The Beach Boy

The Beach Boy, 10x8" Oil on Gessobord

SOLD 

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." — Mother Teresa

Today's painting is a recently commissioned piece. The photo reference I worked from was 20+ years old and so faded there was very little color still visible in the well worn image. However I have found over time, that if I pay close attention and focus in on each and every individual value shift, adding color isn't really a problem as long as I apply the same values found in the reference. In this reference there were also sand dunes in the background, so using a little creative licensing, I decided to add the cooler blue-green ocean behind this little beach goer for added color and contrast to his sun kissed flesh tones, and to also mimic his luminous sky-blue orbs. 

When I paint a portrait, I really have to completely forget that I am working on a portrait and not even try to think about capturing an exact likeness, or I will freeze up faster than a drop of water landing on the apex of the North Pole. I try to work all over the panel focusing on and breaking it all down into shapes formed by shadows, mid-tones and highlights. Once I am able to isolate a specific shape and value, and recreate that same value, each spot becomes a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Somehow when I adhere to this limited focus approach, magically a little boy begins to emerge out of the paint. I might not always get an exact likeness, but somehow the underlying spirit and energy seems to rise out of the chaos.

I am not a great painter, only a very insignificant artist struggling to survive in a world surrounded by so many other more talented and formally educated masters. My desire is to disappear into the ocean of my work and experience over and over the tides of joy creating at the foot of the Master. That is enough. 

Thanks for dropping in today!
nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

SOLD - Big Momma and Little Jack

Big Momma and Jack, 6x6" oil on gessobord

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STEP 1 Tone the panel and roughly sketch with turp and umber.

STEP 2
Working with thin paint, loosely begin laying in skin tones

"A baby is God's opinion that life should go on."

— Carl Sandburg

STEP 3
Continue laying in large flat areas and shapes of local color

STEP 4

Still working with thin paint, refining shapes, values, and larger details.

This is the hardest stage for me, I always start having doubts and 

think it not going to work.

 STEP 5
Making adjustments to drawing and begin to define with thicker applications of paint 

This is a commissioned painting, I have been working on from a photo reference of a tender moment captured between a great-grandmother holding her sweet great-grandson. 

I seem to be doing more figurative work lately, so I thought I'd share my step-by-step painting process with you to show how one of my paintings developed from start to finish. See steps 1-6 on right.  

The entire process took me about 12 hours to complete. I am learning more and more each day, and still have a long way to go, but I am having a heck of a lot of fun.

I also want to invite you to browse my NEW Website. I am so excited to be able to now offer my paintings for purchase as fine prints, canvases, note cards etc. Simply click on one of the paintings on my website to see all of the options available. It's so easy. Check it out here. 

If there is a specific painting  in my gallery you're interested that is not being shown on the website, just let me know and I will make it available for printing as well.

Thanks for letting me share.

To see more of my art or to contact me: 
Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website

• Graphic Design Studio 

STEP 6 
Continue refining adding highlights, adjusting edges, accentuate details, using thickest applications of paint.

SOLD -Future Pro

"Future Pro", 6x6" oil on gessobord

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"Let us nourish beginnings. Not all things are blest, but the seeds of all things are blest."

— Muriel Rukeyser

Heads up! This is my grandson, Max, getting his first golf lesson from my very patient and loving son-in-law, Jason. Taking the time to share what we love may not seem like a big deal, but you never know what an impact it might have on another person's life. 

In the book The Art of Life, author Sister Joan Chittister says, "What gets nourished within us can very well determine what we will become." I can still remember coming home from kindergarten with a finger painting of a clown, and the surprise and delight I felt when my mom got really excited over it. She told me I was going to be an artist one day. As one of nine kids, getting acknowledged with that much attention from my parents was rare. In fact, half of the time they couldn't call us by the right name without reciting the entire litany of sibling's names first. However, to this day, I truly believe it was this early seed of affirmation that put my foot on the path to becoming an artist.

"Every human act is an act of nourishment for someone." Mentors have another awesome gift for planting seeds. Theirs is a language of love. Be it a thought, an idea, a skill, or talent, a love, or a passion, it must be shared and passed on or it dies on the bud.

What mentors have had an impact in your life? There have been many in mine and I am so grateful to each and every one, for a part of them now lives in me.

Thanks for swinging by today. 

nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: 
Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Graphic Design Studio