Nurtured By My Side

'Nurtured By My Side'

5 x 7 oil on masonite

click here to purchase

'Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine

From your head to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Cute as can be, baby of mine.' 

When all my children were babies I would often sing to them, very quietly, as I held them and rocked them to sleep. Counting precious little fingers and marveling at the strength of such a little hand when it grasped onto mine. This song, from Dumbo one of my favorite Disney movies, was what I always sang to my youngest. And I can't listen to it without it bringing tears to my eyes, reminding me of those sweet, fleeting days. 

This little foal was born just a few days before I took this photo. And every time he stood up to nurse his mother stood so very still. Barely swishing her tail at the flies, unless they landed on him. She knew somehow where they landed. She stood ever calm, patient, steady, and watchful. It was another piece of evidence to me that a powerful love, especially a mother's love, doesn't belong to humans alone.

In other news I've been out of town a few days this week. For my birthday my husband got me tickets to see ZZ Ward, my FAVORITE musician in the entire world! So we made the five hour drive up to Boise, Idaho to see the concert and spent a few days there. 

ZZ Ward, with her trademark fedora hat. She was awesome. Every bit as good live as she is recorded. 

And I found my new favorite band too. This is You Me & Apollo, who opened for ZZ, and they seriously rocked. Like in a spectacularly amazingful way. Seriously. If you like Indie/Alt rock you should check them out. Pretty undiscovered right now, but they shouldn't be for long because they are awesome.

It was pretty rainy and cold while we were there but we did do a bit of sight seeing. There was this gorgeous bridge built in 1925 (I think), that went across a huge river. We don't have rivers like that in my neck of the woods in Utah. Which is a bummer. 

We also saw a ton (and by ton, I mean TON) of people playing (wait for it) Frisbee golf. This is like a real thing. I had no idea. These people take their frisbee golf seriously, they have different sized frisbees for different shots and everything. I must be sheltered because I seriously did not know such a thing existed. Nor was I aware of the zeal of its supporters. Wow. If you want to see a pic (because I didn't take one) here's a link on Wiki.

And another strange thing we saw was a bike bar. Not like a 'biker bar' with motorcycles, leather, and tattoos. No, no. Nothing like that. This is a literal Bike Bar. A moving bike type thing with a bar. Seats fourteen people. Yup. I can't make stuff like this up people. I'm not that creative.

You can see a pic of one here, because again, I slacked at getting a picture of this strange novelty.

And apparently squirrels are to Idaho, what seagulls are to Utah. Little scavengers who are not afraid of humans at all and practically scamper up your leg for food as you try to get to your car. I had some cookies in my hands as we left our bed and breakfast and those squirrels had their eyes on them. I feared for my cookies safety. It was a tense moment. It takes a brave soul to stroll through a Boise park without a few crumbs of food. Prepare thyself fair parkgoer lest ye shall face the wrath of the squirrels.

It was a good time. A great time. But it's good to be home too. . . where my cookies are safe from squirrels and I am not in danger of being beaned in the head by an errant frisbee.

Almost Got It - SOLD

'Almost Got It' SOLD

4.5 x 6.5 inches watercolor on paper

Still trying to scratch that itch. :) These two paintings were so much fun. I think if I could only every paint babies, of just about any species, I would be a very happy painter.

Today's painting and yesterday's were painted close together on one sheet of paper like this:

Happy Spring everyone!! We've finally got some more sunshine today! How about you?

Sweet Baby Xander

'Sweet Baby Xander' 

8" x 10" watercolor on paper

not for sale

Remember around Valentine's day when I had a contest where I was giving away an 8 x 10 painting to whoever submitted a 'smitten' photo that got the most votes? Well here is the finished painting of sweet baby Xander.

I love his little nose pressed against his binky and his chubby fist. Brings back so many memories to me (although my kids were never into pacifiers, not for lack of trying I tell you!). There is just nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby is there? 

Listening to: ZZ Ward 

Reading: Daughter of Smoke and Bone (for the second time)

Watching: Grimm

Snacking on: Salted caramel hot chocolate (it's chilly today!)  

Sweet Baby Girl - sold

'Sweet Baby Girl' sold, private commission

8 x 10 inches watercolor on paper

And here's the finished painting. :) I fell in love with this little girl, she is so happy and smiley. There was such a variety of colors in her skin tones, reflecting from the little pool she's sitting in, which was very fun. And I've already heard from my client who is very happy with the painting. Which makes for a very happy artist. :))) 

I used three colors to paint her skin tones, permanent rose, cobalt blue, and hansa yellow light. That's all. You can do a lot with primary colors when painting skin. And my own personal opinion is that when you avoid using brown (like burnt umber) in skin tones the subject seems more alive. Even when I paint dark skin tones I never use brown. Although I do use burnt sienna, which is more of a rich orange and beautifully transparent, perfect for skin. I just didn't use it here.

Anyways. . . Babbled on enough I suppose. Thanks for taking a peek at my work and following along on the progress. :)

Huzzah for Monday being nearly over!!

Merry Christmas!

