Bruton Parish-Grisaille Stage 3

This is my third and final session for the grisaille stage.  I have brought it to a level where I feel comfortable with applying color. The color will go on in extremely thin layers, but first it must dry for a few days.

Bruton Parish-Grisaille Stage 2

More details, especially in the canopy area.  I can almost feel the wind moving over the brace on the left corner!  I haven't put the frames in the windows yet.  I'll save that for the color stage.  I have not decided whether to do one more stage on the grisaille or begin to add color.  We'll see, it's impossible to remain indifferent.  The mind, after all, always chooses what it thinks it best!  

Bruton Parish-Grisaille Stage 1

First stage on Bruton Parish.  As you can see, there is very little detail at this point.  Kind of like when you move into a new home, your first task is to get the furniture inside and rearange later.

This is a relatively easy painting, but the canopy on the right was (is) a pain!   I got the idea from studying Vermeer.  He liked to put big objects, such as tablecloths, curtians, etc. in foreground in order to establish depth.  This is my attempt to do the same.  I also like the contrast of the extremely permament nature of the church building (learn more about Bruton Parish here) and the temporary nature of the market canopy.   I spent one hour on this.

Bruton Parish-Drawing Stage 2

I transfered drawing from tracing paper onto primed canvas (primed with oil, a mixture of burnt sienna, raw sienna and titanium white, and highly diluted with turpentine)  One cardnial rule of painting, always paint fat over lean.  In other words as you progress from stage to stage you should add more and more oil.  The early stage should be highly diluted with turpentine or mineral spirits. 

Next I will attempt to paint this in a black and white (notice the photo taped to the easel), and then I will start to add in color after I have brought the grisaille, or black and white stage to a realistic level.  

Can you tell I have as much fun blogging painting as I do painting?  I don't know why!

Spurgeon on Christmas

"Now a happy Christmas to you all; and it will be a happy Christmas if you have God with you. I shall say nothing to day against festivities on this great birthday of Christ. We will to-morrow think of Christ's birthday; we shall be obliged to do it, I am sure, however sturdily we may hold to our rough Puritanism. And so, 'let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavend bread of sincerity and truth.' Do not feast as if you wished to keep the festival of Bacchus; do not live to-morrow as if you adored some heathen divinity. Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. Go to the house of feasting to-morrow, celebrate your Saviour's birth; do not be ashamed to be glad; you have a right to be happy. Solomon says, "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment."

"Religion never was designed
To make your pleasures less."

Recollect that your Master ate butter and honey. Go your way, rejoice tomorrow, but in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem; let him have a place in your hearts, give him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given. I finish by again saying, ---

"A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL"

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Silly Lilly-Color Stage 4

Silly Lilly

8"x10" Oil on Canvas

I have brought Silly Lilly to a satisfactory completion.  In this final stage I re-established shadows in flower and hedge (in the background), painted the pistil (it was missing!), gave the sky another glaze of blue, and refined details in those fuzzy things in the middle.  Silly Lilly was fun!  I spent a total of about 8 hours painting her.

Bruton Parish-Drawing Stage

This evening I worked on getting an accurate picture onto tracing paper. *Click on picture to enlarge.  I still need to build my canvas frame, attach canvas, prime,(imprimatura stage) and transfer drawing from tracing paper onto canvas. (Notice cup of coffee, this is a necessity!)

New Painting- Bruton Parish

This will be my next project.  Aunt Mary, this one's got your name on it!  It's a picture of Bruton Parish church in Williamsburg, VA.  I snapped the picture this past August (2008).  I plan to paint the grisaille stage first and then introduce color once I've got the values established.  Stay tuned, it ought to be fun!

Silly Lilly-Color Stage 3

I've introduced Naples Yellow and Zinc White  into some of the lighter sections.  Just a few more highlights hither and yon and I'll be finished.  I am already thinking about what to do next.

I Think My Wife's a Calvinist-Brandon Milan

Can it be true?

Silly Lilly- Color Stage 2

I went to Pandora.com and typed in the words Burt Bacharach for this go around.  If you don't know about Pandora, you're missing one of the wonderful things the internet is good for!

I've applied or glazed the second layer of color onto Silly Lilly.  This go around I warmed her up a little with a little cadmium orange.  

The devil is in the details and that'll be next!  To make this painting really look like a true Lily, I need to work on the details of the veins of the flower petals and the little dark thingys in the middle.  What do you call those anyway?  People who know about flowers are watching for that kind of thing.

Silly Lilly-Color Stage 1

I've applied the first layer of color.  I wish I had gone a little thinner this go around.  Oh well, every painting has it's own unique set of problems and learning experiences.  I hope to add maybe three or four more layers of color, zoning in on details with each subsequent layer.

Silly Lilly- Grisaille Stage 2

This is the second session of my grisaille, or greyscale stage of the Silly Lilly painting.  I can begin to add color now because I feel as though I have reached a degree of satisfactory realism.  However it will have to dry thoroughly for a few days before I begin to apply the super thin layers of magic.

Two to Tango and a Madoff-Ripoff

The old saying goes, "it takes two to tango." This whole scandal with the Madoff- ripoff amazes me! Madoff is obviously a crooked man, but crooked men come a dime a dozen. Whats incredible is that the people who were taken in on this scheme like to paint themselves as victims. The media is portraying them this way as well. (Have you heard some of them are looking for a bailout??) I'm not sure if gullibility is a sin, but there's something a little stinky about greed and trying to get rich quick. That goes for Madoff as well as his so-called "victims." Sure, Madoff is a slime ball and I know some of the people who he stole from were honest folks, but if you hang out with a slime ball, odds are you might get some of the gooey stuff on your hands as well.

"A faithful man will abound with blessings,but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished." Proverbs 28:20

"Poor man wanna' be rich

Rich man wanna' be king,

and a king ain't satisfied...

'til he rules everything." -Bruce Springsteen

Elvis-(The Angels Want to Wear My) Red Shoes

For you trivia buffs out there... Elvis Costello's real name is Declan Patrick MacManus.

They don't make music like this anymore. Seriously...so turn it up!

Calhoun Tubbs- One of the Greats!

"...wanna' hear it? Here it goes!"

Silly Lilly-Grisaille Stage 1

This is the first stage of of the grisaille, or the greyscale of my new painting called Silly Lilly.   I will add thin layers of color after I get the greyscale up to a realistic looking level.  I'm pleased with what I was able to accomplish with this in one hour!  (The canvas has set on the easel for six months...now you know why I'm happy!)

Oscar Meyer

The Blog at Bree... brought to you by Oscar Meyer...that's spelled...B.O.L.O.G.N.A!

Bread-Everything I Own

Laura and Lorien

 Our home is not a home, with you two not here.  Please hurry home soon. I miss you much!  

Immersion Project

The following is a film by Robbie Cooper in which he films the reaction of children playing violent video games. Can anyone say Columbine?

What's Wrong With Christians Today? Watch