A Virtual Visit to My Studio

My thanks to everyone for such kind and encouraging comments about my Aretha Franklin portrait!  She's almost done.....

Spent much of today learning how to make a video clip so that I could share some information with you, in case it is of interest, on how I gild with gold leaf, and possibly later on how I mix my egg tempera medium, demo-style. 

Hope you enjoy this first one, an introductory visit to my studio, and let me know if you'd enjoy another clip.

*Best viewed with QuickTime 7 or later (free download) 

Aretha, Step 5

(portrait in progress, 4" x 4")

For this session I've been refining some details of Aretha's face and her clothing, and solidifying some of the background figures behind her.  More on Aretha tomorrow, and also on the gilding of my panel for the mother/daughter portrait.

Aretha's Famous Hat

(portrait in progress, 4" x 4")

After two days of patient work, I finally got all the Swarovsky crystals on Aretha's hat!  It took a bit longer than it would have if I had a few new brushes, but since it was extremely cold today I decided to wait on this trip to the art store, and give it my best try anyway. 

I was surprised to find out this week that Aretha's hat, designed by Luke Song, has become quite famous, and believe it or not, it even has it's own Facebook page now, with over 100,000 fans, including yours truly!  Due to at least 300 requests, a $179 less expensive version of the hat has been made available by Song's millinery, and according to the Chicago Tribune, the Smithsonian has requested to make Aretha's hat part of a special permanent exhibit.  

Aretha's response:  "I am considering it.  It would be hard to part with my chapeau, since it was such a crowning moment in history.  I would like to smile every time I look back at it and remember what a great moment it was in American and African-American history."

Sorting Out a Small Work on a Gold Leaf Panel

Detail of my drawing that will go in the center of the panel, overlapping

and following the lines of the inset area.

Icon panel, 13"W x 17"H

I spent part of today sorting out how I want to do a small work painting in oil on panel.  It's important for me to do a small work periodically, because it gives me an opportunity to loosen up my hand for the miniatures themselves.   I also want to try painting this one in oil over gold leaf.   It's something new for me, but I hope it will still be fun and interesting to see what I can come up with.

I have a special icon panel I ordered from Pandora, my panel supplier, just because I loved the shape, and I've been saving it for just the right painting, so maybe this is it.  I asked for this particular panel to be made slightly different from it's standard version that was being shown online (it originally had small window insets on the sides), and it is a real luxury that Pandora is willing to fulfill special requests like this.

I did a sketch in pencil from a photo I took of a friend and her baby daughter wearing a tulle ballet skirt.  I want the painting to crop tightly around their faces in a way that draws the viewer in.  I will apply the gold leaf all over the panel, allowing some of the gold leaf to peek through the oil paint to help give the painting a golden glow.  Above is a photo of my panel, and a portion of my pencil drawing (which didn't quite all fit on my scanner) that will be a guide for the painted version. 

The panel has an icon-style indentation that follows the pattern of it's outer shape, and it's a smaller area than I want to paint in, so I decided I will allow the painting to expand out beyond the in-set area about 1/2", while still following it's shape.  Doing this may even wind up adding further interest.  My next step will be to cover the panel with leaf, and allow it to set overnight. 

I will be oil gilding, and in this instance using imitation gold leaf, which will still have the same rich effect as real gold leaf in terms of it's overall impact.

I'll post more progress on Aretha tomorrow........

Aretha, Step 3, plus a word about brushes & framing your miniature

Now working up the image over all a bit more, I've added the black velvet bands to the hat, so that I can start adding all those sparkling Swarovski crystals onto the black trim.  

