Archive for the ·

for sale

· Category...

January 8, 2010 4:57 pm

It’s About the Shadows

by Jenny Armitage in Floral,for sale,prints available,watercolors

Flower Doll Ball (7 x 11) $50.00

This summer by daughters made dolls out of toothpicks flowers and buds, a game handed down to them by my mother. Here is a selection of their dolls in dramatic sunlight.

It thought the contrast between the deep shadows and flowers would be striking. But I was unhappy with the painting when I thought I’d finished it. Despite the dark shadows and bright colors, it looked curiously flat. After pondering a day or so, I painted the background a cool light gray made from the left-overs on my palate. It worked– white highlights popped. And it’s done.

The palate is new gamgee, hansa yellow light, phthalo blue, cobalt blue, quinacridone deep red rose and opera (also a quinacridone). Most of the colors are mixed on the paper.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.

tags: dolls, flowers, still life

No comment?

December 19, 2009 5:58 pm

Weatherford Hall

1 comment

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,prints available,watercolors

Winter Morning on Campus (11 x 14) $150

This is another painting from my winter morning walk on Oregon State University. Weatherford Hall is probably the photographed building on campus and with reason. That morning the sun lit up just the top eastern half of the building.

I decided to focus on the the central archway and so I cropped out the wings before I began to paint.

The palette is ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, quinacridone deep red rose, and hansa yellow. I kept the use on hansa to a minimum. I used only for the trees, lawn and the very darkest darks.

This painting is available on-line through my Etsy shop. Prints available from Fine Art America.com.

tags: buildings, campus, OSU, Weatherford Hall

1 comment...

November 29, 2009 2:33 pm

Shadows, Glass, and Leaves

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,prints available,watercolors

Shadows Glass and Leaves (12 x 14) $100.00

Driving down Commercial last summer, I was struck by the shadows of leaves on a stucco building. I reached for my camera and discovered I’d left it at home. I drove home hurriedly to get it. My daughters in the back seat were remarkable patient with me as I drove round the block twice looking for a parking space. Only eight or nine pictures later did it dawn on me what I was photographing. It’s a local mortuary. Never mind, the shadows and the glass bricks were beautiful.

The shapes were so simple that I drew them freehand onto the watercolor paper.

Most of the painting was done in what I think of as controlled wet-into-wet painting. First I moistened the the small area I wanted to paint and then I dropped the wet color in. I created each glass brick this way. After the paint dried I went back with a wet brush and added the darker shadows to each brick. I used phthallo blue, cobalt blue, cadmium yellow, and yellow ocher.

The shadows on the wall are two separate layers of controlled wet into wet. The first layer was phthallo blue, deep red rose quinacridone, dull a hair with cadmium yellow. The second layer was cobalt blue and deep red rose.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.

tags: glass brick, mortuary, Salem, shadows, stucco

No comment?

November 28, 2009 5:50 pm

The Sweet Shoppe

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,prints available,watercolors

Sweet Shoppe (10 x 13) $100.00

This is another Central City Painting. I started it this summer at the Artisan Village at the Oregon State Fair. But I felt it lacked something and set it aside. Yesterday when looking for something to paint at the gallery I picked it up again.

What got me started on the painting in the first place is the Victorian decoration. I brightened the colors to go with the sweet shoppe theme. The result was interesting, but lacked something.

Yesterday I decided what it needed was more omph, or in other words more contrast. So I darkened up both the sky and the shadows and here it is.

The palate is cobalt and phthalo blue, quinacridone deep red rose, and cadmium yellow.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com.

tags: building, builing, Central City, Colorado, ghost town, Victorian

No comment?

November 20, 2009 2:20 pm

Summer Shoppers

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,prints available,techniques,watercolors

Summer Shoppers (11 x 12) $150.00

This could be anywhere. What I liked about my photo was the sunshine and the interaction between the young women.

Poured Version

I intended to pour a very atmospheric painting, and I did pour one reserving only the womens skin for direct painting. But I was unhappy with the reflections in the windows and the draping of the sundress. I really liked the bright pinks, oranges and yellows I got through pouring though. So at the gallery yesterday, I repainted the image using not only my photo, but also the poured painting as a guide.

For most of the painting I used hansa yellow light, new gamboge, quinacridone deep red rose, and phthalo blue. Using two yellow helped keep things bright. I added burnt sienna to the hair and the leather bag.

I tried to keep most of the poured feeling by mixing the paints freely on the paper. I added the windows and other darks in many layers of transparent color.

I’m happy with the results, but were I to do this over, I would pour the windows, sidewalk, and shadows and perhaps the dark bag and pants. Then I would paint the women directly.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com. See more of my people paintings here: people art

tags: girls, shopping, summer dress, women

No comment?

November 18, 2009 1:28 pm

Cass Up Close

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,portraits,prints available,watercolors

Cass Up Close (8 x 7) $75.00

This pretty young lady is a friend of my daughters. I took the photo almost to years ago for drawing practice. Browsing through my photo files yesterday, I decided to crop it close and paint it. After painting landscapes and not much else at shows, I really wanted to do a portrait again.

The palate was simple, cadmium red, and cadmium yellow, burnt sienna, and cobalt blue. I added some burnt umber for her hair and lashes.

tags: closeup, girl, woman

No comment?

November 16, 2009 6:37 pm

Garlic on Blue

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in Floral,for sale,prints available,Uncategorized,watercolors

Garlic on Blue (7 x 10) $35.00

I’ve been doing framing and back to back art shows rather than painting lately. And lucky for me the shows have been too busy for much painting, but here is a little still life I snuck in.

tags: dolls, flowers, hollyhocks

No comment?

November 1, 2009 12:09 pm

Clouds over Boot Hill

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,landscapes,prints available,watercolors

Clouds Over Boot Hill (9 x 12) $75.00

This is one more painting of the storm clouds gathering above Boot Hill in Central City. In this view the graves are not visible. Like the Dynamite Dome, I painted this one at Art in the Burbs in Tigard, Oregon. The palette and the method are the same.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.

tags: Central City, clouds, Colorado, mountains, storm

No comment?

