Austin & Katie

10 x 8" original oil

commission

I love this commission. My favorite thing about it is how the poses fit the personalities. These two kids are all grown up now, but the mom gave me an old photograph from a scrapbook and asked if I could paint this scene from their childhood. The boy was more timid and reluctant to check out new things, but the girl was all for getting right in. They each demonstrate that so well in this photograph: the boy with his toe curled up and arms back, but head cocked curiously, the girl picking something up and getting up close to whatever is down there. 

It's such a beautiful time of day in this painting, and I'm in love with the squiggly reflections and grading light to dark sand. 

Thank you BJ for this commission!

detail

Stocking Stuffers

"Stocking Stuffer I"

4x4" original oil

sold

"Stocking Stuffer II"

4x4" original oil

sold

These two bitty originals are headed to Alpine Art for their Holiday Boutique Show, and I just know that they will be gobbled up by an art-collecting dog-lover. If you want that to be you, contact Alpine Art and they'll make it happen! 

Both of these paintings are of my lab. I've used these references before but for larger pieces. The 4x4" sizes are so adorable. I want to keep them. 

These 4x4" originals are on 1 3/8" deep panels, so they can sit freestanding on a little shelf or desk; they are also wired on the back for hanging if you want to stick them on a little nook of your wall. 

Dogs are the best. 

Grace

40 x 60" original oil

sold

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18

Grace is a very special painting. It depicts redemption, change, and healing. We all need grace simply because we are human and living in a world of agency. We all need to feel the “divine help” and “enabling power” of Jesus Christ that define grace. The grace of Jesus Christ literally lifts our burdens, our spirits, and our demeanor, so the white tulips that are you and me have to also be elevated in the composition. The scarlet area is the pain, the mistakes, the past. I painted the reds to be very deep, dark, and triangular (a less friendly shape subconsciously.) At first I was worried that the white tulips were not painted to be pure white; they have some pinks, creams, grays, etc. in them. I decided to paint them with mixed colors because with the other colors in them, they are showing us the transition between scarlet and snow. They catch that moment in one's life when grace is taking effect. I hope when people see this painting they feel two things: 1) I am worth redeeming and 2) I give myself permission to stop punishing myself because I am not perfect. I have “streaks of color” yet I am beautiful.  

Transition

36 x 34" original oil

sold

This seascape has been almost finished for a while, but the wave was a major problem. I photographed the "finished" painting four times, each time convinced that now the wave was right, but it didn't last and the wave was repainted again and again and again. I hate going through that process, but I love the finished product. It works. I can look at this painting and put myself in it, which is my gauge of success. The wave has movement and weight, and I can feel sun on my right side and the gust blowing the spray left.

So, I fussed between degrees of how much of a corner was on that left side. It needed something of a corner because without it the wave lost all lift, but it also needed to slope to the left and bridge the composition. I went back and forth looking for the right mix of each and I sure had a hard time finding it. The left side of the wave was totally overworked, over-painted, wiped off and repainted, scrutinized, and redone a further three times.

After all that, it's better. The finished surface is so rich with texture and layers of color.

Life lesson: The painting is better having transitioned through each phase of this dilemma. It was not fun at all. I've got a headache, backache, and I'm burned out. BUT look at that wave. I think it's beautiful.

Nauvoo Temple

41 x 52" original oil

sold

8 x 10" and 16 x 20" prints will be available through the artist
to order prints, click here

I have been working on this painting all summer and fall and am so excited to share it finally! The person whom it was a surprise for came and saw it tonight.  I was commissioned by a dear family who loves and supports the arts and who are artists themselves. This painting took 14 weeks. 

Thank you so much to the family who commissioned this painting and showed their support of my art career and the arts in general, and thank you to all others out there who buy original artwork and keep this craft going strong. In a digital world, you can't beat an original oil painting with it's brush stroke fingerprints and that deep varnish smell. 

I have studied this building from a painter's perspective, and I have a new respect for the craftsmen who built this temple originally in 1846 and who rebuilt it in 2002. There is no end to the detail in this building. 

My purpose in painting this temple with long grass in the front versus the modern-day sidewalks and landscaping is to send the viewer back to 1846 and to see this temple as it might have been before large trees were growing nearby and after the long grass and wildflowers had a chance to grow back and blow in the wind. The temple is overlooking the Mississippi River, and I love this river. It's a piece of home. 

The backs of my originals are Venetian red. 

Adding the third coat of gesso. 

I used a projector to collect this much information, but trees blocked a large portion and out of plumb vertical lines in the entire bottom rectangular section of the temple caused  me to draw the rest by hand. 

The colors looked so wrong. I was freaking out. I mean, this does not look like a white building from what I have painted so far. I learned that the only really white stones were in the belfry.  

You Facebook friends of mine out there: remember my gnarly road rash from my bike crash? You can't see it, but it's about two hours old on the right side of my body in this picture. 

To order prints of this painting, click here.