K, y’all know me to be pretty politically opinionated, but heads up to my Twitter friends & followers - I will be sharing some of my paintings to this thread because I’d like to connect with other artists.
1/ #oilpainting #portraiture #SaturdayThoughts #SaturdayMotivation

I mostly lean towards a classical style, largely human & animal portraits (mostly dogs), with the odd still life. Also dabble in impressionism here & there for the fun of it. I’ve also taught beginner & advanced portraiture classes.
2/

I’ve probably painted Vermeer’s Girl With Pearl Earring over 30 times as part of the courses I’ve taught, as well as in a variety of styles & sizes.

She’s my fav - we’re tight

#MyReproduction #OilPainting #GirlWithPearlEarring
3/

While trying to find meaning in a sea of commercialization, I painted my reproduction of Morgan Weistling’s Kissing the Face of God during the Christmas holidays. I wanted to paint what the holidays meant to me - LOVE. It was a deeply humbling & spiritual experience.
#oilpainting

Because I paint a lot of classical, sometimes I need to let loose & have some fun.

That’s when I paint in a looser style - allaprima (all in one sitting) - much more impressionistic.

Watching You watching Me was donated to the #SPCA for fundraising.

#oilpainting #petportrait

Sometimes I just wanna throw paint at a canvas because I’m captivated by something specifically - like an expression, or a look in their eyes

Yeux Bleaus is an example of that - painted alla prima again within a few hours - just slap that paint on there - and focus on one thing.

Many of my paintings have a dream like quality...my signature style, you could say...

Like some blurry vision in my head that I put down in paint to share my feelings - to evoke an emotional response from the viewer, and touch them on that level.

For Mum is a prime example...

It’s a joke/argument among artists that classical painters are anal compared to impressionists.

I’ll admit to becoming pretty fixated on fine tuning my ‘dreamlike vision’ more than once.

Like my son’s #baseball!

After The Game sold at auction to some baseball collector.

And then again, sometimes I paint for personal reasons - like for healing.

Dead Mom Walking is a still life study that served no purpose whatsoever other than to explore my own emotions & express them - in this case - pain, trauma & grief.

The caption to this study, next tweet

Painted & expressed around 2009

Love painting dogs!

They’re my subject of choice when I just wanna have fun - because fur is TONS of fun to paint!

My pomapoo gets painted on the regular - in a variety of styles - this one is alla prima, really loose & impressionistic but soft & dream like.

#petportrait

Portraits come in an array of styles, to emit a old world feel with a more classical pose - like this one - opposed to a modern glamour shot style portrait.

I painted this girl - Girl With Pearl - in old world chiarascuro, like my version of a modern day Girl With Pearl Earring.

This is a loose, modern approach to a portrait - a glamour style portrait that the younger generation seems to lean towards.

This young woman has a look that could stop a train - so had to paint her in all her feminist glory!

Then there are these super fun portraits to do - to capture the personality of the subject...

Men are fun, they have fur on their faces a lot of times...

This friend of mine is 6ft4 & has so much character to capitalize on, I couldn’t NOT paint him!

This friend of mine, a musician in that same fun style.

He is always striking the most amusing poses, and I was lucky enough to snap a photo for reference of him hugging his guitar.

I gift people their paintings when I choose to paint them - I don’t take commissions.

Sometimes I zoooom in and paint an alla prima (all in one sitting) portrait - keeping it loose, but retain a softness...

It’s all about lost edges - a key to keeping things soft & dreamy...

Like this little cutie!

This little sweetheart was 9 yrs old in the photo I used for reference.

Those eyes - the innocence - her quiet playfullness - with a touch of shy - melted my heart.

Has an old world feeling due to my choice of palette, but still modern enough to appeal to her liking.

I see beauty in most things.

At 16, my daughter was diagnosed with some very serious life threatening health conditions.

Awash with emotions, she had many dark days - but accepted her circumstance & embraced her future head on - with grace & beauty.

Had to paint that!