Here is a line-up of my palette knives and brushes used for my miniature paintings.  Left-to-right:  palette knives for scraping paint off my palette, and for mixing pigments in jars, #20/0 Silver Ultra Mini Pointed round, #5/0 Escoda Kolinsky, 1/2" flat Cotman Windsor & Newton, #3/0 Umbria round Princeton synthetic, #0 and #1 Cotman blue-handled synthetics, #2 Princeton filbert, 2/0 Princeton shader, 3/0 Princeton round, 20/0 Princeton spotter, 15/0 Micron detailer, #000 & #00 (and up to #1 is also good) Series 7 miniature sable Windsor & Newtons, #000, #00, (#0 missing here), #1 regular Series 7 Windsor and Newton (I use these if I can't get the miniature Series 7, or in combo with them), Utrecht's (comparable to W & N series 7 for a lower price) Vermeer kolinsky sables series 221 in #000, #00, & #1.  The three brushes I use most often are:  3/0 Princeton Round, #000 series 7 miniature W & N sable, and the 15/0 Micron Detailer.

To frame your miniature, if you can't find a suitable photo frame, I recommend a framer who specializes in scaled down delicate frames, such as MiniArt Supply.  Proprieter Nancy Still is a talented miniature painter & MASF member.  She carries a wide assortment of tasteful ready-made frames, but also will make and ship a frame to fit your specifications for a reasonable price.

Aretha, Step 2

A little more progress on Aretha, starting here to establish a background and suggest people sitting behind her.  I'm working on the form and shadows of the hat, and will be adding detail to it.  I had hoped to get further, but it's late, so I'll do another post on this tomorrow and I'll add the brush information then too. 

"Angel Be Mine"

"Angel Be Mine," 1" x 13/16", egg tempera on vellum, $30 + free shipping (see 3/21/09 sale)

Here are the other two hearts I painted.  "Love You" and "Angel Be Mine" are each painted "in the spirit of miniature," which is a rule applied when something, such as a candy heart, is too small to begin with to portray at 1/6th scale.

Note:  I'm working on my portrait of Aretha and will be posting my progress late tonight, along with a photo and some information in answer to someone's question about the brushes I use for miniature painting.  Meanwhile, take a look at my latest drawing recently posted on my other blog, Grander Joy of Spirit in Portraiture.  

"Love You"

"Love You," 5/8" x 5/8", egg tempera on vellum

SOLD

Happy Valentine's Day!  Two more Valentine candy hearts coming tomorrow......

A "Kiwi Berry Tart" for your sweetheart

"Kiwi Berry Tart", 1  1/8" x 1  1/8", egg tempera on vellum, 

$50 + $5 shipping (see 3/21/09 sale to purchase)

More on Aretha next, but one of my colleagues, Ed, wanted to see me do some miniature paintings of pastries from my favorite local bakery, Brooklyn Bread, so here is a "Kiwi Berry Tart" for someone's lucky sweetheart!  Mmmmm.........

Step 1: "I Say A Little Prayer"

(approximately 4 1/8" x 4 1/8" - egg tempera on vellum, in progress)

While you are following my progress on this miniature portrait of Aretha Franklin, wax nostalgic with me by clicking below on her performance of "I Say a Little Prayer."  I was in high school when she made this appearance in 1970 on "The Cliff Richard Show." Many thanks to "thecatkeaton" for permission to share this very special YouTube video with you!

Two Bluebirds of Happiness, Version 1 and 2

"The Bluebird of Happiness II," 1" x 1", egg tempera on vellum, 

with hand-painted matt, for the Hipp family

my first "Bluebird of Happiness," 1" x 1", egg tempera on vellum with hand-painted vellum matt, Venetian glass mosaic frame

My friends, the Hipp family, moved out of my building a few weeks ago, and I was sad to lose them as neighbors, even though they will still be in Brooklyn.  The Hipp daughters loved my "Bluebird of Happiness" and the miniature painting I did of it, so I decided to surprise them with a housewarming gift for their new apartment by painting another one inch square painting of the bluebird of happiness, version 2.  I tried to make it as close to the first version as possible, but gave the second bluebird a different framing treatment.  I like both framing treatments for different reasons.  What do you think?

