Assignment... Renoir

I have a series of portraits to do of three kids; the children of one of my favorite clients. Anne has asked me to paint the kids into famous portrats so... here we go. This is the first one.... Adison as Renoir's Girl with Watering Can.

I made the mistake of using acrylics for this portrait. Acrylics do not blend like oils do and, impressionism is all about blending! It is difficult, with a baby in the house, to justify using oils. I have learned my lesson and, for the other portraits I will work with oils... just not in my house. A good friend has offered me the use of her studio.

Tuscany... yet again

Here are a few photos from a project I finished recently... another Tuscan scene. This mural is a continuation of one of my very first murals. It is amazing how much I have improved and my style has matured over the past five or six years. Not to say that I didn't know what I was doing five years ago but my murals are now definitely my own. They have a grace and subtlety that they did not when I first started my business.

The first part of the mural is in the staircase leading down to the basement and wine cellar/ tasting room of a Denver home. This latest mural is in the basement just outside the tasting room. There really isn't any point when the viewer can see both murals simultaneously so I didn't have to revert to my early techniques for consistency. It was enough to use the same color palette and subject matter. This mural is in an alcove which I tried to visually turn into a balcony so, I had to suggest the outside wall of a villa on the hallway wall opposite. In order to do this I simply painted a window with a grape vine and a few hanging petunias (details I pulled from the original 2004 mural).

All in all I am very pleased with the mural. Over the past few years I have been developing my technique of layering glazes and I love the effect. It gives the murals a 'watercolor' feel and the technique helps create a lightness and airy quality which many murals lack.

The photo below (with the low wall and pillar) is of a section of the original mural.