October 31, 2009 2:21 pm

Grass in the Window

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,prints available,watercolors

Grass in the Window (10 x 14) $225.00

Most of Central City is so well maintained that period-town would be a better description than ghost-town. But some of the buildings have been left to nature for some time. Grass grows out of a low window in one such wall were two building used to abut each other.

If the wall ever had any mortar, it’s not visible now. The quality of the dry wall construction obviously varied greatly between the two buildings is backed. On the right hand side the wall is neatly constructed and looks purposeful and solid. On the left hand side the stones are hardly squared at all are stacked more and more erratically the higher the wall gets. Some stones near the window have fallen away, revealing the depth of the wall.

I began the stones by making an under-painting of phthalo blue. The under-painting showed the shadows between the stones and some of the stronger shadows in the stones. Phthalo blue is a great choice for under-painting because it is strongly staining and won’t wash up with successive layers of paint. After the under-painting dried, I washed the stones wetly with burnt sienna and burnt sienna mixed with rose madder quinacridone. Washes of cerulean blue and phthalo blue mixed with burnt sienna followed. I built up the shadows slowly using the under-painting as a guide. Finally I splattered the rocks with various combination of cerulean blue, burnt sienna and burnt umber using a toothbrush. I smudged the splatters with a paper towel.

The window casing is burnt sienna, cerulean blue, new gamgee, and burnt umber. I applied the paint wet first and then in dry brushed layers.

The grass I masked before beginning the painting. I finished it with greens mixed from new gamgee and phthalo blue. I added the shadows over the window sill last.

I’ve always shied away from building detailed rock and wood like this because I was afraid I couldn’t get the textures right. But I”m pleased with this and may do some more like it.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com.

tags: Central City, Colorado, ghost town, grass, stone, wall, window

No comment?

October 30, 2009 3:02 pm

The Dynamite Dome

3 comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,landscapes,prints available,watercolors

The Dynamite Dome (9 x 12) $75.00

This is another view of Central City’s Boot Hill. According to a gift shop owner in town, the odd brick dome was used to store dynamite. The storage dome was built in the graveyard because of the dangerS of storing explosives in town. Nothing about the dome proclaims it’s purpose, and it would be an odd mausoleum so I’m glad the gift shop owner was chatty. Otherwise, we would have gone away wondering.

She went on to tell us that the dome is on the Catholic side of the graveyard because the powers that be in the city were Protestant. The may be, but the Catholic side of the grave yard is both better tended and more populous than the Protestant side. Judging from the names on the stones, the Catholics in the 1800s were primarily Irish with a sprinkling of Slavs and Spanish miners. The other Boot Hill views I have have posted here have also been from the Catholic side. The monument I painted in Victorian Deadwood is from the Protestant side, but there are many more like it on the Catholic side.

I did this painting at a craft fair in Tigard last weekend along with a few more landscapes which I’ll post over the next few days.

The palette is cerulean blue, Prussian blue, cobalt blue, phthalo blue, new gamgee (yellow) and burnt sienna. I used cerulean for the sky and Prussian blue grayed with burnt sienna to define the clouds. I mixed all of the blues with new gamgee to create the greens for cemetery and hills. The dome itself is burnt sienna.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.

tags: cemetary, Central City, Colorado, dynamite, graveyard

3 comments!

October 22, 2009 5:36 pm

Victorian Deadwood

2 comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,landscapes,prints available,watercolors

Victorian Deadwood (8 x 10) $75.00

This is another painting from the cemetery above Central City, Colorado. Most of the graves there date from the Victorian era. This is typical of the monuments. They were cast concrete rather than stone and carved to look like wood and stone. The “wood” portions sometimes look like rustic logs and sometimes more like vines creeping on the stone. Could they have had rose or grape covered bowers in mind?

But whatever the intent, to my mind the monuments are so ugly as to be strangely compelling. The are overly complex and intricate yet striving for rusticness. The more I look at them, the more I wonder what they were thinking and what if anything the fake wood roofs and beams meant to them.

The palatte here is cerlulean blue and burnt sienna for the sky. The monunent is raw sienna and cerulean blue on the lighted portions and burnt sienna and Prussian blue on the shadowed sides. The foliage is cerulean, cobalt and Prussian blues mixed in various combinations with raw sienna, new gamgee, and burt sienna.

Prints may be purchased from my BubbleSite.

tags: cemetery, Central City, ghost towns, graves, Victorian

2 comments!

October 20, 2009 9:58 am

The Fossil Shell

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,prints available,techniques,watercolors

The Fossil Shell (6 x 9) $75.00

My girls like to hunt for fossil shells on the beach. Once a middle aged fossil hunter with a German Sheppard stopped to to talk with them. It was a brief conference between enthusiasts. He was looking for fossilized fish and other rarer things. The four shared the boulder strewn beach under the cliffs while I watched the waves. Then the girls and I headed back up the beach for the warm hotel room. He caught up quickly and thrust a stone into my youngest’s hand and was gone before she could say thank you or even see what it was. It was the find of the day, a fossilized shell perfectly preserved on one side and rough rock on the other.

Joy! I popped it right down on the sand and photographed it. It lives on our mantle piece now.

After the Mask Came Off

I began the painting by masking the shell. Then I washed the background lightly first with yellow ochre, then with burnt sienna. I painted in the shadow of the shell with phthalo blue. After that I used an old toothbrush to splatter it with layer upon layer of burnt sienna, yellow ochre, cerulean blue, and Prussian blue.

Next I removed the mask and painted the shell in burnt sienna, and cerulean blue. I added a few gouache white touches.

When I stepped back to look at it, I decided that the sand was too busy and had taken away from the picture. So I took the painting to the sink and scrubbed paint off it with a stiff brush under the tap. Washing a painting is a scary process, but sometimes it’s the only good fix. The result is softer, but still shows the effects of the splattering.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.

tags: fossil, shell, splattering, washing

No comment?

October 18, 2009 4:46 pm

Before the Afternoon Rain

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,landscapes,prints available

Before the Afternoon Rain (9 x 12) $100.00

This is the Catholic side of Boot Hill above Central City, Colorado. The grave yard is in a park, a geological park that is, i.e. a high mountain flat open meadow. Most of the graves are old and overgrown and the plots appear to be spotted haphazardly across the field. Here and there are tended plots and even occasionally a new grave. But most of the graves date from the 1800s. Wild roses, daffodils, and onions mingle (the mountain ghost-town survivors) mingle with wildflowers and grasses.

