Under the Amalfi Lemons

The water along the Amalfi coast is the most beautiful Azure. The most distant water was painted with a mix of Ultramarine Blue + MUD (Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson) + White. The color becomes brighter and more intense closer to the foreground. So moving forward I use mixtures of Ultramarine Blue + White and Ultramarine Blue + Pthalo Blue + White.  The water closest to the viewer is painted with Pthalo Blue + White + a tiny touch of Hansa Lemon Yellow. If you would like to find out more about our Double Primary Palette CLICK HERE.

The closest mountain provides a dark behind the focal point of the lemons and foliage. Mixes of Cadmium Yellow Medium + Cadmium Orange and Cadmium Yellow Medium are used for the famous fruit. Highlights are made of Cadmium Yellow Medium + Hansa Lemon Yellow. I “Lay” the paint on the canvas. Even though the wash of the leaves is dry this technique keeps my yellows crisp and clean. I then come back and add thick highlights on the foliage with mixes of Ultramarine Blue + Lemon Hansa Yellow + White.

The bright pinks and reds of the Petunias POP against the blue greens of the water. The blossoms are painted first, then the foliage.

Under the Amalfi Lemons    11″ x 14″     Original Oil Painting

The petunias and wall give a dark across the front that acts as a Threshold. The light on the water and waves behind the dark flowers adds depth to the piece. Driving along the Amalfi Coast you catch glimpses of the beaches far below, with rolling surf sparkling in the sun. After seeing several I asked our driver, “How do people get down to them?”  Jack quickly replied, “Get down to it?  That’s the easy part. I want to know how I’ll get back up!” So I guess we’ll just take a seat on the wall, reach up, grab a lemon and enjoy the sound of the pounding surf in the distance.

Thank you for visiting today. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

A Special Collaboration

We call the commissions I paint Collaborations. I take the ideas of our client and weave them with my own to make a painting they will enjoy for generations to come. Bonnie, a longtime collector, loves the Amalfi Coast and the wonderful lemons grown there. After going through the pictures we have of the area I contacted her and asked, “What about a view from the hillside, looking at the Amalfi Coast from under the Lemon Trees?” I heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. Then she replied, “WOW, I love it!”

Following my sketch the plan is drawn on the canvas with a brush dipped in a mixture of MUD (Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson) + Liquin. If you would like to see any of these pictures larger just click on the image.

The foliage of the Lemon Trees is washed in with a mix of Ultramarine Blue + Hansa Lemon Yellow + a lot of Liquin. Then the sky is painted around the leaves being careful not to let the light color get muddy. I’ve worked in this sequence because I want the luminosity of the wash over the white canvas for the leaves. This gives a feel of the sun back-lighting the foliage. The farthest mountain is painted bluer so it will fall back.

The top edge of the mountain and horizon line of the ocean are softened. Again, this helps to make them recede. The town of Amalfi is painted next using mixes of Ultramarine Blue + Cadmium Orange + a lot of White. I use more blue in the mix so it will be cool. The roof tops use the same mix but with more orange and a touch of MUD which grays the color. Breakers crashing against the rocky point are made with a few strokes of a fine liner brush.

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Hope to see you tomorrow! Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

La Paloma

The lights and darks of the terra-cotta tile floor are blocked in with cooler tones toward the back. The warmer colors are placed closer to the front to help give depth to the painting. Perspective lines between the tiles are then drawn into the wet paint of the floor with the same brush used for the design on the wall plaque.

The Geraniums are painted in the same sequence as the Jasmine. Flowers first, foliage next. The bright green leaves are a mix of Pthalo Blue + Hansa Lemon Yellow. More Hansa Lemon Yellow is added for the highlights. A little White is then added to the mix for the flower buds.

A special color is used for the Asters under the window. We can mix most colors with our Double Primary Palette; however, there are a few I’m unable to duplicate. This is one of them, so out comes the tube of Magenta. Various combinations of Pthalo Blue + Cadmium Orange + White are used for the foliage.

La Paloma     20″ x 24″     Original Oil Painting

Sunflowers, bobbing in the gentle breeze, finish the cheerful entry garden. With our lives more crazy than ever people want to “feather their nests” with happiness and beauty. My goal for La Paloma is to bring a bit of peacefulness to someone’s home, giving a soothing touch to a hectic day. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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Fragrant Spanish Jasmine

The last several days have been pretty hectic around here but today I’m back at the easel and happily painting away. Santa Fe needs another piece so here goes on a cozy little corner with the fragrance of Spanish Jasmine in the air.

The painting is approached in the same manner as building a house. The structure of the adobe walls and tile roof is completed before the landscaping begins.

The door and window are painted with a mix of Pthalo Blue + White. Now I can let the Spanish Jasmine “grow” over the roof and door. The darks of the white flowers are blocked in with purples (MUD + White) and blues (Ultramarine Blue + White and Pthalo Blue + White). The dark foliage is then painted around the blossoms. Painting the Jasmine in this order keeps the blossom color crisp and clean. To learn more about our Double Primary Palette CLICK HERE.

The background of the tile is painted first with the light and shadow pattern. The design of the dove carrying an olive branch is drawn into the wet paint with a fine liner brush. I use a mixture of Alizarin Crimson + Liquin, bracing my arm on the mahl stick to steady my hand.

One of the secrets to painting white flowers is to make the shadows dark enough so the highlights are prominent. The blossoms catching the sunlight on the Spanish Jasmine above glow against the purple and blue shadows and dark green foliage. To see any of the images larger just click on the picture. Please feel free to visit our studio again and watch the progress of my paintings. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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Who Let the Sheep Out?

