Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Limes & Stein Oil Painting


Spring Fever and Frost
9x12, Oil on Panel
$360.00 unframed


The frosty spring had me longing for greens. The little key limes which are incredibly delicious in a Corona are a fun contrast with the pewter beer stein. It’s a contrast of colour vs neutrals, small vs large and is a fairly understated painting with a touch of humour while the artichoke is a more vivid play of cool greens and purples on warm golden colours.


Artichoke
5x7, Oil on Panel
$266.00 unframed


As usual I’m doing my typical balancing act of painting, illustration, and Project Heroes, a soldier portrait project. Recently one of my partners and I interviewed the parents of Cole Bartsch, one of the soldiers whose portrait I’ll be painting. They showed us his room, the many, many photos and told us so much about him that it seems as if I know him. It will make painting his portrait that much more poignant. Cole believed in what he was doing in Afghanistan and I am one proud Canadian to be painting his portrait. We owe so much gratitude to these young men who serve our country, and this project, even though it’s a big one, hardly seems enough to say thanks.

I haven't spoken about Project Heroes on my blog but you can find out about it here Project Heroes and you can follow it's progress at the project heroes blog

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A great portrait cindy..the one on the right is yours? and a lovely artichoke...one of my favourite foods, just a pity it is such effort!
ronell

Cindy said...

Thank you Ronell. Yup, you got it, the portrait on the right is mine. I've just started a new one and posted the initial sketch on the Project Heroes blog. I'm trying to speed up and not fuss so much but it's hard to break that habit.

Besides being a bit of an effort to eat the artichoke was a bit of an effort to paint too. Once again I got a bit too fussy as I tried to accurately capture the overlapping of the leaves.

donnaprizzi said...

Beautiful still lives; particularly love the artichoke painting.

What a wonderful project you've embarked on Cindy in commemorating and honoring the heroes and families of the Afghanistan War.

Looking forward to seeing the portrait updates on the blog you've created for this process. All the best-- Donna

Carolina Elizabeth said...

Do you prefer to work on a completely smooth panel rather than one with canvas/linen? Oh, your work is fabulous, of course! Kudos!

Paul Coventry-Brown said...

I love the composition and colour of the limes & stein painting, very nice balance indeed :-)