I got to go to Grittyjane's show!

Well by such good luck I happen to live not too far (about a 45 minute drive) from the place where grittyjane has a show going on right now.  My husband took some pix of us but they all came out blurry.  This is the least blurry one.   I look a little stiff - probably because I was so excited to meet Jane in person.   As you probably would imagine the art looks soooo amazingly rich and beautiful in person.   If I would have been thinking I would of tried to get some good pix of the art but maybe she will be sharing on her blog.   

We just could not get a good picture!

If you are not familiar with Grittyjane please click here and check out her blog.  She is an amazing talent.

The Three Graces

The Three Graces 20 x 24 Acrylic on Canvas

As you all may know by now this is a theme I keep revisiting.  The composition is taken from Botticelli's 3 graces in La Primavera but appears over and over again in art throughout history.  

The angles and the harmony are always a stretch to capture, but get easier everytime.

Above: Detail of La Primavera (Botticelli)

Painting these three ladies feels a lot like when I paint the celtic knots.   My brain has to move in a different way to capture the dance of the lines.   I meshed the composition with the Impressionist style which I have

 been so captivated with lately.

Below is a painting by Edgar Degas that I kept looking at while I was painting the above painting.

Above:  Edgar Degas, 1890 Oil

Dancers in Blue

As is usually the case, the picture of the painting I have listed does not capture the depth of color.  I layered hundreds of colors and there are loads of reds, yellows, greens etc in their skin and dresses.  

The 3 Graces are up on ebay tonight.

A couple tricks and an old train case....

 I have always been hungry for information about painting so I thought I would share a little bit.  This is an old train case.  It was meant for a lady traveling, with a place for cosmetics and a mirror so she always looked her best.  It may have been my great grandmother's, I'm not sure.  I stole it from my mother's basement.  Ooops she probably knows now.  Hope she's not too upset.   Anyway, while I am painting I often pop it open to look at my hand or face in the mirror to check proportions, shading etc.   I also hold back up paint in there.  It has become so valuable to me and helps the ladies to look their best.   If I can't get the right angle and I am struggling I also sometimes take a picture of myself in the pose I want so I can make sure all the angles are falling correctly.  The photos are just awful, otherwise I would share.  They are just quick snaps and I look weird but they do the trick.  These recent discoveries have been a real time saver.  

Birth of Flora - Thank you Sandro!

This is the Birth of Flora, up on ebay tonight.  I named this painting the Birth of Flora because her pose, face and hair were inspired by Botticelli's Venus in his Birth of Venus. The flowers on her dress are taken directly from the flowers on Botticelli's Flora or fertility in La Primavera.

"...a total of five hundred species of plants have been identified in [La Primavera] the painting, of which a hundred and ninety bloom between March and May in the countryside and gardens of Florence."(Levi D'Ancona)

Since Botticelli honored nature in this way I felt I had to take the time and represent the actual flowers instead of just a loose representation. I took all the flowers directly from Flora's dress although I did play with the colors a bit. They took a very long time but there was something very peaceful about painting them.

I have found in studying painters that you learn so much from going down the road they went.  When I was painiting the strokes trying to stroke the leaves as Botticelli did it felt like something changed in my heart.   I guess it is kind of like the theory that when you smile it makes you feel better....as I made the leaves and flowers with their soft, harmonious lines I started to feel an essence of beauty.  I just want to say thank you Sandro.

She Comes in Colors.wmv

Crossing the River

The song that this painting was based on really touched me and I thought about what kind of painting I wanted to do as an extension.  The song to me is a gospel song .... and I remembered this photo I took that "accidentally" had a halo in it.   I worked and re-worked the painting and finally got it where it felt right.  It has been a real labor of love.

To hear and see play the video below.  (The music is The Highwaymen ie Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings)

Crossing the River.wmv