A Commission for Mom...

My mom recently decided to remove a shelf in the kitchen-dining room area.  She asked for me to do an oil painting of flowers that was large enough to cover the place where the shelf had been.  She gave the measurements and requested a wrapped canvas.  She didn't want to worry about framing and I think she liked the idea of a more modern unframed painting to update the area.  From there, she gave me ideas on what she would like but always mentioned that she was sure that whatever I came up with she would be happy with.  Thanks mom!  No pressure what-so-ever.

First she sent me a few magazine pages of ideas... A Van Gogh of flowers which she explained, she didn't like the actual flowers.  She considered them too child-like but she did like the green wispy strokes in it.  Then, there was a photo of yellow tulips taken in her dining room.  She wanted tulips.  Then, she included a couple of other pages with flowers that she would like to have in the painting. 

Then, she included a diagram of a certain degree...

She wanted to keep to yellows, greens, and purples with a bit of pinks in there too.  She kept an emphasis on keeping it nice light and airy.  Now, I will put a disclaimer here.  I'm not really a flower type of painting gal.  Buildings and bicycles are more my type of thing that I like to paint.  Flowers are a different territory altogether.  I will say I struggled with this for awhile.  I took a bit more time than usual on the under painting.  I did several layers with an iridescent gold and two different yellows.  Then before I started to lay in the actual flowers of the painting.  I painted in the green wispy things.  Here's what I had...

Next, I did some sketches of flowers on paper and played with arranging them on the canvas.

There was a selection of different flowers that I threw in that I thought might look nice with the other flowers she requested; irises, primrose and lavender.  I layed out the drawings on the canvas to get a feel for what looked good together and what would fit and still be light and airy too.  Then I sketched the general format onto the canvas with the same green paint as the wispy things.

I talked with Mom this last Sunday morning on the phone and explained the general format that I had come up with.  She thought it sounded pretty good.  So I proceeded to paint on Sunday evening and Monday night and this is the finished painting that was produced...

AND I hope that Mom is happy enough to hang it on her wall when I bring it home to her in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in July while I'm there for RAGBRAI.

An Ode to Buddy the Cat...

"Mom's 10 lbs. Butterball"; Oil on 11" x 14" canvas board.

Some of you may remember this oil painting that I did back in November of 2010.  It was done as a gift for my Mom.  It's a painting of Buddy, who I'm sorry to say passed away this last week. Buddy was my mom's spoiled cat for a little over 8 years.  If you would like to read more about Buddy the cat visit this link.  It's a write up I did on my other blog.

"Road Warrior 2- The Sly One"

This is the 2nd painting of the Road Warrior series.  I refer to this one as "The Sly One".  It's his expression that makes me think he is sly.  I imagine him as the cool confident type that has a game plan figured out for the entire bike race.  He uses the down hills and those pace lines to his advantage.  Then, at last minute he pulls out all stops and sprints to the finish line.  Here he is "The Sly One"....

"Road Warrior 2- The Sly One"; A Poured Watercolor on 12" x 16" Hot Press Paper.

 Meanwhile, I've been referring to the first of the Road Warrior Series as " Building Anger".  He looks like he's near the end of the bike race and he's trying to use his anger as a final push to the finish line.  Even more amazing to me is that the first one has sold and the paint isn't even dry!  Let me know what you think of the title.  Here's "Road Warrior 1"...

"Road Warrior 1- Building Anger"; An oil on 12" x 24" Canvas- Sold!

"Road Warrior 1"- An Oil Painting

I put the finishing details of this painting on early Sunday afternoon, while working on poured watercolor.  A couple weeks ago I went over to a cycling friend's house and had him pose with helmet and glasses.  I took about 20 photos and am considering doing a bit of series of these.  I'm really rather having fun with doing some cycling paintings as I imagine some of you have noticed a BIT of a trend at late.  But here's the first of the "Road Warrior" paintings. 

"Road Warrior 1"; An Oil Painting on 12" x 24" Canvas

A Bit of Bike Focus...

I've been taking it easy on the painting front of late but this last week I managed to ease myself into a  couple of paintings.  May is National Bike Month.  I thought I would take the extra time to do a few bike related art in preparation of it.  I usually am in the Gallery Roll Bike Art Show in May and it might be fun to have a variety to choose from to put in the show.  So here's a watercolor and an oil I worked on this last week...

