Ivy with Zorn Palette

 

 

I have been wanting to experiment with the Zorn Palette so tonight I worked on a small 10x10 painting.  Please excuse the image quality, all were taken at night in my studio.

I started with a  drawing transfer using oil paint. I had never tried this method and had just watched David Grey's instructional video on the process. Next time I would chose to make the oil much lighter because It has been difficult to cover all of those lines.

Next I blocked in the shade side, and stated with modeling the form on the light side.

Here I am starting to work into the dark side.

My palette in Process, Colors used were Titanium White, Flake White Replacement, Cad Red light, Yellow Ocher, Ivory Black and I also added some Paynes Grey to get some blue tint in the shirt area.

Completed Painting but Under terrible light. Will post a better photo soon. I keep on finding little touches to make but will not work on it after tonight. In all it took about 3 hours. So wonderful to be able to work wet into wet on the whole project.

 

Painters Block

I took a week and a half off from painting for a trip to visit family and celebrate a Mobile style Mardi Gras.

My kiddos loved the kids parade and throwing beads.

The cousins in matching Mardi Gras outfits.

 

 

We also celebrated my oldest's  fifth birthday.

 

Tonight's painting session did not go well. I don't know if it was the time off or something else but I am having a very hard time progressing any paintings. I worked on three separate paintings tonight and was frustrated with all of them.

 

I am trying to paint this image of St Francis De Sales from an old etching. My church requested the painting because the priests are the Oblate's of St Francis De Sales. It is very hard to paint someone long dead from very limited resources.

I have been working on this painting off and on for well over a year. the background has been painted and repainted many times. Most of my time tonight was spent working on it. I changed the background at least three different ways just tonight.  

 

I only made minor changes to the painting of Grandma and Goose. Added a stack of books on the left side, other than that I did not want to carry on any of the bad energy from the other paintings into this one so I quit while I was still OK with what I had done.

I received a letter in the Mail today informing me that two pieces have been accepted into the Art at the Mill Spring show. "On the Fence" will be in the show/sale and "Antiquing in Vienna" will be on their reserve list.

While in Alabama I said a sad farewell to "Shades" This painting has had mixed reviews. My mother in law does not like it. It does not come close to capturing her beauty and her loving personality.

 It was one of the first paintings I finished after I started painting again and was a breakthrough for me. I painted it without a preliminary sketch or transfer of a drawing.  I usually struggle when painting directly but was very pleased with my efforts on this painting. I also love the glasses and the texture of the hat. It does capture some of her personality because she is a very strong woman who can run her entire hospital. I was still learning and continue to learn how to capture form without such harsh shadows.  Making flattering portraits that the subjects like is truly a difficult task.

This painting also won my first painting award with an honorable mention at last years Vienna Art Society Spring Show.

I guess she wanted me to give it to her so that no one else would see it . Because I love the painting and focus on the breakthroughs and the painting process, it makes me very sad to give it away to someone who focuses of the flaws of the painting. But I love my Mother in Law and if she wants the painting and if it will make her feel better to control who sees it I am happy for her to have it. I just hope that seeing it more often will not make her more frustrated with me.

 

For more artwork or information on commissioning a painting please visit my website at www.debbybirdart.com

From Life

3 hour life painting pose today. It was really fun to work on this portrait. because I had a little longer time to work on the pose I wanted to include her torso and not just the face. I used calipers to measure the head and body dimensions. This was such a huge help in getting the layout drawn correctly. I had a smaller canvas than  would have liked because I forgot the larger canvas on my easel at home. Her shirt had lost of design on it but I wanted to simplify and make her look a little more rustic.

 

I drew out my next painting this evening. It may be hard to see but I am very excited about this one. It is rather large at 30"x30". My daughter is drawn at full scale. Cant wait to get to work on this tomorrow.

 

A Fairy, a princess and a fireman....

"Baby Blues" oil on Canvas 12"x12" is complete and awaiting approval by her momma.

So a Princess, a Fairy and a Fireman go to a tea party.... miraculously no dishes were harmed in the making of this picture.

 

Recently my three year old daughter and I have been having a rough time connecting. She has not been listening to me and has been... well acting three. I get so frustrated with her and some days it feels like I am always correcting her or sending her to timeouts. Then I realized we had not been having many special moments together recently. I have been busy with Christmas recovery and business growth. She would act up and I would get frustrated and that would push those connection moments even farther away. So the other night after I sent her to bed for the fourth time in one night I realized I needed to reconnect. I went in to give her an extra hug and to say a prayer together. We prayed for patience and for good listening. Then I asked her if there was anything special we could do together.  Of course a magnificent tea party was in store for the next day.

 

Maybe things have improved...and maybe they haven't but we did have one great tea party.

30 New Canvases

Today I purchased 30 new canvases!
Plaza arts has great a great sale and most of the canvases I picked up were 70% off. I am ready for many new paintings. It is so nice to have such a nice variety of canvases to choose from when I want to start something new.

I also set up a checking account dedicated to my painting business. It feels great to have dedicated funds. I am trying to keep track this year of all expenses and income and this will help.

