Making of an Angel

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angel, angel icon, christian art, christian artist, icon, icons, oil, painting, sabrina samuel

This icon was written for my son and was done on a large canvas measuring 24×36 inches. Orthodox Christians believe that a guardian Angel is appointed to one at baptism. A few weeks ago I asked the Lord to show me our kids guardian angels and this is what came out to be our son’s guardian Angel. I like how the eyes of this angel turned out. The eyes reflect a watchfulness which is a good thing for a guardian angel to have.

First step was to create a drawing. As always, I do my drawings on transparent paper. Transparent paper makes a good drawing material because it can be turned around to view the drawing backwards. When viewed backwards drawing problems are easily spotted.

Once a good drawing was made I then used an overhead projector to enlarge the drawing onto the canvas. Some artist don’t like using an overhead projector, but I view it as a tool.

Once the drawing is transferred onto the canvas, I used acrylics to outline the drawing. Using the outline color, I then worked in the areas that would be darker. This process is known as an underpainting and is a traditional method.

After the underpainting dried the next step is to cover then entire canvas with a yellow-gold acrylic wash. This unifies the canvas and will give the painting a golden undertone.

The final steps to the painting were all done in oil. First I painted the angel’s face and then went onto painting the garments, wings, halo and background. Once all the colors were blocked in I left the painting for a few days to give me time to study it. This process is important because over the course of a few days I able to pick out the weak areas that either need to be strengthened or lightened. Currently this piece is hanging in our livingroom. I tease our son saying his angel watches TV with him. After a few weeks of studying the work I may feel the need to work on a few areas especially the darker areas, but for now it is finished.

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Tallulah Gorge

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georgia, getting outside, hardwood tree, hiking, moss, outdoor living, Tallulah Gorge, tree, trees covered in moss

We just recently went on a five-mile hike into Georgia’s Tallulah Gorge. The strenuous hike starts with 1000 steps down, crossing the river twice, a very steep climb out, and a two-mile walk back to the interpretive center. Below are a few interesting visuals we saw on our hike.

While on this hike we saw many trees that had a distinctive look and character. The recent rains gave the moss a beautiful deep green color and several of the trees had gnarled twisted bark. Hope you get a chance to make this hike soon. It was a winner with our teen-aged kids and a super time outside.

Flowering Tree on Yellow

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flowering tree, Japanese landscape, landscapes, nature, nature art, oil, oil painting, tree, yellow

The picture of this painting is fair representation of the actual colors of the painting, but I think you get the idea. The dark brownish-red tree trunk pops on the yellow background. The red flowers accent the reddish tones and give a dark contrast next to the light ground.

This painting was done in several steps the first being the drawing. The drawing was laid straight on to the canvas with  pencil. Second step was to cover the entire canvas with a golden yellow acrylic.  The third step was to lay the flowers, buds, and tree trunk out in acrylic. Acrylics are used in these preliminary steps because of the fast drying properties of acrylic paints.

All the final stages are done in oils. Oil paints have a luster and can be varnished to protect the painting and create a deep rich color. The yellows used were yellow ochre, Naples yellow mixed with white in places. The yellows are darker around the canvas edges and gradually get lighter toward the tree trunk. This gives the trunk a slight glow.

The flowers are a mix of crimson red and cadmium red. The trunk is a  simple mix of crimson and burnt umber. A hint of black was used to create knots on the trunk.