KMM

Still Life

The first paintings I did for myself....

Boys

For Lukey....

For Fletch.  Funny thing, I did this painting when I first found out I was preggo with Lucas, and when I finished Blake walked up and said "so, I guess it's a boy?".  I guess a part of me already knew :).

Namaste

He started out looking like he was about to wrestle, then he was standing with attitude, but finally I got to a place of peace.

Yielding

This started out as a profile of a beautiful wedding dress I had seen, but she was a little too curvy for that.  Plus absolutely no one has understood which way she is leaning, perhaps because the mechanics of leaning backward while the wind blows your hair forward is kind of absurd, but that's how it is...

Wall Mural

A $3 paint sample from Home Depot and some old frames! I am very happy with how this turned out. Hard to get a good picture because it's a hallway, but this is an example of somethign cool that you can do with a long, somewhat narrow hallway. The only thing I recommend is that it not be a complete galley hallway - this particular wall is mostly hallway but has some interesting angles at the end.

Chad and Angie's Sunset - Step One

My first project - a 2ft x 3ft sunset - chosen by my brother and sister in law. After a few days work, we are officially at what I call "Step One". Step one is the state where the general idea of the painting is in place, but it still kind of looks like crap. Of course, the crappy lighting and the fact that I took this picture of the painting with my phone doesn't help anything....

This picture is the very definition of why I love painting with oils. You start with a dark base, and work upward toward the lighter colors. This gives the whole painting a feeling and texture that is lacking with other mediums. Also, it is therapeutic because you slap a crapload of black paint on a white canvas (there is NOTHING uglier than a blank white canvas) and from then on you are correcting it.

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Bringing light to the darkness - clarity to the murky unknown. It is forgiving, and any mistake for the most part is minor - and fixing it only adds to the character of the finished product. I love oils.

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To critique my own work thus far...

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"Finished"

1. I love the edges of the black background, the blending and unevenness of the whole thing.

2. The lines and general distribution of the colors in the sky

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"Needs Work"

1. That blue is wayyyy to electric. It needs more serenity.

2. The yellow in the middle needs a bit of breaking up - kind of alarming

3. The clouds are a bit hokey right now - they need to be a bit less "cloudy". This ain't a Dora cartoon. What is UP with that cartoon, anyway? It sucks.

4. The water. It makes me agitated. The most beautiful part of this picture is a small break in the clouds at the level of the water, and the resulting depth and reflection draws you in. I need to capture that.

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So - I have a bit more work to do. But after this, I already have my second project! I get to paint Amen Corner. I will attempt not to fall asleep due to flashbacks of long afternoons spent watching the Masters. Of course that was before I had kids. Now, if I attempted to watch the Masters there would be a one year old face planting on the tile directly in front of me and a three year old running around yelling that he can't get his pants back on and needs a jelly bean....