Painting A Wolf In Miniature

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

This week’s painting is another for the Fall showing.  I’ve always dreamed of painting wildlife as I am an animal lover; I finally got brave enough to do wildlife painting and like the result.  This little painting was also done for the Fall “Curiosity” show in St, Albert.  It was also painted using the double primary pallet – no tube colors were used without mixing.

Lone Wolf 6x6" Oil on canvas board

Remember me blogging about the color class I took earlier this year?  There is a FREE one coming up soon.  If you are interested in attending, the link is: http://www.celebratingcolor.com/pwcc-class-description/free-color-webinar/

It is a good sampling of what the “Painting With Color Confidence” class entails.

This week’s  art book review is “The Art of Perspective” by Phil Metzger.  It is comprehensive information for artists in every medium.  Among the areas covered are atmospheric -perspective, detail and edges, size, spacing and overlap, values and shadows. The book also explains in great detail one, two, and three point perspective; including curves and reflections.  Under the heading special problems, it also covers many unusual subjects such as hilly streets, columns, dormers, and tile floors.  The book  was an enjoyable and informative read and will be a permanent part of my reference library.

My time these days is spent matting and framing paintings for shows when I’m not painting.  I paint every day now and it really helps me to stay grounded, learning and improving.

Click “Leave a Comment” below and let me know what you think of the painting and website.  Remember to click the share buttons below to share with your friends.

Have a great week,

Marsha

Posted in art book reviews, double primary color wheel, Original art, painting, Paintings for sale, Prints for sale, wildlife painting | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Painting Miniture Oil Paintings For A Fall Show

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

I’ve been painting like a mad woman this past couple of weeks doing paintings for a Fall show called “Curiosity”.  Acceptable subjects are required to be “unusual or small” – I chose small.

The following are a few of the paintings I’ve completed for the show; there are more to come.

The sunflower is one on my favorite flowers to paint.  Floral paintings of sunflowers are always cheerful and with the long winter we’ve had here, it was just what I needed to get me smiling.  As is always the case with dark paintings, the photo doesn’t do it justice.

Sunflowers 2 9 x 12" Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next one was another experiment – I like to challenge myself and had never painted a bird before.  Painting this parrot really was fun.  When things go well the first time around, I remember “when you put the right color in the right place, the painting works”.  Maybe I’ll be brave enough to paint a wolf…

Parrot 6 x 6" Oil on Canvas Board

The following is an abstract painting inspired by viewing photos of nebulas.  I’ve always been a star gazer and love to check out all of the amazing photos of space.  The thing that first drew me to the particular nebula was the range of reds, oranges, and yellows against the purplish black background.  There was no attempt to copy the photo; just to capture the feeling.  Do you feel pulled into the painting?

Nebula 5 x 7" Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas

Book Review time…Bold Strokes  by Mark Christopher Weber is a very good read, complete with exercises for accomplishing dynamic brushwork in oils and/or acrylics.  I have read and enjoyed it very much. As with Brushwork Essentials the author has made it very easy to learn and apply the techniques.  I’ll be making time to do the exercises in the winter when things slow down again.  I hope you will enjoy it too.

Remember to click on “leave a Comment” and share your thoughts.  A Special thank you to all of you who make time to Share this with your friends on Facebook, Pinterest, and wherever you want to share.

Have an awesome week,

Marsha

 

Posted in Abstract Painting, Art Gallery, floral painting, Inspiration, Original Paintings, Prints for sale | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Painting White Flowers With More Flare

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

Hi again, This painting was inspired by a photograph I took while on vacation last summer.  The flowers are from a flowering shrub in a campground we stayed in during our travels.

Nature is my inspiration and while going through some of my photos, this one caught my eye again.  The way the blooms were orientated to each other and the way the many stamens are grouped in the center of the flowers really drew me in.  The flowers are actually much whiter in the photograph so I used my artistic license to change them to warm blues, lavenders, and pinks.  I think this change really shows off the amazing centers of these blooms.  Painting flowers can be both fun and challenging.
You be the judge:

18 x 24 inches Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas

When working from photographs, take a good look at the composition.  In the photograph, there was a lot of clutter of white petals that I felt distracted from the drama of these three flowers.  Rarely will you find a photograph that is perfectly composed for use as a painting even if the only changes you make are in the colors you need to play with to get the feeling of distance and to draw the eye to the focus of the painting.

This weeks Art Book Review:  There are many good books on painting from photographs.  One of my favorites is “The Ultimate Guide to Painting from Photographs” by James Markle and Layne Vanover.  The book includes 40 step by step projects illustrating how and why to make the necessary adjustments to your photographs in order to make well composed paintings.  It covers everything from still life to wildlife.

I have three more sketches transferred to canvas and am having trouble choosing between them so I am not sure if you’ll be looking at another floral or another landscape…so, stay tuned for more.

Click “leave a comment” below and share with me your critique.  Please also take time to “share” on Facebook, Twitter, etc. by clicking on the buttons below.

