Painting with my nieces

At Christmas I had a chance to once again paint with my nieces. It has been four years since the family has had Christmas at our house and each of my four nieces was eager for the painting time.

Katie and Amanda from Colorado Springs had a day start on their cousins Audrey and Olivia from Dallas. As in past years, the girls chose their subjects and reference material from my own photos of the animals. It was then up to them to choose the size of their painting. Once the pre-gessoed Richardson Umber wash board was cut to size, each girl created a grid and sketched her subject.

Clockwise from left: Audrey, Katie, Olivia, Amanda

Left: Audrey drawing her giraffe   Center: Amanda with her wolf

 This was Olivia's first year to join the oil painting sessions and she dove right in. Taking a cue from a recent more modern take on a zebra piece I did, (see below), she opted to do the same and leave the gessoed umber background as is. Using tricky combinations of red to create the brilliant pinks, My 13-year old niece really captured the beauty of this Greater Flamingo.

My painting which gave Olivia an idea of how she'd like to approach her work

Olivia, Age 13

Amanda combed through numerous gray wolf photos I had taken. To accentuate the wolf, she painted a dark background and used a noble pose. One of our friends, who has spent decades in close proximity to wolves in Manitoba, saw the painting and was amazed how Amanda was able to capture the essence of this wild canine.

Amanda, Age 18

Audrey decided on one of the more time consuming subjects, a giraffe. (Stripes and spots always take me the longest to paint.) Her varied descriptive background acts as a wonderful backdrop for her subject, setting the stage for her African vista. Well done Audrey!

Audrey, Age 18

Katie chose a horse, one of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses which I saw. This was no surprise to any of us as she is in the equestrian studies program at the University of Findlay. Katie knows horse anatomy which is so evident in her painting. Well done Katie!

Katie, 19

Having all my nieces back in the studio painting with me was such a treat. Thank you to Katie, Amanda, Audrey, & Olivia for making my Christmas extra special.