"Come On! Let's Ride!" Watercolor on 9" x 11" Paper.

"Jazzing Blue Bike" Oil on 12" x 12" Canvas

The oil I will admit was a bit of a new abstract approach for me, and I still kind of feel that it's not finished but I can't decide what else I can do to it.  I'll put it off to the side and see if something may hit me someday.  We'll see...

No. 100 & Recap of Art Show...

"No.100 of 100 Salt Lake City Porches"; Oil on 12" x 16" Canvas

Here it is #100, I call it the "Toast of the Project".  It's my cycling buds Bee and Peter on their porch in the late summer with their dog Astra.  I wanted to do something different and special for the last porch painting and they were open to letting me take some photos of them on their porch before we had dinner one night.  The sun was starting to go down and there was a wonderful twilight back light as well as the porch light.  They're sipping champaign and being very patient as I took about 20 pictures from different angles.  Thank you Bee and Peter!

AN ART SHOW RECAP

It ended up being a wonderful event with at least 75 people that came to enjoy the art, music, and food.  Here's some photos I took when I had time towards the end of the event...

During the show, I did a sign up sheet to "Vote for Your Favorite" porch painting and everyone that voted was entered into a drawing to win their choice of one of the unsold porch paintings.   The winner of the drawing is lucky  JoAnn Ekstrom.  In fact, she happened to purchase the favorite porch painting of the art show.  She's still trying to decided which painting she would like to own. 

Now for the results of the "Vote for Your Favorite" Porch Painting...
(drum roll please.....)
First Place was #87---

Oil on 8" x 10" Canvas

Second Place was #7---

Oil on 16" x 20" Canvas

AND
Third place was a tie between
 #57

Oil on 8" x 10 " Canvas

and #30

Oil on 12" x 12" Canvas

Fourth Place was #47--

Watercolor on 10" x 14" Paper

A BIG Thank You to all who attended the event,

AND to my wonderful friends Jay & Jerry

who played their wonderful music during the event.

THANK YOU!

" 100 SLC Porches, No.99" & An Art Show...

Last night, I excitedly put the final touches on this porch painting.  I emailed the picture off to the porch owner who I really hope like this.  After seeing a friend's porch painted in this project, the owner of this porch approached me and ask if I would paint their porch.  I thought it would be a good addition to the project, especially since I had not done any of this style or any duplex porches.  So here it is...

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.99"; Oil on 16" x 16" Wood Panel

AND Here's the information/ details of the Art Show...

100 SALT LAKE CITY PORCHES:

An Art Show

Saturday January 14th, 2012

From 2 to 6PM

At

235 West 2950 South - Salt Lake City

(Above the Offices of Gritton & Associates)

There will be FREE Music, Beverages, & Food for you to enjoy while you browse through the art.  Additional art will be on sale too!  20% of all sales proceeds will be donated to the Salt Lake City Habitat for Humanity.

From 2:30 - 4:30 PM Come Enjoy Music By...

 Os Corvos

Os Corvos (Portuguese translation of “The Crows”) is a diversely talented acoustic guitar duet of Jay Kirsch and Jerry Parsons. They perform a wide variety of musical styles including Latin, Jazz, Brazilian MPB, New Age, Flamenco, Classical, and Contemporary.

"100 SLC Porches, No.93, 94, & 95"

It was a productive Thanksgiving Holiday.  I took advantage of the time off... got in a couple of bike rides, did some reading and managed to fit some painting time in too.  You could say it was my ideal vacation.  Here's the latest in the porch painting scene...

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.93"; Watercolor on 11" x14" Yupo.

  I watched this house come into my friend Diane's neighborhood.  The old house that used to be on the same plot of land came down in less than three days, and I've been watching this new striking and modern house come into being.  It's energy efficient and has solar panels.  It also has a very interesting angular appearance.  I limited the pallet for this watercolor to just three colors- cadmium orange, french ultramarine blue, and dioxazine purple.  I took the photo of this porch and the next one just after the first November snow.  In fact, these two porches (#93 & #94) are on the same street. 

