Pet Portraits, Nikko

This is a recent pet portrait done on wood block in oil.  The size of this one is 9" by 12".  Due to the time consuming nature of these, I will be increasing my price soon.  All orders placed before the end of the month (June) will get one for $100.  Thank you for following my work.

Nikko

Mini-movie My Transparent Journey Series

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All paintings are done on 8" by 8" hardboard panels in oil unless otherwise noted

At The Lake

I couldn’t help sensing the cool breeze, breathing the clean air and feeling the warmth of the sunlight dancing across the water as I painted this scene. This is life at the lake ─pure solitude and the touch of nature all around you. If we could bottle it, what an achievement that would be! Although dramatic in the portrayal of these elements, they are very simplistic things we see and interact with every day. Unfortunately they are often taken for granted. They are life giving forces that yield to necessity ─sun ─light ─water ─air. What if only one of them were removed? At the lake there is time for creative reflection on what we are given everyday, what we cannot give or provide for ourselves and the beauty and harmony of all of them in unison. 

Country Morning

SOLD

I stood on the edge of a cliff, 100 feet in the air and did a free fall when painting this scene.  I knew what I wanted, the warmth of the morning sun, the misty fog still lingering across the horizon obscuring the trees and warm sepia tones.  I used a very difficult bottle from my own collection.  The ribbed form I wanted to show, but not to the point of breaking up the scene revealed through it.  I began with the center and worked my way out and forward which is artistic suicide.  We are taught and told to block in the background and overall shapes first.  Miraculously, I was happy with the approach and method.  I learned something new.  It is okay to take a risk, sometimes it pays off and sometimes not.  In this case it did.  I miss the old farmhouse on Campbellsburg Road.  The morning sunrises were a different brush stroke of the Creator’s hand and I never got tired of looking at them.  Many photographs later, I still enjoy the look and feel of each scene from the back porch.  Simply breathtaking!

Maine Coast Sunrise 

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My sister Sherry Paul took this photograph off the Maine coast.  She told me she had to get up at 4:30am to see it because it is the earliest place for the sun to rise on the Eastern coast.  The color, water and simple land forms were breathtaking.  There is something so elegant about the sun rising or setting over the horizon.  I chose a bottle that would compliment that theme of elegance yet remain simple for optimal glass peering!  I am happy with the lines and slight distortion that this painting was able to convey.  The original photograph is simply gorgeous!  I am using many of her works as reference.  She has joyfully traveled much of the United States and abroad.  It is a rare privilege and honor to use her images.

The reference landscape photograph used for this painting was taken by Sherry Paul

Kentucky Bourbon

I absolutely love this old antique bourbon bottle, but it breaks away from the norm of what I am trying to accomplish with color.  I was able to add some greens from the background to make it work, but the dark of the bottle diminishes the scene quite a bit.  I still like the overall Kentucky impression, the warmth of the browns and sepias along with the antique feel of the overall scene.  I especially like the horse embossed on the front!

A little bit of Kentucky signature, these pastures and horses are all around me.  All I have to do is venture out beyond the comforts of home to see them.  The horse is one of my favorite subject to paint and more scenes like this are always in my heart and on my mind.

This painting has been done on 8" by 8" wood block panel, 1 1/2" depth brown finished edges

Dreaming of Spring

I would rather be on a farm in the country than in the fanciest place in the world.  I love everything about it!  The heritage, history and simplicity of life found there will never leave me.  I love old antiques that no one knows what they were used for; the animals just going about there daily business and the scenes that just stun our world!  I love jars and I love country landscapes, so the two together are ‘charm’ in the purest sense of the word.  This was the first attempt at trying these painting exercises and I was taken back at how it all came together.  This is a scene from early spring when things are just starting to appear after the dead of winter.  I am sure many country jars will find their way into my future paintings.

Copyright 2014 Darlene Dine, use of or reproduction of any image is prohibited and against the law without consent or permission.

And That's Not All...

All panels are done on 8" by 8" hardboard panels in oil unless otherwise noted

Minding My Own Business

I am feeling a little defiant with this one, breaking away from the color structure of glass.  What a wonder…the little goldfish in a bag.  A small miracle of life captured from its habitation to bring us color, joy and that child-like feeling.  We marvel at the way he looks, but does he know how significant he really is?  He is little, part of the bottom of the food chain in the water world.  He is just trying to survive and has no idea how heartwarming he can be to us.  I titled this “Minding My Own Business” as a depiction of how little power we have over the universe.  There is an irony in thinking we have control while our plans can crash down on us before our eyes (even though they seemed to be good plans).  A little pun…maybe.  I prefer to call it sarcastic humor.  My little goldfish is in for a surprise.  He does not know what is about to hit, but we do.  Still cute and full of delight, he just goes about swimming and blowing bubbles…minding his own business.  If hearts could smile, I would be sharing a big one right now…swim baby swim!

