Wings to Freedom WIP 1

 Painting a detailed background for this portrait has taken me a while. I decided to make quite big changes from the original reference photo because I wanted to add more atmosphere to the piece and to show the sky and clouds to make it feel more open.

With the background and glider now basically done I can now focus on painting Wayne.

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

Going BIG in a special way!!!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks; I’ve finished one of the commissions and am just starting the second. I have permission to share this next one with you all and I will post more about it in a couple of days

Today though I would like to tell you about another painting I am starting.

Before I tell you about it though, I have to tell you how James Rebecca and I tried to tame the wild beast otherwise known as a roll of 44 inch wide Arches cold press!!! It’s wonderful having the flexibility of size and, as in this case, being able to paint bigger than a full sheet, but wow!!!! The curve on the paper as you unroll it agh!!!! Anyhow, it took three of us and 6 hands plus a couple of elbows and heavy objects to keep it flat enough to cut to size. I wish there had been a spare hand for one of us to take a photo. It must have been a sight to behold!

And now to the painting itself... It is going to be a portrait of Wayne Macdonald. Wayne is a very talented musician and songwriter who became a paraplegic after falling fourteen feet from a roof. He belongs to the same gliding club as my husband James and this club is also the base for a charity called Freedom’s Wings. Freedom’s Wings Canada provides people with disabilities the opportunity to fly and it has a couple of specially adapted gliders so that people with disabilities  can experience the freedom of flight in a glider and, like Wayne, learn to fly. It is well worth spending a moment looking at the Freedom’s Wings website and in particular reading some of the testimonials from disabled people that have experienced flight in a glider.

This is the reference photo I am using for my painting. It was taken last year by my husband James.

  I love the moment in time that the ref photo captures just as Wayne is about to close the canopy with the reflection of the front of the plane and beyond to the horizon in his sunglasses.

This is my outline. I have cropped in on the right but also extended the left to help create the feeling of space before him, of a journey, an adventure about to begin. It doesnt matter what is behind, for this moment in time it is all about what lays in front of him.

  It seemed such a fitting subject for a painting as my first experience of painting larger than full sheet. I hope you will enjoy sharing in my journey and learning more about Wayne and Freedom’s Wings along the way.

Ona

Canadian International Open Water Exhibition 2010 Acceptance!

I had another exciting letter in the post yesterday. My painting 'Rations' has been accepted into the Canadian International  Open Water Exhibition 2010. This will be my second major juried watercolour exhibition this year! I am so pleased this one has been accepted because as well as being such fun to paint it also has such an important message to tell.

Ona

A Bleeding Heart, framed

I spent most of the day framing A Bleeding Heart for Ona. Had a bit of a disaster and wrote off two full sheets of conservation grade mat board. That's a lesson learnt the hard way! Still, the final result looks great and it's all ready to ship off to the PWS in a week or two.

The Guardian of Ra

This was a fun exercise and hopefully will make a popular card design. Its nice pushing the boundaries and trying something new. I hadn't tried such a high key painting before but it seemed so appropriate to show a cat capturing the glow of the sun in her eyes.

You will have to imagine that the paper is white. Unfortunately the camera did not want to play today.

I am also still working on the background water effect for my self portrait. I have finished the wave section and am working on the water above her head. I will post my progress on this once I have finished the water completely.

Ona

The Guardian of Ra WIP 1

I'm still experimenting with different ideas for the water section of the self portrait so while I am deciding which approach to use I thought I would begin the other painting that I have drawn out.

I had the idea for this painting when I was sat outside a couple weeks ago in the sunshine and a beautiful white cat came over to say hi. Looking at her in the sun she almost seemed to merge into the brightness of the sky behind her as, facing the sun and capturing the light in her eyes she basked in the sunshine. It made me think about the Ancient Egyptian beliefs.

The Ancient Egyptians believed that cats captured the glow of the sun in their eyes and kept it's power safe during the hours of darkness.

They believed that at sunset, Ra, the sun god, would die and descend through the underworld in the west, to be born again in the east, at sunrise. During the night, however,they believed that Ra was in great danger, as his enemies, headed by the great serpent Apophis would not hesitate to attack him, thus putting the whole universe in danger. They believed that cats who looked into the sun in the day would keep its rays in their eyes throughout the night until the next glow of light lit the sky, for they have eyes that reflect in the dark. With that fire burning in their eyes, they would go forth and kill the serpents of the night and keep Ra safe until morning.

I just had to convey this idea in a painting and... well you know me... i just can't resist painting eyes... I LOVE them.

You will have to imagine that the rather grey paper is white. I couldn't get a good photo  in the lighting conditions I have at the moment. Its grey and overcast and I think we are about to have a storm.  I wanted to experiment 'high key' style and maintain as much of the white paper as I could, minimally suggesting the cats outline while really focusing in on her eyes.. I have now painted both eyes and suggested her nose and mouth. I am starting to add in suggestions of her fur in the shady areas. I have a lot more of this to do on the shady side. Her whiskers on this side will be the white of the paper. They are just masked at the moment to help me preserve the white while I complete the fur.

I will be working on both this painting and the self portrait over the next couple of weeks and will post updates on both as I progess. I really enjoy your company as I paint and love reading all your comments  whether you write them by e mail, on facebook or as a comment on this blog.

Ona

Rations

Thanks again for all your support.

I've finished the goslings. They were such fun to paint but this painting is intended as more than just a painting depicting their cute fluffy characters...


‘They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…’

is the opening line of a Joni Mitchell song.

for these young Canada geese, along with many other animals, their habitat is being destroyed as a result.

This new family of goslings are on ‘Rations’. They have found a Dandelion growing through a crack in the parking lot but it is the only piece of vegetation in the sea of tarmac.

here are some close ups of the little goslings

Ona

Rations WIP 2

Firstly I would like to thank you so much for all the congratulations that you have posted on the blog and sent by e mail. I really appreciate all of your support.

