Thousand Word Art

This slideshow shows many of the portraits I have painted for friends and family, along with the portrait of someone I’d be so honored to include in that category: Nelson Mandela. This portrait that I painted of him is part of the permanent collection of the Diablo Valley College library in Pleasant Hill, California.

The painting directly below is from a photo of my son when he was quite young. He’s an adult now. When I was deciding how to paint this, he said he’d like the background to look magical. I had a great time trying to follow his request. I turned our old backyard into a fantasy rendition. I’d say that the painting took on a magical quality. Every time I look at it, I feel transported to a time of fond memories filled with so much of the magic of childhood.

I started painting portraits under the guidance of Marcy Wheeler at the Lafayette Studio. At the first class I attended, I told her I wanted to paint portraits in her style. Evocative, intimate, colorful, bold brush strokes, blue shadows–I had been admiring her paintings for a long time. So, she took a digital photograph of me outside the studio, put it into photoshop, put a grid over it, and told me to draw gridlines on my canvas. Aha–I had learned this method in a high school art class with a Mr. Terrell at Fort Hunt HS in Alexandria, Virginia around 1972. I remember cutting out a newspaper photo of Lew Alcindor (this was before he became Kareem Abdul Jabbar). I wasn’t a basketball fan at the time, but I digress. I’d love to talk about that project, but let’s get back to last year, February 2006, when I first met Marcy Wheeler.

Below is a painting done from a photo I snapped of my husband and our firstborn almost 20 years ago.

The next painting is from a photo I took of that same daughter a few years later. I love turning favorite baby photos into paintings. The painting below that is from a photo I took of her when we were at a neighborhood Christmas tree lot looking for the perfect tree. I think she found it.

This is my first attempt to use unusual colors in a portrait. I call it Green Gavin–it’s my husband. He thinks this is the best painting I have painted. I based it on a black and white photo I took of him many years ago as he sat at the edge of the Grand Canyon peering into that abyss.

This is my sister’s family. I call it Proud Papa due to the look of contentment in the new dad’s eyes. The dog was an awesome Rhodesian Ridgeback named Kulu.

 This is getting tedious, isn’t it? Here’s my portrait wall, at least this is how it looked on the day I photographed it. It’s a work in progress. Ignore the mess on the table (I do), but if you like the way I paint portraits, send me an email. You could consider commissioning me to paint one of your favorite memories from your family album. Email me at thousandwordart@yahoo.com for a current price list.