Custom Beach Painting

A woman commissioned me recently to create a painting of her family on vacation. Three of the people were actually in the reference photo but I used some artistic license to add the others.

Small Figurative Paintings Part II

I don't always use my own reference photos for paintings. If the image is simple enough and the message obvious enough, as it is in this image, I can usually make an interesting piece. I have done a lot of beach paintings of kids. I'm always careful to make the kids generic enough so people won't recognize them. I used a photograph by Rachael Curry, an artist friend, of her two children on a beach in Queensland. Rachael and her family live in Australia and I love the internet for this very reason. You 'meet' friends from all over when you share common interests-- in this case art. She posted a gorgeous picture in our online photo sharing forum of her children on the beach. They are obviously posing but the pose is adorable (to me) and has love written all over it.

I cropped this picture into a square format and used a warm peachy underpainting to counteract the huge quantity of blue. I also used a very limited palette of ultramarine blue, cadmium red light, raw sienna, viridian, alizarin crimson and cad yellow light. I love that she is taller than him. It just wouldn't have the same impact if they were the same height.

Young Love

6" x 6"

Oil on Gessobord™

Summertime is Play Time

Another painting I'll take to Tipp City in July, this one was done from a photo I took at Lakeside last year. Lakeside, Ohio is a small gated Community near Marblehead, Ohio in the northernmost part of Ohio. Lake Erie is making a comeback, thanks to conservation efforts, and is becoming a cleaner and healthier place to swim and boat.

I used a combination of cadmium orange and thalo red rose as a HOT underpainting just to see what kind of effect I would get.

8" x 8" oil on canvas

Lakeside Summer Day

Another Mini

Until the major renovations on our home are complete my studio is temporarily housed in a small bedroom, along with my computer, my art books and everything else I do not want to have full of drywall dust. I don't mind because it will be worth it to have a new kitchen, bath and laundry room. It does limit the size of what I can paint though, so I may focus on smaller paintings until these projects are finished. There isn't much room for a large canvas after I squeeze my myself, my big Lyre easel, my paintbox, and assorted paints and brushes into this space. And I can't forget my dog, Jake, who likes to keep me company. It is quite crowded-- or should I say "cozy", like the realtors do?

This was a small painting of a subject I do often-- kids having fun at the beach. I spent a lot of time at the beach with my kids when they were young and it's one of my favorite places. I like to keep the palette high key and summery when I do these beach scenes.

6" x 6" oil on canvas