Africa Commission

11x14" oil on canvas

This is my newest painting from my experiences in Africa.  While in the villages, we kept our cameras in our bags unless we could ask someone for permission to photograph them.  One afternoon, we did have an hour in the market of Kwaggafontein with the freedom to photograph everyone and everything of interest to us.  The photo of this young shopkeeper was taken across the street from her with my zoom lens.  It's obvious from her posture and expression that her business didn't welcome any "monkey business."   I wanted to capture her youthful beauty and strength. 

To read a bit about my trip, and see all of the resulting paintings, please visit my blog  Painting By Heart

A Glimmer

It feels like ages since I last posted something.  I've been hard at work, but only recently am I wrapping up some "blog worthy" pieces.  I experienced a two week period where I wiped the paint off of every single canvas I touched.   It was a (thankfully) short, but very frustrating period that had me seriously doubting that I'd ever get anywhere with oils (I feel this way on a semi-regular basis!).  I took a day or two off, painted some more bad paintings, wiped them off and then suddenly had a few successes.  I have three paintings right now that are close to being finished, along with the one I'm posting today.

Sun Drenched Blossom,  5 x 5"            $75, unframed

This little painting was exciting to me for two reasons.  First, it was the first painting that I hadn't had to wipe out after 80 hours of painting and secondly, it's a glimmer of where I think I'd like to go with oils.  I love the glow and the expressive brushwork I achieved here, especially since I so often rely on extremely dark backgrounds to push the intensity of light.  In this painting it's produced by the warm petals on the cool background.

I'm looking forward to soon showing you the other paintings I mentioned!

Questions?  Contact me at info@juliekirkland.com