Are You Familiar With Frida?

“Are you familiar with Frida and the movie about her?” This was the question I was asked by a new collector. He had just gotten married and wanted to commission a painting as their wedding gift. Kent continued, “We just love Frida and the courtyard in the movie that had the blue walls. Can you paint one of your pieces with lots of flowers, blue walls and a yellow door? Oh, and can you put a house number by the door with 1019. That’s our wedding date.”

“Absolutely,” I replied. “That will be a fun challenge.” By the way, that’s Jack’s portrait of Frida above!

This is the courtyard at La Casa Azul where Frida grew up and lived with her husband, Diego Rivera.

The famous blue house in Mexico City is now a museum dedicated entirely to Frida Kahlo and her art.

My first step is to put our ideas down in sketch form. Our collector loved it so let’s get to work on the canvas. Please remember as you go through my blog you can Click on any of the pictures to see them larger.

The basic outline is drawn up on the canvas in a thin, deep purple, oil wash made of Alizarin Crimson + Ultramarine Blue + Liquin. The rows of color lined up on the left side of my palette are from my previous painting. The oils stray fresh for several days in the open air. I’ll use a lot of that color in this piece.

Notice I moved the Agave to the left edge of the canvas. It gives a better balance to the painting than where it was in the initial sketch. The round shape of the Agave directly below the roundness of the White Daisies would look like two basketballs on top of each other. I’ve also made the door tile a little different, it’s going to be a surprise for our collector!

Before we finish up today I want to share a really wonderful “FEEL GOOD” Christmas story with you. CLICK HERE to read about it. Make sure to scroll down and watch the Youtube video. Jack and I absolutely loved this. As he said, “It’ll warm the cockles of your heart!” ENJOY! (I apologize for all the ads. I couldn’t figure out how to link the story without getting them 😦 )

We’re all drawn up and ready to begin painting in our next session. Hope you’ll come watch. Hugs,