Thank you and have an awesome week.

Marsha

 

 

 

 

Posted in art book reviews, Art tips, floral painting, Inspiration, Original Paintings, painting techniques, Paintings for sale, Prints for sale | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Painting A Hostel Dining Room In Nepal

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

Hello again everyone; this painting was a commission for a very special person in my life.  It was done from a small very dark photograph.  The clients aim was to keep the mood of the scene first and then to feature the table centerpiece.  The only lights used in this very old building were candle lamps hung from the ceiling. The candle lanterns lit the painting on the back wall and gave the brick a nice warm glow.

My photo of it leaves a little to be desired because of the camera glare on the left-hand side of the photo, but I have captured the warm mood of the setting.  The painting is also a little lighter than it shows here.

This painting was much easier to do than I first thought it would be and I think it is because I finally took all that time last month getting to know my paints better.

The ground for this painting was watered down ultramarine blue.  With this painting, I began with the brick walls, then the table and chairs and on to the floor.  I did the lanterns, table decoration, and background painting last.  I did it in this order because it made it easier for me to judge the depth of the colors more easily.  I find very dark scenes are easier to do if start with the darkest darks first.

The following is the progression of the painting: Continue reading →

Posted in Art Gallery, Art tips, Original Paintings, painting, painting techniques, Paintings for sale | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Painting The Lavendar Rose

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

Hi again, I’ve finally completed the painting of the lavender rose.  I used a photograph from years ago for this one as lavender roses are hard to come by in Edmonton in the spring.  It is nice to have the rose in front of you when you are painting; the camera lens tends to “even things out” so misses the subtle changes we see in nature.

I’ll start by showing you my pallet for the monochromatic painting.  For those of you who don’t paint, this is called a color stream.  It was accomplished by mixing a lovely purple of a medium intensity, then lightening it at one end and darkening at the other until I had enough variety to do the painting.   I did end up adding a tiny bit of red to some of them as I painted to give more warmth to the flower.

I began the process as I usually do, and started with a tonal sketch in pencil/charcoal, as shown below.

Okay, are you ready for the completed painting?  It was really interesting to do a floral painting using just variations of one color.  The challenge is in getting all of the different shades to give it the true shape of a rose.  As you can see, there were many curled petals on this rose; even more than I have shown – these were a little extra challenge.

“The trick to painting, if there is a trick, is to get the right colors in the right places.”  I do not know who I am quoting here; but this one stuck with me.  I rather like the painting and feel it needs to be set into a large frame.  It goes with me tonight  to my Art Club meeting for critiquing and it will be interesting to see what another professional artist/teacher/gallery owner,  has to say about it.

I’d like to hear what you think of the painting.  Thank you for tuning in; I am working on a commission that is taking a lot of time. I’ll be ready to begin sharing the painting process with you very soon.  It is a challenging piece, but the new skills I am learning and the more I practice I get, the easier it becomes. Study and practice are the keys to getting better at anything you want to accomplish.  Don’t ever give up on your dreams!

Click “Leave a Comment” below and let me know your thoughts.  Shares are also much appreciated.  If you have any questions, Ill do my best to answer them.

Thank you and have a great weekend,

Marsha

 

 

 

Posted in drawing, floral painting, Original Paintings, painting techniques, Photography, Prints for sale | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Painting – Color And Value Studies That Will Improve Your Work

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

My painting for the past six weeks has consisted mostly of continuing to do color and value studies.  I feel that I have learned a lot and that my work is improving along with the learning. I will share some of the experiences, exercises and paintings with you in the blog post.  The next post will be devoted to the the incorporation of the full six weeks and the resulting painting.

My previous post shared the first couple of weeks of exercises, so I will continue from there and share a few of the exercises with you.  The first is the basic double-primary color wheel and the tertiary colors derived from them.  I am showing you two versions of them since I have many paint colors to choose from.  I found this to be a highly beneficial exercise as I got to know my colors, their properties, tinting strength, color bias, etc.

The following is a quick study painting I did using this method and mixing all of the colors from just one each of yellow, blue, and red.  Notice how, even though the painting shows yellow, purple, red and green in several shades, that it has harmony and the colors do not clash.  This is because they are all made from the same three colors.  Please excuse the smudges – I dropped the poor painting on the desk upside down.  It was done on canvas paper as a study; I do want to paint it on canvas one of these days.

Another interesting exercise was in creating depth and mixing greens.  The following two paintings were done in all greens by mixing with just two colors Continue reading →

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Painting – Haystack Rock On Oregon Coast

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

This watercolor painting of Haystack Rock on the Oregon Coast was done from a photo taken several years ago looking South.  It was fun to play with negative painting of the waves and textures in the foreground.

It was critiqued in one of my painting clubs by a professional artist/teacher who called it “fresh”.   I take that as a real compliment, especially since I am new to watercolor painting.  It was done in about 45 minutes to make sure I had no time to fiddle around and overwork it.

