I'm Oil Painting Again

When I say I'm oil painting again, I mean I haven't painted with oils for about 50 years or so.  Way back then I became frustrated with oil painting.  I would do a painting but it would never look as good as I thought it should.  The last oil painting I did was when I was about 18 years old.  It was a portrait of my girl friend at the time.  She married someone else.  I wonder if that's why I stopped oil painting....hmmmm.

The first oil painting I did after all those years is the one you see here.  My lovely daughter, Kristen, asked me to paint this picture while my wife and I were visiting her family in Washington last September.  She had purchased the canvas and wanted to know what medium I wanted to paint it in.  I had been thinking about getting started in oils again, so we went out a bought a small kit with a few colors and a few brushes.  Three days later Kristen had a new painting for her house.  She wanted to put it above the mantle you see above my head, but I think she has since put it in the master bedroom.  I'll bet she needs another painting for the mantle.

Upon returning home I went to work building an easle to paint on.  When the amazingly beautiful and functional easle was completed, I purchased some oil paints and brushes and started some smaller landscape paintings.  This meadow is the first one I painted.  It is 9"x12".  I am selling it for $135.00 unframed.

I have always loved paintings and photos of old barns so I collected a bunch of reference and painted a couple of small ones.  This painting is also 9:x12".  I am selling it for $135.00 unframed also.

Here is another small painting of an old barn with large trees and grasses.  This scene reminds me of late summer.  This painting is 11"x14".  I am selling it for $190.00 unframed.

I love to draw horses

The first thing I remember drawing when I was about five or six years old was a horse.  I wanted to own a horse from the time I was just a little boy.  I rode horses a lot during my youth, but was never able to own one.  I raised other animals but never a horse.  My favorite horses are quarter horses, thoroughbreds, and Arabians.  I love the build, and quickness of a quarter horse.  I love the speed of a thoroughbred.  I love the dished head and large eyes of an arabian.  I love their stamina.

I found a picture on the internet of this black horse.  It is supposed to be a quarter horse, but it has the head of a thoroughbred.  I love it's form as it gallops through an open field of wildflowers.  I painted it in colored pencil.  The painting is about 12"x15".  I did the painting on 17.5" x 23" high rag content white paper so the large white field around the painting can be part of the matting when it is framed.  I am excited to get prints made.  I haven't decided on a sales price for the original yet, but probably around $250 or so. 
11"x14" prints will likely be $45.

Quail Gallery

With the beginning of a new year, and with lots of enthusiasm and a little fear and trepidation, I introduce a new blog for my fine art creations.  This site will contain some of my former creations and many of my new pieces as they are created.  Many of these works, or reproductions of them, are for sale.  Many have been sold as original works or in some cases have been sold as reproductions.  I work in a variety of mediums and enjoy them all.  I hope you will enjoy my works of art and perhaps add a few to your collections.

I usually create at least one piece each year that I call my seasonal piece.  The oil painting I did this past Christmas is of Santa Claus showing reverence to the Christ Child.  It's not a new idea, but I'm unaware of any other quite like it.  The original is oil on canvas and is 20" wide and 24" high.  It is for sale for $575.00 unframed, and $700.00 framed.  I have 8"x10" prints that are matted to 11"x14" I'm selling for $35.00.  Shipping costs vary depending on the carrier and distance.  The average shipping cost is about $8.00 for the matted prints.

This is a pencil drawing I did for Christmas, 1998.  I did it as a Christmas gift for friends and family.  It became the composition for the oil painting above it.

For Christmas, 2009 I created a computer illustration of Santa searching for the Christ Child.  I created it from a watercolor painting I did in 1998.  The original watercolor is 22" wide by 28" high.  Currently I am selling 8'x10" prints of this computer illustration for $30 with a matte.  The matte size is 11"x14".  I'm considering selling the original, or at least prints of the original, but haven't done so yet.  The original watercolor is framed and really ads to the true spirit of Christmas, as even Santa is focused on finding the Christ Child.