This project began as a simple wooden box with no hardware. The flowers are painted life size. I wanted the Pansies to have all the varied attitudes of the real world. There are buds, seed pods and fading blossoms as well as wide open ‘faces’! Of course there is a visiting honey bee near one long edge. This is Trompe L’oeil; The marble is not real. The clasp is not real, nor are the hinges. The cover still lifts off to open! The photo of the ‘block’ of marble is the underside of the box.
This little kitty, named Darwin, needed a sign to hang on the door of his own special place which is under the stairs in a room like Harry Potter’s . He even has his favorite toy mouse by his side. Isn’t he sweet? This painting of him is 12′ tall and 9″ wide.
This is Hopey the cat. This unique project began with a purchased cement garden ornament. I painted her from multiple photographs supplied by the family to resemble their beloved family pet. It was important to give some life to the face. I painted just a little eye peeking out from the sleeping face with which the cement was originally cast. I think it makes all the difference. When you come across Hopey ‘sleeping’ in the garden you have to look twice to see she isn’t going to wake up and meow at you! I have included a picture of what the cement cat looked like early in the painting process when I had just begun to add some color over my coats of white sealant.
This is a second version of a plaque I did two years ago which I recently painted again upon request from a client. I never do two identical paintings, but I do revisit some of them on occasion especially if someone asks me to. This is the same pagoda I painted in the background of the first version but the faded browning blossoms could be just be blooms ‘from a different year’. I love how Hydrangeas can be beautiful all year long. I am including here a photo of an early stage of the paint process before the flowers were painted. This plaque is 12″ wide and 9″ tall.
