The Horse Whisperer Painting

 

"The Horse Whisperer" oil painting on panel is available.  Prices are on my website www.AlisonSchuchs.com or feel free to message me if you would like to add this Art to your collection.

It was a lot of fun to paint, quite a challenge for a few reasons.  It was my first time to paint a horse and actually I find pink a hard color to get just right.  It is easy to become "muddy" as it is transparent unless you add white to it which makes it chalky.   I love learning about color though and still enjoy the science of it all.  Choosing which color to use, which compliment, does it need to be warm or cool, transparent of opaque, etc.etc.  

The photoshoot for this painting was a blast.  We were invited to take photos at a local Ranch and my model Alexis outdid herself, changing outfits and steadying her horse.  It was a lot of fun and we were treated to some delicious enchiladas.  A great day! 

Monarch Butterfly Painting

 

The painting of the Monarch Butterfly was inspired by the Hispanic belief about the Monarch, correlating with "Dia de los Muertos".  I am intrigued with Dia de los Muertos and plan do a series of paintings on the theme.  Having lost a child, I think it's honorable and healing to acknowledge those gone in this way each year.  The British way is to not mention their name, to cause embarrassment or uneasy responses.  To me this painting also speaks about holding on too tight and not returning to the world of the living.  Perhaps in grief hanging on to things that are not healthy for us.  We can't control what happened and have to learn to control the consequences, one day at a time.  Will this girl suffocate the butterfly or let it go?  She is taking part and indeed longing to be like the butterfly by painting her face to match, but only half her face as she is living in two worlds.  

Thank you to Sherrie Sandell who wrote this beautiful poem to go with the painting on Monarch.  I knew Sherrie when she lived in Tupelo but had no idea she was a Poet.  

It was hard to photograph the painting because of the gold leaf background.

Thank you to my Model and exquisite crown maker, Shylo Ochoa, check out her other work at Works of Heart by Shylo.  Also my amazing friend who did the hair and makeup and faceprint for the photoshoot, Aundrea Victoria Salinas, owner and founder of Velocity Studio Spa.

Portrait of my Mum finished

For the Month of October you can go by Itawamba Community College Gallery and see a show by the Mississippi Painters Society.  I have 2 of my Underwater Series in the Show.  There will be a reception on the 27th October at 1pm.

I finally finished the portrait of my Mum.  I took the photo when I was home in the Spring.  She was in my old bedroom which has great North Light coming in the window.  I loved the contrast of light.  One of the hardest thing about life is having to say goodbye to this lovely lady each time I visit.  It's not just down the road, or even in the next town or state but we are devided by thousands of miles as she is in Scotland and I am in Mississippi.  All this has been heavy on my heart lately as my own daughter and family moved to another state.  A better move for them and I'm happy for them, but I am still trying to adjust  "Leaving".

"Leaving"

It wasn't planned but the cup in the portrait is the 2nd cup I have painted in portraits that was handpainted by my Gran.

Grandma's Wedding Dress

My friend Kimon is still working on the frame for Tu-Bardh so I will update him later.  I started a new painting this week of my Grand Daughter.  The title is Grandma's Wedding Dress.  I also took these photos of a squirrel today.  Thanks for looking in.

Underpainting finished

Finished the underpainting.  A basic form exists now.  Not only do I like how this form shows through in the final painting but it makes my job easier as all I have to do now is "color in" and bring him to life.

I'm so glad you enjoy following along.  There are so many different ways to approach a painting and as Artists we evaluate the gifts we have and are drawn to some ways rather than others.  I don't teach that this is the only way to paint but encourage inspiring Artists to take a personality test first and sometimes from that you can tell what approach to Art is going to suit you, whether it's splattering paint on a canvas, seeing pictures in your head and painting directly what you see, or spending weeks on one painting and layering like this.  I love all kinds of art.  (some of the best are done by my Grandkids)

This portrait is largely influenced by Scottish Artists I love from the 18th Century.  Henry Raeburn, Allan Ramsay, Gavin Hamilton.  I have seen many of their portraits in Glasgow and Edinburgh.  I love their attention to clothes and detail.  Two years ago when I was in Glasgow I saw Clanadoni playing with their drums and then thought it would be fun to paint Tu-Bardh.  It just so happend when I was home this year that they were in Dunoon so I was able to get some photos with his permission.  I love how in place of a sword he has his drum mallets hanging by his side.