Today's new painting is the sister to a painting I worked on two years ago. A dear friend of mine wants this one to go on the wall across from the original which I gave her as a present. It is much more responsibility to paint one that has been commissioned even though it is the same size and style. I did the first in one evening but this one will take longer, everything has to be perfect.

I worked a little more on the wedding painting but need to let the thick areas dry for a few days before I can work on it again.

 

A little Chicken, and a big turkey

It felt great to get back into the studio today and to start a new painting. I have had a busy week with counting votes for the peoples choice Treasury of Art show, celebrating an anniversary and preparing to host thanksgiving. Painting is so relaxing for me. Evenings when I paint seem to fly past and it is soon midnight and time to head to bed but in the morning I feel so much better rested than if I had stayed up late doing almost anything else. I think when I paint I sort of escape into a different brain space and it refreshes me instead of making me tired.

This little painting of my son has been calling to me for a while now. The reference photo was taken this summer at my parents farm. He was so proud and happy to be holding this sweet baby chick.

 

Debby Bird Art Website

Thank you

 

I want to tell all of you who have been supporting me through your kind comments, prayers encouragement and purchases a big Thank You. It is such a joy to paint when I hear your appreciation of what I have been doing. On days when it feels overwhelming to sit down at the easel after a long day of dishes and squabble management, your support pulls me there and encourages me.

 

I went in to my final live painting class for the session and saw that my first non commissioned sale has been paid for and taken home. I was slightly saddened to not get a chance to say goodbye to this little gem, but also very happy that someone else will be enjoying it.

 

Sales certainly help with covering the cost of painting supplies. Now I need to decide which items I will reinvest the money on. Please help my efforts grow. Recommend my work to your family and friends.

 

 Pelicans Perch Complete 9x12 Oil on Canvas

2 hour Live Painting Session

Live Portrait Session

Todays live portrait session featured a thirteen year old girl. She had a hard time sitting completely still. Shadows were constantly shifting slightly as well as contours. Her eyes were darting all over, but it was so much fun to work with all of these things to capture her likeness.
My teacher is always commenting about how I should work slower and get the shapes tied down before I move on. I do not think I am a good student. I seldom listen to my teachers advice. At one point he was wiping paint off of my canvas where he thought something looked wrong and I had to gently pull his arm away before he did more damage.
I may not be a good student but I have always been a good learner so maybe I will still turn out all right although sometimes it seems like he has no hope for me. I think he and I see things very differently because if I were the teacher I might have been telling him the same things.

Reenergized

I was feeling tired all day but after getting to work on painting once the kids were finally in bed, I started to feel so much better. It seems that if I indulge in my tiredness and relax or waste time in the evening I end up feeling more tired. But if I get to work and get painting I feel so much better. It is such a rewarding thing to get paint on my brush and make the paint do what I want.

I am very happy with the way the grandfather in the painting has developed. I think he is complete. Now to get grandma to a happy place. I worked some on her hair and sweater, but have a lot to do an her face

Rocking on

I believe Rocking Chair is now complete.

I will get final feedback from Mike's family and then figure out how to get it to The Hindman Settlement School for permanent display.

 

 I am waiting to hear if I have been juried into a local Portrait competition at ArtSpace Herndon. Results should come in on Thursday.

I am currently solidly loosing an Online competition for Artwork of Pope Francis. When I entered the competition it was going to be a judged contest but they changed it to a popularity contest where everyone can vote for their favorite, over and over. I was rather disappointed that they decided to go this route with the contest but it is fun to see all of the entries. Voting will be over on 9/8/13.

 

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/09/03/pope-francis-art-contest-vote-here-for-your-favorite/

I was very excited to be written up in a local online newspaper. They must have seen the contest and emailed me, and then called for an interview.

Painting the Pope: Why One Reston Woman Was Inspired by Francis

Painter says Pope's humility inspired her to capture his likeness and enter a worldwide contest.

Posted by Karen Goff (Editor) , September 05, 2013 at 06:20 PM

 

    

Oil Painting of the Pope by Reston artist Debby Bird

 

Read the full article at  

http://reston.patch.com/groups/local-connections/p/reston-womans-pope-francis-painting-in-worldwide-contest?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook                         

 

 

A little greenery

After several days stuck at home fighting Kiddie Crud, we finally got outside to enjoy the nice weather. We enjoyed a trip to a local farm where we walked in the woods, collected leaves, looked at animals and found a cicada.

 

 "He could be my new pet"

 

Feeling better, I also made it back into the studio for a little painting work. Mostly working on the background so that I can better judge color and value relationships.

From beginning to end.

It is always interesting to me to look at the full evolution of a painting.  Sorry to those of you who have seen these and don't really care to see them again but I am putting them all in one post for my own viewing and analysis.

The difference in the last two photos is from taking the picture inside vs. outside. It is amazing how different the lighting makes the painting look.

 

 

I began this nursing painting and have realized after working on about half of it that I should have probably done a background layer of color to unify the painting. I need to darken the whole face, which became obvious after adding the dark hair and background. It can be so hard to judge tone before all of the context is in place.

I am hoping that this painting develops along standard lines of high hopes, frustration, fatalism, hope and then delight.  I often feel like giving up on paintings mid progress, and if I manage to push past the issues they do often work out.