Calla Lily: Hearts Unfold Like Flowers Before Thee
The title comes from a line of the old hymn, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. It is my expression of the beauty and joy of creation and celebration of the Creator of it all.
This is an oil painting on stretched, wrapped canvas, standard thickness. It is unframed.
Calla Lily: Hearts Unfold Like Flowers Before Thee
The title comes from a line of the old hymn, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. It is my expression of the beauty and joy of creation and celebration of the Creator of it all.
This is an oil painting on stretched, wrapped canvas, standard thickness. It is unframed.
AWE AND WONDER
Oil painting on stretched canvas, 11 x 14. There is something about a little fawn that always melts my heart. The beautiful rusts and golds of its coat and those expressive brown eyes make this little one the perfect subject for a portrait. I love the look of awe and wonder in its eyes. This shy, delicate beauty required a soft neutral background that is airy with a just a hint of movement.
Speaking of backgrounds…
For many artists (this one included) one of the most difficult aspects of wildlife portrait painting is creating the right background. The background can make or break a portrait. You have to consider light and darkness, color temperature and harmony, as well as weight and movement. Everything is meant to enhance the feeling of the piece without distracting from its subject.
Over the years I have developed three hard and fast rules about painting the background for portraits. I always carefully follow each one of these rules - except when I don’t! The first rule is to keep it simple. If you focus too much time and energy on it, the background will eventually dominate the work. A painting can actually fight itself. Not good. The second rule is to lay in the paint quite thinly at first, because even if you think you know how it will look, you really don’t. Make it as easy as you can to change your mind, because you will change it often and it will never be easy. The third rule is there are really no hard and fast rules so feel free to ignore anything anyone tells you. All that really matters is that you do whatever whatever it takes to make it work. And that is why I dread painting backgrounds.
Thank you for stopping by. I pray your day is filled with love and God’s blessings.