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.94"; Watercolor on 10" x 13" Paper

I was thinking of the transition between Halloween to Thanksgiving and then on to Christmas when I took the photo for this porch.  There was a fresh layer of snow that seemed to catch the world by surprised.  I thought the combination of snow covered pumpkins, the tree topiaries and the red shutters/ front door just made me think about the transition through the holidays.  I also liked how this porch is more like a deck on the front of the house.  It's an extension of living space even though the furniture on this "front deck" had a layer of snow on it when I took the photo.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.95"; Oil on 12" x 12" Canvas.

I've been admiring this porch for awhile now and had hoped to have captured it earlier while all of the potted plants/flowers were in their summer fullness.  But each time I went by I never seemed to be with a camera in hand being on my way to some event in the downtown area.  I took a quick photo this last week after the snow melted.  Leaves had blown and scattered covering most of the lawn but I think it just added to the wonderful rich color of this porch.  Check out the progress of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches (or to purchase one), click here.  I welcome any feedback you may have.  Thank you for stopping by!

"100 SLC Porches, No.92"

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thankgiving!  I'm hoping to get some more porch paintings done over the long holiday weekend.  But in meanwhile, here's the latest porch painting...

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.92"; Oil on 8" x 10" Canvas.

This house is a cute cottage up in the Avenues area of Salt Lake City.  This painting is a commissioned piece.  It's for a friend and its her bosses' house.  She's giving it as a Christmas present; a neat idea.  I sent her a picture last night via text and received a "Wow. Absolutely spectacular".  So I'm figuring she liked it. :)  I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable with doing commissioned work.  I know its part of being a successful artist but I sometimes still struggle with the concept of someone wanting to pay me to paint something for them.  I guess its because I feel I'm still struggling (the eternal struggle) to be a good artist.  To view the progress of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches (or to purchase one of ), click here.  Thank you for visiting and I welcome any feedback you may have.

"100 SLC Porhces, No.86 & No.87"

It was a productive weekend and I managed to almost get three new porch paintings finished.  The third one is about 3/4 of the way done and will probably be finished in the next day or two.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.86"- Watercolor on 11" x 14" Yupo

There was a wonderful warm Fall sunny afternoon when I took the photo of this porch.  It seemed the whole world was a glow with this warm glow of yellow light.  Yes, I was again on my bike and riding along with my camera.  Then I saw this HUGE spider in a web on the porch.  I felt I needed to do some Halloween decorated porches and I thought this one would be a fun one to do.  This is puddle painting on yupo and I just had FUN with this painting.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.87"- Oil on 8" x 10" Canvas

I took the photo of this porch about a month ago and have been wanting to paint it.  I remember it was on a warm Sunday afternoon that I was biking through this neighborhood.  There was SO many flowers and a dappled sunniness that this porch caught my eye.  To view the progress of (or to purchase one of) 100 Salt Lake City Porches, click here.  I welcome any feedback you may have and thank you for visiting!

"100 SLC Porches, No.84 & No. 85"

Now that Halloween is over I can get the paints back out.  I had almost 50 bicycle riders show up for the Halloween Costume ride that I lead this last Saturday.  If you would like to see some pictures and read about visit here.  I managed to finish up two porch paintings last night and here they are...

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.84"; Watercolor on 9" x 12" Paper.

This porch is rather hidden in a neighborhood up in the Olympus Cove area of the Salt Lake Valley.  I liked how it's kind of Frank Lloyd Wright inspired.  The stairs up are at an angle and then there are these red metallic lion statues that sit on each side of the door.  This painting is a series of flat washes where I used yellow ochre, cerulean blue, and a mixed red.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.85"; Oil on 16" x 16" Canvas

One Sunday afternoon I spotted porch #85 on a bike ride down in the area of Draper which is in the very south end of the Salt Lake City Valley.  It's a very modern home of wood, cement, and glass that's situated at a 90 degree angle from the street.  I prepped part of the canvas with just a bit of yellow acrylic that I thinned down with water.  I wiped on the yellow on in the sky area and then quickly wiped off.  I wanted to leave quite a bit of the canvas untouched and white.  I think it plays well with the modern edge that the home has.  When I painted this I chose to limit the pallet to the colors of olive green, a warm orangey Indian yellow, and cerulean blue.  To view the progress of (or to purchase one of) 100 Salt Lake City Porches, click here.  Thank you for visiting!  I welcome any feedback you may have.

