Portrait challenge

20x16 Oil on stretched canvas 

I was asked to paint 5 portraits representing past and present Circuit District Judges of Clark County in Missouri.    This is the last of the 5 oil paintings created.  Posted here is the reference photo with the finished oil.  I was asked to add a jacket so it would match the other 4 works.

Love the cow portrait....

Century family farm commission, oil-24"x36"

I was blessed to be asked to do this family farm portrait for a couple building their new home on the farm that has been in their family for over 100 years.  I was told this work will hang in the entry hall.

Portrait of Iva!

Click on images to enlarge

Finished painting.... Oil - 24"x30"

I was given the challenge to create a portrait of this loved member of the Piper family who live near Pulaski.

I had created a painting of their first home years ago using Soft pastel.  I was honored when asked for my help in creating a beloved portrait.

We decided on using Oils this time to fit the size of the portrait without the need to put the work under glass & keeping a frame as an option.  I painted this work on Gallery wrap canvas ( sides can be painted to match the front...no frame required).

Titled "Family"

16" x 12"  Soft Pastel on UART paper

Here'so one of the latest commissioned pieces I've  had the pleasure of creating.  The client provided the photo via email.  The challenge was to create depth in the shadowed area of these brothers faces.  

I don't feel I could've pulled  off what I did here without the regular practice of drawing & painting from life.  To clarify . ...to create the illusion of form when a photo shows none.  

Poster announcement

Here's this years pastel painting for Tassel Ridge Winery's Iowa Nouveau Poster.  This makes the 6th poster design I've created for the winery.  

Every year I have a different model.  Only one of the models I've used has actually had red hair.  This is such a fun project.  I love Art Nouveau and of course, my inspiration comes from the fabulous work of Alphonse Mucha.

The poster will be released in November.  

Working from Home.....

I thought I'd share where I'm working this weekend.  I've taken my wood easel over to Bentonsport to be in the studio there in the Herman Greef House so, I've gone back to my old metal Standrite to work off of at home.  Because I like to have my easel level upright or leaning slightly forward, I use a 12 lb dumbbell sitting on the back leg to "balance" the easel.  Keeps it from tipping on forward.

I never lack for company either when working in this space.  There's usually all 3 cats occupying the chairs. So far, I'm lucky they don't try and walk across my paints or pastels.

Here you can sorta glimpse at how I've arranged my pastels in my Lammert Paint Box.  I have so many boxes from pastel sets that I've purchased over the years that I decided to  modify a few to create my set up as you see here.

  These are the lids to a couple of Terry Ludwig boxes.  Plastic inserts are from another set of pastels and in the center of the box, I'm leaving my 120 half stick Sennelier box in place.  I've glued the foam covers to a foamboard cut to lay directly on top when packing.

I then place the pastel boxes at the sides on top,,,,,centered so the doors will close.  Everything sits firmly in place when I travel holding the box vertically.

I had thought of creating dividers and laying my pastels next to each other (a set up I had in my easyl plein air box), which would allow for more pastels being with me at all times, but softer pastels tend to break easier then the semi-soft and I like to have the variety of hard to very soft and hand made pastels with me at all times.  I use them all when creating a painting.

In case you're wondering about the orange bungee straps, they're fastened on the box and I can carry my pastel pencils in a canvas brush holder on the back side .  It's an option to strap on my tripod and canvas holder on the top.  I couldn't find straps the exact length I needed to keep everything snug when fastened, so I tied knots in the chords to shorten them.

I've become so used to working from the tripod, I now prefer setting it up like this instead of using my side table, you see here, to lay out a palette.  AND....depending on the size of a work (this one pictured here works fine on the tripod canvas holder) and light source, I set up the tripod as close to being directly under the metal or wood easel I'm using in the studio.