The miracle of loaves and sharks...

I am doing the cookbook cover for our church. It should be out before Christmas and will be a lovely holiday gift. Mary Oxenrider is going to share all of her secret recipes that we've come to love over the years.
Anyway, I am doing the cover. The black and white picture is the sketch we've decided upon. I sketched it from my imagination which is what I typically do.
The challenging part is recreating my sketch into real life. I do that, photograph it, and paint from the photograph.
Sometimes real life looks nothing like I imagined. This was one of those times when I got it pretty close.
On Monday, I drove all over town looking for goblets, the right bread, a table cloth, and wheat. The theme is loaves and fishes. I really didn't want to use real fish- they're expensive, smell bad, and I'd probably have to throw them out after an hour under the hot lights.
Then it hit me. Juliet's Beanie Baby sharks. "Crunch" was her very very favoritist toy ever. One time, she lost it. She cried for days. That was at the height of the Beanie Baby fad, and unfortunately, Crunch was a rare, discontinued toy. Ralph's mother had some connections in PA. She was able to obtain two Crunches which she sent out very quickly. We tucked one away in case of another loss, and we told Juliet that we found Crunch and that somehow he was clean again and had a new tag.
Soon after that, she found the original Crunch. She had put him in a dresser that I was refinishing at the time.
We then gave her the other Crunch and that's how she got three little shark bean bags that are remarkably the same size as Mackerels.
Any port in a storm, right?
BTW, Juliet is a really cool teen these days. She'd probably hate me for revealing this, but she still keeps her three little sharks on a shelf in her room. AWWWWWW!

Painting away a Sunday.

I got another chance to paint with real paint today. It is going well, but I am starting to lose my light. This little picture is on canvas paper. I like it and wish I painted it on a surface that is better quality.
I still have to work on the ears and lighten up the contrast a bit on the fence on the left side. He has issues, but they will have to wait for some other time. I promised the girls I would take them to the pool this afternoon.

goofing around.

Where is my work ethic today?
I thought I would try out a new watercolor pencil I found at Pat Catans. Actually, this product is not watercolor, it's water soluble graphite and it's probably been around for years. But this is all new to me, so I thought I'd experiment with it. My watercolors were nearby so my experiment turned into a watercolor sketch. I will try to have more discipline and put the colors away and try the graphite thing again.
Well it's time to do some paying stuff now.

Homage to Sulley and Eichholtz

Thomas Sulley, The Torn Hat circa 1820


Jacob Eichholtz, Rubens Mayer Eichholtz circa1815


Margaret Freed, Homage To Eichholtz and Sulley, circa 2009

Back in the early 1800's, portrait painters Thomas Sulley and Jacob Eichholtz exchanged ideas and techniques. I was inspired by two of their pictures that shared a common idea, The Torn Hat. I thought I'd take a crack at this idea, 190 years later.
Like Eichholtz, my picture is of one of my kids, Catherine. I didn't have a torn hat, but I did have this russian military one that I picked up on ebay.
Painting Catherine at age 14 is a far cry from last weekend's picture of her at age four. She is a much more cooperative model these days. I guess she's figured out that if she follows mom's instructions she'll be done sooner. That's a life lesson for all of us I suppose.
Looking at this online, I think I need to add a bit more rose color to her cheeks and darken and simplify the denim jacket. I will have to work on that later and I will post it when I do.

Painting away the holiday.

Sunday was a good day for painting, Monday not so much. This picture is based on reference I had leftover from a commission I had several years ago. I think this kid is starting middle school in September.
Anyway, I don't know, I just didn't get it right this time. Maybe the background is too dark. I will try this one again when I have some extra time.
I am going to work in a few more details on his shirt.
It was fun to paint in watercolor for a change. This picture is on Arches 140# hot press. The picture I painted on Sunday is on Arches 140# cold press. I like the texture of the cold press as long as I don't have to do too much detail.

What a way to spend the holiday.

I got the chance to paint for fun this weekend. I unearthed some old reference I took for a portrait of Catherine. She was about four at the time. I remember being very frustrated with her because she would only sit in odd, uncomfortable-looking positions. I scrapped the entire project, only getting three photos and a few sketches.
I found the file again last week and decided to take another crack at it. Painting traditionally is such a welcome change, although I can't hit the undo button when I make a mistake. Catherine looks very happy in this picture, but she was a miserable model.
I am working on a new portrait of her, one I hope will be done very soon. She is much more amiable now!
I think I have some more portrait reference of Margo back from the days when we called her Mickey. I am going to try to find it and paint another one tomorrow.
BTW, this one isn't done yet. I still have to paint the drapery in the background. Parts of her dress seem a bit too dark. Watercolor is tricky that way. I will have to scrub some of if out. I will post the final product when it's complete.

From The Archives...

I found this old cartoon in my files this morning. It is a cartoon sample from 2002. I thought I'd post it along with a companion picture. There are five illustrations in all. It was for a very very simple board book.
I don't think Pop ever saw this picture. He would have probably gotten a kick out of it. Even though it's a cartoon, it looks like him, LOL.