'Prince of Peace'

7" x 9"

not for sale

 

 

Wishing all of you, my dear friends, a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all are well and safe and that you have a happy holiday. Thank you very much to every single person who reads this blog, whether you're an old friend, or a new one, thank you for taking the time to let my art and words be a part of your life. Merry Christmas!

 

O holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night
Of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt His worth
A thrill of hope
The weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks
A new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine when Christ was born

Looking Up

'Looking Up'

6" x 6" acrylic on masonite

I painted this little portrait of my youngest son a couple of weeks ago. The photo is from when he was a baby, about seven months old, and he's sitting down in that little frog-legged way that babies do when they're just learning how to sit up on their own. My mom stands behind him, leaning over with her arms on either side of him, ready to catch him if he wobbles too much and topples to the ground.

I love that photo. I plan to do a large watercolor of the whole image one day because I love the look of my mom's hands protecting him and his trusting expression as he looks up at her.

But I just felt like painting an acrylic portrait and I loved the lighting on his sweet, chubby face. :) I think it will be interesting to see what the watercolor looks like in comparison to this acrylic study. When I get around to it, which might not be for a while. Always too many ideas and too little time.  I wonder if that will ever change? I sure hope not. About having too many ideas I mean. :)

Huzzah my friends! Until Saturday!

Prince of Peace

Prince of Peace

6" x 9" watercolor

NFS

 'And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.'

Luke 1:7

Here's part two of my Believe monthly painting challenge with Carrie.

 I believe in Christ. I do. 

This was an emotional painting for me, and I felt more compelled to paint this piece than I think I ever have with any other painting before.

And so, my wonderful bloggy family, I wish you the merriest Christmas ever, I hope you all have a very, very happy one. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, well, then I wish you a very happy rest of the week. :) 

O holy night,

the stars are brightly shining

It is the night

of the dear Savior's birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

till he appear'd and the soul felt His worth

A thrill of hope,

the weary world rejoices,

for yonder breaks,

a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees,

oh hear the angel voices

Chains shall He break,

for the slave is our brother.

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy,

in grateful chorus raise we.

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord, let ever, ever praise Thee

Noël

Oh night divine.

Merry Christmas everyone. :)

And here's Carrie's painting, which I totally love. I want those cookies!!

The Night Before Christmas by Carrie Waller

9.75" x 9.75" watercolor

"Perplexed" A Step By Step Watercolor Portrait

'Perplexed' 10" x 10"

watercolor by Crystal Cook

Sometimes I just get an itch to paint a simple portrait. I am endlessly fascinated with expression, especially the eyes. I took this photo on a cloudy day, when me and my three boys were at the park a few years ago.  While the two oldest boys ran around the playground, my youngest and I sat under a pavillion where that soft, diffused light bounced off the cement on the ground and back onto his face. 

He was about six months old, and by this point was pretty used to me taking pictures of him a million times a day. But still, he gave me this confused sort of look. Like, why in the world are we sitting in this pavillion taking yet more pictures when we could be out sliding and swinging? Hmmmm?

Suzanne Berry asked me what moves me to paint a specific subject and I guess it's almost always those two things: lighting and expression. Lighting is something I absolutely will not compromise, it has to be inspiring to me or else I will hate the painting process and then the painting will be. . . eh, *shrug*, so-so. Which is really not what I'm going for. ;)

Suzanne also asked me what my feelings are prior to the first instant I put brush to paper. I would say, excited. Because that's when I still have a perfect image in my head of what I want this painting to be, I'm still having all those giddy feelings that prompted me to start the painting in the first place. I can't wait to get started and put all those images, thoughts, and feelings into this piece.

Step One: This is the most important step. I start out by painting the lightest values in the darkest areas. In other words, I start by painting the shadows that give the face shape and contour, but I use a very light value to do it. Here I've used burnt sienna because it has a long range of values that's easy to adjust to just about any skin tone. This is where I flesh out my line drawing and start to develop a likeness.

I go over the burnt sienna with a neutral grey color that I mix out of either burnt sienna, cobalt blue, and permanent red, or brown madder, raw sienna, and french ultramarine. So basically all I'm using to make this grey are three primary colors in varying strengths and intensities. I want this to be a neutral grey, neither warm nor cool, so that later, near the end, I can push the shadows one way or the other.

Then I block in the basic shapes of the lips, eyes, and hair, paying attention to color temperature shifts.

The two main things I'm thinking about right now are: color temperature and facial structure shapes. If I get those two things right then I've already got a head start on the two most difficult aspects of painting a portrait (at least for me).

Step Two: Once I have step one done I tend to relax and play a little bit more. This is probably my favorite part, strengthening the color and picking out areas that I want to exagerate, like the blue on the sides of his nose and between his eyes. Every color that I lay down now will show through in the end (at least to some degree) so this process is a little bit like chess, thinking ahead to my next move and how that will affect the next move and on, and on to the end.

The colors I've used for the skin tones are permanent rose, raw sienna, rose madder, pthalo red, and cobalt blue.

I like to get the eyes finished right away so that I know I've got them right. It motivates me to finish it and to pay attention so I don't mess it up!