Just received an Art Blog Award from great artist & fellow art blogger, Akiko Watanabe.  Thanks Akiko!  Please check out her amazing animal paintings.  The recipient of this award is supposed to name 7 things he/she loves, so here are 7 of mine:

1.  I love God, and I feel a connection to God whenever I paint, and this is #1 for me. 

2.  photography - some I do for painting reference, but more recently I have 'gone pro' and included my photography in my professional galleries on my website.  Some of my photography combines with my love for travel.

3.  Icon-writing - I've taken lessons in Russian Byzantine icon painting  (called 'icon-writing'), and this is something I very much enjoy and look forward to doing more of.

4.  The view out my studio window - I look out on Brooklyn rooftops and the Williamsburg Bank building.  I've heard there is a falcon's nest on the top of it's tower.

5.  The food in my neighborhood -  great restaurants.  Akiko, come visit!  There is the local Food Co-op and Brooklyn Bread bakery, with the pastries of your dreams, cannolis, cream puffs, fruit tarts and delicacies.  I'll have to paint some of these.

6.  Park Slope -  the neighborhood where I live in Brooklyn, is a hopping place I've called home for 31 years.

7.  Water - I love the seashore and water environments, so my studio is LoveWater Studio.

I'm passing this Art Blog Award to five artists in the miniature painting and wildlife arenas:

Rachelle and Wes Siegrist - award-winning husband-wife team of miniaturists specializing in wildlife art.  Rachelle has also won awards for her miniature portraits

Bill Mundy - from Oxfordshire, U.K. one of the greatest portrait miniaturists, who shares wonderful travel stories

Dana Lee Thompson - check out Dana's website including miniature paintings of her specialties:  hounds and horses

Johnny Mullane - just recently discovered this wonderful wildlife painter's blog

Aretha and a Bit About Process

My pencil drawing of Aretha combines several images I caught, so it has the feeling I want

my goose-neck magnifier which I use intermittently over my miniatures in progress, along with the blue Saral transfer paper I use to transfer my pencil drawing onto my vellum

During the presidential inauguration I was experimenting with my digital camera taking shots of the imagery on my TV screen, and I captured about half a dozen shots of Aretha Franklin wearing her gorgeous outfit and belting out our national song like we've never heard it.  She was so fantastic that day, I knew right away I wanted to make a miniature of her from this occasion!  It's been very busy behind the scenes for me, and I'm sorry it's meant less posting for a bit, but wanted to at least share my start on this mini, esp. if it also gives me a chance to show you more about my process.  

One popular FAQ I am asked is whether I work under magnification.  I use this goose-neck magnifier which has a lens magnification of about 350 percent.  It cost me about $15 on E-bay when I bought it, and it's flexible neck allows me to bend the angle and height of the lens over my work however I like.   I work by naked eye too, but I monitor how it's looking under the magnifier, and partly it's painted under the magnifier too.  There's a competition category in the MASF show for the best miniature by someone under age 35, and I'm always joking it should be for the best miniature over middle age, because everyone's ability to see at close-range diminishes after mid-life.  If only I had the close vision I had at 35!

I work with blue Saral transfer paper, which works just like carbon paper (comes in graphite, blue, red, yellow, white).  I prefer blue which gives me a light line that I can retain but brush even lighter just before I start to paint with a small wad of cotton, so my drawing winds up adequately 'cued in', but doesn't overwhelm the translucent layers of egg tempera that I will be adding.

Unless it's a commissioned drawing, my preliminary drawings for paintings tend to be more utilitarian and smudgy (I'm a lefty!).  For my portrait of Aretha I decided to combine the facial expression from one photo with the sweeping hand gesture in another.  My years of practice with combining imagery as an illustrator make this part easy for me.  My photos are pretty fuzzy from being taken from TV, but hopefully should be good enough to pull off this miniature portrait.  For it's size I decided I wanted her to be as big as allowable and still consider this a 1/6th scale miniature.

I intend to make this a masterwork mini rather than a daily, but I'll be taking you through my steps on it as I progress.

Announcing My Second Blog

Some of you have recently noticed it, and I am very pleased today to officially announce that my second blog is now officially underway:  Grander Joy of Spirit in Portraiture.