The photograph of the wave that was used as reference was courtesy of Leslie Vaslek

Mail Pouch Barn

Driving through farm country in Ohio, you may come across one of these famous and nostalgic barns.  This one I painted with an old cigar jar as my color window to reflect a farming industry that society threatens to extinguish altogether, tobacco.  My resident state of Kentucky has many laws prohibiting smoking, not only inside restaurants, which is easily understood, but also outdoors in plain air!  I have many mixed feelings about this.  One being that the state would not be where it is today without the tobacco production is has come to be known for.  I also understand the damaging effects of second hand smoke, but feel it has been taken to extremes.  It is also a way to outcast, stereotype and ostracizes people in a way that is totally unnecessary.  There are many, many self-destructive habits that cause death, but none so personally attacked as the use of tobacco products.  Well, all that was obviously not on my mind while painting this scene, but I did think of the history and work involved in the making of tobacco products and the many memories made on farms that produced it.  I have respect for that on many levels even if I may not turn a blind eye to the fact that people die everyday from smoking.  Like I said, mixed feelings…sadness for a crop that will soon fade away from our landscapes, but appreciation for old tobacco jars, barns and…well you know.

The reference landscape photograph used for the barn scene was taken by Sherry Paul.

This painting was done on 8" by 8" wood block panel in oil, 3/4" depth, black edges

Winter Warmth

Most sunrises and sunsets in the winter season go unnoticed and unseen.  They look warm and inviting, but the air is still so cold and unwelcome.  This sunrise was beautiful, but the photographs were taken in a hurry as I rushed back inside to get warm again.  The oil lamps in my home provide the atmosphere of warmth as well as a flame that soothes the icy cold soul.  I thought of the two combined together for this scene.  The glorious sunrise awaits us and promises warmth is near, winter displays some of the most contrasting sunrises ever displayed.  I marked my palette to achieve that contrast with this scene.  The light is always brighter with the shadows of darkness behind it.  We are inwardly created to be drawn to the light, but both are necessary.  In a painting, the highlights would never emerge from the shadows and bring life if there were not the shadows.  Such is life and the journey to appreciating light.  His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.  Darkness will always be there, but behold His glorious light that warms and stills the soul!  

River Barge

If I chose to take a day and just take a drive, the river is the perfect destination.  There may be activity happening, but the barges move along at a slow and easy pace.  Just the way I want to take life at times.  They seem to coast through the waters with ease and they know they will eventually get to their destination because the river will lead them there.  Things are still simple enough to get us to our destination as well if we learn each day to enjoy the ease of the journey.  We (I) have the inborn tendency to make things complicated, when just being yourself is all that is needed.  Have we forgotten how to do that?

I chose the large glass fly trap as the antique for this scene because I wanted to show as much of the barge as possible in color.  I love river scenes.  Even if they are new and recent, they still have the impression of days gone by.  Life on the river, regardless of its nature is still an important part of our country’s heritage.  I love the old fly trap as well; it lends that antique fancy I was striving for.  The muted colors in the scene are exactly the look I wanted to achieve.  Mission accomplished!

Warm Spring Night

If we could stop one moment, take a deep breath and take in the breeze of a shore…would it look like this?  I remember when bottles like this were so mesmerizing to me as a child.  My Mom would fill them with colored water and place them in the windows.  The light shining through created different abstract shapes and colors.  I still love vintage bottles to this day and I am sure you will see many of them in my paintings.  They reveal elegance on so many levels and add a little enchantment to our everyday routines.  The sepia tones are rich and dramatic adding to the mood of the scene.

My challenge in painting this was to capture the beauty of the tree seen through the bottle.  These trees bloom in early spring here in Kentucky.  This one I found along the river.  They dare to stand out among the green foliage and the blue of the sky.  You don’t expect them, but there they are!  I wanted to capture this unique and amazing hue through my color window.

Copyright 2014 Darlene Dine, use of or reproduction of any image is prohibited and against the law without consent or permission.