portrait
Oil Painting: Nala
A portrait of a lovely standard poodle, Nala, who lives with friends. This was a birthday commission :).
Oil Painting: Draped Figure
I had planned to paint outdoors every day for the first week the girls were back at school, but the morning of Day 1 poor Holly woke up with a fever, and Meredith got sick soon after. Lasted over a week, so that’s how this painting began. They are both back to full health.
I worked on this while I did the two Sea Map paintings, and found it interesting how the waves of water and folds of fabric were similar in shape and logic, and in their fleeting nature. Each fold and break, each leaf shape and stem, has history and reasons for being.
This and ten other paintings will be on display at North Park University’s Johnson Center for the next few weeks.
Oil Painting: Portrait of Mom
Here is a portrait of my dear mom. I hope my love and joy for her come through 🙂
I was invited to do this portrait as part of Tim Lowly’s amazing La Mére/La Mer exhibition that’s been on display at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana. This weekend the exhibition moves to Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota, where it will be from October 3 to November 10. Tim Lowly is a wonderful artist, teacher, mentor and friend.
Mom met me in South Bend for the reception and a fun overnight trip. Here’s a photo of us in the gallery. My portrait of her was displayed with 5 others by artist’s who have worked with Tim.
I also have 11 paintings on display in the Johnson Center at North Park University. I’ll post individual pics of the new paintings soon. Stop in and see it if you can! I believe the paintings will be on display through November. It’s part of the 2016 Alumni Triennial Show, and there’s some amazing work in the Carlson Gallery, as well as in Brandel Library. My part of the show is entitled The More You Look the More You See.
Oil Painting: Girl on a Trampoline
I planned this painting out quite a while ago. It’s composed from a series of photos I took when the girls were playing on my sister’s trampoline – what a great visit we had! These figures show Holly in full motion, with the world whirling around her. When the DPW motion challenge was posted last week, it reminded me of this idea and gave me an extra ounce of motivation.
Another Drawing: Crowned Figure
Another quick drawing – these are relaxing and fun. Sharpie markers and watercolor paint on paper. I started this with more of the round “where’s waldo” eyes but it looked absurd, so I scribbled them into a downcast glance. Thinking about Hundertwasser gets me thinking about crowns – he has some interesting quotes about being a king, having only to set a crown on his head. I once saw a series of 100 ladder sculptures an artist had done, I saw this at Calvin College when I was in high school. It would be interesting to do a series of crowns.
Watercolor sketches: Look, Listen; Snowday
It’s been a busy month, with only a little painting. Meredith and I broke out the watercolor paints this afternoon. I read that the artist Hundertwasser became fascinated with almond shaped eyes. The eyes in his paintings range from wise and beautiful to strange and creepy. With this in mind, I’ve been doodling these wide, round eyes for a while. Alert, nervous, goofy, vacant. Looking and listening.
Meredith hopes for a little more snow this winter. She’s not going to get it tonight. It’s a balmy 60 degrees out there right now.
Oil Painting of a Kiss
We just got back from a great week at a Michigan cottage. We spent one afternoon painting outside – I’ll post the photos soon. For today, here’s a commissioned portrait I did a few weeks ago of Charles Barkley and Dick Bavetta.
Oil Portrait of a Boy with Blond Hair
Here is a happy, handsome young fellow.
Reminds me, I recently enjoyed this video: Portrait Painting Duo with Scott Burdick and Daniel Gerhartz. They both paint the same model, with pretty different approaches and results. It’s helpful in portrait demonstrations to see how funky the paintings look in progress. To see that those are stages to work through, and not times to despair.
Oil Painting of a Boy in Navy
I finished this commissioned portrait last night. It’s fun and challenging working with such a handsome model :).
Oil painting: Girl with a Red Tulip
After admiring portraits by Kris Lewis like this one and this one, I jumped in (over my head) and attempted something similar. Meredith (such a good sport) posed for reference photos. The background is a small part of a landscape by Alexandre Calame. Red tulips symbolize perfect love, and butterflies suggest metamorphosis, change and growth.
This was a change of pace and a challenge. As with the self portrait I did a few weeks ago, I thought I’d enjoy slowing down and painting fine detail, but when it came to it I just rushed through it. So much to learn.
Deb Anderson, painting 