Let’s grow some grass so those sweet little sheep will have something to munch on. Cooler greens are used in the distant grass. I took some of the color left over from the trees and added a bit of Hansa Lemon Yellow and White. A few strokes of Pthalo Blue + White are made to give additional coolness to the grass behind the sheep. The grass in the foreground is a mix of Ultramarine Blue + Hansa Lemon Yellow which makes a warmer green.

A mix of Ultramarine Blue + Cadmium Yellow Medium is used for the foliage on the vines. The dangling clusters of grapes are fun to paint with a small Bright brush. The corner works perfectly to indicate the individual grapes.

Beverly and Hal have such a beautiful, organized vineyard with roses growing at the ends of the rows. Each row is labeled with the variety of grape growing. The name is painted into the wet name-plate with a fine liner brushed dipped in a mix of Alizarin Crimson + Liquin. The Rose blossoms are blocked in first with varying mixtures of Permanent Rose and Cadmium Red Light.  Then the foliage is painted.

The dark values of the sheep are painted with mixes of Ultramarine Blue + Cadmium Orange + MUD. White is then added to the mixtures for the sunlit portions of their woolly bodies.

Who Let the Sheep Out?      16″ x 19″     Original Oil Painting

Beverly and Hal love sports and are fans of the Sacramento Kings basketball team. Anyone who attends sports events is familiar with a song played during the games, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”  So we just changed it a bit to work for Hal’s painting Who Let the Sheep Out? Beverly surprised Hal with a family dinner party at a local resturant. They hung the piece by their special table. Hal said, “I first noticed it hanging and thought why does the restaurant have such a painting because it reminded me of a Senkarik. DUH…..Then it dawned on me. Being quick is not helped by getting older!” What wonderful collectors. Beverly is a fellow gardener, when we she returned my phone call while working on ideas for the painting she said, “You caught me out in the Garden of Weedin.” I might just use that myself one of these days. Have a great one. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

 

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I’ve Never Painted These Before

Jack has a new article published on Fine Art Studio Online. To read What’s Up With eBay just CLICK HERE.

Remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was working on a super secret commission? Well, here it is. This painting was a new experience. We received an email from a longtime collector and friend wanting to commission a surprise birthday present for her husband. Beverly and Hal have a vineyard that she wanted to incorporate in the painting. But the most unusual request was SHEEP! Hal collects them and Beverly asked, “is there anyway you could possibly work some sheep into the piece?” What a fun challenge since I’ve never painted them before. One thing I found interesting as I was researching is that a lot of vineyard owners use sheep to eat the weeds between the rows. So they worked right in for the surprise painting.

Here is my painting setup. An image of the vineyard is displayed on my laptop, while a bottle of  Beverly and Hal’s wine sits on my palette.

The basic layout is sketched on my canvas with a thin mixture of MUD (Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson) + Liquin. To learn more about our Double Primary Palette CLICK HERE.

The summer sky with fluffy clouds is painted first. The distant trees are then worked wet-into-wet over the sky. Cool blue greens are used for the trees so they will recede. The light color from the sky, picked up on my brush as the trees are blocked in, softens them even more. The grapevines are washed in with mixtures of Pthalo Blue + a lot of Liquin in the distance. Pthalo Blue + Cadmium Yellow Medium + a lot of Liquin is used in the closest vines. Hope you will come back tomorrow and follow along. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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Photographing our Paintings

Our readers ask the greatest questions, bringing up subjects that are very helpful to everyone. “How do we photograph our paintings?” was the most recent query. The image above shows my painting setup with the camera in place. Notice the lights above the easel. These are daylight, color corrected, fluorescent bulbs we got at Home Depot. If it’s a really bright day outside we lower the blinds, because there is too much light. If you paint with the light too bright your art will be dark when you view it under normal lighting conditions. Using the daylight bulbs provides us with consistent light, day or night. And it’s perfect for photographing the paintings.

Here is a closeup of the camera setup. We have two cameras, a Leica and an Olympus, both 10 Megapixels. We photograph the paintings on the highest quality setting. I set the timer so there is no jiggle when the shutter releases or whatever Digital cameras do.  We use Adobe Photoshop to crop the images, making small JPEG files for emails and large TIFF files for reproduction of our Limited Original Giclees. We then save backups of everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, on an external hard drive. Jack and I are total technology illiterates. I can’t tell you how long it took for us to get this all figured out (smile). Fortunately we’ve had some very helpful friends along the way.

Molly just couldn’t stand it, she is the ham in the family. After lurking around while I was taking the other pictures she jumped up on Jack’s painting stool and said, “Hey, take my picture.”

If you would like to receive an email every time I publish a new post you can subscribe to my blog. Just go to the upper right side of this page. You will see a heading EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS. Just enter your email address and click the button “Sign me up!”  It’s easy.

And, please feel free to ask questions. This blog is for you. As Jack says, “If we don’t know the answer we’ll make something up.” Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

Under the Radar

I’ve been working on a super secret surprise commission so I’m under the radar for a few days. Molly even had to climb up in one of our big oaks to find me (Smile). Like she needs an excuse, she loves climbing up to chase the squirrels. If she gets near one the squirrel leaps to another limb, then sits there chattering at her. She gets so frustrated, you can hear her little, pathetic crying. Jack and I laugh so hard our stomachs hurt.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to begin on a piece I can share. Please do come back and watch. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

Website: www.senkarik.com