Although it begins with one miniature, it grows even bigger in scale as it goes forward in this second blog which follows my journey in creating a series of large spiritual portraits.  I am very grateful to the models who have posed for these portraits so far.  Arlynne and Kimberly were enthusiastic and willing subjects and I appreciated their help very much.  "The 'Mary' in Karen" was done from a photograph, but Karen was a good sport about it too. 

More material will unfold as it goes forward on Grander Joy of Spirit in Portraiture, and of course I will continue to post miniatures here on The Ruby Slippers.  I have many things to say in portraiture too, so I hope it's going to be even more fun to follow both blogs as this new one unveils itself.

MASF Miniature Show Opening Weekend

Dear family friends, Donna, David, and Ilda Littell attended the opening (Donna & David are pictured with me here).  Ilda brought two enthusiastic friends along, and it was great to see all of them at the show.

Late nite fun at Bon Apetit on Saturday after a lovely party for the artists at Dunedin Fine Art Center. ( l-r) Wes Siegrist, Bill Mundy, Herb Weed, Helen Hause, me, Carol Curtiss, Rachelle Siegrist

The mini-ribbon cutting ceremony officially opens the show, & always brings smiles!

The miniature paintings are displayed in groups on panels that fill two large gallery rooms. This is the panel that holds my three miniatures.  Hanging beside each panel is a magnifying 

glass with which to admire the detail in each miniature painting.  The MASF permanent collection is also on display in a separate corridor adjoining the two gallery rooms.

standing here with five talented artists whose work I admire (see their miniatures via the links on my list at right), l-r, Roz Pierson, Wes and Rachelle Siegrist, Bill Mundy, & Dana Thompson. 

 Roz and Bill came all the way from England for the festivities.

President Emeritus, Social Chair, and volunteer who never quits, Carol Curtiss, is my dear friend standing with me here.

It is always a great pleasure for me whenever I have the opportunity to go down to Florida for the opening weekend of the Miniature Art Society of Florida show.  Here are some photos to provide you a birdseye view of the fabulous time I had there!  A special note of thanks to all of you from MASF who work so very hard all year long to make it so special for the artists in attendance!

This year's show includes 823 miniature paintings by 240 participating artists from all over the world.  An Iranian artist, Hossen Fallahi, even submitted his five entries on camel bone.  It's the traditional Persian surface for miniature painting.

Accepting an Award in Florida

Just a note to say I am heading out on a business trip to Florida, partly to accept an award at the Miniature Art Society of Florida Annual International Show.  If you live in the area of Dunedin, Florida, I hope to see you there!  The show opening is at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center on Jan. 18 and more information is here.

If I can get a decent photo of the awards ceremony, I'll post it when I return, and I'm back in action on Tuesday in Brooklyn.

"Pink Lady Pair"

(two views of one painting, enlarged, and approx. same-size)

"Pink Lady Pair" 1 3/16 inches x 15/16 inches, SOLD

egg tempera on vellum

I love the subtle pinks, oranges and pale yellows in Pink Lady apples.  They are fun to paint!

"Pink Star-Gazer Lily"

"Pink Star-Gazer Lily"  SOLD

(click on image for a larger view)

1 1/4 inches x  1 1/2 inches, egg tempera on vellum

Happy New Year!

"Basket of Red Flowers," 3" x 3", egg tempera, framed, (for purchase info., please inquire via the contact page of my website)

Happy New Year! I have several plans for the new year in progress. I am planning a trip to Florida for the MASF show opening in two weeks, I am working on rolling out a second blog, and I am developing a series of large paintings for a gallery show. Look for updates on these plans in future posts. While I am working on these things, here is an older miniature I am posting for sale.

Feast of the Holy Family

"St. Joseph and Jesus Devotional, Cathedrale Saint-Sauveur, 

Aix en Provence," 1  3/8" x 1  15/16"  egg tempera on vellum, 

(in progress)

Although I am not Catholic, I believe in certain Catholic traditions, such as the saints, and how they can help us.  I have been working on this miniature since before Christmas, and in Catholic tradition, today is the "Feast of the Holy Family," so it feels like the perfect time to post my progress on Joseph and Jesus.  As a Patron Saint, home and family are Joseph's realm.

