Tag Archives: sky

Cabinet, Furniture, New

Sunset Cloud Bureau

November 14, 2016 Sue Banks Leave a comment

This four drawer bureau is number 3 in my “Cloud Chest” series. The sun is hovering at the horizon with a a purple glow that bounces off the low lying clouds around all three sides. I painted three autumn leaves in Trompe L’oeil style on the cream colored top and tried to use only the colors from the sunset in the leaves while still having three distinctly different colored flora. There is a ladybug as my signature critter. The “slats’ across the drawer fronts are actually solid pieces of carved wood. Sorry but this piece sold immediately in the first show in which I presented it. It stands 37″ tall and is 26″ X 15”.

Commisioned Work, Hang On The Wall

Home on a Hill

August 6, 2016 Sue Banks Leave a comment

This is a portrait of a home which sits at the summit of a woodsy hill in Connecticut. It was a pleasure to paint! The front yard was of great importance to the owner of this house, however in reality this hill is so loaded with tall trees that the view of the architecture is severely obscured from the road. I simplified the trees but made sure to accurately depict and include all the huge boulders, the Mountain Laurel, Hosta, Hydrangeas, and of course the flags! I like to include critters where I can, so I placed a squirrel actively over looking the property as he clings to a tree trunk. I painted the deer, who are frequent visitors in this area, off in the distance. This piece is painted on a 20″ X 24″ wood canvas in acrylics.

Commisioned Work, Slate

“Gone Fishing” Memorial Stone

April 22, 2014 Sue Banks Leave a comment

This stone was commissioned as a memorial to a loved one. I painted the motorboat at its regular mooring with “Johnny’s” hat painted in Trompe L’oeil style. I worked from photoes of his boat and the lake where he moored it, but I had Johnny’s real hat sitting on my work table as I painted it. I tried to capture the feel of the canvas fabric and the stitching. It was such a big hat that I could not make it life size or it would have covered the whole surface! A simple message on the side says it all. The stone is about 16 ” in diameter and 2 inches thick. The shape of the stone suggested a heart to me; It was all I needed for inspiration. My first step in starting the piece was to block it in with chalk.

Commisioned Work, Murals

Garden Mural

January 13, 2014 Sue Banks Leave a comment

Harness Park on the Connecticut shore was the inspiration for this intense, hyper-realism mural, a most ambitious project. I painted it on the wall of a small breakfast nook, creating the sensation of a garden being accessible right from the kitchen. In preparation, I took photos from all over the park and worked them into an imaginary ideal garden. I painted the path and the base board to match the real stone tile floor. The real gate you see is an antique wrought iron piece that the owner of the mural eventually attached to the wall so that it could swing open in welcome. The balance of the design is completed by the gate.

Many of the photos posted here were taken while the mural was in progress and you can discern my process in some of them. If you look close you can see differences between views such as unfinished edges, butterflies that were added last and white spaces for the Peonies which were not yet painted. Unfortunately these photos were taken in the days before I owned a digital camera, so I apologize for some fuzziness.