PORTNER'S SHED -First watercolor 20 YEARS AGO

my bare beginnings of the small oil...

of a fun-filled weekend in Big Bear Lake at 9000 feet: 
a girl from a flat land in the mountains.

Get the whole story and pics of the painting on my main blog on Wednesday

NOTES

A comeback to art after 20 years.

First time in water color

A new rendition in oil (because I could not find my original after our move)

Decision which kind of  background to focus on:

bare or more natural

©  11 x 14 Oil, Portner's Shed, St. Germain

-the shed is on a slight incline
-what was so effortless in watercolor (the snow covered branches)

was the most challenging for me in oil!
See the double doors are slightly opened?
- had to tweak the sun rays on the doors several times:)

-Almost finished
sorry for the color distortion!
In reality the white is more white
and the yellow in the tree 
on the left is a brighter yellow

MY INFATUATION WITH POST IMPRESSIONISM

© Bend in the Road, oil, St Germain

NOTES

One of those experiments of every artist

- to copy one's favorite artists
- my own signature style is still in there:
ultramarine blue!
-prefer the wildness in van Gogh's sense of form
over the ultra-precison of Seurat, 
which result in a somewhat 
stifled impression.
-the dots are addicting, but I have 
to find my own way of expression!

TRAIN RIDE

 © Train Ride, watercolor, St.Germain


NOTES
- taped off for painting the window
- staring out of an opened window
- mood: waiting
curious
contemplative
- in background:  the window of the other side
- display with blue matte, so it becomes
- a window  of a window in a window

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER

Some design problems need to be worked out. 

So I made some sketches.

- direction of the light coming from the eye:

influences the direction of the bridge

- bridge: straight, or going in a bend?
- with both sketches, the viewer's eye goes 
away from the focus  (not good!)

- with this direction of light,
the pillar on the bridge pulls the eye, 
the bridge and the water together

© Bridge over Troubled Water, 24 x 30, Oil, St.Germain

- choppy water, something new to paint !

-a fiery, yet stormy sky

-still to do: painting the supports of the pillar 
to the bridge

- will do when I get the painting back home!

PAINTING SOMEONE'S DESTINY

On first impression this little painting seems an innocuous goodbye gift. But it is more.
This gift was given to a woman who dared to venture out of the security of being a stay home mom with kids, and becoming a business woman in big Los Angeles. Ont only does one need guts for that, but also smarts. 

She started out very small. She operated out of her family van. Two of her daughters helped her when she would cater coffee at a big conference, wedding, or other event. That is how she still operated when she moved to a Northern state.
In the little painting I put her name on the coffee shop, which was not a symbolic gesture. 
I could see her in my imagination owning a coffee shop, and starting a chain of coffee shops.

©  Oil, St.Germain

 I believe art is not only a "different" way of seeing reality. I think with art we can "foresee" with our imagination what potential lies in the future. After all, creating means: making something out of nothing, after the Master Creator who created the earth and the universe. It is no wonder that Vincent van Gogh said, "God is the greatest artist of all."

I believe this principle is not the monopoly of artists.  The greatest gift one can give to someone else, is to relate to them the potential you see in them! 
With that, I have seen timid students during my teaching time who barely could make a C (passing grade), bloom into confident A (highest grade) students.

BRINGING GIFTS FINISHED

© Bringing Gifts, 9 x 12. Oil, St.Gemain


The wise men....

they seem to stand out this year. 

Was it their knowledge about the stars? 

Was it their passion? 

Was it their sacrifice to travel so far?

Or was it their gifts?

It seemed so foolish to give the most 

exquisite gifts to a baby in a barn. 

Which brings me to conclude that 

sometimes wisdom appears foolish

And it's foolish not to learn from that.

Notes

- focus on worshipful attitude of wiseman

-the wonder of Mary

- the star that brought the wisemen 

to visit the stable

- display of their knowledge about the universe

- purple robe...color of kings

BRINGING GOLD, INCENSE AND MYRRH

© Gifts of the Wise Men, 9 x 6, Oil., St.Germain 

- Still unfinished, what I started on Dec. 26

- since January 6 is it is the celebration of the Wise Men

 hope to finish it by then with notes 

on my meanderings of 

this little 9 x 6 inch oil painting