Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.
and hopes for peace, joy and good health
in the New Year.

(This is a photo from my back garden)

DSFDF Annual Portrait Challenge 2009 Final

'Petra Lange'
DSFDF Annual Portrait Challenge 2009
Oil 8 X 8

I am so glad that I participated in this challenge. I
was worried about the time factor considering what time
of year it is, but it was so nice to have something like
this to pull me away from all of the holiday hustle
and bustle.

If you would like to see more of my work, please
feel free to go to my web

SNOWSTORM!

We had just shy of 10 inches of snow here at 4:30
this afternoon. If you can see the pumpkins on
the posts for my garden fence, those white things
aren't stems, but snow peaks!

And the snow continues...

DSFDF Annual Portrait Challenge 2009 Stage 3

The light gave out on me, so I had to stop for the day...
modelling the shapes, and trying to keep a likeness without
getting overly detailed.
Tomorrow I will be right back at it!

DSFDF Annual Portrait Challenge 2009 Stage 2

We are having a massive snowstorm here today, and so I am homebound and painting, and loving every minute of it! Here is what I have done so far. I am going to take a lunch break, then come back to work.

DSFDF Annual Portrait Challenge 2009

I have just started working on my DSFDF Portrait Challenge. We got our pictures last week, and although we are not told who our subjects are, I am almost certain I
know who I am painting :) This is the first time I have participated in the portrait challenge, and I am already having a blast!

Here's my first stage. I cropped my photo, then drew a grid on my canvas before starting to draw the face in. I loved the eyes in the photograph, and really want them to be accentuated in the actual painting.

What fun!!!

Landscape Commission - Final

"Name to be determined"

12 X 16 Oil on archival canvas board

Today I finished this painting! It was such a

pleasure to work on. When I first saw the

photographs of this place, I instantly got that

little tingle at the back of my neck that I refer

to as my 'great painting material meter'! There

just were so many elements about this place that

I love to paint: the cabin, dappled sunlight, split

rail fence, wildflowers...

Thanks again to everyone for your comments.

I will be posting this up on the

Daily Painters of Pennsylvania Blog as well, so

don't feel as though you have to comment both

places!

Spring Pastoral

Spring Pastoral
Oil 6 X 8 on archival canvas
Painting available on eBay

Painted this one last evening from
photographs I had taken early this
past Spring. I was really attracted to
the contrast of the red feeder with the
green grass, and of course the cows
were watching me while I was taking
the pictures!

Landscape Commission - Step 5

Almost finished! Have some glazing I want to do once this is dry, then will see if any more bright spots have to be attended to. So much fun to paint the wildflowers, but I really had to restrain myself - especially since my client sent me a different picture of them at their peak, which was nothing but a gorgeous riot of color (future painting...).
I've really appreciated your comments along the way. Working with this limited palette (prussian blue, alizarin crimson and cadmium lemon) was a challenge, but so educational in terms of mixing the different colors. Even though I have worked with limited palettes before (the Zorn palette...), I really learned a lot from this one. I was truly amazed at the range of colors I was able to mix. You really don't need any other colors but the prmaries and white!

Landscape Commission - Step 4

Working along, playing the lights and darks against each other so that I can keep the look of dappled sunlight. I am itching to start painting in the wildflowers, but I have to exert some patience...not always an easy thing for me to do!

Landscape CommissionStep 3 - Building up the darks

Got up early this morning to take advantage of the sunshine and natural light to work on this painting. At this point I am working on establishing the dark areas that I will need to make the little sunny patches in the painting sparkle. Decided to use a limited palette of prussian blue, alizarin crimson and cadmium lemon. I am loving the subtle greens that are coming from this palette, and know that that using the limited palette will add to the unity of the piece.