Terrific Twos

11/4/2019

you've heard how everything comes in threes, right? in October it seems that things are coming in twos for me. Let me explain:

Two more paintings for the Radnor show, the botanicals I mentioned in the last post. There was a nice group of 12 painters at Radnor Lake for a paintout and meet & greet with the new Friends of Radnor Board members. it was definitely a chilly afternoon, but we persevered and I produced two simple botanical-styled paintings of what turned out to be a toxic perennial and a invasive shrub. I didn't know that until I got home and looked them up...they just looked pretty to me!

Ageratina altissima Botanical 8x10 oil on linen panel $200

Lonicera Maackii Botanical 8x10 oil on linen panel $200

Two finished commissions! I love my Patrons and am always thrilled when I get contacted to do a painting for someone. Ray requested a painting of his visit to Monet's Giverny gardens, specifically the beautiful lily-filled pond. Using his photo references, I developed a composition we were both happy with and wrestled a bit with all the greens to come through with this sweet painting. One thing I loved about Ray was that when he called to commission this piece he said "it feels like it is time to add to my painting collection!" How great is that!

Kathy, who has walls full of incredible paintings, must have felt the same when she asked me to paint from reference a portrait of her beautiful granddaughter who recently graduated from high school. Kathy wanted a younger version of Maura, so we poured through the photos until we both said "that's the one!" She put a lot of faith in me because I haven't done very many human portraits. They are not easy, that's for sure. Just a millimeter off on any of the features and it doesn't look like Maura anymore. I absolutely loved the challenge and learned so much from it.