I liked the way the coming afternoon storm lit up some parts of the graveyard but left others in shadow. I also loved the sky itself.

I planned the painting to be three quarters sky. I painted the sky first wet on wet mostly in Prussian blue grayed down with burn sienna. Prussian blue is perfect for storm clouds the color is almost perfect and it spreads out nicely into water. After I finished the sky, I began the hills and the mountain ridge in yellow ochre mixed with phthalo blue, cobalt blue and Prussian blue. But I got carried away with trees and painted them higher up into the sky than I’d intended. I thought briefly about cutting off the bottom part of the grass but decided against because the gravestones so clearly belong in the mid and background. I like it, but I’m tempted to do it over again and really emphasize the sky this time.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com.

tags: boot hill, Central City, clouds, Colorado, ghost towns

No comment?

October 12, 2009 10:09 am

Taking Ten With My Shadow

4 comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,techniques

Taking Ten With My Shadow (8 x 10) $125.00

Ordinarily I paint from life or more commonly from my own photographs. But the photo I based these this painting on was taken by charlena of RedBubble. The art groups on RedBubble regularly hold competitions. One of my favorite groups, Just Watercolors, often holds competitions in which each artist paints the same photo. Up until now, none of the photos appealed to me particularly, but this one did.

Just Kickin Back by Charlena

Charlena’s picture is moody and emphases the intimate nature of the space and lighting. I didn’t see any way to do that better with paint than she had already done it with the camera. But I really liked the shadow looming up behind the resting musician, so I changed the format from horizontal to vertical and cut out most of the dark wall to emphasize the man and his shadow.

After Masking

My version of this scene is an almost entirely poured painting. After transferring my sketch to the paper, I masked the musician, his shadow and everything else dark in the sketch. The trick to applying liquid mask is to use synthetic brushes and to soap the brushes before and in between dips into the mask.

The Yellow Pour

When the mask was dry I poured the lights. After wetting the paper (a necessary first step to get the paint to stick) I poured a tea like mix of hansa yellow light over the paper. I waited for the hansa to dry before pouring first new gamgee, then deep red rose. Once again I wet the paper. I poured the area around his feet first. Then I poured upwards from his head to preserve the bright yellow halo effect around his face and hat.

The Second Pour

First Mask Removed

When the lights were completely dry, I removed the mask. I took a moment to renew the pencil lines the mask had lifted. Then I masked all of the areas I has just poured leaving only the darks. I left the mask to dry. Then, after wetting the page, I poured light mixtures of cobalt blue, phthalo blue, magenta and deep red rose. I tried to keep the darker and colder phthalo blue primarily to the shadow and the dark wall leaving the cobalt for the figure in the middle.

After the paint dried, I masked some small highlights in the musician’s face, hat, trousers and shoes. When the mask dried, I wet the paper and poured the same colors in the same places only darker.

When the final mask was removed I felt the picture was too bright. So I added little gray shadow under the chair to set off the vivid colors. Colbalt blue over the orangy pink floor produced a lively gray.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com.

tags: musicians, poured, shadow

4 comments!

October 7, 2009 8:39 pm

Playing With the Newport Bridge

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,landscapes,Limited Edition,prints available

The Newport Bay Bridge I (13 x 19) $250

The Yaquina Bay Bridge, better and more informally known as the Newport Bridge, is one of the most photographed and painted objects on the Oregon coast. It’s a little daunting to add yet another painting to the stack. But it’s such a beautiful bridge that I just couldn’t resist.

This is the view of the bridge from the south side of bay standing on the ground looking up. Anyone who knows the area well will see immediately that I took major liberties with the landscape. I’ve placed tree covered hills in the foreground, where there is really a grassy flat area often used as an impromptu parking lot. My reference photo throws the parking lot and the bridge into silhouette against the late afternoon sky. Trees broke up the flat horizon. I expanded the treeline into undulating hills.

What I did not remove from the photo was the scaffolding. Somehow whenever I visit the bridge there is scaffolding somewhere in the picture. And with the light behind it, I found the scaffolding as beautiful as the bridge.

After transferring my sketch of the bridge to the paper, I began by painting the sky. I worked wet into wet beginning at the top with a combination of cobalt blue and cerulean Blue. Moving down the paper I added burnt sienna to the two blues to create the grays of the upper cloud masses. Then I dropped in dioxzine purple on the undersides and the dark areas of the clouds. I grayed the violet a hair and added some cobalt to it and washed in the lower cloud bank. Grayed cobalt brought the clouds to the horizon. The bay itself is grayed down cerulean.

The bridge is various dark combinations of burnt sienna, cobalt blue, french ultramarine, and dioxazine purple. The hills are are wet into wet layers of various mixes of the bridge colors plus cerulean blue and raw sienna.

When I finished the painting I was puzzeled about where to sign it. In the end, I signed the painting in removable liquid mask. The mask has a tendency to lift paint thus leaving a quiet signature behind when I removed it.

This painting is currently available on-line through my Etsy shop. Prints available on inquiry.

tags: Newport, Oregon, Yaquina Bay Bridge

No comment?

October 3, 2009 5:31 pm

Wall Flowers

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in Floral,for sale,prints available

Wall Flowers (6 x 9) $35.00

When my mother was a little girl, she and a little friend spent one summer making dancing ladies out of hollyhocks. An upside down open bloom formed the voluminous dancing skirt. A bud for the head attached to the skirt with a toothpick completed the dancing lady.

When we visited her house this summer, she taught my daughters to make the pretty dancing ladies. She had plenty of hollyhocks and other flowers for the girls to play with. At first their flower dolls were all like grandma’s. But soon they added bits of asters and daisies to the heads and bodies. Finally they made a little prince made out of pea pods and pea stems.

The girls spent several afternoons playing with the flower doll on the back porch. But alas there was only one prince. So most of the dancing flower ladies had to wait their turn at the ball. Here are two of them waiting now.