Kids & pets - what’s not to love?

Saw this random photo, wanted a painting of it in my home...

Just Like You just makes people feel good - and I love feel good paintings

Like how do I not paint some things?

Like this pup, done alla prima but feels like a dream pup...

Gave this to an expectant young mother for her nursery...

The Late Great is my collie who passed on a few years back & deserved a place of honour on my walls.

The joy & comfort her soft & gentle soul brought to me & my children commemorated in oils.

Both my kids argue regularly who gets what painting - this is one of them.

A random photo I stumbled over, fell in love with the story it told ...

Your Wish Is My Command was painted as a study - meaning to explore, learn, tackle something I want to learn as a painter. (It was the carpet)

It still hangs in my hallway - kids got dibs on that one...

Some random photo, don’t know the dog or owner.

Beagle Boy went to auction to help raise money for #spca

Waiting For Work - went to #spca

Got my heart though because these dogs lay in wait to work - tells a story I like AND that paw...I just wanted to paint his stupid paw...

The Shepherd went to #spca fundraiser auction event as well...

This is another study - He got my attention because the whole damn thing is brown. And, I liked the blanket.

I’ll take the challenge to work with a lot of earth tones, keep my colours clean & values spot on.

Chow chow hit the auction block to raise funds for the #spca as well...

Working with whites as an artist is a bitch! It’s about value, temperature, reflections - extremely valuable practice in portraiture.

If you say something is white to an artist, they’re like wtf is white

Anyone read the book called Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls?

If you did, you’ll remember Little Anne...

If you haven’t, may I suggest a warm blanket & box of Kleenex?

A story you’ll never forget.

Little Anne will always stay with me.

Gizmo is a professional photographer’s dog, that I painted using her photograph for reference.

I approached her, got her permission to paint Gizmo as a collaborative effort to raise money for the #spca

Again, look at the FUR, that’s fun stuff to paint - I smile the entire time!

This is my partial reproduction of Bougeureau’s Cupidon.

It’s incredibly humbling to attempt any reproduction of any of The Master’s works, but Bougeureau?

But I him

So many subtle value, hue, temperature changes and lost edges everywhere. Mostly brown & white...

After painting with a limited palette, like Cupidon above - I feel starved of colour.

So I move to something like this.

This is my reproduction of Il Bacio by Hayez, but often referred to in English as, The Kiss.

The reproductions I’ve painted because they are my fav’s.

Classicals like Hayes’ Il Bacio are intense to paint.

After something like that, I wanna paint something really loose & free - impressionistic - like these sheep, with a really thick & juicy paint application called impasto.

Need to loosen up after all that anality.

This is a pretty big piece - 24 x 36.

I actually cannot stand this painting

Painted it because I wanted to paint the sequins on her dress! Thick and juicy sequins!

Btw, this girl is the same as the classical painting of her I did called Girl With Pearl way back up there.

How many ways can I drive myself crazy in the studio? Hmmmm...

Why don’t you paint a portrait using mostly greens and see if anyone notices?

Okay - gotta try that!

I said I was an artist - never said I was sane!

Or hey, u haven’t painted anyone with glasses! Wtf!

Laird Markus - is an old co-worker, who happens to be a die hard impressionist!

So...Fur on face, glasses AND paint an impressionist in a classical style...oh yah baby, I’m down for that!

Well would ya look at that ...............

STUBBLE!

And that beautiful mess of curls all over his head!

How does one paint stubble?

Brad & his stubble hang on his Mom’s wall now.

Why don’t you paint a red head using only a #12 flat brush?

Ya, that sound like fun/torture...

I do this to myself a LOT - gotta push the bar ya know, if ya wanna grow crap

Lady Brittany LOVED her portrait because I got her hair colour in both light & shadow right

Jess.

Modern day close up meet classical old world style & palette.

Let’s see if you two kids can get along in the same painting.

Her eyes, gaze & the light across her face had me wondering for days...what are you thinking in that beautiful head of yours????

