Showing posts with label small oil painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label small oil painting. Show all posts

Happy Fellow



Often when riding through the country I will stop to stretch my legs and visit favorite trees, vistas, and farm animals that attract my eye. This little goat was such a friendly guy, he walked right up to the fence and stuck his head through the wire. I scratched his head and admired his fresh face and what looked to be a smile. I think many of us respond to creatures that convey emotion or what we human beings interpret as such. Our wonderful Golden Retriever named Guinness has the most expressive eyebrows. You can read all sorts of things into his expressions, No one can tell me I'm imagining something when I detect that my dog is irritated with me whenever I'm leaving him in the house or that he's looking purely delighted after his bath and towel rub-down.

Click below for a video from VIMEO, a Flash presentation.



This Happy Fellow video is a partially accelerated oil painting session made earlier this year (speeding up after about 4 minutes) -a quick oil portrait of a friendly little goat.

As I mentioned, I met this sweet fellow a few years ago on my passage through the country on my way home from church in Bentonville, NC. I always wanted to paint this image from the photo I was fortunate to have taken, and decided I would do so while recording the entire process. This video is about 13.5 minutes long, and has no audio since it just sounds like a lot of scratching anyway. I realize now that I hold my breath and sigh a lot while painting --quite revealing! --like I have paint apnea! Maybe other painters will be interested in observing some of the technique and method. It was very good for me to witness myself objectively and plan for my next paintings and any future videos which will definitely be shorter, narrated, and produced in a different manner.

This is an oil painting made on canvas that was previously toned and prepared with paint mixed only with linseed oil for a dried, smooth, primed colored and defined ground. I prefer an oil primed linen or thick canvas that is not too absorbent. When using a cotton and gessoed canvas I will completely cover the canvas by scrubbing in and laying in large zones of color. I'll create an under painting of a buttery paint mix that when dry will accept new paint on top without absorbing it through or below. It is a technique easily accomplished and makes for such a pleasant painting experience. I think few amateur artists ever have this pleasure, for painting on canvas duck as most do is sort of like painting on a piece of carpet. Even those who work with acrylics would benefit from priming their canvas with paint and acrylic gloss medium to tone and begin to define their work. After it is dry, working on top of a glazed oil or acrylic is a dream! It is like working on glass and painting becomes more like sculpture than coloring. Too bad this is rarely taught or expressed! If it was demonstrated more people would probably stick with painting since it would be a hell of a lot more fun and produce much more acceptable results.

Happy Fellow is sold and in the possession of a happy young couple. I hope I will get to paint all their kids someday!

Enjoy! --Jack Anglin

Purple Iris




Painted in my front studio from life last Spring, this pale purple iris was from our yard, I believe. I love these flowers and go out of my way on my walks with the dog to visit them as they bloom around the neighborhood. Our house has two honey bee hives up high in the front columns, so I feel a bit more connected to the neighborhood blossoms.

One of the things I love about iris is the way they curl and shrink as parts die down and new flowers come on. The co-mingling of new and old, the living and the dead, both on one green tubular stem is something to note. I wish they would last longer, but fortunately, where I live, there is almost always something beautiful to observe and appreciate. And at least I do notice these temporal gifts, even if I don't always get it on paper or canvas.

I will try today to step into some new painting project, but I am so close to finishing my Wilmington pastel --I may just devote all my time at the easel to that. I'll post it here as soon as I have it signed and can scan it.

Steamer Neuse





The Steamer Neuse operated from New Bern to Washington, NC in the days before public ferry systems, bridges, and decent roadways. Having sailed much of the Neuse River I can appreciate how long it must have taken and what some of those trips would have felt like as the river is very wide and can fetch up some nice sized swells. While a pain for frequent travelers it must have been an exciting trip for the infrequent passengers and children. For those of us living in the 21st century (and you know there are some who are not), a steamer trip like this would have been much too long and dull. But what a great little journey for reading or snoozing, or just watching the shore line and sky. I like to imagine how ships appeared at night.

I'm posting older works as I'm in the middle of a 30 X 40 inch illustration of the Steeples and Spires of Wilmington, NC. I should have that finished in a few days and will have time to apply myself to more daily painting, which is something I'm longing to do and have been wanting to do for some time.

The Giraffes of Bentonville




Years ago I served a church in the country near the Bentonville Battlefied. Just north of the Museum and Battleground were these silos --they are gone now. Fortunately I photographed them just weeks before they were torn down. I always saw the shapes of giraffes from the rusty doors and the pipes and motors. When I pointed them out to my kids or other people they said, "Oh yeah!"

The oil original is no longer available but reproductions on canvas will be coming soon. I believe they are about 24" square.

Off Highway 13 / Snow Hill




Working on location a few years ago just west of Snow Hill, I was painting sheep that were in a field opposite this view, but the road and greenhouse behind me made for an interesting composition so I gave in and painted this study next. This greenhouse is still there but the sheep are gone now, replaced by turkey barns, and I haven't wanted to return to this location. The sheep were always nice to see. I'm going to have to find another herd. Click here for a Google map to 35.455528,-77.714050

I'm always attracted to paths and roads. The path tugs for our movement and exploration. Old wooden barns get a lot of attention, but new structures, even plastic sheathed barns like these might get some notice --especially against interesting skies.

This oil painting is small 5"X 7", with my JHA monogram, not dated (circa 2007), matted with a single white mat at 12"X 14".

Turning Dogwoods




My yard is changing fast --the leaves fading quickly! These dogwood leaves are now either red or on the ground. I painted them live last week, standing in the backyard of Sarahurst, the house we live it at Kinston. I don't remember a more beautiful year for our dogwoods --in the spring it seemed the blossoms were around for almost a month and remained nice looking shapes and great color for week after week. Now, at the end of the year they are continuing to show well with lots of red berries and great leaves. Against the blue sky the sight is arresting, as you probably know and can appreciate if you've been watching your own yard and neighborhoods for the changing colors.

Actually, it was the poison ivy leaves that I should have painted --they were a dark cadmium red and now, after a little rain, are all gone. Next year!

I'll try to capture these dogwoods once more before they are all gone.





These are both oil on linen, painted late October 2009 from life. The painting at the top is 5.25 wide X 5.75 high, and the one above is 5.75 wide x 5 high. Both are monogrammed JHA --no date visible. Will be sold as a set via Ebay Auctions.

Twilight Skipjack





Inspired by my time with the ADA MAE, a 1914 North Carolina skipjack, restored and in use with Carolina Coastal Classrooms out of New Bern, I made this little oil painting. You can see my pastel of the Ada Mae on the skipjack page of the CCC website.

Carolina Coastal Classrooms is a great project which I'm proud to be a small part of with website and graphic design assistance. We've made a few videos at YouTube, but now with HD our plan is to make great strides with video in the coming year (we'll resolve the sound issues, too).

Ada Mae will get pulled soon for repairs, including work on varnishing the mast and boom. She needs it! Come spring she'll be looking smart and then we'll make new videos, and probably a few new paintings, too.