Floral Promenade

The lights and darks of the old tile floor are blocked in with a lot of leftover paint. I like to add several different colors to give a feel of the patina on the ancient pavers. A fine liner brush has been used to indicate the curved perspective lines. In the picture above I’m drawing the horizontal lines separating the tiles.

The Sunflowers are painted with my normal sequence: Flower color first, Foliage second. Then the dark centers are placed in the yellow areas and we begin to see the happy flowers appear.

The white Daisies are painted over the dark leaves of the Sunflowers. I have to be very careful to “Lay” the paint on the canvas so none of the dark green underneath is picked up by my brush. I want the whites to remain crisp and clean.

Yellow, orange and red centers complete the Daisies and Petunias fill in the rest of the planter in the right foreground. Please remember, if you would like to see any of these pictures larger just click on the image.

Floral Promenade      20″ x 24″     Original Oil Painting

Lavender and California Poppies are the final participants in this Floral Promenade. It’s off to the gallery and hopefully will soon be going to a new collector’s home. Have a wonderful day. Hope to see you again soon. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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Do What You Know

Hot off the press! Jack has a new article on Fine Art Studio Online. To read “Do What You Know” CLICK HERE.

Santa Fe needs another painting so let’s get started. The basic elements are sketched up on the canvas with a wash of MUD (Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson) + Liquin. For those of you new to my blog I’ve shown my painting setup. My palette a 1/4 inch thick sheet of glass placed on a white melamine shelf board. The glass is a nice surface to mix on and it’s very easy to clean up with a paint scraper. The white underneath the glass allows me to view my mixtures the same as they would appear on the white canvas. To learn more about our Double Primary Color Mixing System CLICK HERE. The plastic container on the left of my palette holds odorless paint thinner. The top is cut off a water bottle leaving the handle. After the thinner sits overnight all the gook settles to the bottom. In the morning I can pour off the clean thinner into a new container and discard the yucky stuff.

The sky and most distant mountain are painted. I break from my usual sequence of painting the entire background first before moving to the foreground elements. This is because I want to paint the Bougainvillea wet into wet over the sky.

After finishing the upper part of the building and the Bougainvillea the distant landscape is painted. Muted colors are used so the scene through the gate will fall behind the more vibrant flowers in the courtyard.

Some of you have asked how I determine the spacing for the lines in my doors and gates. After painting the light and dark of the basic door color I make dots for the placement of the lines separating the boards. This helps me to get the perspective correct, especially on open doors and gates.

Bracing my wrist against the mahl stick I use a fine liner brush to draw the vertical lines. This takes a little practice to master but you can slide your wrist down the mahl stick to pull the straight line. Thank you for visiting the studio today. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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Ribbons and Ruffles

Since many of my readers have been so complimentary of the Sepia Tone Portrait I did of Lance and Godiva I decided to do a Charra piece in the same technique for my eBay auction.  Charreadas are popular in the Southwest, especially in Texas. Many of the competitions in this rodeo highlight the skills of the Vaquero, the forefathers of our modern day cowboy. But one of the events, La Escaramuza Charra is strictly for the girls, or Charras. Teams of expert riders mounted sidesaddle on spirited horses execute intricate maneuvers at a blazing gallop. I attended several Charreadas with a fellow artist and dear friend of mine, Linda Sioux Henley. We were always on the edge of our seats and just knew there was going to be a collision at every turn. It’s exciting and so beautiful with the girls clad in flowing dresses.

The background is painted first with a mixture of Ivory Black + Burnt Umber + a lot of Liquin. The brushstrokes run over the subject, so I come back with a clean brush to lift the paint off of the horse and rider. This is shown in the picture above on the left. The image on the right shows the “Cleaned Up” piece. At this stage I let the background dry overnight.

To go directly to my eBay auction CLICK HERE.

Now the piece is dry I can paint the main subject without disturbing the background. I begin by blocking in the basic shadows of the hat, face and white dress. I brace against the mahl stick to reduce the strain on my shoulder.

The saddle and horse are next. The hind legs are carefully faded into the dust. Highlights are lifted out of the dark washes with a clean brush.

Ribbons and Ruffles     14″ x 11″    Original Oil Painting

Details of the horse’s head, bridle, ribbons and ruffles on the dress finish this fun piece full of warm memories. The size of the painting is 14 inches tall by 11 inches wide on a regular canvas. The piece comes to you unframed and would sell in our galleries for $790. The auction bidding starts at a PENNY. That’s right, 1 cent. As a gift to you we are giving FREE SHIPPING, anywhere in the United States, to the winner.

The auction ends Sunday, January 15.  So have some fun and visit my auction on eBay.

Just CLICK HERE to Bid!

Good Luck and Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

A Little Break

What a treat today, a couple of longtime friends and collectors visited our studio. Tim and Lynn are owned by Maggie May, the Olde English Bulldog whose portrait was posted on my blog recently. If you would like to see her portrait, CLICK HERE. Tim is a Hall of Fame Arena Football Coach and Lynn is involved in cutting edge stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine. We took a little break for the day, had a wonderful time and are so glad Tim and Lynn stopped in. I’ll be back at the easel tomorrow. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

Sun Drenched Tuscany

Let’s run off to Tuscany today. Molly, our shelter rescue kitty, is certainly ready. She has taken over my taboret but fortunately there is just enough room for a couple of reference photos. I’ve had to tape the others to the easel. The minute I start to work painting she will curl up and go to sleep.

