Water's Edge                                                           Original Oil         9" X 12"                 

Leopards

After completing a small piece, time to switch it up with a large complicated one.
In Kenya I had the great fortune to witness a pair of mating leopards interacting. He was the amorous one always trying to get her attention.
Rather than use the Venetian Red gesso which has served me well for a couple of years, I thought this painting would benefit from a Yellow Ochre gesso. Below is my beginning.

After drawing my leopards, I used a turpentine wash of raw sienna and burnt sienna to define the spots. Playing upon complementary colors, some of the background will have hints of a blue/purple mixture (ultramarine blue, rose madder, burnt umber, and a smidgen of violet.)

A New Miniature

Horns of Plenty

6.75" X 4.25"

Original Oil

Even though small paintings take me longer per square inch to complete, I still like to do them. First I try and find a subject and composition which can carry such a limited size.

When I started painting this piece, I had mountains in the background and they weren't working. The mountains were muddy-ing the focus. I grabbed my blending brush and away they went. What I was left with was this mottled background. Next I worked on the darks of the Bighorns moving then to their bodies and saving the horns for last.

You are actually seeing more of the painting than will be seen when it is in its frame. About 1/4" from the top and left side will be covered. I plan for that when I am working out the composition.

Last minute changes

Beneath the White Mountain

Original Oil

11.5" x 28"

This is one of those paintings I thought was done when an idea burst into my head. I had painted all the trees, the cattle, the Masai, the sky and the clouds. When I stood back, the slight change of colors I had painted in the sky suggested something back there. That is when it hit me. What if I painted Kilimanjaro in the background?  I had been in the vicinity of the mountain when I saw the cattle but I didn't see the mountain until the next day.

Here comes the tricky part. I was happy with what I had already painted. Do I risk painting in the mountain, something which was not part of the plan? Will it make a difference to the painting? The photos I took of the mountain had that faint (and maybe mystical) feel. Could I pull off a subtle mountain for the highest peak on the continent?

I decided to go for it and am glad I did. For me it gives the painting the extra flavor it needed.

Brrrrrrr

Tom Tom

12" X 16"

Original Oil

The temperature here is in the teens during the day so it seems appropriate that I have finished this piece. The inspiration for the painting is from my backyard.

After a particularly big snow storm several years ago I wanted to take photos of the heavy snow-laden branches. In my traipsing around the property I ran into a flock of turkeys. There were hens but it was the toms in which I was most interested. They seemed to have a certain swagger to their walks as if to say, "Yeah, snow, so what. Nothing we can't handle."

I first drew this painting in August. One of the questions we artists often are asked is, "How long did it take you to paint this?"  The answer is difficult. From when do you want me to count? This painting is a good illustration of that difficult answer. I have been taking photos of snow and turkeys around my property for years. The reference I used for this piece were from 2008. I've been thinking about this concept in particular since then. Once I worked out the composition this summer, I set the board aside. The end of November I painted the background and some of the left turkey. At the Grand Opening week of Pacific Flyway Gallery in December, I demonstrated how I paint by finishing the breast of the left turkey. Now I have finished the right turkey and the foreground sticks to complete the painting.

Did I start this piece in August? yes. Did I start it in 2008? yes.  Did I start it before then when I spent hours watching turkeys around our place? yes.

My time holding the brush and applying paint is a small percentage of the time I spend to create a piece.

A number of years ago, a photographer asked me how long it took me to paint a piece. When I asked her did she mean putting the brush on the canvas, she said yes. My answer surprised her. She must have thought (after dividing my price by my hours) that my "price per hour" was high. I did not point out to her that her professional photographs took less than 1 second to shoot. I know the time investment required to get that perfect shot.

I know I will continue to get asked this question at shows. That's OK. People are curious how this process works. Maybe some who ask have started painting themselves and think if I can paint something like this in that amount of time, they can too. Maybe they can. Maybe they can paint a better piece. Or, maybe the person asking has never lifted a brush but wants a peak into how my day unfolds. I figure if someone asks, they like what they see. (If they didn't they wouldn't care how long it took me!) I may not have a definitive answer, but I thank them for their interest.

By the way, in case you are wondering where the title for the turkey painting came from, not me. I was struggling with what to call the painting and throwing around ideas with my husband, when he threw out Tom Tom. He says he meant it as a joke, but once I heard it, that was it. Tom Tom it was!