I've been busy painting some of the baby geese over the weekend. They are such fun to paint, their tiny fluffy bodies and their legs and feet which seem so out of proportion and then their cute faces.

I have now finished 4 of the 6 goslings so let me introduce them to you by showing you this close up of the finished section of the painting.



You have already met the good little gosling on the left who is patiently letting her brothers and sisters have their turn. Beside her is the eager gosling who is more than a little determined to have more than his fair share. Next to him is his brother who has toddled a long way to get his share of the rations. His wings are outstretched because they just seem to help maintain balance whilst trying to walk. His younger sister on the far right really would like some food too but the whole business of standing up is prooving to be quite difficult.

As you can see below I have the two geese on the far left hand side still to paint. Hopefully I will get then done over the next couple of days..



Ona

Updates and Exciting News!

Hi Everyone, It's been a busy and exciting couple of days for me.

I've finished the labrador drawing. I was going to call it 'Missing you' but as I have been drawing it 'Waiting' seems to fit so much better. What do you think?



I've also begun working on the little goslings in my watercolour painting 'Rations'. They are quite fiddly to do so it's taking me a while but I'm really enjoying it. I've finished the good little gosling of the group. She is sat nicely beside the food and doesn't mind sharing with others. I am now working on the other gosling who is near the food. He is a little more forceful in his endevours to have his share of the rations. I havent taken a photo of the whole painting, but cropped in on the section I am working on so you can see the little goslings themselves. I am trying very hard to convey that cute awwwww factor whilst painting them because I want this to contrast to the more serious message I am trying to convey. I hope it works.



And to my exciting news...I received a letter in the post yesterday saying my painting 'A Bleeding Heart' had been juried into this years Pennsylvania Watercolor Society International 31st Juried exhibition.

This was painted after I researched the legend of the Bleeding Heart flower. I loved the story and immediately went out into my garden, found a bleeding heart flower and used Rebecca's lovely long eye lashes as my reference. For those of you fairly new to this blog or who do not remember the story that goes with this painting here it is again.

You have to imagine that I have a Bleeding heart flower in my hand as I tell you the tale.

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess. Young men from far and near came to try to win her heart. But the princess was very vain and would have nothing to do with any of them. A young prince from a neighboring country fell deeply in love with her. She ignored him like the others, though he tried and tried to win her love. One day the prince found a pair of pretty pink rabbits at the market. At this point, I pull off the two outer pink petals and set each on it side to show the animals. He sent them to the princess thinking,"these will surely melt her heart." But the princess went right on ignoring him. Then the prince sent her a pair of beautiful earrings. Next I separate the two inner white petals and hold them up next to my ears. Still the princess would have nothing to do with him. The young prince was so heartbroken that he took his dagger and drove it into his heart. The remaining centre of the flower in my hand is shaped like an outline of a heart with a line down the centre. I hold the heart up, remove the dagger-like line, and plunge the "knife" through the heart's centre. The princess, realizing too late that she did love the prince, cried out, "My heart shall bleed for my prince forever more!" and her heart bleeds to this day.

Ona

Waiting and Rations WIP updates

I am really enjoying my new resolution to have two works in progress at a time. While I was waiting for each layer of the background glazes to dry on the watercolour painting I could pen in some more of the labrador. Both are progressing well.

I have now finished the background for the gosling painting. I chose to use a lot of the colours that I will use when painting each gosling in my background. I wanted to create that feel of a barren landscape apart from the one small piece of vegetation growing out of a crack in some tarmac to contrast with the cute fluffy goslings themeselves and to help to convey my inner message. We are building over so much of their natural habitat maybe in the future what is conveyed in this painting could become reality.



I now get to do the fun part... bringing each of the little goslings personalities to life.

The labrador is still not finished but is progressing well too. I have added the colour to the eyes and I am pleased with the effect it creates. It seems to accentuate the soulfulness of his eyes.



Ona

Having fun with pen and ink!

I felt in the mood for doing a pen drawing this weekend so I started this one of a labrador looking under the fence waiting for his owner to come home. I know how many times I've seen our labrador Harry waiting patiently with his head on the floor and how happy he is when his 'pack' returns.

It's still a 'work in progress' but I thought i'd post an update now so you can see. I have added in all the darkest darks and am now working on the midtones.



I have been planning my colour scheme for the painting of the geese and have spent a couple of hours today masking the whites of the goslings feathers but nothing much to show yet. I'll post an update on that one when I have done the background.

Ona

Homecoming close ups and the next idea for a painting!

Thank you for all your lovely comments about the Kettlewell painting. A couple of you have e mailed asking if I could post some close ups so here they are:

firstly of the shepherds and their sheep



and secondly of Blue Bell Inn.



I am so glad that the relaxed feeling comes across in the painting. Creating an atmosphere is a large part of what I enjoy most when painting landscapes.


A few of you also wanted to know more about the village itself so if you are interested click on this link to find out more.

I'm thinking about my next painting already. Well actually I'm already beginning to draw out the outline. Its a change of subject matter once more. We took some photos recently of a group of Canadian geese youngsters and they each had such wonderful characters I just have to paint them. So, I am going for a cutsie painting of the baby goslings but with a very serious twist to it. There are just a couple of blades of grass left, poking through a tarmac'd path, symbolizing human's destruction of habitat.



I have drawn out the goslings. You will have to imagine the remaining blades of grass in the area of the middle two goslings. I am now thinking about the background. I plan to keep it fairly plain except in the area where the last remaining blades of grass are. I am really looking forward to developing the characters and feelings of each of the little goslings over the coming weeks.

Ona