BACK AT THE EASEL - YAY!

Yes, I'm back to doing what I should have been doing all along - painting. God gave me this ability and I'm ashamed to say I have not been glorifying Him by doing anything with that ability.

I had one project in mind that I just had to finish. A few years back, I did a competition piece for the First Baptist Church in Nashville, TN and their annual art competition. The piece was titled "Take This Cup." I didn't think it would do anything but it won the purchase award where the church purchased the painting for their gallery. I really did want it for myself so thought I would do another for myself, which I finally did this year - 2016. There was so much wrong with it, but finally, after many months I put it back on my easel to finish. It still needs some tweaking, but here it is. Even unfinished, it hung in a prominent place in my home.

Take This Cup II - 15x30

 Then I have a brand new second project I am going to attempt to do. This is my granddaughter at about 3-1/2 years old. I stumbled on this picture when I posted a more recent one of her painting.
I love this photo and hope I can do it. The most problem I had with the sketch was getting the angles and proportions on the easel right. Here's hoping I can do it. I'm always up for the challenge. Sorry, having trouble lining up the photos.


Sketch - 18x24





My sweet Ellie.

What Have I Been Doing?

This posting is mainly to let my followers know that I am still alive and kicking in middle Tennessee.

Relating to the title of this post - I have been doing everything but painting. I had to correct the "Take This Cup II" painting of my last posting.  But have I done that yet? No, and I am very disappointed in myself for not being motivated to do that. I have, however, been involved in "scrapbooking" our Book of James study and creating Christmas cards for sale at my church. The monies are earmarked for missions, which we have contributed to for the past two years.

But, back to my painting. I have a painting that I did quite some time back that I would like to repost. It is special to me and was created for a family reunion in 2010. It has deep spiritual meaning for me. I titled it "Love Beyond Measure."

Here's the symbolism behind this painting:

God the Father is the White Rose,
The first pink rose symbolizes Jesus Christ. Your freedom from sin came from the Father through the Son. Therefore, the butterfly, which I see as symbolic of freedom, alights on the Christ Jesus. The Father's tear is self-explanatory. The bottom pink rose symbolizes the Holy Spirit and the roses laying on the table symbolize fallen man. The Koa wood vase and weathered Lauhala mat covering the wall represents the Hawaiian people and their culture and the fern represents the interweaving of ohana (family) with the roses.

Thank you for visiting me here. May God's choicest blessings be upon you and yours!!
    

Running Wild

Back in February I posted a couple of paintings that I was working on. One was a "commission" from my granddaughter. What she requested was a painting of five horses running free. I called it finished about a week ago. It was certainly a challenge and the end result was not exactly what I had hoped for. She loved it though and that's what's important.  She titled it "Running Wild."  I don't expect to be doing horses any time in the near future. 

Now I have to finish the other painting, which I am having problems with - "Take This Cup II." Just can't seem to get the anatomy right. I've taken out what is wrong, but now I have to put it back in - that's the problem. Oh well, it's not as though I was doing it for someone. I'm doing this painting for myself - however, do want to get it right.

Thanks for visiting.

What I'm Doing Now ...

Hard to believe, I know, my last posting was January 11th - here it is February 1st and I'm here again. I just wanted to show you how far I've gotten on the painting I spoke about last time. However, not only have I been working on "Take This Cup II," I've also accepted a "commission." I've italicized commission because it isn't a real commission. Let me explain - my granddaughter recently decided to redecorate her room in a western theme and asked me to paint her a picture with five horses running in a field. My first thought was - "Good grief that is quite a challenge - I don't do animals, much less horses." Anyway, because it would be a challenge, I told her I would do it, so wanted to show how far I've gotten into that one.

Two paintings going on at one time is not something I usually do, but it has been interesting. Still have a little more to do on "Take This Cup" and a lot more on the horses. That painting is proving to be a real challenge.  Here are both paintings:

Take This Cup II

Running Horses

 Please give me some feedback as to what you think about these paintings. Thanks for visiting.

For A More Creative 2016

Hello out there - I am still alive and kicking. What can I say except sorry for my terribly sporadic postings to this blog. Not only have I not been posting regularly, I have not been painting. That is a crying shame. I post my paintings to my computer's hard-drive by year, so I went back over those and was ashamed to find that in 2015 I did only two paintings. 2014 was not much better with three, and 2013 looks like I did only two. 2009 was my most creative year - I painted 28 paintings (I must've been on fire then). No wonder I have felt like I've been missing something. That's the reason for the title - I want (not a resolution) to be more creative this year - 2016.

This year I already have a couple of ideas in the works. I've already sketched one of them and am excited about doing it. In 2009 I did a painting for a local art competition and sale. I titled it "Take This Cup." It won the Purchase Award  and is hanging in the gallery at the Baptist church that ran the competition. (I didn't think it would receive recognition, much less be purchased) This is it ....

Take This Cup - 15x30 oil on stretched canvas

Anyway,  the painting became so meaningful to me as I was painting it that unconsciously I really didn't want it to sell, but it did. I decided someday to do another - something I don't ordinarily do. After six years, I finally am where I believe I can do it. Here is a very rough sketch. It will be a little different colorwise and a few other differences, but the overall remains the same - hopefully better.

Stay tuned for the progress.