You are the Sunshine of my Life

It was the words of Stevie Wonder's song and the wonderful personalities of my two subjects that inspired this watercolour. 

 You are the sunshine of my life

That's why I'll always be around,

You are the apple of my eye,

Forever you'll stay in my heart

I feel like this is the beginning,

Though I've loved you for a million years,

And if I thought our love was ending,

I'd find myself drowning in my own tears

You are the sunshine of my life,

That's why I'll always stay around,

You are the apple of my eye,

Forever you'll stay in my heart

You must have known that I was lonely,

Because you came to my rescue,

And I know that this must be heaven,

How could so much love be inside of you?

 Love has joined us,

Love has joined us,

Let's think sweet love

I hope that even a small part of the emotion in these lyrics comes across in the painting.

Ona

2011 Art Cure Exhibition Acceptance!

I had some more good news this morning. Both of the paintings that I entered in the Art Cure Exhibition which will take place in Aurora during  next couple of weeks have been accepted. The 2011 Art Cure Exhibition will be held at Aurora Cultural Centre, 22 Church Street, Aurora from June 18-26th. The theme of the show is exploring art as an instrument of Healing. This is a show which includes all mediums of art work. The two paintings that I have had accepted are 'When you need a friend' and 'Guardian of Ra'. If you would like to see these and the other paintings that will be in the exhibition click here.

  I have also finished the second commission that I have been working on. I was commissioned to paint this to mark the welcoming of the girl in the painting, who has been adopted, into the family. So here she is with her new brother. My clients wanted a fairly formal studio look background to the painting with a slightly informal feel with the boys arm around the girl. Apparently he is a bit mischeivious so I tried to put a twinkle in his eye. The girl is full of life and is always ready to say hi to anyone. 

Ona

Grandpa

I had mixed feelings when I finished the painting this morning. In one respect I was sad because I have really enjoyed painting it and listening to James tell us all about his times with Grandpa  but I was glad too that it was complete and that I was able to transfer the image and feelings that were in my mind onto the paper .  The quote "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die" (Thomas Campbell) is so true. Grandpa certainly lives on in James's heart and I think all of ours now. He certainly was a master craftsman and engineer.

There is such focus and concentration on Grandpa’s face. …For this moment in time the rest of the world does not exist. It is just him and his model engine as he puts the finishing touches to its creation before lighting its tiny fire for the first time.

Ona

Grandpa WIP 5

At last, I have a photo that looks pretty close. I have now finished Grandpa's hands and the section of the traction engine in this area. I am pleased with how the lights and darks as well as the brighter colours in this area help to draw our attention from his face to his hands and the engine.

When I paint I'm not only thinking of the objects but the emotion or 'story' it helps to convey as well. I wanted to make his hands tell a story. To a model engineer his hands are so important. They are used to craft, with such care, the tiniest details but they also have to be strong. They are also older hands full of experience but at the same time worn with age. I have included a close up of this section in the next photo.

 Ona

Grandpa WIP 4

I tried so hard to get a more accurate colour balance in the photo for you this evening but the camera really doesn't like this painting :(  Does anyone else have this colour balance problem when they take a photo of a painting in which they have used mutliple glazes in watercolour?Try to imagine the background a more dark greeny yellow as in my last photo. I just couldnt get it looking the same as the painting this time without turning Grandpa a very strange colour and I thought it was better to have him looking ok.

Today I painted Grandpa's trousers. It took 10 glazes in all to get the depth of shadow effect that I wanted so that his back leg merged into the background at the bottom. I've also painted in the back half of his oil can. This looks a little dark at the moment. Its hard to get correct values against the bright white of the paper. I might need to lighten it a little but I do want this area to have the highest contrast so that it draws our eye from his face down to his hands and the engine so I will leave it as it is for now and adjust if necessary later.

 Tomorrow I will begin the engine.

Ona

Grandpa WIP 3

Thank you for all your positive responses to my progress on this painting so far. I have been mostly working on the jacket over the last couple of days, gruadually building up the colour with a succession of glazes. I've still got a little touching up in some areas of the jacket to do but it is basically done.  I love how the jacket seems to appear out of the page as each pale glaze is added. I still think painting in watercolour is pure magic. 

Ona

Grandpa WIP 2

I thought that I would bring you up to date with my progress today. I love this stage of a painting where I get to bring a personality to life on the paper. 

Today I have begun working on the clothing. I am using the same colours as I used for the background with the addition of the reds that I am going to use to paint the engine. I chose this colour scheme because I want the painting to evoke that 'oldy worldy days gone by' feel without me resorting to the monochrome approach of an old photo.