I’m using the sunflowers from the picture on the left and combining them with the Tuscan hilltop village on the right. The sky is totally completed, then I “paint forward”. The most distant mountains are made bluer or cooler. As the mountains come forward I paint them with warmer colors. This simple rule Warm colors come forward, Cool colors recede is one of the most important in representational painting. The Italian Cypress trees are blocked in with a large Bright brush held sideways.

One of the most fun things about painting the Tuscan landscape is delineating the vineyards on the distant hillside. To see them better you can enlarge the picture by clicking on the image. The village is blocked in with mixtures made of various proportions of Cadmium Orange + Ultramarine Blue + White. MUD (Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson) is added for the darker buildings. To learn more about our Double Primary Palette CLICK HERE.

The distant Poppies are painted with Magenta and Cadmium Red Medium. A splash of Cadmium Red Light is added to the left side where the sunlight streams across. The Sunflowers are blocked in, flowers first and then the foliage. The leaves are made cooler toward the back of the field.

The foreground foliage is made warmer. The greens are worked around the spots of yellow. Then dark centers are added and presto……. Sunflowers begin to appear.

Sun Drenched Tuscany     11″ x 14″     Original Oil Painting

Highlights on the sunflowers finish this touch of Sun Drenched Tuscany. Hope you will come back and visit our studio again soon. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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Maggie May

After blocking in the ears and head I turn to Maggie’s eyes. One of the most important aspects of a portrait, the eyes are the soul of the subject. First the entire eye is painted with MUD (Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson). Since the source of light is from above on the left a tiny white catch light is placed at 11 o’clock near the upper lid.

The light is transmitted through the cornea, illuminating the brown iris on the other side of the eye. A mixture of MUD + Cadmium Orange is used to make the crescent across from the catch light. You can see this better if you will enlarge the image, just click on the picture.

The last step in painting the eyes is to lighten the central portion of the illuminated iris directly opposite the catch light. A little white is added to the brown that was used for the iris. My brush is a great watercolor sable and works perfectly in this situation, I just wish it had a longer handle. I know it sounds silly but I have better control with a long handled brush.

It’s a fun challenge to render Maggie’s multicolored brindle markings while maintaining the form of her head. The dark on her nose and muzzle is painted with a mix of Pthalo Blue + Alizarin Crimson + White. A fine liner brush is used to make the whiskers. I decided to change the position of Maggie’s body so she is sitting. This gives a more graceful look to the piece.

Bracing my hand on the mahl stick makes it easier to paint the little details of the collar.

Maggie May       17″ x 14″      Original Oil Portrait

The painting was delivered and we received the most heartwarming call from Lynn and Tim. This has been so much  fun, I hope I get more chances to paint pet portraits. If you are interested in having me do a painting of your dog, cat, horse, bird, llama or whatever your special pet may be please contact me, just click here.  Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

An Olde English Bulldog

Maggie May is a beautiful Olde English Bulldog that owns some very dear friends and collectors of ours. Tim emailed several different shots of her, the painting is a surprise for his wife, Lynn. The picture I’m using is shown on the left. Maggie’s body is foreshortened so I need to keep that in mind when I sketch her up on the canvas. I really like the tilt of her head, it looks as if she is waiting for her next command.

I print out an enlargement of Maggie’s head that is lighter in exposure than normal. This allows me to see all of the detail in the dark areas around her ears, eyes and nose. The initial sketch on canvas is made with a wash of MUD (Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson) + a liberal amount of Liquin. I rest my hand on the mahl stick to take the strain off my shoulder while I delineate the detail.

The oil wash sketch is complete. You can see how I compensated for the foreshortening in the photo by thickening her shoulders.

My colors are mixed for the background. The red mixtures from left to right are: Cadmium Red Light + Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Red Deep and Cadmium Red Deep + Magenta.

The lightest mix is used at the top left of the canvas to indicate the direction the light is coming from. The background is made darker behind Maggie’s white neck, shoulders and back.

Before I finish today’s session I want to get all of the edges painted while the background is completely wet. Maggie’s muzzle, head and ears will be sharp. Proceeding to her neck, shoulder and back I make the edges softer so the body will fall back. This follows one of those simple little rules that is so helpful in painting: Sharp edges come forward, Soft edges recede. Thank you for visiting the studio today. Hope you’ll come back tomorrow. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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Our Best Wishes for 2012

Today is the dawn of a new year filled with promise, hope and the anticipation of good things to come. We look forward to the opportunity to give you a Texas sized hug at one of our two special Collector Events this year. Please mark these dates on your brand new calendar.

March 17, 2012

Fredericksburg Art Gallery  *  Fredericksburg, Texas  *  830.990.2707

August 31, September 1 and 2, 2012

Santa Fe Art Collector Gallery   *  Santa Fe, New Mexico  505.988.5545

We wish you the very best for 2012. Hope to see you soon!