So, I'm off to mix up some delicious fleshtones, cadmiums, ochres and oxides.  Thanks for following along.

Part of the Process

Day 1.  I sketched the portrait out on vellum.  Yes it took me all day.  Day 2.  I applied Raw Umber paint to the back of the vellum then turned it over and transferred the sketch to by Alumalite panel.  The panel has been prepared with three coats of gesso and one coat of paint and a lot of sanding in between.  This is a Scottish Portrait I am working on.  At this stage in the painting, I'm thinking I have lost my mind and this isn't going to work but I plod on anyway.  From what I hear with other artists, the thought process is normal.  lol.

Loving the Color

Started another portrait and loving the color.  Dove right into the dress, probably my favorite part.  This isn't a commission just one I'm doing for fun.

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64 hour update

It's a good day painting when you look up at the clock and it's 5pm when it seemed like a minute ago you looked at it and it was 1pm.  I worked on the smocking today and the skintones.  Tomorrow I hope to finish that Azalea and sign it.

There are all kinds of Artists and I enjoy seeing how others work.  I work from life or photos as I have little imagination.  As a child I was bad at spelling for the same reason, I couldn't even picture the words in my head.  I really admire folks that paint abstract, usually from mental pictures.  I'm beginning to think the way I work may be hereditary.  My Grandmother painted flowers on China and though she came up with the designs, she used life and got ideas from a set of books she had about fairies by Cicely Mary Barker.  It also gave me something to read at her house. 

My Grandson loves to draw.  I've noticed he likes to do the same thing as his Great Great Grandmother and his Nana (me).  Here he is getting an idea from a book.  He draws sea creatures, Calvin & Hobbs, and here he is using some ideas from Simon's Cat.  

People are always asking me for advice about being an Artist.  I think it's important to recognize how you like to work and what your gifts are and go from there.  I also don't say my way is the only way to make art as some Artists do.  While my way of painting is considered copying and wasn't encouraged when we were in school much.  I would like to think it is more than that as I try and capture the soul of the person on canvas.

   

58 Hour Update

Today I worked on the dress.  I decided to paint the underpainting of the smocking area of the dress and let it dry before I attempted the stitching.  I finished the lace on the bottom of the dress and applied some color to the folds.  Still need to work on the skin and finish the azaleas.

I've been asked about some of the materials I use.  I like to use M. Graham oil paints.  I don't spend a lot of money on brushes as I'm bad about not taking good care of them.  So with each portrait I'll go and buy 2 cheap Master's Touch brushes.  I like the 1000 series, flat shader size 2 for a lot of the detail.  To clean my brushes I have a brush tank that I put 1/3 Gamsol and 2/3 Safflower oil in.  It usually lasts the whole painting then I clean it out.  I use a glass palette and cut it to fit in a Mastersen box so that I can put it in the freezer.  This keeps the paint until I need it.  I painted the back of the glass palette grey.  I also have a plastic bottle with denatured alcohol in it that I spray down my palette with when I want to clean it.  It comes right off with the help of paper towels.  I will use a little walnut oil for medium but most of the time I go without medium as the paint is so creamy by itself.  

53 Hour Update

You may not notice much difference.  Today I worked on the face and hair.  Still got lots to do.  I haven't done much with the arm, still to finish the azaleas and the dress has a lot of detail to work on.

40 hour update

I'm afraid I really lost count of the hours in this painting, so I'm going to guestimate at 40.  I had a break to take all the photos and edit them and send the clothes back to Lee Andersen.  It's good to be back painting.

Head in the clouds

This is what has had me a little preoccupied here lately!  I'm really excited about this project but it's going to take a while, so I'm not going to give details yet.

Stay tuned!