I have many photos of the girls playing with the hollyhock ladies, and one of these days soon, I’m going to paint the girls playing with the flower dolls. It the meantime, I thought I’d start small with a couple studies of the flower dolls.

Because I wanted very soft edges I did these two without mask, saving the whites with careful paint strokes. The flowers themselves are a mixture of opera pink (PR22) and deep red rose (PV 19), both quinacridone reds. I added hansa yellow to make the oranges and cobalt blue to make the greens.

The flag stone is many layered mixes of the same colors toned with burnt sienna. The mortar is burnt sienna and cobalt blue.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com

tags: dolls, hollyhocks

No comment?

October 1, 2009 10:08 am

Challenging Myself: One Subject, Three Moods

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,composition,for sale,prints available,techniques

Queen Anne Nods to Shirley Jackson (11 x 15) $150

I set a challenge for myself this week. The idea was to paint a single subject in a variety of moods. The subject I choose was Deepwoods Estate, here in Salem. I took all of the photos for the painting in the same light and although the various aspects of the building gave me different ideas, the photos don’t convey much feeling to me.

Its Greener on the Other Side

Porch reference photo

I began with the front porch. I aimed to emphasize the softness of the light and the romance of the building. I also wanted to draw the viewer into the painting.

As you can see from my reference photo, my depiction is a little fanciful. I limited my palate to yellows and blues to mimic the soft shadowy light under the porch and the golden sunlight beyond it.

I think the painting works. The most common comment about it is that the viewer would like to step through the porch into the garden on the other side.

Turret and Cupola

Turret Reference Photo

Next I painted a detail of the roof-line from in back. This time I tried to contrast the harsh glittering light with the shaded parts of the building.

Because I intended to include many hard lines and less subtle variation in tone I looked for a place where the contrast between light and shade was particularly striking. But I didn’t want it to look like graphic art, so I poured this painting to ensure that the solid expanses of color were lively rather than flat. Once again I exaggerated, the light in the reference photo is not nearly as stark as the light I painted.

I like this painting, but it turned out rather softer than I had intended. I may try it again with an orange and blue palate.

House Reference Photo

The latest painting in this series is of the whole house. I’ve always found Victorian and Queen Anne houses a little creepy. Like wrought iron, they can be both sinister and charming all at once. On a bright sunny day there is nothing really creepy about the Deepwood House, but it does have a swallowed by the woods feel to it. Despite a generous lawn, there are few places where you can see the whole house. Instead what you see is patches of house through the trees.

So in order to bring out the sinister feel of Queen Anne archetecture, I pulled the trees in closer to the house and darkened the edges where the trees and house meet visually. I also distorted the shape of the house stretching it upwards to about fifteen percent more than it’s real height. Finally I chose a very earthy palate for such a pristine white house: burnt sienna, raw sienna, yellow ocher, phthalo blue and cobalt blue.

I poured this painting too because I wanted a lot of variation in tone. But pouring produces hard lines at the edges of the mask. The result had too many hard lines for the shadowy woods. I did so much scrubbing of the edges, washing over, and detail work that painting doesn’t feel poured to me. But the more I painted the darker it got. I finally had to stop for fear the house would no longer read as white.

I showed the finished painting to my husband yesterday. He said he really liked it, but then added tentatively, “Isn’t it a little eerie?” Yes, yes it is. But I don’t think it’s so eerie that it’s a caricature of the house.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.

tags: Deepwoods, house, mood, Oregon, queen anne, Salem, Victorian

No comment?

September 29, 2009 8:10 pm

Turret and Cupola

2 comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,prints available,techniques

Turret and Copula (11 x 14) $150

Back to the Deepwood Estate but with a very different feel. This is the west or backside of the house looking up at the turret and the tallest roof peak. The afternoon sun brought the architectural details into graphic relief. I decided to play with the posterized nature of the light by pouring this painting.

Pouring watercolors is much like batik dyeing. First I mask all the white areas of the painting. Then I literally pour cups of paint across the paper. After the first pour dries, I mask all the pastels and pour darker paint. Then I mask the medium values and pour again with yet darker paint. Once the painting is dry, I lift the mask and add the darkest values and the details.

In this case I used phthalo blue, deep red rose, and new gamgee for the first pout. I tried to keep the yellow on the cupola. In later pours I used only the deep red rose and two blues Phthalo and French ultramarine. I saved the french ultramarine for the final pour.

I masked the sky after the first pour and overlaid it with cobalt blue when the mask was removed. The details are all heavy purple and magenta mixtures of phthalo blue and deep red rose.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com.

tags: cupola, deepwood, historic, house, Oregon, pouring, queen anne, Salem, turret, Victorian

2 comments!

9:41 am

It’s Greener on the Other Side of the Porch

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,prints available,techniques

Its Greener on the Other Side (10 x 13) $125.00

Built in 1894, The Deepwood Estate is a lovely example of Queen Anne architecture. But to my mind, the gardens are even better. There are four acres of these and they get better every year. The indoor and outdoor Deepwood Estate meet on the front porch. Steps from the porch lead to both the front and back gardens as well as the house and separate glassed-in porch.

Looking up at the porch from the front, I was struck by how the trees on the other side glowed in sun.

After cropping my reference photo to emphasize the the view of the backyard, I spent sometime correcting the photo’s perspective. After transferring my sketch to the watercolor paper I built up from light to dark reserving the white paper where the sun hit the porch wall.

The palate was phthalo blue, a little cobalt blue, hansa yellow light, hansa yellow medium, and burnt sienna. I tried to keep the porch shadows as blue as possible to emphasize the green and yellow of the view on the other side of the porch. And I exaggerated the porch shadows to increase the sense of depth and to show off the green and gold trees. I used the sienna very sparingly and only to gray down the blues and greens.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com

tags: deepwood, historic, house, porch, queen anne, Salem, Victorian

No comment?

September 23, 2009 8:34 pm

The Mill Reflects Upon Itself

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,prints available,techniques

The Mill Reflects Upon Itself (13 x 16) $200

I love the way old glass distorts reflections. This is the second painting of reflections in old glass I’ve done at the Mission Mill Museum.