Paint THAT!

Loving Kira

Anyone reading this thread should be guessing ”wtf made you wanna do this one?”

I love painting LOVE!

The contrast of colours & textures, the love, the bond, their embrace - the contrast of expressions & Kira’s nose front & centre!

Here’s an 18 x24 modern portrait that was painted from a school photo.

My son is photo-phobic so I capitalized on this photo to paint him while he was a senior in high school.

He’s also the one you may have heard me ranting on about kicking his 25yr old ass to the polls.

Sarah’s Sidekick

What can I tell you other than this was like wrestling with the devil.

The handling of this many earth tones & whites in a painting with this many textural changes while keeping colours clean, soft & alive was torturous.

Still, I had to paint the love!

My son dated Amanda at age 16.

She didn’t have a lot of self confidence, so I asked if I could paint her.

She lit up like a Christmas Tree.

“I’m beautiful” she cried - literally -when she saw the painting & then gifted it to her Mom for Mother’s Day.

I love spreading love

This is a 24 x 36 gallery style 3” stretched canvas support of Jen.

It’s large & in charge - big and bold!

This young lady had her own distinct style & a wonderful youthful energy!

Jen has this glamour style portrait in her own home now.

This is #myreproduction of Munier’s painting of his daughter, ‘Marie-Louise.’

I fell in love with her immediately, and loved his choice of palette.

I wanted to learn from the Masters - so I painted my favourites. These will hang in my home forever.

#oilpainting

This is #myreproduction of Bouguereau’s ‘A Difficult Lesson.’

I’m a Bouguereau fan - and have plans to reproduce many more of his works.

The most difficult part is choosing which one I want to hang in my home next.

#oilpainting

This was the very first Bouguereau I reproduced, entitled ‘The Knitter.’

She completely captivated me.

It gave me the courage to continue reproducing my favourite Master works.

#myreproduction #oilpainting

A 6x6” study of an apple, painted in a classical style with chiarascuro lighting.

Done to demonstrate the painstaking process, called the Flemish technique, that is undertaken during the painting process.

A compilation progression photo of this technique follows the study.

Progression photos of the 4 stages of the Flemish technique used to render this classical study, followed by a brief description of the process.

#oilpainting #FlemishTechnique

Oil studies of 3 dimensional objects done in grisaille (grey underpainting) are extremely beneficial exercises for new painters.

If you can paint basic forms, you can paint anything.

#oilpainting #SaturdayMotivation

Once you’ve gotten the hang of painting forms in grisaille, it’s much easier to paint a still life.

#oilpainting #SaturdayMotivation

In order to paint forms you’ll need to practice mixing shades of grey.

Mixing and painting your own grey scale is a great way to do this.

Then move on to colour bars, before you tackle and actual object.

These are actually very fun to do!

#oilpainting #SaturdayMotivation

Painting a relatively simple object as a study for learning is a great way to develop your skills before actually tackling a painting.

#oilpainting #SaturdayMotivation

With the political climate, I’ve been stressed to the nines!!!

Painting for me helps - it’s my mental vacation.

Take breaks resisters & refuel because we neeeeeed every last one of you in #elxn43

Sorry this painting thread is soooo long

#StrongerTogether #StayStrong

I painted Lost Boy last week...not my best work, but the motivation for the piece was to express part of who I am, as a human being. As an early child abuse survivor, I escaped to Neverland daily. I was a lost boy.
Child abuse - don’t do it people. Will be donated to theSPCA.

Every blank canvas I’ve ever painted told me, “You don’t know anything.”

I know.

But today, I paint anyways.

For the joy of it.

#SundayThoughts #SundayFunday #SundayMotivation #ArtistOnTwitter

This Little Piggy Stayed Home was painted in oils on a 10x12 stretched canvas during #COVID19.

Subsequently donated to the home of an individual who walks the caring walk, instead of only talking the caring talk.

#EverydayHeroes for #TheDisabled