Some Things I Painted

Title: “Sweet Karoline”
Canvas: 16“x 20”
Media: Oil
Price: Given to Jon Erickson (husband) for his birthday
Date Completed:  8/18/2015

I thought this painting was beyond my then current skill level. Gail assured me that if we just took our time, it’d be fine. I wanted to do this for Jon’s birthday on 7/15. I knew it wouldn’t be done and just told him that his birthday present was backordered. He was very surprised when he finally got the painting and absolutely loved it.

When Karoline (daughter) was learning to walk she pushed this silly walker everywhere. She’d want to go outside at 6:30am and would stay out until 8:00pm if you let her.  The picture of her with the walker was placed in a photograph that was taken by well known artist that Gail is friends with. Jon gravitated towards cherry blossom paintings when browsing around the studio with me so Gail and I wanted to combine Karoline and her walker with this great photograph from her friend.

There are things I love about this paining. There are things I wish I’d done differently.  I didn’t do a good enough job planning for this painting which caused some proportions to be off in the end. I didn’t realize how important it was to get the proportions right from the very beginning. There are a few things I still want to fix but it’s already been varnished. Onward and upward.

Title: Turnpike Sunset
Canvas: ehhh.. not sure
Media: Oil
Price: Given as Christmas gift to Jenny Tindall (sister)
Critical Acclaim: “I have a Kathryn original in my office!,” Jenny Tindall.
Date Completed: 12/20/2015

I really enjoyed doing this painting. I’d decided to trash the Onions and Bacon painting. I didn’t have any ideas for what to paint next. My teacher was just starting this painting and I thought I’d give it a try as well. Gail took this picture from the exit ramp of the New Jersey turnpike.

Things I learned: It’s hard to mix paints that are combinations of other colors. Specifically orange and pink. You aren’t trying to mix to a shade of pink or to a shade of orange but instead are finding a perfect orange/pink.  Gail had just gotten back from Paris and had a brilliant rose oil paint that she shared with me for this painting. From that I learned that higher quality paints go on the canvas like butter. It helps to take picture of your painting with the reference picture every hour or so to get a different perspective on how you’re progressing.

Title: Unfinished onions and grapes
Canvas: 16“x 20”
Media: Oil
Price: NFS

I will never finish this painting. I’m not made for still life. I paint for fun and this was not fun. The first week I worked on this painting I just sketched it out. My husband thought it was a bowl of bacon.

This painting was the first time I realized my teacher might have a small obsession with lavender…

Things I learned. Shiny is difficult to capture in paint. Nothing is white white. With still life you have to get a good sketch the first week and then get a really good reference picture.

Title: “Screaming Grapefruit”
Canvas: who knows? Maybe like 8×10?
Media: Oil
Price: A million dollars
Critical Acclaim: “It looks like you took an orange and mashed it right onto that paper,” Madeline (age 6)

Everyone has a first painting. Rarely does anyone see it. I’ve drawn a lot of circles in my life. I had never painted one and judging from the results here, I still haven’t. Me and Dina started paint class at the same time. She’s Greek. She’s loud. She’s assertive. And she calls our teacher “Teach.”  She cracks me up every class.

I learned a lot from this painting. Without shadows things float. Everyone cheats on horizon lines. You need a dark line under objects to define them. Signatures are the hardest part of the painting.