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Esther - Part II

I finished Esther today. I've documented the first part of the process in an earlier post if you're interested in the nuts and bolts. Here is the second half.

I started with a rough sketch on canvas:

Then did a very fast, loose painting with the intention of just getting color all over the canvas. At this point, it looks nothing like Esther. Not sure why I didn't get a shot of the whole thing.

Next, I spent ALOT of time on the face. I wanted to get it right first, because if you can get the face right, the rest of the stuff is pretty much a breeze. Here's a closeup of the face at this stage.

Next I reworked every bit of the canvas with a palette knife. I really glopped on paint here. I tried to bring out more depth and warmth to her face. Although I captured her pretty well, she looked pasty and cool.

A face closeup:

The table looked odd to me, so I added some color to it, and touched up a few final things. Like, the lemon now looks more like a lemon, and her arms look a little more natural. This is the finished canvas!

Here is a closeup of the finished hat.

And her face! Esther, you are a beautiful little girl!

Office

This is what my office looks like when I'm having FUN in it.

Elsie's Lyrebird

My daughter Elsie (age 6) made a lyrebird of her own! I totally love it.

Lyrebird Wall Hanging

My Lyrebird design, printed at Spoonflower, made into a stitched fabric wall hanging. The background came out too purple, I had wanted a navy blue. But other than that I'm happy with it. The lyrebird is an Austrailian native bird, known for it's ability to mimic sounds, and for the male bird's magnificent tail. This one is the "Superb Lyrebird" Menura novaehollandiae.

Psalm 40:3

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; 
Many will see and fear 


And will trust in the LORD.

Heidi's First Sewing Project

This is Heidi's first sewing project. She is 4. You should know this about Heidi. We bought one of those infrared box heaters for our attic (playroom/sewing room), and Heidi named it. Peter the Heater.

Esther: Part 1

I snapped this photo of my friend Rachel's daughter Esther when they were visiting this summer, and I'm getting ready make an oil painting of it. To me this image is irresistable - the hat, her sly look, the bright colors - I have to paint it. So I've never done this before, but I'm taking photos of each step of the process and I'm going to post them here.

1) The original

2) Cropped to fit a long narrow canvas, which seemed to suit this compostion

3) Black and white

4) In photoshop, removing some of the unnecessary elements, the cross, the cup, the table in the background

5) Changed to outlines in photoshop so I can print what I'm going to sketch. This makes it so much easier!

6) Added my grid

7) My actual rough sketch on the canvas. It's pretty light.

8) In photoshop, I removed the stripes from the shirt, changed it to green, and manipulated the background color. I also adjusted the shadows and highlights. All this could be done when I'm in the painting process, looking at the orginal, but I prefer to get it right in photoshop, print it out, then just paint what I see.

Next step - PAINT! Stay tuned for more.

Lyrebird

What Can Man

Dogs Playing Poker

I think I finished a painting! This one has been in the works for maybe over half a year...It was my first commissioned painting, so I had nothing to do with the subject matter. I will say that it's harder to paint that way, because you don't share the passion for the subject in the same way that your client does. However, it was still fun and challenging to paint all these different animals. By the way, this is not a copy of one of the C.M. Coolidge paintings. I only borrowed the concept - and one of the dogs. All the dogs are my originals except for the little English bulldog which I adapted from his painting, "A Friend in Need".

Walking Tour of Spiders in the Woods

This (or something pretty close to it) is going to be the cover for the album I'm working on. This is a really difficult process. It is hard to step out and do something you've never done before, even when you really want to. Sometimes there is nothing and no one to encourage you, other times encouragement comes freely. It is a shaky and uncertain venture. I have to keep forcing myself to move ahead, though I hear voices saying it's pointless, why am I even trying to accomplish this...

A Song with Heidi

Heidi wanted to record this song that she likes with me. It's "One Thing Remains". I love to hear little munchkin voices singing worship.

Watery Burn

Eggplant Man

Every once in a while, you find an eggplant that just has to be.....put out there, you know?

Laundry Room Door

A while ago my mom and I painted a peacock on the glass panels of an old door that we installed going from our dining room to a powder room. Jason and I remodeled our kitchen this year, and we had a door just like it going into the laundry room, which is always a mess. Since our kitchen now looks nice, I got tired of looking at the laundry room through it and painted the door. Then I scraped half of it off with a razor blade and painted it again. I think I like it now? Not sure yet. The peacock was so much easier because I ripped the design off of a tshirt. I made this one up myself, wanting to keep the same style but a different picture. So here it is...for now.

More Dresses

My sewing room is about to be occupied as living quarters for my brother's family in moving transition, so I got really motivated the other night to finish up some unfinished projects. Heidi is in Elephant Dress, which is for sale as a sewing kit at Mamma Made Designs. Elsie is in a dress that was a collaboration between me and Rachel Galloway. This is the only good photo I got, in between the bug-bite scratching and nose picking.

Old World Birds Dress

Here is my Old Worlds Bird dress on Elsie. Size 5. I can't help being inspired by my Slovak heritage. I've always loved their artwork and traditional dress. Coming soon, this will be available as a sewing kit at Mamma Made designs.

Our Kitchen is Finally Done!

We started remodeling back in November 2010 and our kitchen is finally finished. Here are the before through the after photos with all the messy details in between.

Starting with the old...

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