Family Tree

It isn't a family tree in that grandma and grandpa are at the bottom and then mom and dad and aunts and uncles on the first branches and then all the children on the next, but it is a beautiful tree for showing off grandbaby pictures.

 

I started off with a dirty (grandbaby grime) builder's beige wall. 

Painted it a pretty blue. This picture does not really show how beautiful this blue is.

 

Then I took some brown paint (I don't remember the exact color. It was a sample jar from Lowes.) and painted a tree - trunk and limbs.

 

I bought a package of small sponges and cut out some leaves.

These sample colors are from Wal-Mart. They are only a couple of dollars each. I bought "forest green" and a blue/gray color called "totally teal" (if I'm reading the bottle correctly).

 
 
 
 

 

 

 Here are the leaves on the tree. Hmmm. I guess I should have taken a close-up picture for you to see. The sponges added a nice texture to the paint.

 

 

Painting with a Straw and Brush

This is a cool video I thought you would enjoy watching. The artist paints the tree branches by blowing acrylic paint through a straw.

Art Interpretation

I don't claim to be a great interpreter of art, but I've found it interesting to see how others interpret art. I recently posted this picture on FaceBook. I said I hadn't thought of a name for it and wondered what others would name it.
That's where I saw how others interpreted my painting.

Here are some of the names people suggested.
Werewolf's Dream
God's Handiwork
Moon
Moon Dance
God's Promise
Blue Moon
God's Eye
Dream Time
Days Ahead

So what was my original thought?
I suppose it doesn't matter and ideally, a painting should allow you to put your thoughts into it.
OK. So I'll tell you.
It was a sunrise with the sun cutting through the morning fog. Oh well. I suppose it looks a lot like a moon.

Hydrangeas in an Orange Vase

Wow! A bold splash of color can perk up any room and "Hydrangeas in an Orange Vase" has tons of color.


The juxtaposition of colors directly across from each other on the color wheel give this painting a big WOW factor. Does your mother-in-law's house depress you every time you walk through the door (and I'm just kidding about all of this) then this painting would be the perfect gift for her since it will bring a smile to your face and brighten your day every time you see it.

Here it is in my kitchen. (Yes. I hand-painted polka-dots on the walls.) It looks great here, but will look good on your walls too.

Here's a close-up so you can see the brush work.

Check it out in my Etsy shop.

This painting in Lyndel's Etsy shop

Winter Refuge

I started this painting MANY months ago - from what I can tell looking at pictures on my phone it was between a big snow in December or January and the time I planted potatoes. So... maybe February?

Here's how this painting began.

This was my inspiration photo. Yes. That's MY backyard. I know you're jealous. haha

The painting sat like that for a very long time. Then I added the barn.

Later I added the pond and then this week decided the barn needed to be a little cabin in the woods providing shelter from the winter storm.

You can't see them - not very well anyway - in the photo above, but there is a pair of cardinals in the tree.

If you like this painting enough to have it in your own home, you can buy it. It's in my Etsy shop

Winter Refuge

I asked my friends on FaceBook for name suggestions. There were a lot of wonderful names suggested.
Thanks to everyone that suggested a name. I suppose if you buy it you can call it whatever you want. lol

 Country Cabin?


 Cabin fever.

First snow

 Over the river and through the woods

 I can't think of a name ... but I LOVE it! I would love to live there! "A touch of Haven" ... I don't know ... think of sometime with Haven in it.

 ‎'Peace'. That's what I think when I look at it. Very nice.

 Winter Solace

‎"Winter Haven"

 Cozy in Winter

 Winter Sky

 I like peace too .. Or serenity

 Little House in the Big Woods. LOL!

 ‎"In the Bleak Mid-Winter, frosty winds may blow"?

 Our Winter Rest

 Winter's refuge.

 ‎"Refuge."

 Doesn't matter to me what you name it.... I LOVE it!!!!

 Quiet and Peaceful--Winter Joy. It is a beautiful picture, Bro Lyndel.

 I like Winter's Refuge listed above. Love the painting! It almost tells a story.

what about "Frozen refuge for a warm soul"?

 ‎"Frosty Morn" Nice picture...

 Winter Oasis

 ‎''Florida Bound''

 Home of Dreams.

 The Shack. Is that taken?:)

taking from Laura Ingalls Wilder... "Little House in the Big Woods"

 Winter's Chill ?

How We Did the Art Class - for Missions

August 7 I taught a painting class. I posted about it on my church blog, but thought I should post about it here on my art blog.

There are some places around here that do this sort of thing all the time. That's where we got the idea. Only since this was a church deal to raise some money for a mission team going to Portugal the money goes to missions rather than the teacher.

I had LOTS of fun teaching and I have heard from several of them saying they want us to do this all of the time.

Here's how it worked.

I painted a picture to use as a model and to help advertise. It's 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas painted with acrylic paint. I didn't use my nice thick acrylic paints because I wanted to use the same paint they would be using (and it had already been purchased by someone else for another project). I was still pleased with how it turned out.

20 people signed up for the class.

We met on a Sunday afternoon at 4:00.

Each person had a set of brushes, a canvas with the outline of a vase and table and a foam plate to use as a pallet. I showed them how much paint to get of each color.

Then I walked them through each step of the painting - demonstrating on a canvas and walking around giving them ideas of what they should be doing.

You'll see from the slide show how even though we were painting the same thing, each painting is different. Very cool.

Here is the painting I ended up with. The flowers are bigger than on the original. It was kind of difficult to paint and walk around commenting on everyone else's paintings.

The Secret of Vivid Color

Vivid Color. There's not really a "secret" to it. There is a simple way to figure out how to get a big POP in color in your paintings. Look at a color wheel. Using colors that are across the wheel from each other add excitement, pizazz, drama and interest to your painting. In some paintings you'll want a lot of color splash and vibrancy so you'll have many places on the canvas where colors opposite each other on the wheel are right next to each other. If you want a painting that is calmer, more peaceful and relaxing then you'll keep your big contrasting colors away from each other or use them in smaller doses.

Colors opposite each other on the color wheel add the most exciting contrast when they are next to each other in your painting.

I just painted "Hydrangeas in an Orange Vase" this week. It will be a model for a group of mostly non-painters who will all get together for a painting "lesson." I wanted a painting with a lot of "woohoo here we go" in the color, so you'll notice that the background is violet and yellow (opposites on the wheel) and the blue flowers are contrasted with the orange vase (also right across the wheel from each other.)

There are places around here - and possibly around the country, but I don't know about other places - where you go and spend a couple of hours painting. The instructor gives directions and demonstrates for the attendees step by step instructions where they can create a painting that is very similar to the sample.

On August 7, at 4:00 at Hilldale's Family Life Center, I'll be teaching those who come how to paint a picture that will end up looking a whole lot like this painting.

If you want a calmer version of this same painting you can do that too. You'll just need to use colors in the background that are close to each other on the wheel. The vase could be a different shade of blue or maybe a purple or green (close to blue on the wheel.) You'll still have a beautiful painting it just won't make your eyes pop out like this one does.