Update on portrait

Today I put the first layer of paint down on the coat.  I thought I'd give the face a break and let it dry before I go back to it.  The seaweed on the beach will be tricky. I'm still contemplating how to go about it.  I put daylight bulbs in my light so I can work a little later at night and on days when it is really cloudy outside it doesn't throw me off so bad.

Portrait of my niece, update

Here is an update of the portrait.  Today I put the first layer of skin tones on the face.  You can see below all the colors I mixed for the skin.  I also added some hair colors.  This is just a first coat and doesn't look like my niece yet, I have a lot more to do before I can say I captured her likeness.  Tomorrow is a fun day with my grand daughter so I put the paint in the freezer to use Friday if I find some painting time then.  Today I once again see the benefit of having a studio that has blinds and consistent daylight bulb lighting instead of using a north facing window.  I have fabulous views out my art room of the lake and enjoy that as I paint but today it was sunny one minute and overcast the next and it was really playing with my eyes.  If I went with the blinds and lighting it would mean I could paint at night.  I may look into  that on the next painting.

Portrait of my niece update!

I spent the day painting part of the background.  This is a much loved background, so I'm trying to capture it accurately.  As a family we had many a sausage sizzle at Loch Striven.  Who could forget the rope swing and finding crabs under rocks on the beach.  I got my Bouguereau book out to prep for this.  Sometimes it is easier to look at what other artists did than read about how to do it.  When you do a lot of paint studies and know your paint inside and out you can deduce what they used to get effects.  I haven't added any color to my niece yet, she is still just raw umber.  I am really having fun, the canvas is a bit thicker than I normally use, so I'm painting the edges too. 

The Twins are finished!

As they say, "A painting is never finished, just abandoned!"  I'm abandoning this one.  lol!  It's time to move on.  I had a lot of fun painting this one. 

A Woman's Intuition

I get asked a quite often, "When did you start painting?"  Here recently it has made me question myself.  I started drawing in 2006 a few years after our 20 year old daughter was killed in a car accident.  I used to play the guitar and sing folks songs but felt like I needed another hobby as I often ended up in tears singing songs my daughter either liked or made me think of her.

Me singing years ago

So I picked up a book on how to draw portraits and went from there to learn how to paint.  I just love painting portraits.  I feel drawn to people.  Someone once said that perhaps it was because I really knew the worth of just one face.  My daughter was an Artist way before I was.  She left us paintings and drawings and cartoons scribbled in her notebooks.  It was while going through things reminiscing once again that I had a chuckle that perhaps she left a lot of her doodles as a subconscious message to me.  I don't really believe that but she would think it was funny.  Perhaps it was seeing all those faces she drew of herself and friends, (too many to post all of them) that made me feel like I was once again connecting with her in some way by taking up portraits myself.  

Who knows!  I don't really know why I took up drawing and not flower arranging or shopping.  lol!  It seems a bit hocus pocus, especially after a trip home to Scotland when I was faced with this photo of my Gran, who was an artist and painted flowers on china sitting in a chair that looked just like a chair I had purchased in America for my own home.  (I though it would be a good chair for someone to sit in for their portrait that I would paint.)  I'm calling it a Women's Intuition!

Carrie's Coffee House Webpage

19 Hours update on painting

19 hours total painting time.  I've been once over the background and once over the flesh tones.  The chair is the only thing that I would say is finished.  lol!  

6 hours into the under painting W.I.P.

6 hours into the Under Painting.  I use Burnt Umber and Gamsol for this first layer to figure out the values and drawing.  It took me a while to do the chair and get the angles right.

Started another portrait tonight!

I started another portrait tonight. 2 hours on part of the under layer.  The canvas is 18" x 24"  I'll try to make this a work in progress for you and keep up with my time just for fun.  I wonder if my Grandchildren will be the most painted children in history apart from royalty?  lol!  I loved this photo of Marion that I took outside in the yard, wearing a $5 dress I bought at the Salvation Army.  I'm all about saving money but this dress spoke to me and said paint me.  All will be revealed a little at a time.  (You don't even see the dress yet)  Who knows perhaps someone locally will recognize the dress they donated.  I'm hoping this painting will have a classical feel to it.