Creating a Moment in Time… My Latest Painting

I was recently commissioned to paint a lovely woman named Loma. She lived a long, happy life, and recently passed away in her 90′s. The family wanted to memorialize her in a painting, which will be displayed above the mantle in the grandchildren’s play room.

Loma was a vibrant, amazing woman, and had stunning blue eyes, porcelain skin, and high cheekbones. Sherry, my client, wanted the painting to depict Loma in her youth, and a traditional head and shoulders style portrait simply would not do!

Sherry provided me with several reference photos from the 1940′s, all black and white and showing signs of their age. I realized quickly that this portrait would be a challenging one, but I knew how important the project was. The photo we decided to use was of Loma sitting on an uneven bar in someone’s backyard. Sherry mentioned that Loma had always loved sunflowers, so it seemed fitting to have a field of the beautiful flowers in the background of the painting. I went on a search to find the perfect field – one that had a fence that we could place her on.

After selecting the reference photos, I used my Photoshop program and my graphic design background to lay out the composition and get Sherry’s approval before starting to paint. We agreed on details such as what color to make her skirt stripes, and whether she preferred a white fence or a natural one, and then the magic began…

I spent about 2 weeks working on this painting.  I was pleased with how it progressed, and enjoyed making decisions such as shadow placement, how to paint the sky, and what to do with the lower part of the fence and ground without reference material.

Beautifying my World

If you’ve ever visited my home, you know how much I value color. (See photos of the inside of my home). My builder seemed to prefer off-white for the walls, and I knew myself well enough to know that I would quickly go crazy with those surroundings. Within a week and a half of the closing, I had color on every wall! It looks great, and each room now gives me a different feeling when I walk in. My kitchen is a fantastic green, my studio a calming ocre, and the guest bathroom a fun robin’s egg blue with brown accents. Of course, paintings adorn the walls – you might think you were in a gallery here.

With all of that said, it’s kind of interesting that I’ve lived here almost a year, but I’ve just now done something to beautify and add color to the outside of my home. I’m going to guess that the reason lies in the deep-rooted fear I have of killing things that start out green.