A Fun Portrait

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I was commissioned to do a portrait of two little girls. From past experience I knew that they wouldn’t sit still while I painted them. I decided I would take several photographs of them and try to work from those images. The younger child sat on the floor and grinned at me the whole time. The older girl cried and tried to run away. I didn’t quite know what to do. Finally it was decided to get out some crayons and a coloring book. She still refused to look at me, but became quite enthralled with coloring. I got down on the floor  with the camera and started shooting.

The painting turned out quite well. Actually, the older child seems quite charming as she concentrates on her crayon, while the baby smiles away, very happily. I’ve painted this very loosely – or should I say I did it in an impressionist manner. I portrayed an atmosphere more than a photographic image. I hope their mother will always remember what it felt like when her babies were young.

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Evening in Venice

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Venice is one of the most romantic cities in the world. A family member and her husband recently celebrated a significant wedding anniversary there and were so excited about the experience they had. She asked  me to try to portray the feelings she felt. She remembers riding the gondola in the early evening and paddling in to some beautiful buildings with lighted restaurants below them. The water was beautiful and the atmosphere was great.

You will notice the reflections of the lights in the water. The restaurant has warm colors, while the buildings above have a cooler hue. I have one gondolier in the picture to add interest.

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Lunch Break

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One of the things I have noticed as an artist is that if you look carefully at the colors you are actually seeing, they are different than what your mind tells you they are. This painting is a case in point. This is a downtown scene at around lunchtime when the sun is nearly overhead. Instead of the street being black and the sidewalk gray, they are almost white, as is the sky. You will notice several reflections in the window of people and cars. Above the window is shiny stonework that reflects the buildings that are across the street. I have used linear perspective because the street goes narrower and the buildings get smaller as they go back. Atmospheric perspective is also used – the people and cars get smaller the further back they go, and they also show less detail. There are some facial characteristics on the closer people, but the ones further back have none. All of these things show depth.

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Winter on Market Street

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If you really look at sunlight, it has a yellowish tint. Likewise, shadow is blue. You can see that in this painting. The streetlights in the shadow are blue, basically because they are in the shadow and they reflect the color of  the sky above. As you go farther in the painting, the lights turn yellow because they are in the sunlight. There is linear perspective because the sidewalk gets narrower the further into the painting it goes. There is atmospheric perspective because the cars are more detailed up closer than the ones in the distance. Also they are larger up close than the ones in the background. These things give the painting depth. You feel like you could walk down the sidewalk.

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Sitting on the Wall

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I had been touring Europe with my son-in-law and daughter. We were returning to their home in Germany from a tour of France and Sweden when Will suggested we stop in Brussels for some Belgian waffles. Boy, what a temptation! We went downtown to the Grand’Place which is the famous downtown plaza of Brussels. It is surrounded by the most enchanting buildings! The atmosphere there is great. We found a little stand around the corner where we bought our waffles, then wanted to find a place to sit in the plaza area, but we ended up sitting on the sidewalk. It was very crowded. I noticed people resting everywhere. I was very interested to see a big line of people sitting on the wall. That’s what I’ve tried to portray here.

You will notice the direction of the sunlight – shadow on one side of them, light on the other. The faces are more detailed closer up, but fade as they go further back – my use of atmospheric perspective. My favorite persons are the three men at the far left.

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On Grandma’s Patio

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I remember when my children were young we would visit their grandparents. Usually their cousins would be there, too. Eventually it got too noisy with all of them there, so their grandmother would send them out on her back patio. There was a little table and an assortment of chairs. They would all sit together and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drink kool aid.

You will notice the sunlight on the patio with dark shadow around it, as well as light and shadow on the kids. They are grown up now, and have children of their own.

This was my first painting to be shown in a national juried show.

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The Holy Family

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A few years ago my church was trying to decide which Christmas cards they should send to the congregation. One of the persons in the room said, “We should have Tom paint a picture for it.”

I had two really wonderful people pose for it. They are Isaac and Julie, a fantastic couple and parents of some beautiful children. They put towels on their heads and wrapped a doll in a blanket. I took several shots of them with my camera to get the idea of what I wanted to paint. I tried lighting on several sides.

I was very happy with the results. They portrayed Mary and Joseph beautifully, and this picture was sent to the members of the congregation. Merry Christmas.

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Santorini

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Santorini is one of the Greek Islands. It is one of the most desirable tourist destinations in the world. My daughter and her husband went there with their three little kids and stayed in a beautiful stucco hotel on the side of a hill looking out on the Mediterranean. They thought it was the most wonderful place they’d ever been.

I tried to paint it, as you can see. I had to divide the canvas into ninety-six squares and paint a square at a time to get all the detail in. You can see the stairways and paths throughout the scene.

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