Sunday, February 21, 2010

"Ukrainian Girl", 16x20, oil on linen

"Ukrainian Girl", 16x20, oil on linen

This painting is currently on exhibit at Art Center Sarasota's "Red Hot" exhibit. She is shown in her native costume, and I added some landscape effects in the background in keeping with the landscape of the Ukraine. I painted her last spring and was unsure whether or not I had done her justice. I think that over time I have seen my portraits grow more mature, and while i was happy with this painting at the time that I created it, I now see things about it that could have been improved. That, is a good thing!

I am hoping that David Leffel's workshop this coming week, will help me attain a new level in my portrait and still life paintings! We'll see!

If you would like to purchase "Ukrainian Girl" , please send me an email and include your purchase offer, at maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

Have a good week!
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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Mission Magic, 14x11, oil on linen


"Mission Magic", 14x11, oil on linen
Note: This looks really lovely in person, but the camera does not capture it!

I made some changes to the mission painting that I did last week, thanks to wonderful suggestions by my good friend and wonderful fellow artist, Julie Hanson. She showed me how to make believable shadows, something that has eluded me forever. Julie was my first teacher when I started painting four years ago, and I can thank her for everything that I know about color!

On a completely different tact, I am going to be taking an all -week workshop with acclaimed painter David Leffel next week, and I am so excited! The only problem with this is that in addition to the cost of the workshop (not cheap!) , I had to go out and buy a bunch of colors that I never use like venetian red and burnt umber and raw sienna and yellow ochre and naples yellow. So the workshop has cost me a small fortune and that is why I need to sell some more paintings this week! I am so anxious to learn how to have more finesse in my brushwork, and I am hoping that I can learn that from David, whose approach to brushwork is impeccable! So if you start seeing paintings next week that look pretty foreign to my usual genre, just know that I am on the road to improving my craft! I will never give up palette knife painting, however, but I do want to be more accomplished with a brush because I love to do portraits! So we shall see!

More about the mission painting: The first time I saw Mission San Juan Capistrano was about three years ago and it was love at first sight! The love affair is still going on strong and I doubt that this will be my last paitning of the mission either!

Here is the photo that I captured this past summer at a revisit to Capistrano:

The bougainvillea was in full bloom and my only disappointment was that there was so much of it, that it hid the bells that are in the courtyard with the fountain. The wall on the left hand side is part of the old adobe ruins, much of which was destroyed in an earthquake years ago. The yucca in the foreground made a nice contrast against all the pinks in the bougainvillea.


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