Hugh's Pond

Joy

Hugh's Pond
Pride

3- 7x7

acylic on canvas
all sold

Here are the three commissioned pieces all in one place. I do believe they should be hung horizontally, but they won't fit on the screen in that manner. The neighbor who asked me to paint these for her husband's birthday this summer has seen them on the blog, but not in person yet. The pond is his own creation and his pride and joy. She seems pleased so far and I hope in person she will like them even more. The colours certainly show better in real life. The greens of the water are not showing well on my monitor; the blue is taking over a bit. The painting of the water lily is a waaaaaaayyy better photograph than the previous one I posted- look here to see the difference. This is a much more accurate representation. I wanted to include a more pulled back view of the pond, so that hopefully it can be recognized by the family as the one Hugh created in their back yard. I was a bit concerned they wouldn't flow, but I think it is okay, and hopefully even a bit more interesting done this way. Please let me know what you think now that you can see them as a grouping. As always, I appreciate hearing from the interesting people that stop by my blog.

Painting Number Three of Three

Hugh's Pond
7x7 

acrylic on canvas
sold

It's been awhile since I posted. Last week I was at the studio three afternoons working on this painting and it was also the last week of school so things were quite busy. Then I had organized a Block Party for our street which we had on Saturday- super fun for all the kids! I think they especially love the freedom of running across the road with no concern of traffic. By Sunday (yesterday) I was too tired to do much of anything. So I didn't!

This is the last of the three paintings of the pond commission. I wanted to do a pulled back view of the pond as opposed to another close-up detail. This one was quite possibly the most difficult. It did have rocks at the bottom left, but visually it just didn't look right. As soon as I took them out and continued the water, it just felt so much better. The colour of the rocks changed from where I started as did the foliage up in the top right corner. At the last minute I added the fish because on it's own the lily didn't seem like a strong enough focal point. Whew! I have one more concern which quite possibly could be in my head and I won't say what it is (in this post anyway) because I don't want to influence your thoughts!

I tweaked the water lily painting ever so slightly and want to take a better picture of it. Once I do, I will post all three paintings together.

Two Down

Pride
acrylic on canvas

7x7"

(update: for a better quality image see this post)
sold

I made it to the studio a few days this week and was able to get the second painting done for the commission I am working on. Well, it's basically done... now that I see it on the screen I think I may have to glaze over the stems again to make them appear more submerged.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I finally put to use a tube of paint I bought ages ago, but never quite knew what to do with. It is called Iridescent Pearl and it's really quite beautiful. I ended up using a small amount on each fish- to give the scales an iridescent shimmer. On this painting I ended up putting the slightest touch on the tips of some of the petals, just to tie the two paintings together. I think generally it is a colour that should be used in moderation, but especially in this circumstance when it is a gift for a man. I'm not too sure how much razzmatazz he would appreciate on his paintings!

Which got me thinking: I wonder when the shift happens for boys? When do they stop enjoying sparkly things? I know my kids love anything shiny when they are doing crafts and my sister, who teaches Grade One, says year after year the boys in her classes can't get enough of anything glittery. It's really quite cute. Just this week Sammy brought home a workbook on the Wright Brothers and their inventions which he completed in his Grade Two class. On one page he was supposed to list what he felt were "Other Useful Inventions" and his short list made me smile:

- tradeing cards

- toylets

- glitter glue