The old woolen mill is well worth the visit. Most of the original equipment remains inside the mill house and the mill wheel and machinery remains operable. One of these days I’ll have to paint the whole building. It’s bright red and looks like a stack of buildings piled up like crates rather than a single structure. The effect is charming and oddly reminiscent of a child’s toy.

In the meantime I remain fascinated by the glass. Here, a dye house window reflects the mill itself. I love the abstract designs created in the window panes.

I created the siding with multiple washes of paint. I began by painting the shadows in french ultramarine blue. Then I washed all of the siding with with a mixture of deep red rose grayed down a little with phthalo green. Next came Da Vinci’s burnt sienna, followed by HWC’s burnt sienna. The first is really very orange and the second verges on red. I didn’t wash the highlights with the redder sienna. Then I washed the shadowed siding in burnt umber followed by cobalt blue. I like the resulting glow from all of those translucent layers of paint.

I used much the same process for the reflected mill, except that I didn’t use any burnt umber and the final layer of deep red rose.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.

tags: factory, Mission Mill Museum, museum, Salem

No comment?

September 21, 2009 7:27 pm

Breakers Below Yaquina Head I

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,prints available,seascapes

The Breakers Below Yaquina Head I (12 x 16) $175.00

When the tide comes in, the tide pools below Yaquina Head disappear under white foam and the fireworks begin. From the gravely beach you can see the breakers at eye level. Add sunshine through the clouds and the beautiful view becomes spectacular. I wish I could paint the sound because that’s pretty spectacular too.

My palate was cerulean blue, cobalt blue, raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt umber and a hint of quinacridone deep red rose. I scrubbed and used some gouache chinese white where the spray hits the rocks. Otherwise the whites are reserved paper.

The rocks are multiple layers of raw sienna, burnt sienna, phthalo blue and cobalt blue.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com. See more seascapes at Fine Art America: seascapes paintings

tags: breakers, waves, Yaquina Head

No comment?

10:38 am

The Golden Dolphin

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,marine,techniques

The Golden Dolphin (8 x 10) $100

Yes, I’m still playing around with photos from the Newport Fisherman’s Wharf. I liked the way the reflected light from the bay danced across the hull of the white boat.

To paint the reflections I first masked to whitest of the highlights. Then I washed the shadowed part of the hull with a very watery cerulean blue. I used cerulean because of the way it granulates and spreads out across the water unevenly. Then I lifted the lighter areas with a dry brush. Finally I used a small brush to paint in the dark outlines.

The palate is larger than I usually employ. There are three blues, phthalo, cobalt and cerulean. The yellow is raw sienna. The red is quinacridone deep red rose. I used burnt sienna to gray the blues.

tags: boat, fishing boat, Newport

No comment?

September 15, 2009 4:40 pm

The Fisherman’s Wharf

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,marine,prints available,seascapes

The Helen McColl at Rest (10 x 15) $175.00

One of our beach side pleasures is wondering the Newport’s history bay. Art galleries, fish packing plants, and novelty shops, private museums, restaurants and taverns mix indiscriminately along the bay front. But the best part of the bay is the fisherman’s wharf.

There is marina space for pleasure craft further down the road and across the bay. But I prefer the fishing boats. The yachts are are elegant under sail, but with their sails furled at port they look sad to me, like furniture under sheets. And few people tour the boats. The yachts are expensive and while not actually prohibited, visitors feel unwelcome.

The wharf remains full of life. Maintaining a fishing boat is an endless task and someone, usually several someones are always busy there. Tourists are smiled upon. Some these outfits sell fish and crab right off the boat. The sea lions chose the wharf piers for sunning too. They know where to fish scraps are.

The shape of the fishing boats may be elegant, but the boats themselves are not. Machinery, ropes, crates, boxes, tarps, crab pots, nets, buckets, barrels and other paraphernalia clutter the decks. Unlike the yachts the boats are often brightly colored. Fishing is a dangerous game and these men want to be visible.

We visit often enough that we remember many of the names. The Miss Law, The Sandra Fey, The Suki, The Destiny, The Golden Dolphin, The Orca, and many others. This is The Helen McColl. She was at the end of the pier guarded by sea lions. I took her picture because I liked her reflection and the rust on her side, an unusual sight on the wharf. She must have had a hard year.

I used primarily phthalo blue, cobalt blue, and burnt sienna. I used a hair of yellow ocher and made a couple high lights in white gouache. I painted the water and sky first, then alternated between the boat and her reflection making sure to use the same paint mix for each reflected part.

This painting is currently for sale on-line through my Etsy shop. Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com.

tags: boat, dock, fishing, Helen McColl, Newport, wharf

No comment?

September 14, 2009 5:16 pm

Twixt Wind and Water II

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,prints available,seascapes,techniques

Twixt Wind and Water II (12 x 16) $225

Twixt Wind and Water

We spent last weekend on the beach. I took enough photographs to have seacape material for some time to come. While I was there I reworked Twixt Wind and Water. Here is the result. As you can see, I gave the painting considerably more sea-room to the left, so that she has something more to look into.

I began her hair with an under-painting of colbalt blue. Then I used layers of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and cobalt blue to complete it. Quidacrone deep red rose provides the accent color in the hair band.

Her jacket is cobalt blue and prussian blue mixed on the palate.

The sea began as phthalo blue and burnt sienna with reserved whites. Then I changed my mind about much of the wave action and began experimenting with white gouache. To cover strong colors, gouache must be laid on fairly heavily. And even though I don’t use ultra white paper, gouache white is still bluer that the paper. Also, as I discovered gouache will washback into transparent watercolor and vice versa. Work a little gouache onto the paper and nothing painted there will ever be entirely transparent again.

The effect is interesting, but I think next time I’ll stick to transparent watercolors, unyielding to change though they may be. I like the translucency better.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com

tags: braid, girl, gouache, ocean, Pacific, storm, waves

No comment?

September 10, 2009 10:37 am

Breakers at Seal Rock or Using all the White Techniques

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,prints available,seascapes,sold,techniques,unfinished

The Breakers at Seal Rock II (12 x 16) $125

This is the second painting I’ve done of the tide coming in at Seal Rock Wayside. The first was a little postcard sized painting I did while demonstrating at the fair. That little painting sold immediately. I liked it too, so when expanding it to a full sized painting I didn’t mess around with the composition much. But I did want to get some more variety into the rocks and spray.

