Latest Nativity Painting

For the past few years, a Catholic missionary organization has commissioned me to paint a version of the Nativity for their annual Christmas appeal.  Due to the length of time it takes to paint, design, print and put together the materials in order to send the stuff out in time to get a good response, the painting actually has to take place in the middle of the summer.  Which, if you live in southern California like I do, is the least inspirational time to think about Christmas.

However, this organization gives me some guidance and I do some research (both re-reading the scripture and looking at various depictions of the nativity) and I am generally pleased with the result that happens.

For this year's appeal, the organization wanted a colorful, close-up depiction of the nativity with animals.  I looked around at various depictions and saw that it's very common to have baby Jesus facing the viewer.  I was thinking about it, and I thought a much more intimate depiction would be if Jesus was facing his parents.  I also hoped that the different perspective would help the viewer to remember the amazing point: God chose to be incarnate in this world not in a grown, powerful man, but in a helpless baby.

Thinking year after year about the Nativity and finding new and interesting ways to depict it is definitely challenging.  How on earth can you do this year after year and still keep people on their toes, inspirationally-speaking?  I try my best and am honored that this organization thinks that I do a good job, year after year!

Watercolor Class: Day 2 & 3

Well, as many of you are aware, I did not post my watercolor painting from my class last week.  This is because I was in class long enough only to draw the still life -- I had to leave early to attend a luncheon for the nonprofit of which I am president.  So, this week I worked on the painting from a photo I took before I left class.

The finished painting is to the right.  On a side note, I recently bought a new all-in-one printer/scanner/copier that does larger format scans.  My initial scans were positive, but then I noticed that the colors were slightly off and in this painting I can definitely tell that the scan quality is poor.  In this painting, I discovered that the scanner cannot pick up on light colors, so the scan looks really washed out, and is more yellow than it should be.  The background looks like it's pure yellow -- in actuality, the painting background is a mixture of yellows and orange.  So--this is disappointing.  I am going to return the printer and think about buying a (very expensive) large format scanner that can capture these colors more accurately.

Anyway, when I was painting the succulent throughout the week, I thought that the painting was ok (although the leaf up front really needs some work...not satisfied with it, really), but too cool.  I think the yellows and orange in the background really warm up the painting and help bring out the yellow and orange details that I put in the succulent.

In today's class, the teacher displayed a really neat, massive purply-pink succulent nested in a straw hat.  I really enjoyed drawing the various curly/pointy leaves and then had a lot of fun laying down the various colors.  I didn't fully finish the painting, but have laid down the colors so far.  Now my plan will be to create the detail needed to make the painting pop.  The painting is to the right--I will update once I finish the detailing.  I'm really undecided so far whether to add another background beyond the hat--it might be too much, but then again, it might add a little something.

Website update:
I've finished a few more sections of my new website, but added a few more sections to fill-out, as well!  It's madness!!  The website is here (http://jsgreene.com/new) and the finalized sections within the design section are the last five sections: flyers, invitations, logos, posters and websites.  I just noticed a broken link in the flyers section, which I will fix, but if you notice anything that needs to be addressed, please let me know!

Also, good news--my cousin, who hosts my website, says that he can make my blog hosted on my website, so once my website is finished, then I will work on transferring over my blog, which means that I'll be able to fix the blog design to be easier to read!

Watercolor Class: Day 1

Today was my first day of school in a few years. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have decided to take a watercolor class through my local creative arts center for the next 8 weeks or so just so that I am being intentional about painting regularly.  On Saturday, when I was gathering my supplies to prepare for the class, I knew I needed to stop by the art store and buy some paper, since I only had a sheet or two left.  Gavin and I dropped by after a morning of errands and discovered that Swains (my local art store) was having their annual 20% off of everything in the store sale.  I find it particularly annoying when they offer this sale because, literally, there is a line of hundreds of people that wraps around the store just to buy stuff. Needless to say, Gavin and I did not stay to buy paper and today I made do with what I had (which is quite different in feel from what I typically use)!

So, this morning I headed out to the class, which is just minutes away.  I arrived between 5-10 minutes before class started and found that I was the first to show up, other than the teacher.  The teacher (get this) is 93 years old, next month.  I couldn't believe it when she told me -- she looks at least 10 years younger.  Anyway, it seems that this is a class that a few regulars take.  I discovered this because I was told to "sit anywhere" and, when I did and people slowly entered (most 20 minutes late!), they were told, "Jennifer is sitting in your spot today, so you'll have to sit somewhere else."  Not exactly that welcoming, but most of the members of the class are very retired, so I suppose when you get to be that age, change is a little more difficult to deal with?  

Anyway, the teacher waited for the class to show up, so the class didn't really start until just before 10 a.m. There was a still life set up of some nectarines on this black mirrored plate (so that we could practice reflection) and I could have started in, but I wasn't sure if the instructor was going to start out with a demo or something.  That's how a previous class I took went -- the instructor did a demo, then the class painted.  That was an excellent class and I'd be taking it again, except that it's much more expensive and being taught by a different person.  So, I waited along with the teacher and was really disappointed that once the class got there we all could start...no demo or anything.  If I would have known that, I would have started immediately.  

When I got to painting, I did a quick line drawing of the still life, then set out painting.  I was excited to do the nectarines because I love laying down the strong yellows and reds and having them mix on the page.  I had a little bit of difficulty with the black, reflective surface, but I think it came out ok. And when I went to place in the detail in the painting, I discovered that there wasn't really any detail for me to do...so I left it very rough-looking and fluid.  This is, in a sense, what I wanted to practice on--lately I have felt that I get too tight when I do my paintings.  

As I finished and looked around, I realized that I may already be much more advanced in skill than my fellow students -- I was a little shocked to know that this was the "intermediate" watercolor class.  I also looked at the clock and was amazed that I had finished the painting (which is on the larger side for me, at around 12" wide and 10" tall or so) in about an hour and I still had another hour to go in the class.  So, I used one of my smaller scraps of paper that I had to do a smaller composition of the nectarines.

I finished that one in about a half hour and called it a day.  Later on this afternoon I went and got some more paper, so I should be set for the next few weeks.  Hopefully I'll have some nice things to post up on here for you all to see over the weeks, and it'd be extra super neat if you will also be able to see an improvement in my painting (or not!).  

A Sneak Peak

A week or two ago at the Farmer's Market, I bought two bunches of dahlias, one bunch a magenta/purple color and the other a red/orange color, and I put them in the same vase, on Gavin's and my dining room table.  I kept on looking at them and so loved the colors that I decided to paint them because the colors on the petals reminded me of a watercolor painting!

Well, by the time I got around to drawing them, they were almost gone, so I drew as quickly as I could, even though the drawing itself took a long time to do because I wanted to be sure to draw most of the petals so that I could capture the look of the colors on the petals.  By the time I actually started painting, the flowers were dead, so I am thankful that I took a picture of them before they went kaput.

I have been working on this painting off and on for the last few days.  Today is the first day where it actually looks like I've made any progress at all -- it took me a day or two to finish the main dahlia flower, and I only feel so-so about it right now.  Once I did the other pinky-purple flower, I liked the feel of that one much more.  But now that I'm starting to add some greens in with the stems and the flower buds, I think it is looking good and more cohesive and stuff.

I have this week off, so I'm hoping that I'll have the time and motivation to finish it this week, so I can start on some paintings that I promised awhile ago as a gift!