"100 SLC Porches, No.75"

I'm amazed at myself!  I'm 3/4 of the way through this art project.  I've stuck with the project and used no excuses to get out of it.  I've also amazed myself with the bit by bit that I've improved.  It's interesting looking from the first porch and working to the later ones.  Check out the progress yourself by clicking the link below and see how I've progressed along.  I have had fun with this project and I've meet some really fun porch owners along the way too!  Here's No.75...

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.75"; Oil on 11" x 14" Canvas board.

I played loosely with this oil and tried to really focus on the light that comes through the trees and at the porch at an angle.  It was fun and came together very quickly.  From start to finish it took about 4 hours total to paint this porch.  To view the progress (or to purchase one) of 100 Salt Lake City Porches, click here.  I welcome any feedback you may have and thanks for visiting!

"100 SLC Porches, No.71 & No.72"

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.71"; 8" x10" Oil on Canvas

I remember a few years ago going by this above house and it had been gutted by fire.  I felt so bad for the people who lived there.  When I was an early teenager our house had been gutted by fire, and I hate the thought of anyone having to live through that.  But I'm glad as I went on my bike a couple of weeks ago with camera and saw that they had rebuilt and made improvements too.  I wondered about the unique clumping landscaping.  They are tufts of like long grass spaced in front of the porch area.  Might these bloom later in the season?  Or was it something like those small planter with the neatly trimmed grass that's kind of zen in nature? Hmmmm...


"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.72"; Watercolor on Yupo.

 I bike by Porch #72 three times a week early in the morning on a regular bike club ride (BCC).  I've been watching the ivy slowly fill up around and on the porch as the bike season has progressed along from Spring into Summer and soon heading into Fall.  I decided about a week ago that the ivy had reached it's zenith of porch covering and I thought it would be fun to do kind of a hidden porch.  This painting I did in the puddle style of water coloring which I always find fun to do on yupo.  I limited the colors to kelly green, indigo blue, light green, dioxazine purple, and a bit of permanent rose.  To view the progress (or to request a purchase) of 100 Salt Lake City Porches, visit this page.  Thank you for visiting and I welcome any feedback you may have.

"100 SLC Porches, No.65"

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.65"; Oil on 12" x 12" wrapped canvas

I had fun with this one.  The original house is a warm yellow ochre but I decided to do it with oranges, reds, yellows and white with just a touch of cerilium blue.  It's a cute cottage style home on eastside of the Salt Lake Valley nestled in a quiet neighborhood.  I also decided to do something interesting and funky with the wrapped canvas edge.  Check this out...

A side view of 100 SLC Porches, No.65

To check out the progress of 100 Salt Lake City Porches, or to purchase... click here.  I welcome any feed back you may have and thank you for stopping by.

"100 SLC Porches, No.57"

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.57" Oil on 8" x 8" Canvas

Recently, I found some 8" x 8" canvases on sale and purchase a couple.  This porch is a minty green porch with pinkish undertones in the landscape.  It's on a relatively quiet street between the Aves and the University of Utah campus.  I decided not to paint the edge of the next door house.  The houses in this area are older and built rather close together.  Quite often if there is a garage it's off of a back alley way.  But sometimes, these house are built before there were cars and all they have now is off-street parking. To view the progress of (or to request purchase)100 Salt Lake City Porches, click here.  I welcome any feedback.

"100 SLC Porches, No.49 to No.52"

I was REALLY in the mood to paint this weekend and managed to get 4 of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches done.  And here they are in order...

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.49"; Oil on 12" x 12" Wrapped Canvas

No this is not the original painting I had planned to paint.  That porch painting is still off to the side.  This porch painting in oil came together quickly.   This sunny porch was scouted out by a friend and I think what drew us both to this porch was the ceramic tiled square areas on the lower areas of each side of the porch.  I also liked the fish mail box too.  I kept to a pastel pallet on this one.

Below Porch #50 was also spotted by the same friend.  I loved the red tree and went a bit brighter with it.  This watercolor was a combination of flat washes, puddle painting, and sponge painting.