The subject for this painting is a lovely devotional statue I photographed at historic Holy Saviour Cathedral in Aix en Provence during my stay in southern France.  I love the feeling of intimacy and the preciousness of the baby Jesus in this particular statue, and found it very inspiring to paint.  It was also special that someone had placed a real green branch upon the figures.  I plan to fine-tune this one further.

Merry Christmas

I am visiting with family and since I left with a painting in progress, I will post my second Holy Family painting of Joseph and Jesus later in the week. On Christmas Eve I am thankful for the blessings I have received from all of you who have enjoyed my blog art. Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

For Your Enjoyment: The first of two Holy Family Scenes

"Mary & Jesus, Aix en Provence Exterior Wall", 1 5/16" x 1 7/8"

I've Been Tagged!

My Grandma Conner, the other artist in my family

My studio

I've been tagged by a great artist, Edward Burton

Be sure to check out Ed's holiday sale.  I was impressed by a saw he painted, (his 10/5/08 post), and he paints murals too.

I'm sorry it took me a few days to follow through on this, but I've been looking forward to it.  This 'game' is a fun way to find and get to know great blogger friends in art.  The rules of this game are:

1. (List the rules) and put a link in your posting to the person who tagged you. 

2. List 7 unusual things or little known facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 talented bloggers at the end of your post, linking their names in your post and commenting on their blogs to let them know.  (If you are tired of tag, no pressure of course.)

So here it goes:

1.  I paint tiny, but also huge.  I've done two ceiling murals in my Brooklyn apartment, and one is a mural of a Holy Spirit Dove directly above the area where I sit and paint (see my studio pictured above)

2.  I once managed to catch my lip in a suitcase lid (but hey, only once!)

3.  I like to do shellcraft.  See the photo of my Grandma above with a frame I shelled.

4.  In art school I purchased a used oak drawing table for $25 from a fellow student, and I have painted at this table ever since, (except when using an easel.)  

5.  I love mangoes, my favorite fruit.  I promise to paint them too.

6.  As a kid, after being exposed to lots of John Wayne movies thanks to my Dad, I refined an imitation of the 'John Wayne walk'.  How did it get seen by Nathan Lane is what I can't figure out!

7.  In my spare time I do hands-on healing.

I am tagging the following 7 people (the first 2 in 'tribute'):

1. E.V. "Peg" Conner, my Grandmother.  My most significant artist mentor, she worked very hard so I would have better chances in life, than she did, to pursue my artistic dreams.

2.  Robert Weaver, a great artist/mentor who was my inspiration for learning egg tempera.

There are so many great blog artists to tag, but just for starters, here are five people I highly respect and recommend a look at (comments not required, but I added a few notes):

3. Carol Feldman

great spontaneous watercolors

4.  M. Collier

Paintings From the Point is so mysterious I want to know more

5.  Debbie Becks Cooper

rich color and fine application of paint

6.  Abbey Ryan

Abbey loves the Jersey shore and so do I, plus what talent

7.  Cathy Gatland

diversity is her forte and I enjoy diversity in my creativity also

I list also the following people who inspired me to start my blog (see their links to the right):

Julian Merrow-Smith

Duane Keiser

Karin Jurick

Mick McGinty

Michael Naples

"Tulip Garden at Giverny"

"Tulip Garden at Giverny," 1 1/4" x 3 1/4", egg tempera on vellum

SOLD

"Inmost Love--The Expansion Votive"

(click on the art for a larger view)

"Inmost Love--the Expansion Votive," 6" x 8", small work oil painting

on gessoed board, framed under glass.  