These past couple of weeks I have been deeply involved in getting to know my pallet of colors.  I have been taking a class in the “double primary pallet” method of painting. This course is 13 classes over 6 weeks and should  assist me in creating more harmonious color schemes for my paintings.  I mentioned the course in my previous blog post.  It is turning out to be even more interesting and informative than Continue reading →

Posted in Original art, painting, painting workshops, Paintings for sale, Seascapes | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Painting – Watercolor Seascape

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

Hi everyone, this watercolor painting has taken me all week to complete.  The main hurdle for me was to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with the lower left-hand corner.  The idea hasn’t changed much from my first plan but I spent quite a lot of time on mixing various green mixtures before I got to what I liked; then I applied the paint.

I hesitated to post this, as the photograph is not a really good one.  However, this blog is here for sharing what I am doing, helping others to learn, and to promote interest in artistic endeavors of all kinds.  I will be doing this one again – I think there should be some sand showing thru the thin foamy water at the shoreline, I don’t think the lines of wet sand and foamy water are melodic enough, and, in this photo, the water nearest the shoreline appears to be falling off the page (it doesn’t look like that in real life.).  Sharing my critic of my own painting is one way I can learn and teach at the same time.  My inspiration  is nature and learning and improving my skills as an artist/painter.

I am currently working on another seascape.  Those of you from Oregon will recognize the new one – it is of Haystack Rock on the Oregon Coast.  The photograph was taken in the late afternoon in Fall so there are some warm earthy tones in the sands, grasses, and sky. The time of day will make for some deep contrasts in the foreground.  I am looking forward to the challenge.  Of course, once the paint starts flowing, I may change the colors – a little artistic license may influence the final painting.

I just got accepted into the Society of Western Canadian Artists.  May aim with the group is to make myself useful and have my work accepted by jury to become an exhibiting member.

Other news…I just enrolled in an online color course called Painting With Color Confidence.  It starts next week and, if you are interested, the website to inquire as to all that will be covered is  http://paintingharmony.com .  There is still time to sign up as the first class starts Wednesday evening.  It does apply to oil, watercolor, acrylic, and pastels.

Click on the buttons below to share you thoughts with me or to share with your friends on Facebook, etc.  The Twitter button does not appear to be working consistently.

Thank you and have a nice weekend,

Marsha

Posted in painting, Paintings for sale, Photography, Prints for sale, Seascapes, watercolor painting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Painting – Canadian Rockies Watercolor

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

Hi everyone, hope this finds you all painting or enjoying art in some other way.  I am enjoying playing with watercolor painting lately.  The winter here is very cold, and though I have a good ventilation system in my studio, I prefer to work in mediums other than oil most of the time in the winter.

Here is another watercolor painting completed a few days ago.  It was done from a couple of photos taken on a holiday through the Canadian Rockies last summer.  As a compilation, it is not true to just one scene.  The mountains were photographed with my telephoto lens, while the farm and lower hills were photographed up close.

This painting took a few days to complete; there are several layers of washes in areas – sometimes I begin very light and work the color up.  I do this because, in the past, I have tended to apply too much color to early – easy to do when you are used to oil paint and then switch to watercolor tube paints.

This was really fun to do and had many challenges; especially mixing greens that were complimentary and still kept to the integrity of the scene.  Hope you enjoy it.

The remainder of the past week has been spent going thru my reference photos and doing several more drawings for future paintings.  I also completed my seascape painting workshop and have received my certificate.  My plan is to practice more before I share too many of those with you. LOL  I am my worst critic.

Please click on comment and let me know what you think.  All “shares”, whether here or on Facebook, etc. are greatly appreciated.

Thank you and have a great week.

Marsha

Posted in Art Gallery, landscape painting, Original art, Original Paintings, painting workshops, Seascapes, watercolor painting | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Painting – “Spring Is Near” Is Completed

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Marsha Thornton

Hi everyone, the watercolor painting I started earlier this week is completed.  It was a lot of fun as well as a welcome challenge.  The mountains with some areas of snow remind me of when ski season is winding down and summer will soon be upon us.  This time of year it is fun to paint cheerful Spring and Summer scenes.

Spring Is Near

My main challenge in this painting was getting the water and reflections so that they looked realistic.  Getting some reflected sky colors into the snow and water is always challenging…how much is enough?

It takes me longer to plan the composition than it does to paint the painting in most cases.

I have started work on another one from a photo taken in late summer on my way home from a wedding in Creston, BC.  We took a highway to the east of the Rocky Mountains.  There was a wonderful view of the Rockies, foothills, and farms in the foreground.  It was late summer, so there were many shades of green and wildflowers everywhere.  It will also be a watercolor painting.

Remember to click and share it and comment so I’ll know what you think of it and if you think I am on the right track.

Thank you and have a great week,

Marsha

Posted in Art tips, Inspiration, landscape painting, Original art, painting, Paintings for sale, Prints for sale, watercolor painting | Tagged , | 1 Comment