"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.50"; Watercolor on 9" x 13" Paper

Porch #51 has an Old English feel to it.  I did this watercolor in a wet to dry method then did a bit of puddle painting to finish it off.  I kept to a raw umber, indingo blue, and yellow mix (medium yellow & yellow ochre) pallet.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.51"; Watercolor on 9" x 10"Paper

Porch #52 belongs to a co-worker who had reserved the number because it was her age.  I really think she wanted me to get more porches under my belt before I attempted hers.  I surprised her at work this morning, and she was delighted with it.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.52"; Poured watercolor on 9" x 10" Paper

Click here to see the "100 Salt Lake City Porches" Art Project page.  Check out my progress or get info. on how to purchase a porch painting.

Struggling with #49...

I’ve been struggling with porch #49 for awhile now. It’s an oil that I’ve started over and over and over; 4 times now. It’s just not coming together and not looking right to me. It’s a version of painter’s block? Maybe.  But I’m thinking I’m going to put it off to the side for later. Perhaps just start another painting tonight; maybe a watercolor. These things happen sometime for some unknown reason and I think I just need to back off from it and give it a bit of rest.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.36"; Oil on 8" x 10" Canvas

In the meantime, some of you may remember porch #36 where I asked the “chicken or the egg” question. Was the yellow trim first or were the pair of beautiful yellow forsythia trees? Well, the answer to the $ 64 question is…” the forsythia came first planted by the previous owner....and ironically I painted in the fall without even thinking about them matching!!!” ...a direct quote from current owner Deborah.


I’ve really had fun with this project and most of the fun has come from meeting and talking with the porch owners. Each porch and house has its own stories. And there have been porch owners from all kinds of backgrounds and with a wide base of interests. There’s some I could spent the afternoon with a cold ice tea hanging out on their porch talking with. In fact, the more and more I think about it. I would like to put little stories about the porches and houses in a book along with pictures of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches Art Project. I think it would make a very interesting book. I want to thank the porch owners that I’ve met and I look forward to those that I hope to meet.

"100 SLC Porches, No.46"

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.46"
Oil/Acrylic on 16" x 16" Canvas

I almost put this porch painting on my blog yesterday.  I took pictures of it but then I got to looking at the porch painting and the original porch photo.  It was then that I realized I missed some of the detailing on the railing area.  It's all in the details; sometimes.  So last night, I went home and fixed it.  I took a new approach on this porch painting.  The house is mostly a series of green.  So I decided to start with the green acrylic that I prepped the canvas with.  I thought I would just paint the actual porch and the wonderful front window off to the side of the porch.  There's some beautiful details in this porch and I couldn't resist not painting in the pretty flower bed. I would love to hear any feedback you may have.  To view the progress of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches, visit this page.

"100 SLC Porches, No.41"

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.41"
Mixed media  on 12" x 12" wrapped canvas

This porch I did a bit differently.  I usually lightly underpaint my canvases with an acrylic paint and then paint over with oil.  This painting, I started with staining the canvas in places with an almost solid coat of watercolor paints.  Then, I painted with oils.  I found it rather fun to experiment with using watercolor and oil paints together.  Water and oil don't usually go together well but I think this turned out pretty well.  This porch is one of the first of many more to come from "the Avenues" part of Salt Lake.   There are a great deal of beautiful porches in that area.  I loved the purple and green of this porch.  To view the progress of 100 Salt Lake City Porches (or to purchase); click here.

"100 SLC Porches, No.36 & No.37"

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.36"
Oil on 8"x10" Canvas

I was drawn to this porch by the bright yellow trees flanking the porch.  Then continued to look at the porch when the yellow accent trim matched the trees.  It made me wonder about the age old question of..."Which came first--the egg? Or the chicken?"  So, were the trees first and then someone went to the local paint store with a leaf to match the paint?  Or was the yellow painted first and then the trees planted to match?  I was very tempted to knock on the door to ask; but I didn't.  If I ever find out the answer I pass it along.  Though, I must admit that I sometimes lean toward enjoying the unanswered questions.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.37"
Watercolor on 10" x 11" Paper

This porch is very striking in the afternoon sun and that was the reason I chose to do this porch in a wet-to-dry method of watercolor painting.  I used the three colors of phthalo blue, raw sienna, and yellow ochre.  I slowly built up the shaded areas with phthalo blue and raw sienna.  Then, highlighted some areas with the yellow ochre.  This painting came together very quickly.  To view the progress of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches visit this page.