Like the previous painting, I began by reserving the whites with liquid mask while painting in the ocean and rocks. I used phthalo blue and burnt sienna for the ocean.

I used the same basic technique to lay down the rocks as I did with the first little painting. I started with raw sienna and quinacridone gold. Then I added burnt sienna and quinacridone deep red rose. While the burnt sienna and deep red rose were still wet, I dropped in cobalt blue and phthalo blue. Finally I added some heavy burnt sienna and some French Ultramarine.

Once the painting was dry, I scrubbed the edges of the rock where the spay hit them with a stiff filbert brush to show how the waves obscured them. Then I broke out the white gouache (an semi opaque white) and added more spray. Over the dark painted rocks the gouache white looks gray. I used the gouache primarily for the shelf of the biggest rock and the bases of the rocks on the shore side. Finally I pulled out the razor and scratched in fine white lines where the water spilled over the rocks and little cuts for droplets of spray. All four techniques work very differently, and each has a character of it’s own. I like the variety that resulted from using them all.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.

tags: guauche, Oregon, razor, rocks, Seal Rock, waves

No comment?

September 8, 2009 9:41 am

Tourists in Central City

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,figures,for sale,Uncategorized

Central City Tourists (10.5 x 12) $100.00

The odd part about visiting Central City, Colorado this summer was the empty streets. The Central City of my childhood was packed with tourists. The parking lots were still packed, so I can only surmise that the tourists are all in the new casinos. But the lack of people on the streets, gave me a field day for unobstructed photography on the steep narrow streets.

I chose this particular photo to work from because of the way the light lit up only the upper half of the street. That the scene showed the slant of the street so clearly was a plus.

Because half the charm of the city is the painted Victorian ladies I moved away from my usual earth tone pallete. The pallete here was phthalo blue, cobalt blue, quinacridone red, and quinacridone gold.

tags: Centrol City, Colorado, Victorian

No comment?

August 18, 2009 8:13 pm

Which Century?

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,landscapes,Uncategorized

Which Century (11 x 13) $125.00

We recently visited Central City, Colorado. Like many “ghost towns” across the country, tourism has kept the once bustling mining town alive. When I was girl the historic downtown was wall to wall novelty and gift shops broken only by cheap restaurants. Tourist straggled up and down the steep streets buying post cards of jackalopes, shiny cedar boxes and souvenir spoons.

Most of the novelty shops are gone now. Casinos dominate the downtown now. The streets are quiet because the tourists are mostly inside the casinos gambling. But unlike in the 1800s the gamblers are senior citizens bused in rather than rough neck miners. I find it an ironic return to the past. But I liked the bustling streets better.

I still like the old downtown, and I took many pictures for future paintings. This one is of the Coyote Creek Casino and the Century building. My question is which century, the 19th, the 20th or the 21st? All three centuries are mingled in the Victorian building with 20th century signs and air-conditioning, and 21st century computers.

The light cast lovely shadows on the century building, but the bright light flattened the casino. After some thought, I added some shadow to the casino. I think it works a little better particularly on the upper story.

tags: Casino, Central City, Colorado, shadows

No comment?

August 17, 2009 10:23 pm

Three Waiters

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,mistakes

Three Waiters (9 x 7) $125

Since becoming a painter of people, I’ve developed some sneaky ways of photographing strangers in public. One of them is to sit in a restaurant or on a park bench and pretend to be reviewing my pictures when I am actually taking pictures instead. I took the photos I used for this painting in just that way.

I just had to take the photos because of the way kitchen lights in the otherwise dark pub threw these waiters into relief. They looked like they were on stage, yet the scene was intimate. It reminded me of an Edward Hooper painting. But I’m no Hooper, and I intended something much warmer than the world he painted.

It wasn’t easy. I tried a version of this painting almost a year ago and was unsatisfied with it. As usual, the main problem was composition. I included too much of the scene and destroyed much of both the intimacy and the light contrast I was trying to present.

The First Waiters Painting

I like this new smaller version much better than last year’s version.

Once again I used a limited palate: phthalo blue, cobalt blue, burnt sienna, and raw sienna. Because I was painting with limited supplies in Colorado, I only had one yellow. If I had been painting at home I would have substituted a brighter yellow for the raw sienna.

tags: men, Portland, pubs, resturants, waiters, women

No comment?

August 12, 2009 10:20 pm

Missonary’s Window in Reflection or Almost Abstract

2 comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale

Missionarys Window in Reflection (9 x 12) $75.00

I love the warped reflections made by antique glass window so much that I was sorry to see our 1930′s living room windows replaced with energy efficient modern double paned glass.

But I can still enjoy the warped windows of the Mission Mill Museum. Here, reflected in the mill warehouse, is of the youngest of the three missionary houses moved to the Mill site after it became a museum. The painting is true to the shape and colors of the reflected of parsonage house, but not to the color of the Mill warehouse. In real life the mill and warehouse are brick red.

I painted it because the reflection made such a satisfying abstract design.

tags: abstract, Mission Mill Museum, missionary house, parsonage

2 comments!

August 10, 2009 9:08 pm

The Best Hot Pink or Playing Chicken with the Waves

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,prints available,seascapes

Retreat (9 x 12) $100

I haven’t been able to paint much recently, so I brought some things to play with at my mother’s. I started with another winter wave painting because they are becoming easy and familiar. This is my youngest daughter playing chicken with the surf. I think in the end she got her feet wet. My reference photo included both girls, but for composition reasons I left my eldest out.

The palette is cobalt blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna and opera rose. I rarely want anything as bright as hot pink, but when I do, Winsor and Newton’s Opera is a good choice. It’s hotter than anything I can mix by diluting my reds. It’s another quinacridone red, PR 122. And like most of the quinacridones it’s light-fastness is rated II, very good but not excellent. Also like the rest of the quinacridones its a very warm red.

The paint came to me by serendipity. Dick Blick’s sent me a sample on the same day I saw it used to effect in small touches in a large foresty landscape. I was painting a picture of a young woman with a hot pink plastic bucket. I grabed the new paint and discovered I liked it.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com See more painting of little girls here: girls paintings

tags: girls, surf. Opera, waves

No comment?