Step Three: This is pretty much the same as step two, just taken even further. I'm darkening the values and refining the shapes. I'm being extra careful to just get in and get out when I lay my brush down. So far this has been painted wet on dry paper, softening the edges with clear water just slightly after I lay the color down.

Step Four: The finish! This part takes the most time because there are all those little things that need finishing. And because I set the painting up and step back and look at it about a hundred times to see what else it needs.

I finished the hair with some lifting (I use a stiff oil painting brush that I've cut the ends off of so that it's kind of a little stub) and then some pastel for a few highlights. The colors in the hair are brown madder, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, raw sienna, and sepia.

Something that I'm thinking is important lately is to paint quickly, confidently, and then to not go back in and fuss around. Ok, ok this is something that I've always thought is important, but working with acrylics has helped me understand this even better, and has given me the practice I need to really be able to do it.

So, while there are some things I would have liked to have turned out better I restrained myself from going back in and touching it up because I knew it would lose that sparkle and freshness and I knew that I wouldn't make it any better, possibly worse.

And I like it like this anyway. That's my baby, looking perplexed at something his strange mother is doing. :) I hope you guys aren't getting tired of seeing his portrait, because I'm not going to be stopping anytime soon.

That's my portrait painting process in a nutshell. Hope you liked it. :) 

Huzzah!! 

Sparkle, a new portrait of my baby

Sparkle

7" x 9" watercolor portrait by Crystal Cook

Well, it's good to be back to my 'routine' watercolors. I love experimenting and trying new things, but close-up portraits are kind of like my artistic comfort food. They make me happy. They make me  feel at home.

This is yet another portrait of my youngest son when he was about six months old. That seemed to be the golden age where I could take a bazillion photos of him and he would always give me this soulful, melt-my-heart look.

Which means that I'll most likely never run out of subject matter for baby paintings.

I've also been thinking more about edges in my paintings and looking for ways to incorporate more lost, found and soft edges. I like the idea of having the eyes in the most focus and then the rest of the portrait painted a little more expressively.

This is of course more influence from dear Mr. Harley Brown. I feel like I've just went to the best workshop in the world since I started reading that book.

Have a great day everyone!

Merry Christmas

'Prince of Peace I, Joseph's embrace'

10 x 14 watercolor

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!

I've wanted to paint the baby Jesus for a long time, but have felt so intimidated and lacking in my skills to actually attempt it until now. And still, I think it's been a very humbling experience to try and paint my Savior.

But this is my attempt and for my first try I think it captured the feeling I was going for pretty well.

I've often wondered about Joseph, Mary's husband, and his relationship with baby Jesus. What did he feel when he first saw Him or held Him? What was it like to raise Him, knowing what His future held?

Watching my own husband raise our children has been an incredible experience. To see his tenderness and love for them, his complete and total devotion and concern for them. To see his joy in their success and his sorrow in their pain. It's drawn us closer and has increased my love for him in a way that nothing else could. It's helped me appreciate the role of a father in the life of their child.

I think that Joseph had that same experience with the Christ child. But on an even grander scale. For he knew the great price that little baby would one day choose to pay. For us.

I've tried to capture here a little bit of that tenderness and love that Joseph surely felt for Him. And there's Mary's hand reaching to touch her baby, always there, always loving Him. I've titled this 'Prince of Peace-I' because it's the first in a series I want to do of my Savior, from his birth and throughout his mortal life.

I wish all of you the best now and always, whether or not you celebrate Christmas. Thank you so much for being my friends and for always encouraging me. :):):)

"The Christmas season is wonderful in many ways. It is a season of charitable acts of kindness and brotherly love. It is a season of being more reflective about our own lives and about the many blessings that are ours. It is a season of forgiving and being forgiven. It is a season to enjoy the music and lights, parties and presents. But the glitter of the season should never dim our sight and prevent us from truly seeing the Prince of Peace in His majesty." Deiter F. Uchtdorf

Tiny and Precious

Tiny and Precious

5 x 7 watercolor

click here to bid

A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.

Eda J. Le Shan

There's just something special about a brand new baby. Something quiet but wonderful that you feel just by being near them. Lately I find myself (lately? Okay, if lately means the last ten years, then lately it is.) inexplicably drawn to them.

And their tiny and precious little feet. 

Oh, and yesterday I went out looking for a landscape to inspire me, then I spent some time researching some of my favorite landscape artists for more inspiration.

And I'm feeling verrrry excited about this.

This could be a whole lot of fun.

Progress

"Brand New" a work in progress

watercolor 10 x 14

     Made some progress on this today. I think the precious-newborn side of this painting is winning out. Don't you think?

     Now things will start moving a little more quickly on this painting. I wanted to be sure that I had the proportions right in the beginning, now I just need to strengthen the color and values and deal with the background.

     I really am starting to like this painting. I think the hand in front of his face is so sweet. The reference photo is of my youngest son when he was about four days old. I took HUNDREDS (and I mean that literally) of photos of him in that first week, knowing that he'd outgrow that newborn stage so fast. And I'm really glad I did. :)