I am pleased with how the painting is progressing so far. There is always that moment, at least for me, when I begin a painting where I wonder if I am going to be able to create on paper what I can see in my mind. I always feel happier once I am at this stage and its beginning to take shape.

Ona

A Memory of days gone by

Thank you for all your support and congratulations.

I promised you all that today I would tell you about my new painting. It's a subject that is again very close to our hearts and because of this is such a joy to bring to life. 

A couple months ago while I was looking for photo’s of my Nan I also found a few old photo’s of James’s Grandpa. One in particular caught my eye. 

 The background is very distracting and the lighting not great but I was drawn to the photo because  Grandpa had such focus and concentration not only in his face but his hands, upper body and shoulders too. It is almost as if to him, at that moment in time, the rest of the world did not exist.

  

 I asked James to write a little about his grandfather for you all: 

“Some of the happiest memories from my childhood are of times spent with my Grandpa. He was a model engineer, and his workshop was a treasure trove of tools, materials and finished models. The Allchin (a type of traction engine) in this photo was the result of many years of work, exquisite in every detail, even down to a set of scale size tools and miniature oil can. The greatest thrill was to take it outside, tend the fire (using pea sized chips of anthracite), and have it pull me around the garden. The smell of steam-oil and coal is unforgettable. On a hill the exhaust would take on a sharp bark, pulling sparks from the fire and shooting them high in the air, mixed with great clouds of smoke and steam. Could there be anything more exciting for a young lad with a love of science and engineering?”

What a wonderful memory of a wonderfully talented man.

For my outline I decided to crop right in on Grandpa and his miniature traction engine. I must admit it took me three days to draw the engine. Mind you, it took him over 6 years to build it so maybe three days for me wasn’t so bad.

In my painting I wanted to create a much less cluttered background than the ref photo using light and shade to help to accentuate the centre of interest while also helping to convey the mood. It’s the start of the day and Grandpa is oiling the engine before lighting the fire. Care and attention is needed so that everything is in good working order when the coal is lit in the engine’s tiny furnace.

I'm having huge trouble at the moment getting a decent photo of this painting. The background is as dark but much softer in real life. Hopefully as I get more detail  and variation in colour and values in the camera will do a better job.

Ona

Finished Commission

It was so much fun painting in Rossi's wrinkly face. I'm definitely in love (grin) I never could resist a cute puppy. Anyhow, here is the finished painting.

Ona

Commission progress

I have now finished working from the first reference photo. It was a challenge making Jim's hair spikey. I havent painted spikey hair before. I always like exploring and finding ways to meet a challenge.

Now I will start working on the puppy. As I look into his face on the ref photo I just wish I could reach out and cuddle him. He is just so adorable. I will need to think very carefully when painting him though because I need to add in the extra light from the right that was not there in the ref photo. I will also need to add some more shadowing to Elisha's hands which will be cast by the puppy. Its these sorts of things that make working from two photos a challenge but to me, its far better to have to think about this than try and guess information from a poor photo. I will post again when the painting is complete.

Ona

Choosing photo's for a Commission

I am currently working on a commission and my client has given me permission to share the process with you all.

Very often a client will commission a painting when either it is difficult to get a decent photo of what they would like or when a memory is very special to them. It is important to remember though that I, the artist, will have not met the people or animals that I am going to paint. So in order to capture that special moment or group shot I need as clear a set of photo's as possible. It is no problem for me to work from multiple photo's. This commission is a good example of this.

My client wants a painting of her son and his fiancee with their new puppy. She was unable though to get a clear photo of the three of them together. So I am working from two photos. One of her son and his fiancee together and a separate one of the puppy. My client did, in fact give me three different photos of her son and fiancee and two photos of the puppy. I then played around with the composition using the various photos to find the most natural group composition of the three of them together.These are the two photos that I chose to use from the selection.

I then created this outline from aspects of both photo's, just shifting odd details to make the piece gel as a whole.

I am now busily painting it. It is being painted on a 16 by 20 sheet of Arches cold press paper. I am working from the photo of the son and fiancee at the moment although I am changing clothes colours to make them less formal looking (you probably wouldn't wear your best clothes with a young puppy around)

They still look older than they really are at the moment (its the white hair that does it especially on Jim as he also has a receeding hairline at the moment because I have had to take the skin tones up further so that the skin shows under the hair at the edges)  I need to finish the clothing before I can paint their hair though.

Thank you Marietta for allowing me to share the process here.

Ona