August 9, 2009 5:19 pm

New Dawn in the Late Afternoon

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,marine,prints available

New Dawn in the Late Afternoon (8 x 10) $100

I painted this little picture while vacationing in Colorado. Obviously I didn’t work plein air. I used a photo I took last summer. We love to walk along the Newport fishing docks in the afternoon when the boats are all in and the fishermen are cleaning up.

This is the New Dawn in dock. I painted her because of the lovely reflections in the water. But while I began it because of the reflections, I found I enjoyed the subtle shades of gray necessary to give the boat volume too, especially where the floats colored the shadows.

I painted the reflection and the parts of the boat reflected first beginning with the red boat side and the gold float. Then I added first the lighter water background and than the darker reflections and waves in it. The lighter water is cobalt blue in the foreground and cerulean blue in the distance. I used burnt sienna to gray and darken and gray the blues. I used a little raw sienna to make the greens.

Then I painted in the dark rail, the lifesaver and the the floats to help me “see” the rest of the boats. The rails are phthalo blue mixed with burnt sienna. I used burn sienna and raw sienna for the floats and lifesaver. The background came next to define the masts.

With that road map in hand, I set about adding all the various shades of gray. For those I used all three blues grayed down with burn sienna.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.

tags: boats, Newport, reflections, water

No comment?

July 28, 2009 8:25 pm

In the Waves

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,postcard,seascapes

In the Waves (5 x 7) $20.00

Do you remember the two brothers who were trying to send a log back out to sea? The tide was coming in and so the sea kept sending it back. I used another one of the photos I took of them that day to make this little postcard sized painting of the older brother.

The palette is phthalo blue, yellow ocher, and burnt sienna.

This painting is currently for sale on-line through my Etsy shop.

tags: beach, boys, figure and figures, waves

No comment?

July 27, 2009 8:10 pm

The Annex Bar

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in buildings and bridges,for sale,landscapes,prints available

The Annex Bar (11 x 14) $125

Between art fairs and getting prints ready for my first painting fair I haven’t had time to actually paint nearly as often as I’d like. Today I decided to paint whether I had the time or not.

And I returned to a subject I had attempted to paint without success about six or seven months again, the Annex Building in downtown Portland. Like many downtown Portland buildings it’s wedge shaped to take advantage of the oddly shaped blocks created where diagonals run through the city grid. I photographed the Annex in the late afternoon when sun lit up all of the brick-a-brack.

My first attempts at painting the building ended in frustration because I included much too much detail. This time I simplified both the brick-a-brack and the colors. I also eliminated an upper story with a flat wall used as a a bill board facing out over the bar. This is one case where KISS (“keep it simple stupid”) worked.

Besides eliminating detail, I also simplified the colors and reduced my palette to phthalo blue, burnt sienna, and yellow ocher. At the very end I dropped cobalt blue into the sky.

It sure felt good to paint again, and better yet to paint something I’d failed to paint before.

Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.

tags: Annex, buildings, Portland

No comment?

July 15, 2009 5:46 pm

Low Tide at Agate Beach

1 comment

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,seascapes,techniques

Low Tide at Agate Beach (12 x 16) $200

I love the ghostly look of the beach at low tide on a foggy morning. The beach stretches out forever half hidden in haze and strangely reflective, making the beach and the sky much the same color. The ocean swallows up all sound. All is quiet mystery.

But I have a hard time painting it. It is essentially nothing with variations. Here, to emphases the space and provide life are my daughters striding companionably into to that great emptiness filling it with sound and movement.

To paint the picture I masked the white waves, the foam and girls, but not their reflections. I painting the sky with burnt sienna and cobalt blue in multiple wet into wet layers. I painted the beach first in yellow ocher and than followed that with burnt sienna. I painted various mixtures of burnt sienna and cobalt blue wet on wet over the sand. The waves are a darker mixture of burnt sienna and cobalt blue painted wet on dry.

After the wet paper dried, I lifted the mask and painted the girls. The were actually dressed in brightly colored coats, but I painted them in more burnt sienna and cobalt to keep the monotone foggy feel of the beach. Then I dampened the area under the girls and painted in their reflections wet on damp.

I placed my signature carefully since in all that emptiness I knew it would be a design element.

This painting is currently for sale on-line through my Etsy Shop.

tags: beach, girls, reflections

1 comment...

July 9, 2009 2:31 pm

Surf Dance

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,postcard,seascapes,techniques

Surf Dance (5 x 7) $30.00

This is another little painting of the two brothers playing in the surf. They had found a log about half again as tall as either of them and were busy trying to return it to the sea. But as the tide was coming in, the sea kept giving it back. Here they have just finished taking it far so into the surf that they thought they had gotten rid of it. The victory dance was short lived. It came back. I don’t think they really minded though. They were having fun.

I used the same palette and method as the last little painting. First I masked the white foam and the boys. Then I painted the water and sand, beginning wet into wet and adding the details wet on dry. I painted the sand in with yellow ocher and burnt sienna right up to the first foam. I laid the thin layer of water reflecting the sky with blue cerulean right over the sand. I added the reflections last. When all was dry I removed the mask and painted in the boys and softened the foam.

Removable liquid masking is the easiest way to preserve small areas of white paper. I use Shiva Liquid Masque, but Winsor & Newton make a perfectly good mask too. The advantage to Shiva for me is that it’s slightly pink, making it easier for me to see where I’ve masked. Winsor & Newton is slightly yellow which I find harder to see against white paper.

Mask should be applied to bone dry paper. Use a synthetic brush well rubbed in hand soap to apply the mask. Resoap the brush regularly and wash it with soap afterwords. Don’t use water that has been used for masking when painting. Don’t remove the mask until the paint is bone dry. A rubber cement pick-up works best.

This painting is currently available on-line through my Etsy shop.

tags: Add new tag, boys, masking, surf, waves

No comment?

