll figure it out.

Louise the Greyhound

Below is the photo I was using for reference. I printed it out, then sketched the changes I'd need to make -- primarily, correcting the way the camera had "shrunk" her rear end. Copying verbatim from photos rarely makes for good art, and camera distortion is one big reason why not. 

 

In the photo, her tail was tucked underneath her so you could barely see it. I pulled it forward to show that adorable little Greyhound tail-curl at the end. And I thought I was done, until Josephine Geiger said, "But what's she looking at? Put an ant in there!"

I groaned, but she was right. We needed to see what had caught Louise's eye. The dog's expression and winglike ears made me think of a butterfly, so that's what I went with. Just a small one -- but enough to emphasize Louise's charming, lively character.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

When I come home with groceries, my rule is that I must put them all away RIGHT NOW. No matter how tired or hungry I might be. So I followed that rule yesterday, and later realized this had happened:

Look closely. Click the image to enlarge, if you need to.

Most people say, "Don't shop when you're hungry" -- because you'll buy stuff you don't need. But I have, um, other reasons. 

Goldfish Greetings

I have new greeting cards coming out! The first two designs are the ever-popular Goldfish series; this time, a pair painted from life at FK ArtGlass in Minneapolis, where they have a nifty indoor fish pond.

The cards are 5 x 7" (standard size), blank inside, and come with pretty linen-textured envelopes. Sets of four -- two of each design -- are available at $16 plus $3 shipping in the US. Ordering is easy; just email me and let me know what you'd like.

The original paintings are watercolors measuring 6 x 9." I held onto them until my printer was done scanning and formatting them for the cards. They are now available (unframed, art only) at $65 each.

The Great Chicken Art Mystery

Chicken Sister (Pop), 10 x 8" oil on canvas

What is it about paintings of chickens? I've discovered that people LOVE them, and I can always sell them -- usually pretty fast!

 

The Chicken Sisters (Pop and Punk), 10 x 8" each, oil on canvas. Available at $125 each; $225 for the set.

This isn't a complaint. I grew up with a henhouse in the back yard, and I think chickens are fun to watch -- all those rounded forms and surprising shapes make them interesting art subjects. I know why I like them, but I like a lot of things and few of them get the kind of response that the chickens do.

Chicken Sister (Punk), 10 x 8" oil on canvas

 So, what do you think it is about chicken art?

Drive-By Chickens

Chorus Girls II, 12 x 24" oil on canvas, by commission. Click to enlarge -- it doesn't shrink down that well.

FUN.

And with that, I must dash out the door to go get food and cocktails deliver a horse portrait.

Here, Chickie Chickie Chickie

Chorus Girls, 10 x 20" oil on canvas, for the Black & White Show at Maple Grove ArtsCenter. Available, $195. 

 

My source photo, above. I found it fit a 1:2 format perfectly, and I had a 10 x 20" canvas on hand, so we were off to the races. First step, get the drawing established. Below, the drawing in brown pastel pencil, which is easy to erase or paint over. Regular graphite pencil is NOT, so I don't use it when I paint.

I don't often outline forms before I paint them. This time, I wanted a little bit of a graphic flavor to the painting, so I used a liner brush to establish my drawing before I began blocking in the light and shadow.

Much as I loved the tractor wheels in the source photo, I really couldn't use them in the painting. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice things you love a lot, in order to get what you love the most. In this picture, I loved the sense of movement and rhythm of the hens and I'd have lost that if I'd junked up the background, so the tractor had to go.

Oil paints usually work best if you start with the shadows and then add more and more light, so that's what I did here. Overall this is very thin paint, and will be dry to the touch in a couple days.

The Big Mare, Finished

This was, more than anything else, an exercise in knowing when to hit the brakes. I love color and contrast so much ...

One of my college professors taught us about Martini Syndrome, which is what happens when you're painting and you do a little bit of something and it. Looks. Amazing. And so you figure, if a little is that good, you need a LOT MORE. And then it turns out, no, you really, really didn't. 

Art on the Easel ... and on the Floor.

This is a pretty large canvas, 40" h x 30" w.  Based on a snapshot of my Twilight looking rather elegant, short-legged Percheron that she is.  These three shots show the progression from first stages of sketching and very thin washes of solvent/oil paint, to working out some of the "background" composition.

Above, what the painting looks like as I type this post. I've got a good sense of solid form and some depth happening, and from here on out the challenge will be to finish the piece without overworking and killing it. I like the looseness and want to keep that.

Meanwhile, on the floor beside the easel, I've got a composition laid out for a salvage piece in black and white. I have to paint some of these elements, assemble them all, and then create other pieces to add. This is feeling more and more like part of the Crows series, so expect there to be black birds involved.