SOLD

I painted this from photos I took inside the old chapel at San Juan Capistrano Mission of a red votive candle I lit during my visit.  The title comes from my feeling that when a candle is lighted for prayer, it's a two-way expansion:   it expands God's love for our prayers and mutually expands our inmost love--our love for God. I recommend a visit to San Juan Capistrano if you have the opportunity to visit southern California.  It is one of the most beautiful and interesting missions I have seen.  Stay tuned also for another daily painting I will be posting very shortly.

Update

I am so sorry for not posting over the past two weeks. Initially I took a few days off to rest from the three months of show preparation and to work on updating some of my bio material, however, last week I got sick while in PA for Thanksgiving, and it delayed my return. I plan to return home tonight, and hope have things in motion again over the next few days, so please stay tuned for some new daily paintings for sale!

"Avalon Madonna With Yellow Flowers"

1 7/8" x 2 5/8", egg tempera miniature on vellum, Available

I have softened and fine-tuned "Avalon Madonna With Yellow Flowers."  Here it is in it's frame, the last of five miniatures I sent to Weatherburn Gallery  for "It's a Small World---World Class Art in Miniature."  This very special miniature show in Naples, Florida runs from Nov. 29 through December 22, 2008. 

"The Bluebird of Happiness," All Decked Out

1" x 1  5/8", egg tempera miniature on vellum with artist hand-painted matt, Available

Remember the "The Bluebird of Happiness?" 

Here it is, revised and all decked out with a vellum matt I hand-painted,

in a small Venetian glass mosaic frame.  "Bluebird" will appear at the 

Weatherburn Gallery in Naples, Florida, along with the other miniature paintings I prepared for "It's a Small World----World Class Art in Miniature."  It's a very elegant venue, and I am thrilled to be part of this show.

Painting all those tiny dots on the vellum matt surrounding the bird, took practice to match them for size and shape at this tiny scale.  If you remember, the bluebird in this painting measures 3/8 of an inch.  The bluebird I painted it from was a small blown glass bluebird my mother gave me inscribed with 'Bluebird of Happiness' on it's bottom. 

Tomorrow I will post the last of the five paintings I sent to Weatherburn Gallery.

"Royal Carribean Ship Flag"

"Royal Carribean Ship Flag," 2 1/2" x 3 1/8"

egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum, Available 

My scanner, (which I've come to realize I can't live without!) broke down in the middle of a show shipment, but finally here is my other ship flag. I took the reference photos for this painting on a wonderful Carribean cruise in 2006 with my sister Peggy's family on our last day on "Adventure of the Seas" as we pulled into the home port in Puerto Rico. We sat in the picture window area of the lunch room looking right out on this flag, and it was a sparkling water crystal clear day. My artistic friend Sarah Nunez from El Pollo here in Brooklyn especially liked the photo of this flag and thought it would make a great miniature. I think she was right.

My two flag paintings will be on sale at Francesca Anderson Fine Art for a great show, "Almost Miniatures," from November 20 through January 17, in Lexington, Massachusetts.

"Ship Flag, Star of India"

"Ship's U.S. Flag, Star of India," 7" x 9" egg tempera on panel, Available

Although a small work is not an authentic miniature, this small work painting is the first of two flag paintings I've been working on for "Almost Miniatures" at Francesca Anderson Fine Art in Lexington, MA., a show of both miniatures and small works.  I am doing one of each for this show.

Just an announcement also that in mid-Nov. I will be able to return to posting miniatures daily. Some of these will be selling via eBay auction, and others will be sold directly from this blog via 'buy it' buttons.   I'm grateful for your patience in the meantime while I complete my preparations for the two remaining shows I am submitting work for.  Over the next two weeks I will continue to post updates on my show progress.

Ships' Flags, a preliminary look at the second flag

Just a heads up that I will be posting later tonight the first of two ships' flags paintings, a small work of an American flag that I am sending to the Francesca Anderson gallery this week for their upcoming show, "Almost Miniatures." 

But first, here is a preliminary look at my reference photos for the second flag I am painting, a Royal Carribean ship flag from the ship, "Adventure of the Seas."  For my miniature painting of this flag I am combining the flag in the top reference with the water in the second reference.  More on this one later this week.