July 8, 2009 9:15 pm

Afternoon Tide Tag

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,postcard,seascapes

Afternoon Tide Tag (5 x 7) $30.00

This is another postcard sized painting. I find it therapeutic to do these little paintings while I’m in the throws of getting ready to stock another polymer clay sculpture booth. While they don’t take as long as my larger pieces, it is challenging to get enough detail into these tiny paintings without overwhelming them with fussy little brush strokes.

I took endless photos of this young man and his brother last summer. They were very active and having a grand time playing in the waves. The light was beautiful and so were the boys. I may paint one or both of them again tomorrow.

The palette is cerulean blue, burnt sienna, and raw sienna. Substituting cerulean for my usual cobalt blue resulted in a greener and less gray sea. I used raw sienna rather than yellow ocher because ocher is on the green side of yellow and would have resulted in a pea green sea. For the boy’s skin and hair I used all three colors. The more I work with watercolor the more I am drawn to the sedimentary and metallic pigments. I have trouble with the organics.

This painting is available on-line through my Etsy shop.

tags: boys, ocean, waves

No comment?

June 24, 2009 12:14 pm

One Big Umbrella, One Small Boy, Three Small Sketches

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,shows,sold

About a month or so ago the Titanic exhibit, or at least a small piece of it came to Salem. Stephen and I took the girls. It was a hot day and we were grateful to the sponsoring bank bank for providing us all with sunshades. And all of those great green and white umbrellas made the crowd rather picturesque. I puzzled the volunteers by photographing the crowd rather than the outside of the exhibit.

I think I will eventually do a back-lit painting of the line. But right now I have an upcoming art fair in Seattle (for my sculpture not my paintings) that’s taking up most of my time. Nevertheless I want to keep my brush hand in. These three little sketches are of a toddler ridding on his daddy’s shoulders and playing with one of those umbrellas.

Boy with Umbrella I (5 x 7) $20.00

He was having so much fun twirling that umbrella around and so happily oblivious to everything else that I was afraid he was going to bean his father with it. Come to think of it the father has slid of the paintings. None of the angles I liked showed the man’s head. When I included too much of his back and shoulders it looked like the boy was ridding the headless horseman.

Boy with Umbrella II (5 x 7) $20.00

I began the sketches because I liked the umbrella. I ended up doing three of them because I got carried away with the infinite variety of color in the boy’s hair and skin. Blue, yellow, red, brown, purple and orange. It’s all there.

Now that I look at the sketches I may make a full size painting out of one of these.

Boy with Umbrella III (5 x 7) SOLD

The palette was phthalo green, ceruleum blue, cadmium red, quinacridone deep red rose, yellow ocher.

These three sketches may be framed or used as postcards. Purchase all three for $50.00.

Because they are so small, I’ll mail these little sketches flat rather than in a tube. As always prices include postage within the continental United States.

tags: boys, toddlers, umbrella

No comment?

June 19, 2009 12:41 pm

Her Own Little Fountain

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,mistakes,seascapes,techniques

Her Own Little Fountain (12 x 15) $75.00

Yes, it’s yet another painting of the children playing in the water feature at Town Center Park, Wilsonville, Oregon. What can I say? I love hot sun on skin. And the children were cute. This little girl in particular was adorable. She was all over that stream and happily oblivious to the camera.

This is my second painting on hot-pressed paper. The last was a rocky seascape and I used hot-press to get more luminous darks. That worked well.

I wanted to test the wipe-out properties of hot-pressed paper. Wiping-out means to paint solid color and then to lift the high lights. Hot-pressed paper wipes easier than cold-pressed or rough paper. It thought it would be a good technique for skin on a hot summer’s day. What I discovered is that it works well except for highly staining colors. Quinacridone deep red rose is highly staining. Actually I haven’t found a red I like that isn’t highly staining. The closest I’ve found is burnt sienna which is really an orange. I think I’ll wait for a less sunburn scene where I can use the raw sienna before trying wipe-out with hot-pressed paper again.

The palette was burnt sienna, colbalt blue, quinarindone deep red rose and yellow ocher. I reclaimed some whites with titanium white.

Or purchase a print at Fine Art America.com.

tags: fountains, gauche, girs, Town Center Park, water

No comment?

June 16, 2009 4:48 pm

Whale Watchers at Elephant Rock

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in for sale,landscapes,seascapes

The Whale Watchers at Elephant Rock (14 x 20) $125

This is the head at Seal Rock Wayside park. A long ridge of basalt runs across the coast line. It creates tidal pools and spectacular waves along the beaches. At the the head it is wall defending the land from the sea. This is the view as you crest the last hill and look down on the wall barricading the head. The ridge is easy to climb and it really is a great place for whale watching.

This is my second attempt both at painting this view and at painting on hot-pressed paper. My first is in the entry below. My primary problem to begin with was poor compositional planning. The foreground came to a point almost dead center in the middle of the foreground. Last night I intended to correct the painting by sliding the point over. I found that impossible and so began the painting anew.

This time I established my darks first beginning with the outer ridge. The hot pressed-paper really does aid the creation of luminous darks. I will use it again for low key paintings.

The palate is cobalt blue, cerulean blue, phthalo blue, burnt sienna and yellow ocher. The Ridge is almost entirely grays made of of burnt sienna and the blues. Each of the blues produces a variety of interest grays and browns when mixed with sienna. I used a little yellow in the foreground cliff. I used Chinese white, cobalt blue and yellow ocher for the grass.

tags: Hot Pressed, Rock, Seal Rock

No comment?

June 12, 2009 7:24 pm

Blond Indians or Ladder to the Past Prelim

no comments

by Jenny Armitage in figures,for sale,landscapes

Blond Indians (8 x 10) $50.00

This painting began as my first attempt at Ladder to the Past. As you can see I began the idea with two figures not one. Midway through I decided that a single figure would be more eye catching. So I gave this painting up and began again. The results are Ladder to the Past shown in the entry below.

But I liked Ladder to the Past so much I thought I’d finish this little painting too. And I’m glad I did. The two girls are my daughters and the ladder is of course still at Bandelier National Monument.

The palette for Blond Indians is a little larger than Ladder to the Past: quinacridone deep red rose, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, phthalo blue, yellow ocher and dioxazine purple.

tags: Bandelier, desert, girls, ladder

No comment?

« Newer Posts

Older Posts »

A Painting Blog

for sale