Erlise is a Winner

"Erlise's Laugh"  3" x 3 13/16", egg tempera on panel, NFS

I was truly delighted to find out tonight that "Erlise's Laugh" won Second Prize in the category of 'Human Figure' in the Miniature Art Society of Florida 2009 Annual Show

It's my first win for this category.

"The Bluebird of Happiness"

"The Blue Bird of Happiness", 3/4" x 3/4"

egg tempera on vellum, (revised in a later post, 11/17)

Shown with a penny for scale, here is the tiniest Bluebird of Happiness I have ever painted.  

It's my smallest miniature ever.  The bird itself measures 3/8 of an inch in height.  

"Erlise's Laugh"

3" x 3  13/16", egg tempera on panel

NFS

Household member, Erlise, is much beloved by my sister's family.  I did this miniature as a tribute to Erlise for all that she has done for my sister and her family over the years.  Thank you Erlise! 

Erlise has the most delightful, musical laugh I have ever heard---hence the title, "Erlise's Laugh."  This portrait has been sent to the MASF competition, and will eventually go to my sister's family to either keep or give to Erlise.

"L'madone et l'Enfant de Remy de Saint" (Madonna & Child of Saint Remy)

4  3/16" x 5  13/16", egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum, 

(at Dunedin Fine Arts Center in Dunedin, Florida

for the MASF 2009 Annual International Miniature Art Show)

Here is the final version of "Madonna and Child of Saint Remy."  I titled this in French because I found my inspiration for this painting during my trip to France, when our guide gave us some time to explore Saint Remy by ourselves.  I took a walk on my own and discovered a small cathedral called St. Martin's, with many beautiful devotional statues.  It was very dark inside, and I couldn't believe I was alone in such a beautiful place.  I felt so blessed to find this life-sized Madonna and Child dressed in gold, and knew then that I would want to paint my own version.

This got sent out for the MASF show in a lovely gold frame.  Framing is part of the jurying process in this particular miniature competition.  Certain specifications and guidelines must be followed, and I'll discuss more about framing for competition in a future post.

"Just Peachy", Framed

"Just Peachy", egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum,

(at Dunedin Fine Arts Center in Dunedin, Florida, for the 

MASF 2009 Annual International Miniature Art Show)

I promised to post a copy of "Just Peachy" in its frame, and here it is.  It is being submitted for the Miniature Art Society of Florida show.  I'll be posting other final entries for the MASF show shortly, and then it's on to the next show!

Refining "Just Peachy"

"Just Peachy", 1  3/4" x 1  1/4", 

egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum

An earlier dailywork, "Just Peachy" has been refined and developed 

into a masterwork so that I can submit it as a still-life painting for the MASF show competition.  I have the perfect frame for it, and if time permits I hope to scan it framed to show you how it looks before I send it out.

"Madonna and Child of St. Remy" Step 3, & Frame Shopping

4" x 6", egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum

Now nearing completion, I have been working toward portraying a feeling of a living Mary and baby Jesus in this painting instead of just replicating the devotional statue.  Not an easy task, since my reference is somewhat 'doll-like', but it feels important to try.  I darkened the background further, and have started to create a slight feeling of an aura around Mary.

Last week I also went frame shopping, and here are some of the miniature frames I have chosen for my general use:

(detail of Venetian glass floral mosaic frames)

Madonna and Child, Saint-Remy, Step 2

4" x 6", egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum (in progress)

When I work on an image of Mary, I call upon her in prayers, 

as part of my effort to capture her spirit in paint.  The same is true of Jesus as a baby.  The painting has been going very smoothly, and I have been meditating also on the gold of the dress, which I feel makes this Madonna particularly special.  I really enjoyed capturing the lights and colors within the gold. Another darker blue layer has been added to the background to increase the contrast and bring the figures out more. 

Next I will go back to the faces, hands and flesh tones to fine-tune them some more.

Madonna and Child, Saint-Remy, Step 1

4" x 6", egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum (in progress)